Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, August 2013

A trip to Philadelphia this week was notable for exploring further afield and finding a butterfly haven at Rocklands.

I began on the trail along the Schuykill River Trail, heading upstream to the waterworks. A weir here separates the salty water, pushing upstream on the tide, from the freshwater flowing down (at least I think so).  Wood Ducks kept station against the current, oblivious to the foam from the weir.

The birding was slow until I pulled away from the river and struck inland and uphill on Fountain Green Drive and into Fairmount Park.  

American Goldfinches were seen on the weedy bank to the left and a Song Sparrow popped up in response to a pish.

Mount Pleasant Mansion can be found at Google Earth ref; 39 58 59.98N 75 11 58.96W, about 3 miles northwest of Philadelphia city centre. It is a National Historic Landmark administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, approached via a line of stately trees which held American Redstart and Blue Jays today. Chipping Sparrows fed by the kerb and in the grass at the front of the house. The American Goldfinches appeared again at the top of the slope as if to welcome me to the house.

It is permissible (I assumed) to walk around the building and I went in search of an Eastern Wood-pewee that I could hear calling.

An Eastern Phoebe, Black and White Warbler, Baltimore Oriole and Eastern Kingbird were seen before I caught up with the pewee.

I continued along the road, noting Tufted Titmouse and Grey Catbird. Forgetting where I was, I claimed a couple of Black-capped Chickadees before eBird caught up with me and reminded me that this was Carolina Chickadee country.

The next notable building along the drive is Rocklands. I caught a quick glimpse of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird coming in to feed on the bushes and herbs (?) at the front of the house and stopped to wait and see if it would come back.

The aromatic flowers here attracted butterflies by the score and I spent a merry hour trying to do them justice with the camera and now I must do them the honour of finding out who they are. There are plenty of butterfly websites available, but they are less than perfect when it comes to identifying species, so I am now in the market for a Butterflies of USA fieldguide.

On the return, I was stopped by a Double-crested Cormorant on the river. It had caught a huge fish and was trying to swallow it whole. I have been accused of being a glutton, but at least I stop and think before trying to eat anything bigger than my own head.

Birds seen;29

Canada Goose 15, Wood Duck 6, Mallard 10, Double-crested Cormorant 11, Turkey Vulture 1, Red-shouldered Hawk 1, Ring-billed Gull 2, Chimney Swift 12, Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2, Northern Flicker 3, Eastern Wood-pewee 2, Eastern Phoebe 1, Eastern Kingbird 4, Warbling Vireo, 2, Blue Jay 3, Barn Swallow 18, Carolina Chickadee 2, Tufted Titmouse 2, American Robin 90, Grey Catbird 5, Black and white Warbler 1, American Redstart 1, European Starling 8, Chipping Sparrow 6, Song Sparrow 3, Common Grackle 1, Baltimore Oriole 1, American Goldfinch 12, House Sparrow 50.

Black Saddlebags

For previous posts from Philadelphia, see the links below;

http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/delaware-river-philadelphia.html

http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/lemon-hill-philadelphia-may-2012.html

Visit the dedicated USA and CanadaPage for more posts from the region.

Lemon Hill, Philadelphia, May 2012

Another attempt to find some of the fancy wood-warblers migrating up the eastern side of the USA has met with almost complete, abject failure. Philadelphia has not figured largely on Redgannet up until now and I had hoped to be able to bring some of its treasures to life, but apart from a few Warbling Vireos, the migration has passed me by.

Fairmount Park is a great spot to spend a couple of hours, warblers or not and I concentrated my search around Lemon Hill Google Earth ref; 39 58 17N 75 11 17W. My plan was to find a feature that might draw the warblers in. A small wooded hill beside the river seemed to be just the thing, but what do I know?

Canada Geese were parading their chicks as they fed on the grassy patches close to the Museum of Art and House Sparrows chipped from every bush as I cycled the path that runs alongside the Schuykill River. I made the journey twice, once on the Sunday evening on arrival and again on the Monday morning, but I will try to blend them together as one post. The Sunday evening was very busy with bands playing in the cafes near the river and Monday morning was naturally much quieter.
Lemon Hill is a subtle mount with its steeper slope rising from the river side. Once up on the top, the most obvious feature is the Lemon Hill Mansion. Roads describe a circular route of nearly a mile if you keep turning right while walking clockwise. American Barn Swallows and Northern Rough-winged Swallows were common and occasionally stopped for a break and a pre-nuptual tidbit.

There are plenty of Black Locust trees which I have always associated with Black and White Warblers. Despite a thorough scanning of the deeply furrowed trunks and branches, there was not a B&W to be seen. The season was being observed however and plenty of American Robins were out on the lawns collecting nesting material.

Brown-headed Cowbirds were getting into the spirit of spring, displaying with great enthusiasm.

Despite my complaining about the warblers, there were a few other migrants that had waited around to greet me in Pennsylvania. There were half a dozen Baltimore Orioles compared against only one Orchard Oriole. A few sightings of a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher were probably of the same bird and Eastern Kingbirds were fairly common on exposed snags.

Down on the river, a birdy area just above the weir produced more Warbling Vireos, a Green Heron and the Red-winged Blackbirds. Oh and don't forget the Philadelphia Eagle.

Birds seen; 38

Canada Goose 40, Wood Duck 1, Mallard 6, Double-crested Cormorant 9, Green Heron 1, Red –tailed Hawk 1, Ring-billed Gull 2, Mourning Dove 15, Chimney Swift 20, Red-bellied Woodpecker 2, Downy Woodpecker 1, Northern Flicker 4, Eastern Kingbird 6, Warbling Vireo 8, American Crow 3, Northern Rough-winged Swallow 40, Barn Swallow 60, Tufted Titmouse 1, Carolina Wren 2, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher 1, American Robin 60, Grey Catbird 15, Northern Mockingbird 2, European Starling 60, Cedar Waxwing 35, Chipping Sparrow 3, Song Sparrow 1, Dark-eyed Junco 1, Northern Cardinal 5, Indigo Bunting 1, Red-winged Blackbird 10, Common Grackle 40, Brown-headed Cowbird 10, Orchard Oriole 1, Baltimore Oriole 6, House Finch 4, American Goldfinch 3, House Sparrow 150.

To see more posts from Philadelphia, follow the links below;
http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/delaware-river-philadelphia.html

Visit the dedicated USA and Canada Page for more from the North American continent.

Delaware River, Philadelphia

A trip to Philadelphia was affected by snow. This post is an account of a very brief skip out from the hotel to have a look at the Delaware River.
From my room, I could see that small ice floes were beginning to form on the river and birds were using them as rafts and getting a free ride upstream. The Delaware is tidal at Philadelphia and the incoming flow had reversed the direction so that it appeared to be going inland.

Most of the hitch-hikers were gulls and immature ones at that. Did I really want to go out in the snow and frustrate myself over immature gulls? But then I saw a male Bufflehead floating by and decided that I couldn’t predict what might be next, so out I went. Perhaps a closer inspection might reveal rails and kingfishers who had journeyed from their frozen freshwater haunts to a place where the water remained clear from ice?

A Song Sparrow looked nearly as red as the Fox Sparrow from New York last week. It dived into a snowy bush when it saw me coming, but sat up high enough for a good view.

Ring-billed Gulls and Greater Black-backed Gulls were the birds conserving their energy and letting the ice and the river do the work.

In a small dock, near Penn’s Landing, 8, Ruddy Duck were pretending to sleep, but were fully alert to my approach and sidled away with their heads still tucked firmly under their wings.

The only other birds to show today were some starlings, House Sparrows and a flock of Canada Geese that came flying in and landed just ahead of me.

It wasn’t a big day, but I was pleased to get out if only for a very short time. In the nearly two years that I have been blogging around the world, the weather has not yet prevented me from going bird watching, so it would have been a bad precedent to allow.

Bird species; 9

Canada Goose 20, Bufflehead 1, Ruddy Duck 8, Mallard 4, Ring-billed Gull 25, Greater Black-backed Gull 6, Starling 2, House Sparrow 6, Song Sparrow 1.