STATE COLLEGE BIRD CLUB

24 Jan. 2007

The State College Bird Club met on 24 Jan. 2007.  Forty-one members and guests attended; Greg Grove presided. 

Business

Nan Butkovich read the December meeting minutes, which were approved.  Dorothy Bordner read the checklist.  Attendees reported 92 species within a 25 mile radius of Old Main since the December meeting.  Species of note included Red-throated Loon, Northern Goshawk, and Cackling Goose.

Discussed increasing the Club’s donation to the Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch.

Upcoming activities:

Presentation

Nick Bolgiano spoke on “Breeding Birds of Rothrock and Sproul State Forests.”  Rothrock has three main habitat types – on the lower slopes are oak forests, while the higher valleys are more boreal in nature.  The mountaintops are scrubby.  Sproul is similar with a fourth category added – burn areas.  Rothrock tends to be slightly more moist than Sproul.  Breeding bird studies were based largely on BBS data augmented by other sources.  The results showed that some species, such as Black-throated Green Warblers and Hooded Warblers, are very sensitive to their environment and are dependent on unbroken forests.  Other species such as Ovenbirds are less so.  Species distribution can also vary depending on elevation and vegetation.  Data will be incorporated into a new edition of Birds of Central Pennsylvania.

Recorded by

Nan Butkovich, Secretary