State College Bird Club Zoom Meeting
February 22, 2023


Presiding: Doug Wentzel

Recording: Peggy Wagoner Saporito

Attendance: 65

Meeting Format: Zoom

Treasurer’s report: (Karen Kottlowski):

The SCBC checking account balance is $3907.78 and saving account balance is $5573.77. Since August, we have acquired 21 new members. Thank you to everyone who is a member.

Bird Club Field Trips: (Susan Smith)

Six field trips are planned for the spring. The first will be on March 19 to Bald Eagle State Park led by Bob Snyder. In April, four trips are scheduled and one in May. More may be added. Details for each trip can be found on our website www.scbirdcl.org

Announcements/Other Activities:

Congratulations to Jon Kauffman for being among the three e-birders to win the 2022 checklist-a-day challenge. For a nice write-up about Jon and the other 2 winners, see: https://ebird.org/news/2022-checklist-a-day-challenge-winners.

The spring Tussey Mountain Hawkwatch will begin on Friday, February 24. Andrew Bechdel, our official hawk counter for this season, introduced himself and encouraged everyone who is interested to visit the watch this spring for the golden eagle migration and more. Andrew’s previous experience included being a volunteer counter at the Braddock Bay, NY Hawkwatch.

The exhibit at Huntingdon Arts Council, Old Crow through the Seasons, (https://huntingdoncountyarts.com/?page_id=575) is still available through March 4.

For those interested in more information about Old Crow and how to get involved in helping to save this wetland from Rutter’s proposed development, check the Coalition to Save Old Crow Wetland facebook page.

Jon Kauffman has set up a live webcam in a screech owl nest box in State College. Eggs haven’t been laid yet, but can be expected in the next couple of weeks. For a close up view of the interesting lives of these feathered neighbors, check out the webcam at https://www.shaverscreek.org/conservation-and-research/citizen-science-projects/.

Joe Gyekis described the interest that State College Borough has expressed in designating May 13 as Bird Day in State College in honor of the Global Big Day. The borough is currently in the brainstorming phase to implement this idea, but Joe wanted us to be aware that there may be opportunities to involve the club in some way in the future.

Notable Bird Sightings: Julia Plummer

(Jan 26 - Feb 22, 2023; Centre and its contiguous counties)
Due to a scheduling conflict this year with his involvement in the Breeding Bird Survey, Greg Grove is unable to give us his usual updates. Fortunately, Julia Plummer filled that role for us.

Perhaps due to the mild winter we’ve been experiencing during the last 4-6 weeks, American woodcock have been showing up early this year. Likewise, bodies of water, such as Bald Eagle State Park, Gallitzin and Lake Perez, that in colder winters are ice covered, have open water where numbers of tundra swans can be enjoyed. Species, that in some winters have been seen in numbers or frequency, have been sparse and sporadic this winter, perhaps due to the mild weather. These include rough-legged hawks, short-eared owls, snow bunting, long-tail duck and pine siskins. The evening grosbeaks that were seen in some numbers earlier in the winter have not been reported since the end of January.

Speaker: Mary Birdsong: “Plovers, Terns and Shorebirds Galore”

(This entire presentation can be viewed at: 
https://psu.zoom.us/rec/share/0ur2QPJP_gMUWSoAzJcwFvAAalP3iYkZBritmcnLE2iJn9tQ12trPPtfIiDgn8Ns.1sx15XruUu75zS9L?startTime=1677111261000

As Erie Bird Observatory’s lead shorebird monitor, Mary presented a fascinating look at the lives and complex relationships among breeding piping plovers as well as other shorebirds at Presque Isle.

Mary briefly described the history and varied programs under the umbrella of Erie Bird Observatory (EBO), https://www.eriebirdobservatory.org/.  Activities include migrant songbird banding at Presque Isle which has been ongoing since 1960, as well as education, outreach, marsh bird monitoring and habitat improvements.

EBO is responsible for monitoring piping plover and common tern nesting activities from April-September at Gull Point on Presque Isle. The Great Lakes population of piping plovers that Mary studies are federally endangered and the common terns are state endangered. Because of their endangered status, federal and state agencies as well as non-profits including EBO are working together to maximize the chances for breeding success.

Presque Isle is a recurved sand spit peninsula in Lake Erie. The tip of the peninsula including Gull Point, with exposed sandy beach adjacent to open lake, is designated as critical habitat for breeding piping plovers based on historical nesting records.

So as not to disturb breeding activities, the beach is monitored at a distance from a platform (Mary calls this her “office”). The trail leading to the platform is the only access, otherwise the critical habitat area is completely off limits to human activity during the breeding season.

In 2017, the first piping plover nests were seen on Gull Point since the last records of nesting on Presque Isle in the 1960’s. Currently piping plover nests can be found on all of the Great Lakes with 74 pairs fledging 137 chicks in 2021 and 72 nests fledging 160 chicks in 2022.

The vast majority of these 2021 and 2022 chicks were fledged in the wild. Twenty-three were rescued from failing nests and reared in captivity then released back to the wild. Mary described the multi-organization and multi-location rescue activities to ensure that as many young piping plovers survive as possible to add to the small population. From 2017-2022, Presque Isle has produced 27 fledglings; six of these were reared in captivity.

Since every individual in this endangered population is important, piping plover chicks, at around 10 days old, are fitted with a series of colored leg bands. Each member of a brood (young from a single nest) receives the same combination of colored bands. Subsequently as adults, each individual that is captured is given unique bands that allow researchers to identify individuals and trace their brood origin.

Knowing the identity, from band patterns, of the birds that she has monitored at Gull Point, Mary was able to tell a fascinating story of the trials and tribulations of the various piping plovers that have made nesting attempts (some successful, some not), each breeding season since 2017.

By far the star of the story has been a male they named Jerry.  Jerry showed up at Gull Point in 2016 and has been breeding every year from 2017-2022. During that period, this pioneering bird has been father to 40 eggs resulting in 19 fledged chicks. Jerry is a major part of the success story of piping plovers at Gul Point. This special bird was named in honor of Jerry McWilliams who, along with Gene Stall, in 1993, was instrumental in creating a shorebird sanctuary, closed to public access during the breeding season, at Gull Point.

Each time a piping plover nest is identified through monitoring by EBO, efforts to protect the nest from predation are implemented by the PA Game Commission. A metal mesh cage is placed over the nest allowing piping plovers to enter and leave the nest area, while excluding ground and aerial predators. More recently, plastic lattice has been laid just under the sand surrounding the nests to prevent access by burrowing predators. Camera traps are also installed to monitor activities at the nest.

As precocial young, piping plovers are mobile and able to feed themselves within hours of hatching. Though parents do not feed their chicks, they do brood them providing warmth, rest and protection under their wings or breast. Adults and chicks depend upon camouflage as protection against predators. They hunker down staying motionless on the sand to avoid detection.

Mary also monitors common tern breeding activity at Gull Point. Gull Point is the only appropriate nesting habitat for common terns in PA. Typically, terns nest in large colonies which provide protection from predators. There is safety in numbers where groups of terns can successfully chase off predators, especially aerial predators.

In the 1930’s large colonies of common tern with up to 125 nests were recorded on Presque Isle. Since then, the last records of any nesting were in the 1960’s with no information regarding fledging success.

In 2015 common terns established a small breeding colony of 8 nests, but unfortunate high water events and predation resulted in no hatching. In 2022, 1 pair produced a nest of 3 eggs. They successfully hatched 2 chicks, the first known hatching since the 1960’s. The two chicks were monitored and photographed among driftwood piles on the beach, but unfortunately they were predated prior to maturity, so again, no successful fledging occurred.

On a lighter note, Mary shared some of the interesting avian visitors in 2022 that she noted during her time monitoring at Gull Point. These included American avocet, whimbrel, marbled and Hudsonian godwit, laughing gull, Wilson’s phalarope and snowy plover.

She reminded us that we can help shorebirds. Always keep pets on a leash when visiting the beach, honor all closure areas and report all banded Great Lakes piping plovers to plover.