Lehigh River (13-Feb-2016)

With the wind chill today it felt like the temperature was in the negative numbers. I made the decision yesterday that I was not going to do a clean-up in such cold. I set out this morning to go birding from my car. I took Penny along, if she couldn't be taken out for a hike today, I thought she would at least prefer a ride to staying home. The idea was to drive through some farmland in Lehigh County where last month I found a large flock of Horned Larks. On the way I stopped at Lehigh Canal Park as a rest stop for Penny. She wanted to go right down the trail and the cold didn't phase her one bit. We walked to the river and back and I was cold all the way through. I was a little disappointed when I saw the trash cans hadn't been emptied since my last clean-up of the canal and not a single one of the cans had a lid secured on it. I replaced two of the lids, another was missing and the fourth can had been knocked over and wedged in a snow pile. I really don't want to see that trash blow back into the canal or make it down to the river. The only good thing about the cans was that for now the contents are all frozen together and will not be coming out even with heavy winds. 

The birding was not that great. I did see common species like a Downy Woodpecker, Cardinals, Dark-Eyed Juncos, a Bluebird and a Morning Dove. Nothing good enough to stop for a photo. On the way back home I thought Penny could use another stop and we headed to the boat launch in Lehigh Gap. When I got out of the car there was no wind and it was not that bad. I took Penny down to the river and I started finding bottles and picking them up.

I don't know how many times I have cleaned this area now, every time the river rises more is deposited on the banks. I wish people knew just how much trash we have along our rivers. If they did maybe less would litter.

We didn't get far at all and the wind started up and it went from comfortable to absolutely miserable in seconds. Again, Penny looked to be unaffected. She wanted to keep following the riverbank, but it was too much for me. 

This was the pile for this very short clean-up. Tomorrow is supposed to be colder and I will not be going out.

I made one last stop at another section of the Lehigh Canal to see what ducks were around. There were a lot of Mallards and some domesticated ducks that are often around. This Male Mallard stood out because it had a band on its leg. The band means that this duck was trapped, possibly by the PA Game Commission, data was recorded about it and it was released with the band. This way records can be kept on specific individuals. This one could possibly be trapped again or the band could be found after death. If you ever find a dead duck or goose look to see if you can see a band around its leg. On them is both an id number and a phone number. If you call and report the id number you will be sent information on that specific bird. I found a dead goose last year and when I called in I learned the Goose was over twelve years old when it died and the original location of where it had been trapped. 

Will be back out again as soon as the weather conditions improve.

You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash