This past weekend, I went down to Schellsburg, PA to help Anna out at her hawk watch on Saturday. We had a pretty decent day, with over 50 migrant raptors flying past. Most were Broad-winged Hawks. On Sunday, we went to the Alleghenny Front Hawk Watch, which is just a few miles upridge from Anna's hawk watch. It was a very overcast day, but the hawks didnt mind and were migrating through in good numbers. We saw mostly Broad-winged Hawks, but also had a few Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, Ospreys, and one Bald Eagle. The best bird of the day however was a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk that migrated past. This bird was very light overall and its head, back, and tail were pretty much entirely white or cream-colored.
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
After hawk watching at the Alleghent Front for a while and then getting dinner, Anna and I drove over to Shawnee State Park, which is only about a mile from the house Anna is living in for the fall. We were very happy and suprised to instantly find two Caspian Terns flying over the lake. The terns made a few passes around the lake and then flew together due West and were not seen again.
Caspian Tern
We then went over to the other side of the lake, where the swimming beach area is. In the spruces, firs, and pines in that area of the park were lots of birds. We found 26 Pine Warblers, 2 Cape May Warblers, 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch all foraging together in the trees.
Pine Warbler
The final, and in my opinion, best find of the night was a lone Sanderling foraging on the swimming beach. Anna and I were able to approach very close to it, for some photos. Sanderlings are uncommon visitors to PA in the fall.
Sanderling
Monday morning, Anna and I went to Shawnee State Park again and found nice flocks of warblers in the tree around the swimming beach area. We saw 10 species of warbler total. Totals are below:
Nashville Warbler 1
Northern Parula 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 4
Cape May Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 22
Palm Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
We also found Philadelphia Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Scarlet Tanager, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. There was no sign of either the Caspian Terns or the Sanderling. Next, Anna and I went back up to the Alleghenny Front Hawk Watch for two hours. The flight was rather slow, but we did see some Broad-winged Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, and Ospreys.
Anna and I were asked to give a presentation for the Conoocheague Audubon Society in Chambersburg Monday night at 7pm. Our plan was to first stop at the Pulpit to do some hawk watching since it was literally right on our way to Chambersburg from Schellsburg. We arrived at 3pm to find Dale Gearhart and Al Nelson counting passing hawks. They had had a slow morning with only around 20 hawks passing by. As soon as Anna and I stepped out of the car though, the flood gates must have opened, because tons of hawks began to pour past. We had to leave at 5, but managed to find 6 Osprey, 3 Bald Eagles, 1 Northern Harrier, 12 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 American Kestrels, and 112 Broad-winged Hawks! This was the best day so far this fall for the Pulpit Hawk Watch and really made me miss the place, since it was where I hawk watched almost every day for the falls of 2008 and 2009.
At 5:30pm we met Bob and Marion Carmack for dinner in Chambersburg, and then went to Norlo Park to give our presentation. Anna and I talked about the hawk migration project we made for the HMANA conference. We also talked about the Whimbrel and Yellow-billed Cuckoo jobs we had this summer.
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