Rare Birds
5/15/16
By David Brown
May is an exciting month for birders because we know there will be rare birds, but it is impossible to guess which ones will show up. This year May started off with a mega rarity. The weather forecast called for a huge rainstorm to hit the morning of May 1st after a night of south winds. That meant that migrating water birds would be looking for a lake or river to wait out the bad weather. A group of us arranged to meet at the south boat launch of Rose Valley Lake around seven. It was raining when we got there so I left my camera in the car but I got out my spotting scope to scan the lake. I spotted a nice variety of ducks, some cormorants, and some gulls. A flock of ten white-winged scoters was a nice treat but we had seen some the day before so it wasn't the rarity we were hoping for.
My friend Steve pointed out a dark bird circling above the lake. I got my binoculars on it and watched it turn until I saw the silhouette. The feature that really stood out was that it had long, pointed central tail feathers. I had seen that shape before, but only more than 50 miles out on the Atlantic Ocean during pelagic birding trips. It was a jaeger! I ran to the car and grabbed my camera and was able to get photographs that let us determine that it was a parasitic jaeger. This species can be found along the coast or on the Great Lakes during migration, but is very rare to find inland. This was the first one ever recorded in Lycoming County.
Parasitic Jaeger
On May 8th my family spent the morning birding then decided to make a quick stop at the Williamsport river walk. I spotted a raft of around 30 gulls just above the dam. It was obvious that one was slightly smaller and had a black head. A Bonaparte's gull has a black head, but this gull was too large and had white around the eye and a large red beak. It was a laughing gull! This species is familiar to anyone who vacations at the beach in the summer, but is rare to find in Pennsylvania except in the southeast. I am not aware of any previous records for Lycoming County.
Laughing Gull (R) with Ring-billed Gull (L)
Later that same afternoon my brother Bobby was birding at Canfield Island in Loyalsock Township and found a summer tanager. The scarlet tanager is a common nesting species in our area, but the summer tanager is a more southerly species that is rare to find anywhere in Pennsylvania. Any seen in our area are ones that overshot their expected range while migrating. Again this is a very rare species for Lycoming County with few or no previous records.
Summer Tanager
These are just a few examples of the excitement for birders during May. Whether it is a jaeger headed to its Arctic nesting grounds, or a tanager that just arrived from South America, you don't have to go far to see amazing birds.
