Arctic Tern at Lake Wallenpaupack- Plus More

I want to write a big blog post about the Arctic Tern I found at Lake Wallenpaupack on Saturday— a day of big Sea Bird put-downs, but can’t find the time. For now I’ll leave it at that I got a huge surprise when a tern came flying in, bouncing, while I was on a search of the huge lake for Red Phalarope that might have been pushed in with the storm that also pushed in large numbers of Brant and all 3 Scoters along the eastern part of Pennsylvania. The first thing I really noticed about the tern was the loooooooong streamers. Crazy long. Not Common Tern long. Other field marks were the short black tips of the primaries, all of same value of black (Common Tern would have molted 3 primaries at this time of year giving two tones of black and the dark edges would have been broader than my bird), a short, all-red bill, and a rounded forehead.

Other birds of interest were Brant, Surf Scoter, and Black Scoter at Lake Wallenpaupack, Black Scoter and White-winged Scoter at Lake Scranton, and Brant at Harvey’s Lake.

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Countdown to 300

After re-entering birding in June 2007 and subsequently throwing away my life list, I am finally approaching 300 species on my new life list. So I’m going to countdown the last ten.

#290 Arctic Tern
Lake Wallenpaupack, PA Oct. 24, 2009
After a crazy storm pushed down lots of seabirds. Not accepted by PORC but I didn’t get a photo. But I’m positive of ID.

#291 Common Eider
Sandy Hook, NJ Nov. 8, 2009

#292 Lapland Longspur
Sandy Hook, NJ Nov. 8, 2009

#293 King Eider
Sandy Hook, NJ Nov. 8, 2009

#294 Ivory Gull
Cape May, NJ Dec. 6, 2009
Seen on my first true “chase” of a single bird.

#295 Cackling Goose
Harvey’s Lake, PA Dec. 9, 2009
Weird to see this on my list after a mega like Ivory Gull, but I wasn’t very aware of this species since it wasn’t it’s own species when I originally birded. Then I haven’t crossed paths with it since studying up on the ID until now.

#296 Brown-headed Nuthatch
Lewes, DE Apr. 2, 2010

#297 Little Gull
Lake Wallenpaupack, PA Apr. 10, 2010
This was on my most wanted list for a while. Now on to Black-headed Gull.

#298 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
PPL Riverlands, PA June 14, 2010
In county lifer. Nice.

#299 Black-headed Gull
Bombay Hook, DE August, 21 2010
One of my most wanted birds. Check.