Philadelphia: City (1 Viewer)

[TwoDipsfromAmsterdam]

I will be in Philadelphia for about 9 days (visiting family) starting early next week. I'm planning a trip down to Cape May for a couple of days but would welcome any advice about birding in the city itself. Anything on parks, river and other areas that can be reached by public transport and walking would be much appreciated.

David

 

[dantheman]

Hi, apart from useful info other people may give you, and the thread I posted back in April;( Visiting Philadelphia and beyond, April 2008 )

See my trip report (the intro and day 6 onwards), you may glean some info from it;

Trip Report; N. Eastern USA.

We also then spent a week at Cape May (I note you are then going to be going there), but I haven't written that up yet ( :eek!: ), and it's a completely different time of year, maybe best to wait and see what other advice/help you get.

Have a good trip!!

 

[TwoDipsfromAmsterdam]

Many thanks Dan. Much appreciated.
At least we'll know where to go for cheesecake! And a couple of Perergrines won't go amiss either.
David

 

[JohnJos]

David,

Cape May is certainly your best bet at this time of year. You'll still see raptors at the hawk watch, shorebirds, and other species at other locations such as the Meadows, the Villas, and Higbee Beach. This site is a good reference: http://www.birdcapemay.org/main.shtml. Check out this page for recent Cape May sightings: http://www.njaudubon.org/Tools.Net/Sightings/CapeMay.aspx and this page for NJ sightings: http://www.njaudubon.org/Tools.Net/Sightings/VoiceOf.aspx.

You can also travel up the east coast on NJ along the ocean beaches. Avalon, Barnegat and Brigantine are good areas. My favorite is Forsythe NWR. Here's their website: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/forsythe/. Also, just up the road is Leeds Point where you may catch Short-eared Owls and Northern Harriers this time of year: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=e...04604,-74.410808&spn=0.01452,0.02517&t=h&z=16

Then you can travel up the west coast along the Delaware River, a very good place for various raptors, including Bald Eagles. This page provides two maps showing locations on both coasts of NJ: http://www.birdcapemay.org/checklist.shtml. Turkey Point is supposedly a good location but I've yet to get there.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend a lot in and around Philadelphia proper. Possibly along the Wissahickon Valley. Hawk Mountain is good but a couple hours drive north.

One location you should try to get to is Conowingo Dam in Delaware:http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=e...4523,-76.165724&spn=0.014488,0.02517&t=h&z=16. Lots of Bald Eagles this time of year.

If I can think of anything else I'll let you know. Best of luck & have fun.

 

[TwoDipsfromAmsterdam]

John

Many thanks for that - very helpful. I'm just putting the finishing touches to the itinerary and a couple of the places you mention will now figure in that.
Hopefully I'll have a decent trip report to post in a couple of weeks.

David

 

[JohnJos]

You're welcome David. Have a great trip. Looking forward to your report.
Also, take a look here for Conowingo Bald Eagle photos. Do a search on "Conowingo" and you'll see numerous posts from this fall.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/board/41

 

[Matt_RTH]

Philly was one of the places that precipitated my interest in birding. I saw a bird that at the time looked the size of one of those airline pteradactyls on the Flinstones. One blurry picture later and I later realized it was a Great Blue Heron. This was at Valley Forge in December and about 18 degrees outside. It's a bit out of town but it's a great place to go. The history is palpable and to walk in the very doorways that Washington did is quite humbling. I also saw a red fox there as well as innumerable deer.

BTW, go to Jeno's and Pat's if you haven't for cheesteaks. Tony Luke's is also good.

 

[jmepler]

David,

Four Cave Swallows have been seen routinely at the Water Treatment facility near the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Lewis Street over the last two weeks or so.

They have been mixed in with a larger flock of Northern Rough-Winged Swallows and the odd Tree Swallow.

Mike

 

[TwoDipsfromAmsterdam]

Many thanks to all. We fly out today so here's hoping!

 

[cassowary]

David,

greetings,

two links to help you out:

http://birdingonthe.net/hotmail.html

http://birdingonthe.net/

My suggestion at this time of year would be
barnegat lighthouse NJ (probable harlequin ducks check the bird list website attached) - surf scoters possible - you can do brigantine in the same day -

Brigantine (NJ) American bittern in the early morning and late afternoon from the 'gull tower'; peregrine is also resident here and various other birds

tinicum also good for bittern but harder - also turkey; good for various sparrows, hooded merganser etc

bombay hook - bald eagle, ducks, geese, american avocets, yellow bellied sapsucker etc-

I would suspect that you may find cape may and hawk mountain dissapointing this time of year

Pilated woodpecker is regular at valley forge

The 'heronry' at avalon has been dead for many years now due to a great horned owl. - the owl has gone but the herons haven't returned