Winter Raptor Survey - Eastern Delco

Bob Kelly, Dave Eberly & Chris Pugliese

Blurry Photo of our Merlin

      Four members of the BCDC ventured out on Saturday to participate on the statewide Winter Raptor Survey. This year Dave Eberly (Captain), Bob Kelly, Chris Pugliese and myself drove 83  miles through the eastern half of Delaware County and found 10 species of raptors. Turkey, Black Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks were the most numerous, but other species made the count more interesting. Along the blue route in Swarthmore we were able to find a perched Red-shouldered Hawk surveying his surroundings. We attempted to find a Goshawk that was visiting a feeder but our timing was not good. At the Phila Airport we missed American Kestrel but made up for it with a nice male Northern Harrier and a Bald Eagle flying over the river. After that, we drove to the Commodore Barry bridge and were lucky enough to see two Peregrine Falcons, one perched on each of the high spires of the suspension bridge. We also spotted five Bald Eagles. Later in the Chichester Industrial Park we found the best bird of the day, a Merlin.
     We found some other good birds, such as a Horned Lark & Killdeer at the airport and some very late/early Brown-headed Cowbirds. Adding to the delightful days mix of birds were 37 Tundra Swans floating along the river near the Harrah's Casino. It was a fun 6 hours of birding locally throughout the county.