State College Bird Club Zoom Meeting
April 26, 2023


Presiding: Doug Wentzel

Recording: Peggy Wagoner Saporito

Attendance: 43

Meeting Format: Zoom

Treasurer’s report:(Karen Kottlowski):

The SCBC checking account balance is $3457.78 and saving account balance is $5574.46. Of course, membership dues are welcomed anytime. See our website: www.scbirdcl.org

Bird Club Field Trips: (Susan Smith)

Thank you to Susan for scheduling a variety of interesting field trips this spring. And with the bird walks sponsored by Millbrook Marsh and Penn State Arboretum that are also co-led by SCBC members, we have more opportunities than ever to get out and enjoy our avian neighbors. Details for SCBC trips can be found on our website www.scbirdcl.org

Announcements/Other Activities:

The PSO activity led by Chad Kauffman to bird under-birded counties will take place this coming weekend, April 28-30 in Greene County. For more information contact Chad.

PSO’s Birding Festival will be held May 19-21 here in State College. Field trip spots are filling fast, so register soon. For details see https://pabirds.org/BirdingFestival/BF.php

Birding Cup is coming up May 5-6. You can register as a team competing in central PA for a variety of categories or collaboratively as a “global participant” from anywhere in the world (including PA). This year’s donations will support the Chuck Widmann Endowment for Citizen Science which funds the official hawk counter on Tussey Mountain each spring. For details see: https://www.shaverscreek.org/public-programs-and-events/birding-cup/

Today was the final day of counting at the Tussey Mountain hawk watch. Andrew Bechdel, our official counter reflected on his time on the mountain this spring. He not only honed his identification skills, but also gained a deeper appreciation of the art of observation; slowing down to really study behaviors and antics of all the birds he encountered.

Nick Kerlin banded over 400 purple martins in central PA last year with aluminum as well as orange and yellow bands to study distribution of this species in our region. He is requesting that everyone keep an eye out for purple martins and take note of any banded birds. Contact Nick with date, location and number of birds, band color sequence and which leg is banded by emailing: Nick

Greg Grove updated us on the latest news in the years’ long saga of Old Crow Wetland and the proposed Rutter’s truck stop which would have 7 acres of paved surface and diesel fueling for 18-wheelers that would be placed upstream and within inches of the wetland. On Wednesday, May 3 at 6:30, DEP is holding a very important public meeting at the Smithfield township building. This meeting is a chance to show DEP that opposition to this project is strong and widespread. Greg urged as many people as possible to attend - numbers may matter a lot. Those interested in verbally expressing their opposition will be given a brief time to speak. Please notify John Repetz by 4 pm May 2, if you wish to speak at the meeting. Additionally, written comments are also still accepted (even if you have done so previously) - email by May 18 to:  Scott Williamson; Nathan Phillips; Andrea Blosser. Joe will be going to the meeting and has space for several others if you are interested in carpooling.

The State College local government has designated May 13 as Migratory Bird Day and Lights-Out event. Joe encouraged everyone to register to make a pledge to turn off any unnecessary outdoor lighting on the night of May 12-13 and to pass the word to friends and neighbors, even if you live outside of State College Borough. Birds are attracted to light during night migration. On PSU campus this has recently resulted in bird collisions with buildings, killing 500+ individuals representing 70 species of birds. See details: https://www.statecollegepa.us/774/Lights-Out-State-College

Election of SCBC Officers

Nick Bolgiano and Susan Braun are stepping down as board members at large and Joe Gyekis will be resigning as VP of Programs in September. The candidate selection committee, Susan Smith, Deb Escalet and Larry Miles, provided a slate of candidates:

President: Doug Wentzel (continuing)
Secretary : Peggy Wagoner (continuing)
Board Members at Large: Deb Escalet and Doug Mason

A vote was taken among the membership present at this meeting with 17 votes for, and no dissenting votes. Welcome Deb and Doug Mason, our new board members.

New candidate(s) will be announced later this summer to fill the VP of Program position.

Notable Bird Sightings: Greg Grove’s Summary
(March 23-April 26, 2023; Centre and its contiguous counties)

The vast majority of tundra swans have already passed through our area so there is a possibility that swans seen now are Trumpeter swans. Four sightings of trumpeters have been confirmed recently. Other unusual waterfowl include surf and black scoters and a red-necked grebe as well as very large numbers of ring-necked ducks including a single large gathering of 467. A few common gallinules, Caspian terns and American bittern have been seen as well as heard on night flight call recordings. Other sightings include a few sandhill cranes, American avocet, glossy ibis and in the grassland of Sandy Ridge, Clearfield Co., upland plover that may be breeding there.

Barn Owls at 3 locations have been documented by Jon Kaufman. Red crossbills and clay-colored sparrows have been reported. To date, 21 of the 35 species of warblers that arrive or move through our area have been reported including orange-crowned warbler. An unusually early report of Louisiana waterthrush was given on March 19. Reports of rose-breasted grosbeaks and indigo bunting have been trickling in over the past few days.

Speaker: Zoey Greenberg: “More Than Just a Pretty Face: Why Vultures Deserve a Second Look”

(This entire presentation can be viewed at: 
https://psu.zoom.us/rec/share/Og84KFaBulEw9vlSc_by0hEmVyWphFjRdksvJ9iVAT3wV3yPML4KtZH14Akjtpdz.hAL7oLpkYzELhiwg?startTime=1682551622000

Many of us know Zoey from her time at Shaver’s Creek and as our official Tussey mountain hawk counter during spring 2020. Zoey has broad experience with both black and turkey vultures. Her first in-depth encounters with these 2 species were at Shaver’s Creek where she helped care for and train them for use in educational programs. She continued studying and writing about vultures at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and beyond.

Zoey discussed the fact that for the general public, especially in western cultures, vultures elicit a less than positive response. They are not particularly attractive or cute and their lifestyle as obligate scavengers is off-putting to many people. In other parts of the world, vultures are viewed as purifiers and a link between the living and dead.

But vultures do have an incredibly important role to play in the ecosystem by quickly dispatching carcasses that would otherwise remain in the environment presenting greater dangers. Using the example of exploding incidents of rabies among the human population in Asia and Africa, Zoey described the importance of vultures’ contribution to environmental and human health. Old World vulture populations plummeted due to the use of the anti-inflammatory drug, Diclofenac, in cattle. Vultures are killed by the drug when they consume cow carcasses. With no vultures, that role was filled by wild dogs whose populations increased as did bites to humans by rabid dogs resulting in astronomical increases in medical expenses.

Zoey discussed the classification of vultures as raptors. There are 23 species, 16 old world and 7 New World. The Old World vultures are not related to new world vultures, but rather these 2 groups evolved separately through convergent evolution. Both Old and New World vultures share adaptive characteristics such as large crops, efficient soaring flight and visual cues to locate carcasses.

Because vultures consume carcasses that are in a state of decomposition, their digestive systems are designed to handle the many otherwise harmful substances produced by microbial decomposers such as botulism and anthrax. Other behaviors such as urohidrosis (peeing on their legs) may help keep microbes at bay, though this requires further study.

Zoey focused most of her discussion on our 2 common new world vultures, black and turkey. Distinguishing features between the 2 species include the turkey vultures’ (TV) distinctive dihedral (V-shape) formed by their out-stretched wings as they soar and the silver lining at the back half of their underwing. The underwing of black vultures (BV) have white patches at the tips.

Having the best sense of smell of any avian species, TVs use this ability to locate food. BVs follow TVs since their ability to smell is not nearly as good.

TVs are one of the longest distance raptor migrants especially populations that breed in central Canada and the west coast which winter in central and South America. East coast populations migrate to warmer locations along the eastern seaboard.

BVs tend to be highly social, maintaining family aggregation long after fledging. Family cohesion can last for years and they share behaviors, learning from other members of the group. Zoey showed us a video of BVs in South America picking parasites off of Capybara. This mutually beneficial behavior gives the BV’s a meal and rids the Capybara of parasites.

Though they are scavengers, BV have been reported on occasion to kill weak dying animals. In the Midwest, BV’s have a bad reputation due to a few highly publicized incidents of killing livestock. Studies to determine the extent of this issue and to mitigate human/vulture conflict are ongoing.

Other new world vulture species are found mainly in Central and South America. These include king, greater and lesser yellow headed vultures and Andean and California condors. Lesser yellow headed vultures are found only in wetlands and are one of the only vultures known to primarily take live prey, mainly rodents and reptiles. King vultures, with their large powerful beaks, are able to rip open tough hides. Arriving first at the carcass, they provide access for all of the other scavengers.

Currently in the US, we have robust populations of TV’s and BV’s. California Condors historically survived largely on whale carcasses beached on the west coast. The demise of whale populations, DDT and especially lead poisoning decimated their populations. Once precipitously on the brink of extinction, they were making a comeback thanks to extraordinary efforts during the last 40 years.

Until a few months ago, lead poisoning was the greatest threat to California condors. Every condor has some level of lead in their system and condors are one of the more lead-sensitive species. Licensed hunters in their range tend to comply with lead ammunition restrictions, but vermin hunting poses the risk. Within the last few months, avian flu has presented a huge risk to the existing small population. Already 20 CA condors have died this month, 10 of those confirmed from avian flu.

Proactive conservation is necessary, not just when a species is on the brink, but when populations are stable and seemingly robust. To ensure the health of vulture populations, there needs to be a change in the collective conscientiousness around vultures as a group worthy of conservation, certainly for the ecosystem services they provide, even if their facial appearance and lifestyle are less appealing to some.