Erie Bluffs

Southwest winds and cloudy skies promised new migrants this morning. The Erie Bluffs site has a lot of brushy edge habitat, and I could hear lots of singing White-throated Sparrows as I was setting up the nets. The first check of the nets resulted in Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Palm Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Slate-colored Junco, Swamp Sparrow and 10+ White-throats.

Among them was the first Swamp Sparrow of the banding year. It was a bit stressed, so I didn’t take many photos of it.


This was a nice SY male Slate-colored Junco, based on pointed tail feathers and hints of brown on the back and head.

This Western Palm Warbler was very cooperative, allowing me to take some nice shots.









Unfortunately, the wind picked up significantly around 9 AM, so I ended up closing all of the nets around 11 AM and calling it a day. Some hawkwatching in the parking lot at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center resulted in dozens of Broad-winged Hawks, Turkey Vultures and an adult Golden Eagle.