Mariton: Birding during Migration

by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager.  Photos by Carole Mebus.

Photo by Carole Mebus.

We went to Bethlehem Township this week for the Bird Walk.  We had a good variety of birds, but one of the highlights for me was a Northern Waterthrush in a muddy pond/puddle.  While it didn’t sing, we got a very good look at this warbler as it foraged along the edge of the pond.

Photo by Carole Mebus.

Another great sighting was female Common Merganser with 3 or four babies perched on her back as she swam upstream.  By the time Carole snapped the photo, mama had sped up and the babies had slid off her back.

Photo by Carole Mebus.

We got into a “comedy of warblers” in one spot.  As often happens at this time of migration several different species will be feeding together in the same tree.  When you have a few birders looking into the same tree and seeing different birds it can be quite comical.  “It’s yellow!  No way is that a Yellow-rumped Warbler.  It’s a Magnolia!”  It gets sorted out eventually and I was lucky enough to see the Black-throated Blue, Black and White, American Redstart, Magnolia, and Yellow-rumped Warbler in the same location.

A Baltimore Oriole. Photo by Carole Mebus.

We also got see both Baltimore Orioles and Orchard Orioles on this walk.  It is a good location that seems to concentrate birds into an isolated green space.