My 2009 birding summary and highlights

Well another year is coming to an end and it couldnt have been any better for me. I had amazing opportunities to see awesome birds like going to Nebraska with Anna for a week, and then another trip to Nebraska where Anna and I drove back to PA, a few days in Florida, and a huge roadtrip through the midwestern states and then back through to PA just a few weeks ago. Not to mention a bunch of day long trips I was able to take with friends and the local Audubon Society near Mont Alto. Overall I was able to see 284 species of birds this year (if I counted correctly) and 51 of those were lifers for me this year! In 2008, I saw 309 species total, but I went to Costa Rica, so that really boosted my list. This year, I stayed only in the US so my total was a little lower, but still really great and I cant complain. I just hope 2010 can be just as good or even better!

A lot of the new "life" birds I saw this year were ones that I had always dreamed of being able to see in the wild. Some people have been asking me what my favorite bird of the year was, but before I get to answering that, let me name some of my bird highlights for this year that were truely magical to see.

snowy owl: Anna and I were able to see this back in April during a bit of a snow storm near Anna's house in Cambria County, and I have always wanted to see one, I hope we can find another one before the end of winter.

Black-throated gray warbler: I was able to see this bird right here in central PA, even though its from the western US, so it was quite a treat.

Eurasian wigeon and tufted duck: I added both of these European strays on the same day when one of my best friends, Mark Mizak, and I went birding down on the eastern shore of Maryland.

Wilson's phalarope: This bird was fairly common on my trip to see Anna in Nebraska back in June, and has always been on my "most wanted" list. It was so neat to get to see them running around the edges of ponds and marshes searching for food.

burrowing owl: Another bird that has always been on my most wanted list since I began birding, almost every person in the US is familiar with this little bird, so it was amazing to finally get to see some in the wild.

whooping crane: It was great getting to see this very rare and beautiful bird up close in Wisconsin.

ferruginous hawk: I love hawks more than any other group of birds, and this mighty Buteo has always been a favorite of mine, and I finally got to see a wild one!

American dipper: Nothing is cooler than standing along a stream and watching a dipper forage for food by diving in and out of the quick moving water; it was unlike anything I have ever seen.

American three-toed woodpecker: This is a very rare bird that has a very specific habitat preference, so it was really special to not only see one, but see two, when Anna and I were in Rocky Mountain National Park in CO.

Allen's hummingbird: Hummingbirds are amazing to see in general, let alone one that was a state record for PA and was discovered and banded by one of my friends, Scott Weidensaul.

Finally, the bird that was above all, my favorite this year was the Clark's nutcracker. For weeks leading up to Wyoming and Colorado with Anna, I read and researched all I could about this bird and was was really hoping I would get to see one. Things were looking bad when Anna and I searched Rocky Mountain National Park the first morning we were there and came up empty handed, but later that day, Anna spotted one in the top of a pine tree, and then we ended up seeing a bunch and were able to get pretty close to some. This relative of the jays and crows have really beautiful plumage and their personalities make them really interesting and beautiful birds.

On another note, I added 9 mammals to my list, bringing that list up to 89 species. i saw a total of 38 mammal species this year.

I also began butterfly and dragonfly watching this year, which has really opened my eyes to more of the natural world. I was able to find and identify 64 species of butterflies and 15 species of dragonflies. i cant wait for spring to come around so that I can come out and search for more.

Hopefully this coming year brings more exciting adventures for me and many new birds, mammals, and bugs!

Post a comment below about your favorite birding experience or species from 2009!

I hope everyone that reads this has a great New Years and a wonderful start to 2010!

Conowingo Dam and a few other stops

This morning, Chris and Mark Markiewicz, Matt McElwee, Anna, and I all met at my house to drive down to Conowingo Dam in Oakwood, MD to see the bald eagles that winter there. The Allen's hummingbird in Leola would be along the route so we decided to stop by there to see it. After waiting in the cold for a little over an hour, the hummingbird made a couple passes by the feeder and landed in the tops of a few trees.

Allen's hummingbird While we were waiting for the hummingbird, this lone cackling goose (the small one) passed overhead with a group of Canada geese.

We then drove down to the Dam and were immediately overwhelmed with bald eagles. As we pulled into the parking lot I was sure I spotted a juvenile golden eagle soaring above the river and heading up-river, so we parked and I jumped out and sure enough it was a golden but then it headed up-river and out of view. I asked all the people there photographing the bald eagles if anyone got a photo of the golden, but no one had seen it but me.

In the sycamores golden-crowned kinglets were searching for food. (photo by Anna)

This peregrine falcon made a few passes above the river and then flew out of view. (photo by Anna)

Many of the eagles were harrassing each other, including these two adults. (photo by Anna Fasoli) This bald eagle (transitioning into adult plumage) flew above us very close multiple times.
same bird as above
same bird as above
This eagle passed by going downriver with a shad in it's talons.


Adult bald eagle sitting above the parking lot screaming.
We were able to re-spot the golden eagle on the far side of the river harrassing the bald eagles and diving at mallards. In this photo there is a juvenile bald eagle on the left and the juvenile golden eagle on the right. Notice the golden has a white tail with a very broad black tip and white marks on the center of each wing whereas the juvenile bald has a speckled white and brown body with a dirty white tail.

Here is another photo of the golden eagle showing it's underside and it's beautiful golden neck feathers. (photo by Anna Fasoli)

Before we left, we found this hickory shad in the parking lot, with a big chunk taken out of it by a bald eagle. The eagle must have dropped the fish when it was being chased by another eagle.

On the way home, we stopped to see the sandhill crane at Lake Duffy in Mt. Gretna.

We had a pretty great trip list of over 40 species of birds today.

Allen's Hummingbird - Leola, PA

Yesterday morning Scott Weidensaul went to a house to try and band a strange hummingbird. This time of year, ruby-throated hummingbirds (the only hummingbird that nests on this side of the mississippi river) have all migrated south, so if you see a hummingbird around this time, it is most likely a rufous hummingbird. Rufous hummingbird's range extends from coastal Canada down to central America, but some winter on the gulf coast of the US, and have now become a regular visitor to PA in the late fall and winter months.

However, once Scott was able to capture this particular hummingbird and get all the needed data, he realized the measurements were correct for an Allen's hummingbird, a species never before seen in PA. The Allen's is nearly identical to a rufous unless you can have the bird in hand and measured as Scott did. After he checked with some other hummingbird experts, he sent out a post on the PA birding listserve announcing the state record and giving details on where to go to see it. So I called around to a few people I bird with here in the Mont Alto area and got Bill Oyler to go along with me to try and find the bird this morning.

We got to the house at about 12:45 and stood in the freezing rain for about 15 minutes and then the bird flew up out of some arbor-vitae and went to the feeder to drink. It spent about 30 to 40 seconds at the feeder (just as three other birders arrived) and then disappeared into the bushes again. Bill and I waited for another half hour while the other birders left. The bird didnt come back out in the open and it was extremely cold and wet, so we decided to leave. Due to the very limited amount of time we saw the bird, I only managed to get one photo of her, and the pouring rain didnt really help, so here is the photo, bad quality but good enough.....

If you look closely, you can see the shiny band on her leg.

Allen's are only found along the coast of California and southwestern Oregon. So for one to show up in central PA is a huge deal. And another interesting note is that the first record for one in Ohio was this past Friday! This was a life bird for me, so that really made the day great.

More photos and information can be found on Scott Weidensaul's blog here.

Amazing photos by Geoff Malosh can be found here.

End of the Season Totals for the Pulpit and Owl Banding

Well todays snow really made it clear that fall is basically over and therefore so is bird migration for the most part. This fall the two projects I was involved in were the Pulpit hawk watch site and Ned Smith Center's saw-whet owl banding.

It was a slightly above average year at the Pulpit with 4346 individual raptors being counted passing the site. The average for the past six years (back to 2003) has been 3969.5 raptors. As mentioned in a earlier post a few weeks ago, I personally saw 2732 of the 4346 raptors.

sharp-shinned hawk (my favorite picture from this year)

Here is a break down of the total for each species and the average from the past six years, so you can compare; I put the averages in parenthesis):

black vulture - 4 (23)

turkey vulture - 472 (314)

osprey - 72 (102)

bald eagle - 54 (40)

northern harrier - 61 (71.5)

sharp-shinned hawk - 1128 (807)

Cooper's hawk - 110 (469)

northern goshawk - 0 (3.5)

red-shouldered hawk - 37 (28)

broad-winged hawk - 1721 (1717)

red-tailed hawk - 512 (619)

rough-legged hawk - 0 (0.8)

golden eagle - 47 (31)

American kestrel - 41 (35)

merlin - 11 (7.8)

peregrine falcon - 14 (15)

unidentified accipiter - 17 (19)

unidentified buteo - 8 (8.6)

unidentified falcon - 8 (4.8)

unidentified eagle - 1 (1.2)

unidentified raptor - 24 (40.8)

Northern Saw-whet Owl banding this year was really fun, I didnt get to go as often as I went last year, but I still got to see 17 owls (a bit different from some years when we would have more than 25 in one night....). I got a lot of experience putting transmitors and especialy geolocators on owls, so that was great.

Me holding a geolocator equipped owl.

The total across the three banding sites was 377, below the 10 year average of 466. Scott Weidensaul, the project leader, suspects the reason for the low numbers this year had a lot to do with the weather. With an exceptionally wet and cold October and then a strangely dry and warm November, the owls didnt have the needed quick kick of cold and snow in the north, where they breed for the most part. So therefore, the owls werent able to get here in time for our season of banding.

Turkey vulture numbers in the western US

My friend Mark Markiewicz commented on my last post and brought up a question Anna and I have been thinking on all of our past road trips. He asked why the turkey vulture numbers were so low, when here in PA it isnt hard to see dozens in a single day.



On my first trip to Nebraska this summer with Anna we only saw three vultures the entire week. And on my second trip to Nebraska this summer, we saw quite a few, but all were east of the Mississippi River on our drive back to PA, except for about 5. And on our most recent adventure, through SD, WY, CO, KS, and then back through to PA, we saw a total of 10 and all were in Indiana and Ohio (we drove through PA in the dark so got none here).

I could say that the reason for the small number of vultures on our most recent trip was because its winter and all the vultures in the west have migrated south, but the low numbers of vultures on our previous two trips (during the summer) kind of disproves that and makes it seem they are pretty uncommon year-round. Not to mention that, like in PA, at least a few vultures would spend the winter.

Considering all the other raptors seem do be doing great in the west (and midwest) its surprising turkey vultures are not common at all. There are also seemingly more possible nesting locations in the west than the east with all the rocky cliff ledges to nest on, large dead trees (vultures will nest in very large cavities), and old abandoned buildings to nest in.

And there are a lot of roads which lead to a lot of roadkill, so there should be plenty of food. Although Anna suggested that the large number of coyotes in the west may play a role in cleaning up all the carrion and scaring the vultures away, but I dont really think that it should matter, plus vultures have to deal with coyotes here in the east too.

This is a pretty interesting question and I will continue to look into it and post about what I find out.