Mariton: Birding at Giving Pond

by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager.  Photos by Carole Mebus

Yellow Warbler

On Tuesday, we went to Giving Pond, part of the Delaware Canal State Park. We were fortunate that Katie Martens, the Environmental Educator for the park, was able to join us and add on-the-ground-intel about the park.  As usual it was a great group.  We saw a lot of Yellow Warblers.  One of the birders remarked, “I never thought that someday I would say, ‘it’s just another Yellow Warbler.'” But that is one of the reasons we visit Giving Pond.  Besides the great bird diversity, there are a few species that we see and hear over and over again.  Like anyone, repetition helps a birder commit songs to memory.  Yellow Warbler is one species that we hope to hear and see several times during our walk at Giving Pond.

Warbling Vireo

Another species that we hope to get repeat performances from is the Warbling Vireo.  This songster is harder to see and not particularly colorful, but they are abundant and easy to hear.  Again Giving Pond is a location that a birder can see the Warbling Vireo with a little work and luck.

Baltimore Oriole

We saw lots of Baltimore Orioles, but we also saw a number of Orchard Orioles. Each year we see more Orchard Orioles at Giving Pond.  It wasn’t very many years ago that an Orchard Oriole sighting was a big deal.  We even got to see the two species side by side.  We saw three swallow species (Tree, Barn and Northern Rough-winged).

Osprey with a meal.

We also had some great views of Osprey.  We didn’t actually see this Osprey with a fish – Carole took this photo at Giving Pond the day before our visit.  We did however get several  Ospreys this close during our walk.