Bald Eagle State Park 10-5-10

This morning Drew Weber sent out an alert saying that he found 2 Bonaparte's Gulls, 1 Herring Gull, and some waterfowl at Bald Eagle State Park. I needed the two gulls for my Centre County list, so I headed over after class and got to the park by 11:40am. The two Bonaparte's Gulls were hanging out on the swimming beach alongside a Ring-billed Gull, Killdeer, and Spotted Sandpiper. The Herring Gull was nowhere to be found. At the Hunter Run Boat Launch a female Merlin shot across the road right in front of my car. I also spotted a juvenile Peregrine Falcon soaring around and a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew over also. Around 1:30pm, at the Upper Green Boat Launch I spotted a juvenile Peregrine, but I assumed it was probably the same one I saw earlier. A complete list of the species I saw at the park today is below.

Bonaparte's Gull

Number of species: 36

Ruddy Duck 1
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron 2
Osprey 3 An adult and one of the juveniles were seen either carrying or catching fish
Bald Eagle 1 aged as a "3rd year"
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Killdeer 1 at the beach area
Spotted Sandpiper 1 at the beach area
Bonaparte's Gull 2 at the beach area
Ring-billed Gull 1 at the beach area
Mourning Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 5
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 4
Eastern Phoebe 3
Blue Jay 83 A large flock of 66 flew over the beach area
American Crow 10
Fish Crow 2
Common Raven 1
Tree Swallow 75
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 2
Eastern Bluebird 20
American Robin 2
Gray Catbird 2
European Starling 100
Cedar Waxwing 100
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 28
Pine Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Song Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow 20
Northern Cardinal 2
blackbird sp. 1 flyover; called multiple times, potential Rusty Blackbird
American Goldfinch 20