The Saturday before Christmas, nine of us ambled in Glen Providence Park on a beautiful, cold, sunny morning for the Christmas Bird Count. It has become a fond holiday tradition (and reunion!), with most of our group having participated in multiple Bird Counts. Thank you to everyone who volunteered their eyes and ears that morning!

We documented 306 birds of 25 species – with the quantity due to eight flocks of Canada Geese flying overhead. Some of our most exciting sightings were a Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, and several woodpeckers and vultures. Once again this year, the Great Horned Owl that has been calling many nights around the park did not make an appearance that day, but we heard it just the night before.

It was the 123rd year for the CBC – the world’s longest-running Citizen Science survey! Here is our official Christmas Bird Count list of 25 species for Saturday, December 17, 2022:

Canada Goose – 171
Mourning Dove – 17
Black Vulture – 1
Turkey Vulture – 6
Red-tailed Hawk – 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 3
Downy Woodpecker – 2
Hairy Woodpecker – 3
Pileated Woodpecker – 1
Blue Jay – 3
American Crow – 3
Fish Crow – 9
Carolina Chickadee – 5
Tufted Titmouse – 7
White-breasted Nuthatch – 6
Brown Creeper – 1
Winter Wren – 1
Carolina Wren – 7
American Robin – 22
House Finch – 7
American Goldfinch – 4
Dark-eyed Junco – 8
White-throated Sparrow – 7
Song Sparrow – 3
Northern Cardinal – 6

A few photos from that morning are below, and a video by Carol Carmon…

The Saturday before Christmas, eight of us headed out on a very overcast morning in Glen Providence Park for the Christmas Bird Count. The air was damp, making it feel colder than the thermometer’s 40 degrees! But the Bird Count never fails to be a literal and figurative breath of fresh air in the midst of the holiday bustle, and we were accompanied by wonderful people. We documented 140 birds of 28 species – second only to last year’s wintry count, when we documented 29 species!

Some of our most exciting sightings were a Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Sharp-shinned, Cooper’s, and Red-shouldered Hawks! Alas, the Great Horned Owl that has been calling many nights around the park did not make an appearance that day, but having heard it just the night before, we were able to include it in our count for the week.

It was the 122nd year for the CBC – the world’s longest-running Citizen Science survey! Here is our official Christmas Bird Count list of 28 species for Saturday, December 18, 2021:

Mallard – 10
Mourning Dove – 18
Turkey Vulture – 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 1
Cooper’s Hawk – 1
Red-shouldered Hawk – 1
Belted Kingfisher – 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 5
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
Northern Flicker – 1
Blue Jay – 5
American Crow – 6
Fish Crow – 5
Carolina Chickadee – 2
Tufted Titmouse – 5
White-breasted Nuthatch – 3
Brown Creeper – 1
Winter Wren – 1
Carolina Wren – 2
Hermit Thrush – 1
American Robin – 46
House Finch – 3
Dark-eyed Junco – 6
White-throated Sparrow – 9
Song Sparrow – 1
Northern Cardinal – 2

It was overcast enough that it was hard to see the birds with binoculars, much less capture their picture, but here are a few photos from the Bird Count and Christmas Bird Count Week…

Carol Carmon’s video on YouTube (below) captures the morning beautifully!

It was a beautiful spring morning on Saturday for our 9th Spring Bird Walk in Glen Providence Park! Alas, we had canceled last year’s due to Covid, so we were especially excited to hold the walk again this year. It was the 4th bird walk that Dave Eberly has led for us. Predictably we heard more birds than we saw, but we identified seven warbler species, Baltimore Orioles, a Cooper’s Hawk, and we even managed to document a new species for our Park Bird List, the Gray-cheeked Thrush! That brings the number of species documented in Glen Providence Park to 129.

Thank you very much to Dave Eberly for leading yet another bird walk for us, to the wonderful group who attended, and to Carol Carmon for videoing. Watch the video on YouTube for an explanation of bird behavior during migration, what eBird is used for, and a glimpse of some of the birds seen on our walk.

Here is our complete checklist of 37 species for Saturday, May 15, 2021, as entered on eBird:

Mourning Dove – 1
Common Loon – 1
Turkey Vulture – 3
Cooper’s Hawk – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 4
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Pileated Woodpecker – 1
Northern Flicker – 2
Red-eyed Vireo – 4
Blue Jay – 4
American Crow – 2
Carolina Chickadee – 2
Tufted Titmouse – 4
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
House Wren – 3
Carolina Wren – 2
Gray Catbird – 15
Gray-cheeked Thrush – 1 – A new species for our Park Bird List!
Wood Thrush – 5
American Robin – 10
American Goldfinch – 4
White-throated Sparrow – 1
Song Sparrow – 3
Baltimore Oriole – 2
Red-winged Blackbird – 2
Brown-headed Cowbird – 1
Common Yellowthroat – 2
American Redstart – 1
Northern Parula – 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler – 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler – 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1
Canada Warbler – 1
Scarlet Tanager – 1
Northern Cardinal – 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 1

5/27: Edited to add YouTube link

This morning we headed out in wintry Glen Providence Park for the Christmas Bird Count, our first monthly event since Covid-19. We limited attendance to eight masked and distanced people, each of whom has joined us on past bird counts. Starting out when it was 19 degrees(!), it was our coldest CBC yet. The birds were undaunted – we counted 29 species, the most of any since we started in 2011!

Some of our most exciting sightings were a pair of Red-tailed Hawks, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Pine Siskins, Winter Wren, Brown Creeper, and Snow Geese flying overhead. And there were crows harassing an unseen bird on the western hill, likely the Great Horned Owl we have been hearing! It was exhilarating to be out in the cold, in the beautiful snowy woods, with wonderful company.

Both at the beginning and end of the morning, we saw a gorgeous Red Fox in the wetlands at Broomall’s Lake Country Club.

It was the 121st year for the CBC – the world’s longest-running Citizen Science survey! Here is our official Christmas Bird Count list of 29 species for Saturday, December 19, 2020:

Snow Goose – 3
Canada Goose -79
Mourning Dove – 8
Turkey Vulture – 2
Cooper’s Hawk – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Downy Woodpecker – 3
Hairy Woodpecker – 2
Blue Jay – 2
American Crow – 5
Fish Crow – 1
Carolina Chickadee – 6
Tufted Titmouse – 7
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 4
Brown Creeper – 1
Winter Wren – 1
Carolina Wren – 3
European Starling – 10
American Robin – 7
Pine Siskin – 9
American Goldfinch – 9
Dark-eyed Junco – 7
White-throated Sparrow – 17
Song Sparrow – 8
Red-winged Blackbird – 3
Northern Cardinal – 8

And to include those birds who weren’t cooperative enough to appear on the big day, here are the additional species we saw or heard in the glen during Christmas Bird Count Week (from the Wednesday before to the Tuesday after the Christmas Bird Count):

Mallard
Great Blue Heron
Great Horned Owl

Photos from this morning and Christmas Bird Count Week below…

Join Friends of Glen Providence Park in our 8th year participating in the Christmas Bird Count, the world’s longest-running Citizen Science survey!  In this early-winter bird census, thousands of volunteers across the US, Canada, and many countries go out over a 24-hour period to count birds. Researchers and conservation biologists use the data to study the long-term health and status of bird populations.

119th Annual Christmas Bird Count

Saturday, December 15
8:00-10:00am
Rain, snow, or shine!* 
Park entrance at 3rd & West Streets

Slow down for a morning and take a break from the holiday rush!

Logistics

• Please note the location– we will meet at the 3rd & West Street park entrance
• *Rain, snow, or shine – but in the event of high winds, we will post on Facebook and our website that morning whether we will meet. 
• Be prepared for steep hills and rugged, possibly muddy and/or icy terrain
• Experienced and novice birdwatchers welcome!
• Of course, bring your binoculars and bird guides!

Friends of Glen Providence Park will submit our results to the CBC Compiler for Delaware County. We will also post the results on our website!

Join us for a bird walk in Glen Providence Park during spring migration! We’ll look for warblers and other migrants, and see if we can add to the 127 species on the Park Bird List. We will be led by Dave Eberly – a lifelong birder, for the past 27 years, he has participated in the Christmas Bird Count (CBC), the world’s longest-running Citizen Science project. For the past 10 years, he has taken on the important task of compiling all CBC data for Delaware County!

Spring Bird Walk

Saturday, May 5, 2018
8:00-10:00am
*Kirk Lane entrance
Rain or shine

Logistics:

• * Please note the location- we are starting at the Upper Providence entrance at Third Street and Kirk Lane. *
• Estimated distance: 1-1.5 miles
• Estimated time: 2 hours
• Rain or shine
• Free!
• Be prepared for steep hills, and uneven (possibly wet) terrain: wear your hiking shoes, bring a hiking pole if you use one… and of course binoculars and your favorite bird book or app!

A congenial group of both new and long-time citizen scientist volunteers joined us on a 21-degree morning for our seventh Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in Glen Providence Park! It was hard to complain about the cold after last year’s freezing rain, and in the snowiest December I can remember in Pennsylvania, the snow-covered woods were lovely. The birds were active during the brief periods the sun came out, and then blended into the grey whenever it was overcast. As always, it was a refreshing Saturday morning in the midst of the holidays!

It was the 118th year for the CBC – the world’s longest-running Citizen Science survey! Here is our official Christmas Bird Count list for Saturday, December 16, 2017:

Canada Goose – 162
Turkey Vulture – 3
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 5
Blue Jay – 5
American Crow – 3
Carolina Chickadee – 4
Tufted Titmouse – 2
White-breasted Nuthatch – 4
Carolina Wren – 4
Dark-eyed Junco – 5
White-throated Sparrow – 6
Northern Cardinal – 2
blackbird sp. – 20

And to include those birds who weren’t cooperative enough to appear on the big day, here are the additional species we saw in the Glen during Christmas Bird Count Week (from the Wednesday before to the Tuesday after the Christmas Bird Count):

Snow Goose
Mallard
Great Blue Heron
Mourning Dove
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Winter Wren
American Robin
Song Sparrow
American Goldfinch

Photos from Christmas Bird Count Week below…

Photos by author

Join Friends of Glen Providence Park in our 7th year participating in the Christmas Bird Count, the world’s longest-running Citizen Science survey! The CBC was started on Christmas Day 1900 by the Audubon Society, in reaction to the tradition known as the Christmas “Side Hunt”: whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won. Instead of hunting birds, the CBC would count them!

118th Annual Christmas Bird Count

Saturday, December 16
8:00-10:00am
Rain, snow or shine!
* Park entrance at 3rd & West Streets *

In this early-winter bird census, thousands of volunteers across the US, Canada, and many countries in the Western Hemisphere go out over a 24-hour period to count birds. Researchers and conservation biologists use the data to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America.

Slow down for a morning and take a break from the holiday rush!

Logistics

• * Please note the location- we will meet at the 3rd & West Street park entrance *
• Rain, snow, or shine
• Be prepared for steep hills and rugged, possibly muddy terrain
• Experienced and novice birdwatchers welcome!
• Of course, bring your binoculars and bird guides!

Friends of Glen Providence Park will submit our results to the CBC Compiler for Delaware County. We will also post the results on our website!

What a great turnout for our Spring Bird Walk in Glen Providence Park this morning – we had 22 people, including 2 kids, and 2 members of the Penncrest High School Envirothon team! We were led by Tom Bush of the Birding Club of Delaware County, who took time to show us what birds to look for before we started, and gave us helpful tips during the walk. While the rain held out, we heard more birds than we saw, reminding us how helpful it is to learn bird songs!

We saw oodles of endearing Catbirds, a Red-eyed Vireo, Baltimore Orioles, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, and heard many birds including the ever-lovely Wood Thrush. Some of us lingered afterwards listening as activity increased – new for me was the buzzy call of the Green-throated Warbler, “trees, trees, murmuring trees.”

Thank you to Tom Bush for leading us, to naturalist Tom Reeves for joining us, and to the birders of all ages who came out early on a Saturday morning!

Spring Bird Walk eBird List

May 6, 2017
32 species

A Wood Thrush I saw hopping along the trail two days earlier. It is likely one of the ones we heard calling on our walk!

2 – Canada Goose
1 – Great Blue Heron
2 – Turkey Vulture
1 – Sharp-shinned Hawk
4 – Mourning Dove
4 – Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 – Downy Woodpecker
1 – Hairy Woodpecker
1 – Northern Flicker
1 – Eastern Phoebe
1 – Great Crested Flycatcher
4 – Red-eyed Vireo
6 – Blue Jay 
3 – American Crow
2 – Carolina Chickadee
5 – Tufted Titmouse
4 – House Wren
4 – Carolina Wren
2 – Veery
2 – Wood Thrush
7 – American Robin
16 – Gray Catbird
2 – Northern Parula
1 – Blackpoll Warbler
1 – Black-throated Blue Warbler
5 – Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 – Black-throated Green Warbler
5 – Song Sparrow
2 – Eastern Towhee
3 – Northern Cardinal
1 – Brown-headed Cowbird                
3 – Baltimore Oriole

Join us for a bird walk in Glen Providence Park during spring migration! We’ll look for warblers and all sorts of other migrants, and see if we can add to the 127 species on the park’s bird list. This walk will be led by Tom Bush – he’s a lifelong birder, an officer of the Birding Club of Delaware County, and he has led bird walks at Smedley Park and John Heinz NWR. Tom has been on several of our walks – we are delighted that he will be leading this one! 

Spring Bird Walk

Saturday, May 6, 2016
7:30-9:30am
*Kirk Lane entrance
Rain or shine

Logistics:

• * Please note the location- we are starting at the Upper Providence entrance at Third Street and Kirk Lane. *
• Estimated distance: 1-1.5 miles
• Estimated time: 2 hours
• Rain or shine
• Free!
• Be prepared for steep hills, and uneven (possibly wet) terrain: wear your hiking shoes, bring a hiking pole if you use one… and of course binoculars and your favorite bird book or app!