State College Bird Club Meeting
November 19, 2025


Presiding: Doug Wentzel

Recording: Peggy Wagoner Saporito
 
Attendance: 33 in person/12 on zoom

Meeting Format: Hybrid: In-person and Zoom

Meeting Location: Millbrook Marsh Spring Creek Education Building (Thanks again to Susan Crandall Hart and Millbrook Marsh for allowing us to use this lovely room for our meetings)

Treasurer’s report:(Karen Kottlowski):

SCBC account balances: checking: $22905.34 and savings: $5580.32. Paypal which is currently unavailable for member dues or other transactions has $550.

Bird Club Field Trips: (Kathy Bechdel - VP of Field Trips)

Kathy will be putting together the spring field trip line-up after the new year and she is always happy to receive trip suggestions from members. Contact Kathy.

Joe Gyekis will be leading walks at Penn State Arboretum on Dec 2, 11 and 19. Check the arboretum website: https://arboretum.psu.edu/events/

Announcements/Other Activities:

A regular feature instituted this fall before the meetings actually begin at 7:00 is the loop slide show with announcements of upcoming field trips and other activities along with slides from recent SCBC activities - a treat for those attending in person.

$20K Charitable Gift to SCBC

Jon Kauffman, chair of the fund distribution committee, discussed the proposal developed by committee members, Coty Ehrenhaus, Kathy Forcey, Alysa Pendorf and Peggy Wagoner to spend a portion of this money. In keeping with the original concept presented in the application for this monetary gift, the committee felt it was important to integrate bird safe window treatments in this proposal. The committee proposes to initially spend $5K assisting a public elementary school to retrofit its windows for bird safety. Spring Creek Elementary School, with its extensive window area was selected on the basis of intense interest of its principal and administration as well as its close proximity to Millbrook Marsh, placing it on a migratory path for many avian species. Applying bird safe window treatments at this elementary school opens many opportunities for education and community engagement.

After the Board unanimously approved this proposal earlier in the day, Jon made a motion to the SCBC members present at this meeting to approve the initial spending of up to $5000. The motion passed unanimously. Jon encouraged other bird club members, if they are interested, to join the committee as we proceed with this project.

Grant Recipient Report from 2024 SCBC Bird Conservation Endowment distribution:

Joanna Taylor “Patton Township Parks Cavity Nesting Bird Enhancement Project”

In June 2024, as PA Bluebird Society, Centre County coordinator, Joanna received a SCBC grant of $288 to replace dilapidated bluebird nest boxes in Circleville and Graysdale Parks. She described her project to not only install and monitor 18 new nest boxes but to make sure the box placements were in the most suitable habitat and that the box support structures were conduit poles with predator baffles to ensure greatest nesting success. She discussed predator and invasive nest competitor threats to bluebirds including house wrens, house sparrow, mice, squirrels and snakes. In 2025 the nest boxes that she installed successfully fledged 71 bluebirds as well as several tree swallows.

Joanna, as president of Bluebird Habitat Network, Inc., received a 2025 SCBC grant of $324 to establish nest boxes in Whitehall Park. Unfortunately, the mowing schedule at this park is not ideal for bluebird habitat, so Joanna will shift her efforts to Tudek Park. SCBC is happy to help support such good work and we look forward to hearing results next year of Joanna’s next project.

Other Announcements:
Local Christmas Bird Counts along with contacts and compilers are as follows:

Dec 14 - State College (Sue Braun, Bob Fowles)

Dec 14 - Huntingdon (Deb Grove)

Dec 20 - Penns Valley (Cathy Pierce, Joe Gyekis)

Dec 20 - Culp (Mark Bonta)

Dec 28 - Bald Eagle State Park (Bob Snyder)

Dec 27 - Prince Gallitzin State Park (Eric Oliver)

Eric Oliver discussed a new CBC circle that he and others are setting up this year at Prince Gallitzin State Park, a good birding area that has not been represented in previous CBC’s. They are working on assembling teams to conduct counts on December 27. He would love to hear from anyone who is interested in participating. Contact Eric or check the Prince Gallitzin State Park website or Facebook page.

At this point, no one has yet won the JVAS Waterfowl Bingo announced by Connor Schmidt during the last meeting.

Speaker: Anya Watts: “Wild Turkey Research.”

This entire presentation can be viewed for a limited time at:

https://psu.zoom.us/rec/share/TU8cU5QgtEstKtGY0mD_pKj_axjxhPrDHtgeQ6ok0vXRCTHEellTt7bgWglc4bw.KI6AeX0adGSU0-1R

Anya Watts of the PA Game Commission (PGC) discussed preliminary results from a four year research project that PGC along with a large group of collaborators has been conducting during 2022-25. This project covered areas in a number of northeastern states including four area in PA. The research included nest productivity and success, habitat use, movement, survival and disease. Anya focused her lively discussion primarily on some of the specific observations from her study region covering areas from Williamsport to Hollidaysburg. She was involved in extensive monitoring of hen turkeys and their nesting activities. Anya described the techniques used with transmitters and banding to follow individual birds and the fascinating behaviors that she and her research team were able to observe.

Anya discussed nesting behavior, stages of poult growth during their first four weeks after hatching, habitat requirements as well as brood and hen survival and non-hunting related causes of death including predation, disease and unfortunately, roadkill.

Anya encouraged us to report any sightings of sick or dead turkeys to PA Game Commission at 1(833)PGC-WILD (1(833)742-9453). Additionally, the annual PA wild turkey sighting survey runs from July 29-Sept. 4 (summer) and Dec 31- March 14 (winter) and can be reported through the PGC Facebook page or their website: https://pgcforms.pa.gov/TurkeySightingSurvey.