This Stilt Sandpiper showed itself to Rick K. and I for 5 minutes before flying off, never to be seen again after a trip completely around the flats.

A Black Tern sat for a couple hours on this log in the middle of the water. It’s an amazing second sighting of the species in county this year.

Other birds included a Common Tern that came flying around for a few minutes before heading back out to the river, 15 Dunlin, 6 Semipalmated Plovers, 4 Pectoral Sandpipers, 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper, plenty of Spotties and Solitaries, both Yellowlegs species and roughly 75 Least Sandpipers hanging out as well as a group of 17 Short-billed Dowitchers that gave a flyby— roused by atv riders from the other side, right past me, and out of the flats.

Last night I said “tomorrow is the most likely day for us to get Black Terns at Harvey’s Lake.” And it was true. The combination of the storm, the date, and the fact that I haven’t really heard of any mass sightings of Black Terns yet proved me right. Although my morning check found an incredible lone male Surf Scoter, I found no terns. Fast forward to noon when Rick K., who went up for the Surf Scoter on his lunch break, found two Black Terns flying around. I also ran up to see them on my lunch. I’d like to believe that next up is Caspian Tern but I think it’s more likely we see Common or Forster’s. Today would be an excellent day to check Lake Wallenpaupack.

Due to developing my iphone/android app (birdcountr) I’ve got a ton of entries not up on the site. I’ll try to log them in when things slow down. But as of right now birds that had entries:

Shorebirds:
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Wilson’s Snipe
American Woodcock

Herons:
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron

Sightings will be sparse until probably March since most everything is frozen over. But March 15 kicks off my official start to looking for sandpiper and plovers.

Sibley’s lists Red-necked Grebes as in breeding plumage February thru August but this fellow is still mostly in breeding plumage- though admittedly shabby. I’ve personally never seen a bird not in plain old non-breeding plumage and looking mostly brownish. The other individual present at the lake is your typical non-breeding plumage bird.