May 2023 Minutes of the State College Bird Club

State College Bird Club Zoom Special Photo/Art Activity
May 26, 2023

Presiding: Doug Wentzel

Recording: Peggy Wagoner Saporito

Attendance:35

Meeting Format: Zoom

Treasurer’s report:(Karen Kottlowski):

Checking account balance: $3597.78 and savings account: $5574.46.

Announcements:

The PSO Birding Festival was a huge success with the highest attendance ever. Greg and Deb Grove received a well-deserved service award for their many years of commitment to PSO. Thanks to all who contributed to the event through participation and especially to the organizers and those who led the many and varied field trips during the festival. Additionally, our bird club stickers were available at the festival to help spread the word about our club.

The Birding Cup in early May generated more than $15,000 in donations which will go toward the Check Widmann Endowment supporting Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch.

There was a reminder to keep an eye out for banded purple martins and to notify Nick Kerlin of any that you see.

On the evening of June 7 from 7:30-11:00, WPSU is fund raising for the TV station, centered around ‘Nature’ programs featuring woodpeckers and hummingbirds. They have requested members of SCBC to help answer phones. Doug Wentzel and Ilene White have volunteered and are looking for more to join them. Contact Doug if you are able to commit and represent the club during the PBS broadcast.

SCBC will donate $120 to Schlow library for the purchase of 2 books each in memory of Molly Heath and Nancy Ellen Kiernan, beloved, long-time bird club members who contributed much to the club’s success. For Molly, the book category will be birds and for Nancy Ellen, birds and contemporary poetry.

The DEP sponsored public hearing regarding the proposed Rutter’s truck stop immediately adjacent to Old Crow Wetland occurred on May 3. There was a good turnout of more than 100 people, with 29 speaking. All public attendants were in opposition to Rutter’s. It will likely be several months before any decision.

Notable Bird Sightings: Greg Grove’s Summary

(April 27- May 24, 2022; Centre and its contiguous counties)

Perhaps the most notable rarity this past month were the anhingas on Lake Perez, this being only the third sighting in Huntingdon County. There appears to have been an invasion of anhingas into the Northeast with flocks of 20 or more recorded in New York and Maryland. Another rarity for spring were black scoters. Other notables included trumpeter swan, gallinule, sandhill crane, long-billed dowitcher, willets, least bittern, black-crowned night heron, swallow-tailed kite and olive and yellow-bellied flycatchers. Evening grosbeaks were passing through on their way north and flocks of red crossed-bills were seen in mid May. A blue grosbeak was seen in Bald Eagle valley. Warbler species to date have numbered 33 with no real rarities among them. Interestingly, the joint list of species seen during the PSO birding festival weekend of May 19-21 recorded over 150 species.

Annual Photo and Audio Sharing Event

This presentation can be viewed at:
https://psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/State+College+Bird+Club+-+Annual+Photo+and+Sound+Sharing/1_czhwb9wm

Thanks to Nick Bolgiano and Betsy Manlove for organizing this year’s event. Each of eight photographers shared and narrated five of their favorite images taken mostly since May 2022. Thanks to Alan MacEachren, Constanza Ehrenhaus, Larry Ramsey, Nick Bolgiano, Deb Rittlemann, Ron Crandall, Don Bryant and Kazumi Ohira (in tribute to Nancy Ellen Kiernan) for sharing their delightful photographs. And thanks to Julia Plummer for again sharing some of her recent audio recordings of species that we don’t often hear.