State College Bird Club Zoom Meeting
February 23, 2022


Presiding: Doug Wentzel

Recording: Peggy Wagoner Saporito

Attendance: 74

Meeting Format: Zoom (due to Covid)

Treasurer’s report:(Jean Miller): Deposited: $285 from dues and hats. Expenses: $150 for speakers and $750 for Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch.

Bird Club Field Trips: (Susan Smith)

Four field trips have been scheduled for this spring and are posted on our website.

The first trip is scheduled for March 20 (8:00-11:00 AM) at Bald Eagle State Park led by Bob Snyder. Meet at the Swimming Beach parking lot to search for waterfowl, bald eagles and possibly migrating hawks at various locations within the park.

Announcements:

The second set of khaki baseball hats with the club logo will arrive later this week. They will be available at field trip events or by directly contacting Susan.

Susan Fox, the author of “Learning the Birds” will be presenting her book at Webster’s Bookstore on April 30 at 2:00 PM. For more details contact Jean Miller.

For upcoming events, field trips and other resources about birds and the birding community in our area, or to join the listserv to discuss birding topics and receive updates, check out our website: https://www.scbirdcl.org/.  Thanks goes to Bob Fowles for being our webmaster.

Old Crow Wetland: Development of Rutters filling station above the wetland is moving to the next phase. Rutters has officially submitted plans. Environmental agencies will be evaluating these plans and will soon be soliciting letters from citizens. Since no endangered species have been found in the wetland, the only hope to stop this development is a huge response of many letters in opposition to the development.  Greg Grove will keep us up to date on the listserv about when and where to submit letters in response to this proposed development. For more information contact Greg Grove.

Tussey Mountain Spring Hawk Watch

The migration count begins officially on February 25. Gillian Martin, a 2020 Ball State University graduate with experience in raptor rehabilitation and research will be our official counter. For details and the latest news see the website: https://tusseymountainspringhawkwatch.org/

Other Activities:

On March 20 at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center, “Birds and Bagels,” a program for beginning birdwatchers will be held along with SCBC from 8-9:30AM. And weekly Bird Walks at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center will begin on March 22 (8-9:30AM) and continue each Tuesday through April 26. Walks will be led by a few of our SCBC members. See website for both events: https://www.crpr.org/mmnc-public-programs.

The Penn State Arboretum’s annual Avian Education Seminar will occur on March 15 at 5:00PM both in-person and on zoom. Dr. Tricia Miller will give a presentation about her work with Golden Eagles. Further details at: https://arboretum.psu.edu/event/avian-education-program-speaker-tricia-miller/

Notable Bird Sightings: Greg Grove’s Summary

(Jan 26-Feb 23, 2022; Centre and its contiguous counties)
Especially unusual visitors were the recent sightings of greater white-fronted geese at Centre Furnace and Bald Eagle State Park.

Typical early spring migrants are beginning to be seen including Tundra swans and American woodcock, Lapland longspur and a few golden eagles migrating along Tussey mountain.

Winter visitors include average numbers of rough-legged hawks but only a couple of sightings of short-eared owls in Big Valley. Merlins and peregrine falcons appear to be trending upward as winter birds compared to a decade ago.

There have been a few lingering individuals sighted that have apparently stayed for the winter including common loons as well as half-hearty species; phoebe, catbirds and ruby-crowned kinglets.

This has not been a big winter finch year with only small numbers. Purple finches have been recorded in a few locations, mostly in small numbers, with the exception of Greg’s own backyard where up to 70 have been seen at feeders throughout this winter.

Among the sparrows a few early fox and savannah have been reported as well as an unusual vesper sparrow.

Two warbler species have been reported, yellow-rumped and an unlikely orange-crowned in State College which has been seen throughout the winter.

Speaker: Rebecca McCabe: "Tracking the movements of snowy owls south of the Tundra"
(This entire presentation can be viewed at:
https://psu.zoom.us/rec/share/EAvHZG_ikzVRFfTZO_lvjwHhZelsDITn-qZDpNbJxxN6sShqpjyJPzkuA14h459S.m7WH3JfbswG3RTpL?startTime=1645661602000

Rebecca, a staff biologist at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary participates in research on American kestrels, broad-winged hawks and the global status of snowy owls. Rebecca discussed her Ph.D. research as part of the large collaborative snowy owl study, Project SNOWstorm. https://www.projectsnowstorm.org

The snowy owl (SNOW) is an important predator in Arctic ecosystems nesting on the open tundra and depending heavily on lemmings as their primary food source. Typically, during winter, SNOW remain in the arctic or move into the Canadian prairie regions, their two core wintering areas.

However, when lemming populations are high, snowy owl chick survival is high resulting in a large population of juvenile owls. With more owls on the winter landscape, competition for food forces many snowy owls, mainly juveniles, into “irruptive” wintering areas in temperate North America, including the U.S. prairie, Great Lakes region and Atlantic coast, where they encounter risky human altered habitats.

To understand these risks and track movements of snowy owls, Project SNOWstorm was initiated in 2013 during such an irruption. Over 100 healthy owls were capture for the study. Before release, each owl was fitted with a solar powered GPS tracking device. Bird movements were tracked using the cellular phone network. In her Ph.D. research, Rebecca used this tracking data, focusing on areas of S Canada and northern US where SNOW occur during winter irruptions.

Rebecca found that owls tended to be either “nomadic” (moving continuous through the winter within areas averaging 200 sq km) or “resident” (staying in an area of about 20 sq km). Within the wintering range, (prairie, Great Lakes, and Atlantic coast) nomadism increased from west to east and from north to south. Land use influenced residency/nomadism. Where cropland cover represented a large portion of the land cover (prairie region) and rodents were likely more abundant, owls were more often resident. Owls in the Great Lakes and Atlantic coast were more nomadic where habitat and food resources are fragmented and variable.

Rebecca also analyzed winter survival using information from 185 telemetry tracked owls and 365 necropsied owls. Anthropogenic mortality was two times greater than deaths by natural causes. Collisions with automobiles accounted for around 20% and with airplanes about 10% of SNOW deaths.

Comparing survival in the different wintering regions: Arctic, prairie and the irregular irruptive range in eastern North America, owls overwintering in eastern N. America had significantly lower survival than those wintering on the prairie or Arctic. Within the temperate regions of the prairie and eastern N. America, survival of inexperienced immature birds was significantly lower than survival of adult birds.

For immature birds, probability of mortality was greatest during Dec. and Jan. when they first arrive in their new wintering area. As winter progressed, probability of mortality decreased. Owl survival probability was lower for owls in irruptive years compared to non-irruptive years. About 50% of immature owls wintering in irruptive years did not survive.

Airports pose a serious risk to snowy owls from collisions with, or air blasts from aircraft. Likewise, owls pose a serious risk to aircraft safety. For this reason, SNOW have been relocated away from airports in an effort to minimize these risks. Treeless airfields with an abundance of small rodents mimic flat open habitat, similar to the arctic tundra, and are attractive to wintering snowy owls.

Rebecca analyzed relocation data from 2000-2020 at 13 airports in SNOW wintering range where 42 owls were captured, fitted with transmitters and released at a distance from the airports. The good news is that 67% did not return to the airports from which they were removed. Immature female and adult male owls were less likely to return and the greater the distance from the airport that owls were released, the less likely they were to return. Also, as the proportion of wetland and cropland increased in release sites, the less likely owls were to return. Owls that returned did so in about 17 days.

Relocation work is continuing guided by information about sex, age, habitat type and distance of release site from airports. Happily, there is evidence that owls that had been relocated away from airports are not returning to airports in subsequent years when they return south for the winter.

Rebecca touched on research conducted by others including spring migration of SNOW back to their breeding grounds and risks posed by lead and rodenticides.

The snowy owl is listed as a vulnerable species with an estimated 14,000 pairs in the entire Arctic region.  Assessments of population trends and threats are needed. Rebecca provided suggestions of things that we can do to help them:

•    When owls appear in our area, keep your distance, give owls their space, do not approach or disturb them.
•    Educate others about the importance of owls
•    Support your local wildlife rehabilitation facility
•    Support ongoing research