State College Bird Club Meeting
April 22, 2026


Presiding: Doug Wentzel

Recording: Peggy Wagoner Saporito

Attendance: 31 in person/6 on zoom

Meeting Format: Hybrid: In-person (Millbrook Marsh Nature Center) and Zoom.


Birds of Note (Joe Gyekis): (March 26- April 22, 2026; Centre and its contiguous counties)

The king rail found at Shaver’s Creek near the boat launch area was perhaps the most notable bird during this past month. Many birds are beginning to breed including robins, mourning doves, woodpeckers, chickadees, ducks, Canada geese, crows, ravens, bluejays and red-tailed hawks. Waterfowl moved through during the last month, such as terns and loons, including 100 loons migrating over Tussey mountain hawk watch on a single day.


Treasurer’s report:(Karen Kottlowski):

SCBC account balances: checking: $5998.99 and savings: $22581.20.

Announcements/Other Activities:

Old Business

Mandy thanked SCBC for our support of 10 bird boxes placed at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center including one with a wildlife camera.

Bird Town State College sponsored an evening field trip in late March attended by 80 people at Musser Gap to observe woodcock in action.

Upon request from Susan Wheeler, Patton Township manager, a letter from the SCBC board was sent to Patton township in support of Gray’s Woods Park Phase 2 which adds, without disturbing mature trees, an observation platform overlooking the preserved wetland for environmental education.


New Business

Shaver’s Creek Birding Cup will take place May1-2. Teams are registered and funds raised this year will be used to support interpretation at the Hawks View Meadow which includes wetland habitat at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center.

This year’s PSO (PA Society of Ornithology) annual meeting and Birding Festival will be held in Blair County, June 19-21 at Blair County Convention Center. Registration is open and field trips are filling fast so register soon.

A City Nature Challenge sponsored by iNaturalist and The Nature Conservancy is occurring during April 24-27 in which cities across the country and globe, compete to upload and document wild plants and animals on the iNaturalist app. Joe G. encouraged us to get out there with the app and document biodiversity in the State College area.

Bird Town State College is looking for short poems about robins to use in their communications. Contact Joe. G if you are interested in more information about submitting your robin inspired poetry.

Weekly morning bird walks are continuing through April at Millbrook Marsh (Tuesdays), Shaver’s Creek (Wednesdays), and the Penn State Arboretum (Thursdays).

Several Native Plant sales are coming up. Shaver’s Creek’s is this Saturday, April 25, and the larger PA Native Plant sale will be at Millbrook Marsh on Saturday May 2.

Congratulations to Connor Schmitt who is now Juniata Valley Audubon Society (JVAS) president and has been nominated to be on the board of the PA Society of Ornithology (PSO) board.

Connor discussed the JVAS bird bingo activities. During this past winter, JVAS sponsored a waterfowl bingo and now through October they are conducting a warbler bingo. For more information to participate contact Connor.

Peggy reminded us that the deadline for submitting proposals for bird conservation projects, education or research activities are due April 30. We have $1463.00 to distribute from our Centre Foundation managed endowment.


Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch

Tom Filip, our official counter, gave a summary of the hawk watch season. There was a good migration of golden eagles this year totaling 224. Other raptor species were average or a bit lower than average. The count officially ends on April 25, but with good migration winds predicted for Monday, the 27th, the watch will occur then as well. Tom thanked everyone who joined him on the mountain during the season to help with the observations. Jon Kauffman thanked Tom and Nick Bolgiano for their counting efforts and he thanked SCBC for financial support of housing for Tom during the counting season.


Conservation Awareness/Policy Update (Tess Wilson)

Tess Wilson Audubon Network Engagement Manager discussed policy work that this Audubon office conducts in mid-Atlantic states including lobby days to lobby lawmakers and action alerts to members. They focus on 3 areas: healthy forests, renewable energy and conservation funding.  In PA they are currently working on a bipartisan bill, HB2316 to designate the scarlet tanager as the state migratory bird. This will not displace the ruffed grouse, the PA state game bird. This effort not only brings attention to the importance of the scarlet tanager, but the mature forest habitat that it depends on. Since the ruffed grouse is a bird that depends on younger forests, the two bird species provide a complement to one another to highlight the importance of PA forests, the hardwood industry and revenue generated by these forests. No extra funding or protection is associated with this effort but it is meant to increase awareness.  Tess encouraged us to get the word out to support HB 2316.


Election of SCBC Officers

Offices up for election this year include VP of Field Trips, Treasurer, and two Board members-at-large (currently Kathy Bechdel, Karen Kottlowski, Jon Kauffman, and Bob Fowles respectively). All of these officers are willing to continue their roles for another two years. No other members expressed an interest in running for any of these positions. For this reason, the nominating committee was not formed this year. A motion was submitted by Lou Saporito to waive the nominating committee and to hold a vote to continue the current members in these Board roles. The motion was seconded and a vote among attending members was unanimous to reelect current board members.


The speaker for tonight’s presentation was unable to attend due to a family emergency. Instead, at the end of the announcement portion of the meeting we all headed out to enjoy the warm Earth Day evening with a walk on the Millbrook Marsh boardwalk.

Next month’s meeting will be our May Potluck to be held at Millbrook Marsh. More information will be coming in May.