Long Billed Murrlet in PA

On Friday, there was a rare bird alert that a long billed murrelet, a bird with a typical range in northern Asia, was seen in the Lake Nockamixon state park outside Allentown, PA. Eric and I drove out there Saturday afternoon, but when we got there, it was no where to be seen. We chatted with a guy who had drove there from Baltimore, and he said that a long of people had been there looking, but it hadn't been seen all day. This guy wrote about seeing it in his blog - The Birdchaser.

The best part of the story is that apparently on Saturday morning, someone told the state park ranger that some hunter had shot the bird. So the ranger had to check to check every hunter that had come through that day to make sure they didn't have the murrelet tucked away in their loot. It seemed to be a false alarm, although no one had seen the bird alive all day. I think it's a goner. Someone's having murrelet soup for dinner tonight.

Long billed murelet in happier times: