State College Bird Club Zoom Meeting
April 27, 2022


Presiding: Doug Wentzel

Recording: Peggy Wagoner Saporito

Attendance: 35

Meeting Format: Zoom (due to Covid)

Treasurer’s report:(Jean Miller): Deposited: $315 from dues, hats and stickers. Expenses: $50 for speaker.

Bird Club Field Trips: (Susan Smith)

On Sunday April 24, Jon Kauffman led a delightful walk through several different habitats in the newly opened Dry Hollow area of Rothrock State Forest located in the valley between Tussey and Bald Eagle mountains.

Two more field trips are planned:

Wednesday, May 18, Search for Cerulean warblers and many more on the Lower Trail in Blair County with Nick Bolgiano

Wednesday May 25, Detweiler Run Natural Area with Greg and Deb Grove
Details for SCBC field trips can be found on our website.

Other Activities:

On Tuesday May 10, at 6:00 PM, Doug Wentzel will lead a bird walk at Old Crow Wetland for anyone interested in seeing the area that needs to be protected from development of Rutter’s truck stop.

Native Plant Sales are coming up. On Saturday April 30, starting at 10 AM, plants are available at Shaver’s Creek and on Saturday, May 7, 10AM- 3PM the PA Native Plant Society’s annual sale will be held at Boal Mansion.

On May 5, 7:00-8:30 PM, Scott Widensaul will give a presentation on Bird Migration at Shaver’s Creek EC.

Thanks to Joe Gyekis, Julia Plummer and Susan Smith who led Bird Walks at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center during April and to Julia Plummer for representing the SCBC at the MMNC Earth Day celebration.

Early records from the SCBC have now been archived at the Pattee Library on PSU campus, thanks to Nick Kerlin’s efforts.

Bird Club Elections:

By a unanimous voice vote, four candidates were elected:
•    VP for Field Trips – Susan Smith (returning)
•    Treasurer: Karen Kottlowski
•    2 At-large Board members: Jon Kauffman and Bob Fowles

Thanks to the nominating committee, Roana Fuller, Nick Kerlin and Greg Grove for identifying our slate of candidates. And a big thank you to Jean Miller, our outgoing Treasurer, for her work over the past 6 years.


Announcements:

Four SCBC logo hats are still available for sale. If interested, Contact Susan Smith.

Members, who are interested, are encouraged to support Centre Wildlife Care, the local wildlife rehabilitation facility, during Centre Gives online giving event, May 10-11. See https://centregives.org/organizations/12-centre-wildlife-care.

May 10 is the deadline for submitting photos to share during the May SCBC meeting. Contact Jen Lee or Roana Fuller.

Old Crow Wetland: The effort to prevent the proposed development of Rutter’s gas station and convenience store immediately above Old Crow Wetland has been ongoing for the past 3 years. Rutter’s, which should more appropriately be referred to as a truck stop, would have a 6-acre footprint located just above and within feet of the wetland. All runoff and associated pollutants from this pavement area would end up in the wetland. The politically active “Coalition to Save Old Crow wetland”, on Facebook, is a group of about 400 people working to prevent the development. They have collected more than 1000 signatures on a petition. Additional information about Old Crow wetland can also be found on the Facebook group, “Friend of Old Crow Wetlands”.
 
Tussey Mountain Spring Hawk Watch

Our 22nd year of the Tussey Mountain Hawk watch officially ended on April 25. Gillian Martin, our counter this season, gave a nice overview of the season. The golden eagle count tracked the historical average and ended with a total of 174. During the last four days of the watch, there was a huge push of broad-winged hawks moving north past the lookout making this year the second highest seasonal count of BW at Tussey with 1941 birds! Thanks to Gillian Martin for keeping us up to date on the count through the season and to Nick Bolgiano and Jon Kauffman for once again organizing this spring hawk watch.

Notable Bird Sightings: Greg Grove’s Summary

(March 24-April 27, 2022; Centre and its contiguous counties)

Two super rarities that were seen this month: white-winged scoter at Coyler Lake and the cinnamon teal at PSU water retention pond, that stayed around for the first three weeks of April. Other water birds included single red-necked grebes at several different locations, American white pelican, common gallinule, red-throated loon, black crowned night heron and a rarity as a spring migrant, American golden plover.

A swallow-tailed kite was report along Brush Mountain where one had been sighted about a decade ago. Other species include a summer tanager in Stormstown in mid April and marsh wren.

Of the 35 species of warblers that are typically seen at this time of year in our area, 27 of them have been reported to date. The most unusual was the earliest sighing of a Cape May warbler on April 12.

Speaker: Nan Butkovich: “From Wetlands to Badlands: Late Spring in Southwestern North Dakota”

(This entire presentation can be viewed at:)
https://psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/State+College+Bird+Club+April+Meeting/1_i9l3mh1t

Nan, a long time SCBC member provided us with a very nice overview of birding in three regions of North Dakota. Guided by an expert birder from the area, Nan and Roana Fuller from our club, along with other bird enthusiasts toured areas of ND around the Missouri River and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in early June, 2009. Nan’s photos from this trip showed the diversity of both birds and habitats in this region of the country.

The area east of the Missouri River, referred to as Missouri Coteau, is part of the prairie pothole region of mixed grass, agricultural lands, lakes and ponds. This area supports a large number of wetland birds including many nesting duck species, coots, grebes, bitterns and shorebirds including piping plovers and upland sandpipers. Other species such as yellow-headed blackbirds and western kingbirds were plentiful. The tour group visited National Wildlife Refuges and several waterfowl propagation areas within the Missouri Coteau.

West of the Missouri River, in the Missouri Slope area, the landscape is more arid with open grassland, grazing lands, and sparse shrubby vegetation as well as clay (gumbo) soils. Wooded riparian areas immediately adjacent to the river support a variety of warblers and vireos (as well as ticks, not unlike Scotia Barrens). Moving south and west away from the river, into the more arid landscape, grassland species such as larkspurs, western meadowlark, lark buntings, Brewer’s blackbirds, great partridge, sharp-tailed grouse and Swainson’s hawks were found.  Where there was water in this dry landscape, California gulls and pelicans were seen.

At the end of the tour, the group visited dry grasslands and rugged badlands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.