April 1, 2017
A visit to the John Heinz NWR at Tinicum in south Philadelphia on an overcast and cool Saturday. Wanted to see what ducks were passing through. But, as always, there are surprising things to find.
My normal loop is a ~5 mile walk that goes around the main impoundment pond. This includes a boardwalk crossing the pond near its north end; going through some woods that is the hangout of the migrating warblers and other woodland birds; passing along some marshy margin areas and subsidiary ponds; and then coming back via some raised ground that divides the pond from the freshwater marsh and Darby Creek. A nice mix of environments to walk through.
A few groups of waterfowl were in the northern end of the pond —
Also a pair of Mallards in this area. But Mallards and Canada Goose are pretty much constant residents here and can be seen in multiple areas.
A bald eagle also flew over at a pretty high altitude. A pair of them nest here and then hunt for fish in the freshwater marsh to the west of the pond.
From the boardwalk I also saw some large white birds come in and land in the open water in the central and southern part of the pond.
The Mute Swan is supposed to be fairly territorial, but there seem to usually be 4-6 in the pond on any given visit.
At this point I went off into the woods to the east of the pond for a while. I could hear lots of birds, but not many stood still long enough for a picture.
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And the trees and shrubs are starting to leaf out. The early blooming plants are getting their bloom and seeding in before they lose all their sun access. Red dead-nettle and Thale cress in patches along the trail.
More below the fold...
At one point the trail (wide enough for vehicles) does a wide 180 degree turn. In a tree in the middle of the half-loop I saw some motion. And also noticed lots of twigs jammed into a spot where the tree’s trunk split into a number of limbs.
Once the trees leaf in this spot should be pretty well hidden.
The trail then leaves the woods and passes through an area where there is water on both sides and some of the areas have lots of reeds and brush providing cover.
And there are a number of small birds active in this area as well. Some swallows and flycatchers that don’t stand still. (Eastern Phoebe, Barn Swallow, Bank Swallow). And some that eventually do.
Looking into the southern end of the main pond some ducks are visible about 100-150m away. A bit far for a clean picture and identification.
Eventually I start coming up the west side of the main pond. There is a smaller pond to the west where I saw Mergansers on a previous visit. In there today were Gadwalls (see title photo) and Mallards along with more Bank Swallows flying around.
Some ducks were near the shore on the west side of the pond as well — more Mallards, more American Coots, and also one I was not able to readily identify.
Plus some of these — easy to ID now due to their reddish sides and long bills.
I also startled a bird off the ground that showed a white rump patch as it flew into a tree. An identifier for woodpeckers usually.
At this point I could look across the pond and see where the bald eagle’s nest. (The trail on the east side keeps well clear of the nest location.)
And you also get a nice view of some of the buildings of downtown Philadelphia.
And there are more swallows flying all over too. Lots of nesting boxes are put out for them around and in the pond.
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