Birding my local Pennsylvania park (USA), plus Golden Eagle and Fox Sparrows (1 Viewer)

Hello birders,

I had a decent birdwatching day at my local park in eastern Pennsylvania. The species count was rather paltry (14 species, I think), but I got wonderful views of the park's local Bald Eagle pair.

As a bonus, I saw three Fox Sparrows and an immature Golden Eagle from my yard on February 14th, just in time for the Great Backyard Bird Count. Three Fox Sparrows is a very good number for my feeders, while the Golden Eagle is the first I have ever seen from my yard.

A garden Golden eagle? (radiates envy). Which park is your local? The only one I know is John Heinz NWR near Philly. I visited it a couple of times while working there, indeed, you could say that being bored in Philly at weekends really got me birding again.

Hi stuartvine,

These Bald Eagles were seen at Green Lane Reservoir in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. John Heinz NWR is about an hour from me, so I haven't been there yet (but really should). Green Lane is just one of several birding areas to visit that are relatively close to me.

The Golden Eagle came as a complete surprise, looking much larger than the American Crow it flew past.

Best eagle moment in John Heinz came when I was chatting with two nice female American birders about the Bald Eagle we'd just seen when we where interrupted by some "know-it-all" who bluntly stated that we hadn't seen an eagle as there weren't any there. This is despite the fact that they nest there and I had a rather incontrovertible picture of an adult