State College Bird Club

22 September 2010


The State College Bird Club met at Foxdale Village on 22 September 2010.  Forty members and guests attended; Deb Grove presided.

Business
•    Nan Butkovich read the minutes.
•    Dorothy Bordner presented the Treasurer’s report.
•    She also read the checklist.  138 species were reported as having been seen within 25 miles of the Penn State campus since 1 Sept.  Species of note included Black-crowned Night-heron, Semipalmated Plover, Pectoral Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper, and Sanderling.

Announcements
•    Joe Verica is the new Vice-President for Field Trips.
•    Greg Grove, Membership Chair, reminded everyone that annual dues are due.
•    Copies of Birds of Central PA are still available.  See Greg Grove or Nick Bolgiano.
•    Cards listing 10 top woodland plants were distributed to anyone interested.

Upcoming events
•    Clearwater Conservancy is hosting an Environmental Film Festival at Mt. Nittany Middle School.
•    Spring Creek Day is 3 Oct. at Millbrook Marsh.  The Bird Club will have a table. 
•    Woodland Owners of Centre Co. will meet 6 Oct. at Foxdale  Marcia Bonta will speak on her family’s woodland stewardship efforts in Tyrone.
•    Big Sit is on 10 Oct.  There will be circles at Bald Eagle State Park, the Shaver’s Creek Boardwalk, the Stone Mtn. Hawkwatch, and somewhere along the Juniata River.
•    Wayne Laubscher will speak at our Oct. meeting on vagrant western hummingbirds.

Presentation
Greg Grove and Nick Bolgiano gave a presentation on raptor migration in Central PA.  Much of the content was extracted from the three chapters on hawk migration in their book.  There are three main hawkwatches in our area: Jack’s Mountain, Stone Mountain (both in Huntingdon Co.) and Tussey Mtn. (on the border of Huntingdon and Centre Co.)  Tussey is a premier eastern location for the spring migration of Golden Eagles.  Wind direction is critical.  Even though Jack’s and Stone are just a few miles apart, the direction of the wind can result in a great observation day at one location and a poor one at the other.  Not all hawks migrate at the same time.  One very interesting table showed the frequency of distribution by species throughout the spring and fall months.  The presentation concluded with a discussion of identification tips for raptors and a quiz that required the audience to apply those tips to the unknown raptors shown.

Minutes taken by Nan Butkovich, Secretary