For the 123rd Christmas Bird Count, several hundred people scoured all types of habitats from Pittsburgh’s three rivers to the brushy fields of Hartwood Acres in Indiana Township to the Laurel Highlands for the annual census of birds.
There are never enough boots on the ground for the longest-running community science project in the United States, said Jim Bonner, executive editor of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.
A cadre of volunteer birdwatchers, experienced and novice alike, conduct the field survey from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5 throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
“Their work directly aids in understanding the importance of bird conservation,” Bonner said. “Every bird counter makes a difference, even if they’re counting at their home bird feeder,” Bonner said.
Westmoreland birds
Alex Busato, president of the Westmoreland Bird and Nature Club, exclaimed “sick” when he spotted a type of falcon known as a merlin soaring over the wooded Westmoreland Heritage Trail outside of Slickville.
“It’s a scavenger hunt, a sense of discovery, getting out to all these new places,” said Busato, 23, who began bird-watching three years ago in college.
Busato and Court Harding, who is part of the Todd Bird Club that covers Indiana, Armstrong and Cambria counties, began birding in the Bushy Run Battlefield region before 7 a.m.
Some of the noteworthy sights and sounds included a great horned owl, eastern meadowlark and hundreds of turkeys.
They estimated about 20 birders participated in the 2022 Christmas count in the Bushy Run region.
In addition to the scientific benefit, bird watching is “surprisingly rewarding,” Busato said. In 2022, the Scottdale resident traveled to 25 states, where he enjoyed his avian hobby.
“It’s a great excuse to go places you wouldn’t go to otherwise,” he said. “… Every time you go out, you kind of know, but you never really truly know, when you’re going to find something really cool.”
Rare find: Marsh wren
For Steve Gosser, 50, the hike leader for the Indiana Township bird count, going out on New Year’s Eve to “bird” means the “possibility of seeing something rare. You usually get some surprises.”
The bird count did not disappoint Gosser.
Gosser’s group of about 10 birders turned up at least 46 species of birds and an estimated 1,000 individuals in Indiana Township.
Gosser, a Lower Burrell native and current McCandless resident, likes to look for things that are hard to find, such as recently documenting a hybrid scarlet tanager and rose-breasted grosbeak.
Besides counting any bird seen and heard, Gosser was trying to find a rare marsh wren at Hartwood Acres that had been reported in a remote part of the park since the fall.
The nearly 5-inch-long wren is a gem of a bird, sporting patches of black, white and russet barring on its back and tail — a cute stand-up tail. But it’s a frenetic feeder often obscured from view by vegetation in wetlands. It’s a bird more often heard than seen.
Other birdwatchers told Gosser the bird was hanging out by “the giant spruce in the fields along Saxonburg Boulevard.”
To the uninformed, the description seems vague. There are fields throughout Hartwood: athletic fields and the neat lawns near the Hartwood mansion.
The fields for birding were hillsides and flats blanketed in weeds, grasses and briars, most of which were mercifully tamped down for the winter. Luckily, there was a wide path, a mushy throughway used by horseback riders with standing water in the hoofprints.
The more than 40-foot-tall lone spruce was not too far from a stand of cattails — typical marsh wren habitat — and some muddy footprints, presumably from previous birders.
A bird call, a rapid “chit-chit-chit,” comes from a hunk of grasses.
“I hear it. That’s it,” said Gosser.
The song is unmistakable for those who have spent considerable time trying to locate the bird by following its call.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission lists the marsh wren as a species of a high level of concern in the state because of its dwindling numbers. The bird is a migrant in the region that doesn’t typically nest or spend the winter here.
For more than 30 years, Amy Henrici, 65, and her husband Pat McShea, 67, of Plum, have participated in the bird count. This year, they covered Emmerling Community Park in Indiana Township, turning up some unusual birds for this time of year including the gray catbird and the Eastern towhee.
Why do they continue to subject themselves to likely cold temperatures or snow or rain to count birds?
“It’s the thrill of discovery and the challenge to see how many birds we can find in one morning,” Henrici said.
Being outdoors people, they know how to dress. However, the light yet steady rain Saturday caused Henrici to go through two pairs of gloves.
“You are not alone out there,” she said. “There are other birders who are suffering with you.”
To learn more about the Christmas Bird Count, visit the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, the Westmoreland Bird and Nature Club and Todd Bird Club.
"bird" - Google News
December 31, 2022 at 12:01PM
https://ift.tt/A8oB5wE
Several hundred birders slough through rain to count thousands of birds, some rare - TribLIVE
"bird" - Google News
https://ift.tt/W4jY0qy
https://ift.tt/opygnLD
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Several hundred birders slough through rain to count thousands of birds, some rare - TribLIVE"
Post a Comment