Snowy Egret and American Black Ducks
Alice and I visited some friends who live in downtown Philadelphia, and I had part of a day to do some nearby birding. Brian Mohr and I went to the nearby John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum. This refuge spans Philadelphia and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania, and is adjacent to the Philadelphia International Airport. Established in 1972 as the Tinicum National Environmental Center, it was renamed in 1991 after the late H. John Heinz III who had helped preserve Tinicum Marsh. The refuge serves to protect the largest remaining freshwater tidal marsh in Pennsylvania; approximately 350 acres in size. When land acquisition is complete, the refuge will consist of 1200 acres of varied habitats.
I had targeted three avian species that had been seen there the previous week: two of which were potential life birds and the other was a species I wanted to photograph, but I didn't get to see any of them. However, we had a good four-hour hike where I saw 33 species, in addition to House Sparrows and Turkey Vultures seen outside the refuge. Other birders saw an Anhinga and a Sora there the same morning, but we did not.
There were lots of wading birds, ducks, and Double-crested Cormorants in the marsh.
Snowy Egret and American Black Ducks
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Great Egrets
Green Heron
Great Blue Heron and Bank(?) Swallow
Double-crested Cormorants
Wood Duck
Wood Ducks
Great Blue Heron and Wood Ducks
Great Blue Heron, Canada Geese, Wood Ducks, and Blue-winged Teals
One of the two Teals next to the Great Blue Heron has quite a bit of rust coloring. I wonder if it might be a Cinnamon Teal or a hybrid Teal??
Teals
Immature male Blue-winged Teal (?)
The only sandpiper species I saw there was Lesser Yellowlegs, and there was a good sized flock of them.
Lesser Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Two Marsh Wrens were near the marsh, but neither of them wanted their picture taken.
Marsh Wren
The rufuge had several miles of wooded trails around the marsh areas. Gray Catbirds seemed to be everywhere.
Gray Catbird
Immature Gray Catbird
Immature male Red-winged Blackbird
One of the wooded tails along the marsh had a good number of warblers. Most of them were Palm Warblers along with several Common Yellowthroats. In the field, I thought that I had seen both Waterthrush species, but after carefully examining the photos, I think that both birds were Northern Waterthrushes.
Palm Warbler
Palm Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Waterthrush
Northern Waterthrush
Northern Waterthrush
Northern Waterthrush
Most of the wildlife seemed to get along well with other species at the refuge.
Wood Duck
Trip list:
American Black Duck
American Crow
American Robin
Bank Swallow
Belted Kingfisher
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Blue-winged Teal
Canada Goose
Carolina Wren
Common Yellowthroat
Double-crested Cormorant
Eastern Towhee
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Green-winged Teal
House Sparrow
Lesser Yellowlegs
Mallard
Marsh Wren
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Waterthrush
Palm Warbler
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-winged Blackbird
Rock Pigeon
Snowy Egret
Song Sparrow
Turkey Vulture
Wood Duck