State College Bird Club Zoom Meeting, September 23, 2026


Presiding: Doug Wentzel

Recording: Peggy Wagoner Saporito

Attendance: 38 in person/?? on zoom

Meeting Format: Hybrid: In-person and Zoom


For our first meeting of 2025-26, Doug began by thanking Millbrook Marsh Nature Center (MMNC) for allowing SCBC to use this lovely classroom space for monthly meetings again this year. 

We then all promptly headed out for an informative tour around the Hamer classroom building led by Susan Hart. She discussed the history of the land on which the Nature Center stands and the collaborative structure that supports the Center among community partners including PSU, Centre Parks and Rec and Clearwater Conservancy.

Susan described the mural and various plantings around the building’s grounds. These include the native grass plantings, model fen and the beginnings of the feeder station garden established in collaboration with PA Master Naturalists and Native Plant Society and partially funded by a grant from SCBC.

As we were touring the grounds, we enjoyed seeing a number of great blue herons flying over as sunlight faded. As we enjoyed these birds, Susan discussed volunteer and birding opportunities at the MMNC. On Saturday October 10, MMNC will host a Big Sit birding circle headed up by Constanza Erhenhaus. Additionally, on that day, there will be a planting activity with volunteers needed to help install native plants in the feeding station area which is mulched and ready to receive this new plantings.

Susan also discussed the Broadwalk and its importance to visitors. The structure was 20 years old and in desperate need of an upgrade. MMNC is working with US Fish and Wildlife, Trout Unlimited and Native Plant Society to provide streambank stabilization before the new structure can be built.

Before returning to the meeting room, we entered the lower level of the building where classrooms are used for nature-based learning including the room used for “Puddle Jumpers”, a program for 3-5 year olds.

Treasurer’s report:(Karen Kottlowski):

SCBC account balances: checking: $12524.79 and savings: $12581.74. Karen had moved $3000.00 from the $20K anonymous charitable gift into our Paypal account to pay for Feather Friendly bird safe dots being installed by SCBC volunteers on some critical windows at Spring Creek Elementary School. After this purchase there is now $604.87 in our Paypal account which unfortunately is still currently unavailable to receive member dues.

Karen accepted membership dues at the meeting via check or cash. Instructions for paying annual dues can be found on our website:  https://www.scbirdcl.org

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

Kathy thanked the leaders of walks that have already taken place in September including the Heron Rookery (Julia Plummer), Chicory Lane Farm (Joe Gyekis and Andrew Bechdel) and Tudek Park youth/family birding (Constanza Ehrenhaus).

This coming Sunday there will be birdwalk at Penns Prairie led by Andrew Bechdel and Leigh Rix (Watershed specialist and education coordinator for Centre County Conservation District) who will also explain the prairie restoration.

In October there will be walks at two new locations for the bird club: Canoe Creek State Park, led by Connor Schmidt (October 3) and Bee Wilder Farm led by Joe Gyekis (October 24).  The annual walk at Bald Eagle State Park led by Bob Snyder will be on November 8. Additionally, Sunset Bird Counts at Sayer Dam with Joe Gyekis occur on the first Wednesday of each month.

All information about field trips can be found on our website https://www.scbirdcl.org.

Kathy will be developing the slate of spring bird walks early next year. She welcomes ideas and suggestions any time.

2025 SCBC Grant Recipients Reports

In 2025, we received $1463.00 as distribution from our Bird Conservation Endowment fund managed by Centre Foundation. These funds were distributed among four projects, three of which were summarized by grant recipients this evening.

Educational Bird Observation Station and Live Cam at State College Friends School.

Sunna deForest, State College Friends School, who was unable to attend this evening, provided us with a couple of photos and a thorough single page summary (read by Peggy) of this student-initiated project. Funds were used to expand the existing feeding station with an additional feeder and a solar-powered live cam. During this first year, a small group of dedicated students took responsibility for set up, maintenance, trouble-shooting technical issues and researching what food would attract the greatest variety of birds. Younger students who watched the older students at work began asking to get involved and word of the “bird cam” spread quickly through the school.  By mid-winter, teachers throughout the school accessed the livestream, tuning in with their classes and incorporating this into their school wide Environmental Education program. The students spent the year noticing, caring for and learning from the birds outside their classroom, sparking new bird-related projects such as a student initiated digital guidebook. Sunna wrote “What began as the work of a few curious students has grown into a school wide source of inspiration and inquiry, and we are excited to build on it in the years ahead. We are grateful to the SCBC for making this possible”.

Musser Gap BirdNET

Andrew Bechdel received this grant on behalf of Mike Toolan, Musser Gap manager, to install an autonomous Bird NET PUC unit to detect and research avian species presence and changes in the regenerating riparian zone along Slab Cabin Run within Musser Gap Greenway. The PUC device was installed, and massive amounts of data were generated. Unfortunately, without a Wi-Fi connection, downloading the data was incredibly time-consuming and public access to the data, which had been considered an integral outreach component of this project, was not possible. Additional equipment is being secured so that the goals of this project can be realized. The funds provided by SCBC helped to launch this important research and outreach activity.

Bird Safe Glass on University Park Campus

Joe Gyekis and Meghan Hoskins, as part of the Bird-Safe PSU group, have been securing funds, from a variety of sources, over the past several years to address window areas on PSU campus that are especially prone to lethal bird strikes. The south facing windows on the Huck Building bridge appear to be the worst area on campus. Feather Friendly dots have been added over time to this large glass surface as funds have become available. Joe was happy to report that with the recent funding from SCBC, the entire south-facing window area of Huck bridge is now completely covered with dots and the results have been impressive. There has been a nearly 100% reduction in the number of bird strikes and dead birds found below this expanse of glass.

New Bluebird Nestbox Trail at Whitehall Regional Park 

Joanna Taylor of Bluebird Habitat Network Inc., initially anticipated creating a new bluebird nestbox trial at Whitehall Road Regional Park. Unfortunately, the land management where the nestboxes were to be placed changed and was no longer conducive to bluebird breeding success. Joanna pursued other possible locations, but with injuries she sustained over the winter and subsequent surgery she was unable to establish the trail. She is currently looking into appropriate locations including Mountain View Country Club and will report to us with updates in the future.

As an additional note, the granting process committee consists of Sue Braun and Peggy Wagoner who are looking to expand the number of committee members. Several club members generously offered to work with us during the upcoming granting process in 2027.

Announcements/Other Activities:

The PA Native Plant Society will hold its annual meeting and plant sale on October 24 at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center. There will be two walks offered in the morning, a bird walk and a forest therapy walk. https://www.panativeplantsociety.org/2026-annual-meeting.html

After several recent years of being Compiler with Bob Fowles as Co-compiler, Sue Braun continues as the compiler for the State College Christmas Bird Count now that Bob Fowles has stepped away from his 25 years as Co-compiler, first with Jim Dunn then Jen Lee before Sue. Audubon has changed the way that counts are recorded digitally to make the process more efficient. Sue has attended several training sessions for the new system. Both the State College and Huntingdon counts are on December 20. Penns Valley is on December 19. For information about CBC see https://www.audubon.org/community-science/christmas-bird-count. To join the State College CBC contact Sue Braun

Connor Schmidt, president of Juniata Valley Audubon Society described their Fall Birding Classic modeled after Shaver’s Creek’s Birding Cup. This fun new birding activity will take place during the Global Big Day on October 9-10, and will serve as a fund raiser to support bird conservation. See the website for more information: https://www.jvas.org/events/jvas-fall-birding-classic/

As he pursues his career, Brady Thomas, who has been our VP of Programs, will be stepping down from this role at the beginning of 2027. Anyone interested in helping to schedule speakers in the new year, please contact
Brady or Doug W.

 
Outreach:

Constanza Ehrenhaus (Coty) has been posting regular updates to our Facebook page during the past year. Thanks to this effort, there has been a 41% increase in the number of followers, now more than 1100 individuals. The majority of followers are 45 years or older. To capture a younger demographic, Brady helped to establish an Instagram account which currently has 174 followers.

Bob Fowles, who has faithfully managed the website and listserv for many years, is working with Joe Gyekis to bring him in as a second website and listserv administrator. Joe would appreciate help with the website design. Contact Joe

Birds of Note - Julia Plummer
(Unusual Birds seen in our area during the month of September)

This has been an especially good fall for migrating Connecticut warbler sightings in our area. A red phalarope and a highly unusual Sabine’s gull were found at Bald Eagle State Park.


Speaker: Susan Hart, Millbrook Marsh Nature Center (MMNC) Supervisor

Through mutual cooperation, MMNC serves as an important partner to SCBC by providing their lovely meeting space for our monthly meetings. Through volunteer activities, members of our club support some of the activities and programs of MMNC.
 
Susan provided us with information about her view and philosophy of the important role that MMNC plays in the State College community. Her background as a teacher in Brooklyn and later her doctoral study in School Psychology led to her understanding of how societal systems shape our well-being and the importance of nature and outdoor spaces to mental health. For example, birding focuses our attention outside of ourselves and has been shown to changes our brains, as well as alleviate anxiety and paranoia.

Susan discussed the importance of “third places”, safe spaces outside of work/school and home. She views MMNC facilities and outreach programs as providing a valuable third place for community members.
 
She discussed some of the activities and programs at MMNC, in which SCBC members are involved. These include weekly bird walks led by SCBC members during fall and spring, participation in Birds and Bagels and development of Youth Bird Club which after its successful inaugural session in the spring has increased its participation this fall.