TheDISTELFINK
Spring 2020

Contents
COVID-19 Cancellations .................................................................................................................................................. 1
President’s Message – Tony Grimm ...................................................................................................................................... 2
In support of #5 in Audubon’s list here are a few Sources of Bird Friendly Coffee - Mike Slater ...................................... 3
More on Bird Conservation .................................................................................................................................................... 3
What Just Happened to the MBTA? - Linda Ingram .......................................................................................................... 3
Senator Bob Casey Responds to Inquiry on the Conservation of Birds in North America: ............................................. 4
How to Give Deceased Birds a Second Life – Ian Cost, Albright College .......................................................................... 5
Trip Reports ............................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Fire Tower Hawk Watch - Bill Uhrich ................................................................................................................................. 6
Koch Field Trip for Sparrows, October ,2019 – Matt Wlasniewski .................................................................................. 6
January 1, 2020 BOC Big Day - Peter Wolfe....................................................................................................................... 7
Christmas Bird Count (CBC): Let’s Up Our Game! - Lucy Cairns, Compiler for the Reading CBC .......................................... 8“Italian”? Robin - by Sheila Martin ...................................................................................................................................... 8
My Life List – Bird #1 – Matt Wlasniewski ............................................................................................................................. 9
My Best Three Hours - Russ Hoffman .................................................................................................................................. 10
Berks County Birds-Fall 2019 - Matt Wlasniewski ................................................................................................................ 10

From: Tony Grimm, BOC President and the Board of Directors:

COVID-19 Cancellations
Due to concerns about the virus and ever-changing recommendations about safe group sizes, the BOC boardof directors has decided to cancel all remaining scheduled events this season, including the April 10
meeting, the May Banquet, and all scheduled bird walks. We hope to resume our normal schedule of eventsin fall of 2020.
We strongly recommend that no one give up birding on their own or in small groups with friends. Birding
and time spent in the natural world are the best of all antidotes to anxiety and uncertainty, especially now
that spring migration and the annual movement of millions of birds remind us that life blooms as it always
has."Page 2President’s Message – Tony Grimm
At our meetings we have been talking about the lack of birds at our feeders. There are lots of resources for thisand the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has come up with Seven Simple Actions to Help Birds and I would like to sharethem with you.

1. Make Windows Safer
The challenge: Up to 1 billion birds are estimated to die each year after hitting windows in the United States andCanada.
The cause: By day, birds perceive reflections in glass as habitat they can fly into. By night, migratory birds
drawn in by city lights are at high risk of colliding with buildings.
These simple steps save birds: On the outside of the window, install screens or break up reflections—using film,
paint, or string spaced no more than two inches high or four inches wide.
More info on preventing bird-window collisions on Lehigh Valley Audubon’s web site.
https://www.lvaudubon.org/window-collisions

2. Keep Cats Indoors
The challenge: Cats are estimated to kill more than 2.6 billion birds annually in the U.S. and Canada.
This is the #1 human-caused reason for the loss of birds, aside from habitat loss.
The cause: Cats can make great pets, but more than 110 million feral and pet cats now roam in the
United States and Canada. These nonnative predators instinctively hunt and kill birds even when wellfed.
A solution that’s good for cats and birds: Outdoor cats live 2-5 years, while indoor cats may live formore than 15. Save birds and keep cats healthy by keeping cats indoors. You can also train your cat towalk on a leash.

3. Reduce Lawn, Plant Natives
The challenge: Birds have fewer places to safely rest during migration and to raise their young. More than 10
million acres of land in the United States were converted to developed land from 1982 to 1997.
The cause: Lawns and pavement don’t offer enough food or shelter for many birds and other wildlife. With morethan 40 million acres of lawn in the U.S. alone, there’s huge potential to support wildlife by replacing lawns withnative plantings.
Add native plants, watch birds come in: Native plants add interest and beauty to your yard and neighborhood,and provide shelter and nesting areas for birds. The nectar, seeds, berries, and insects will sustain birds anddiverse wildlife.

4. Avoid Pesticides
The challenge: More than 1 billion pounds of pesticides are applied in the United States each year. The
continent’s most widely used insecticides, called neonicotinoids or “neonics,” are lethal to birds and to the insects
that birds consume. Common weed killers used around homes, such as 2, 4-D and glyphosate (used in Roundup),
can be toxic to wildlife, and glyphosate has been declared a probable human carcinogen.
The cause: Pesticides that are toxic to birds can harm them directly through contact, or if they eat contaminatedseeds or prey. Pesticides can also harm birds indirectly by reducing the number of available insects, which birds
need to survive and raise young.
A healthy choice for you, your family, and birds: Consider purchasing organic food. Reduce pesticides aroundyour home and garden.

5. Drink Coffee That’s Good for Birds(for a few recommendations by Mike Slater see page 2)

Page 3The challenge: Three-quarters of the world’s coffee farms grow their plants in the sun, destroying forests thatbirds and other wildlife need for food and shelter. Sun-grown coffee also often requires using environmentally
harmful pesticides and fertilizers. On the other hand, shade-grown coffee preserves a forest canopy that helps
migratory birds survive the winter.
The cause: Too few consumers are aware of the problems of sun coffee. Those who are aware may be reluctant to
pay more for environmentally sustainable coffee.
Enjoy shade-grown coffee: It’s a win-win-win: it’s delicious, economically beneficial to coffee farmers, andhelps more than 42 species of North American migratory songbirds that winter in coffee plantations, including
orioles, warblers, and thrushes.

6. Protect Our Planet from Plastic
The challenge: It’s estimated that 4,900 million metric tons of plastic have accumulated in landfills and in ourenvironment worldwide, polluting our oceans and harming wildlife such as seabirds, whales, and turtles that
mistakenly eat plastic, or become entangled in it.
The cause: Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, and 91% of plastics created are not recycled. Studies
show that at least 80 seabird species ingest plastic, mistaking it for food. Cigarette lighters, toothbrushes, andother trash have been found in the stomachs of dead albatrosses.
Reduce your plastics: Avoid single-use plastics including bags, bottles, wraps, and disposable utensils. It’s far
better to choose reusable items, but if you do have disposable plastic, be sure to recycle it.

7. Watch Birds, Share What You See
The challenge: The world’s most abundant bird, the Passenger Pigeon, went extinct, and people didn’t realize
how quickly it was vanishing until it was too late. Monitoring birds is essential to help protect them but tracking
the health of the world’s 10,000 bird species is an immense challenge.
The cause: To understand how birds are faring, scientists need hundreds of thousands of people to report what
they’re seeing in backyards, neighborhoods, and wild places around the world. Without this information,scientists will not have enough timely data to show where and when birds are declining around the world.
Enjoy birds while helping science and conservation: Join Cornell Lab’s eBird or Project FeederWatch torecord your bird observations. Your contributions will provide valuable information to show where birds are
thriving—and where they need our help.
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/seven-simple-actions-to-help-birds/

In support of #5 in Audubon’s list here are a few Sources of Bird Friendly Coffee - Mike Slater•••

Café Christina is an organic coffee plantation that we visited a few years ago while we were on a bird trip to
Costa Rica with Linda Ingram. Can be ordered online from their representative in Texas. Visit
https://www.cafecristina.com/ I have been ordering whole-bean coffee from them regularly for 2 years now,
but they sell ground coffee too. I like both their light and dark roasts. (I haven’t tried their medium roast.) They
are reasonably priced considering each bags contains one full pound (16 oz.) of coffee.
ABA Song Bird Certified Bird Friendly Coffee from Thanksgiving Coffee Company. I have a monthly
subscription and at this time I’m getting two bags of their whole-bean decaf every month which is a medium
roast. In the past I also have enjoyed the light roast Guatemalan coffee and their French roast for espresso.
https://www.aba.org/product-category/songbird-coffee/“Birds and Beans” available at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary’s gift Shop. This is also certified Bird Friendly
coffee and you can pick some up anytime you are up at the mountain!

More on Bird Conservation
What Just Happened to the MBTA? - Linda Ingram
In January 2020 the U.S. Department of the Interior proposed regulations to codify the Trump Administration’s
2017 legal opinion that Migratory Bird Treaty Act protections do not include so-called “incidental take.”In the fall of 2019 Leigh Altadonna, regional director for National Audubon Society’s Atlantic-North Region andpast BOC speaker, contacted Art Zdancewic, BOC past president, seeking persons with a birding history in the area of thePage 4
Birdsboro Pipeline Project, where this new interpretation had been utilized. National Audubon had joined with theAmerican Bird Conservancy, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, andthe Natural Resources Defense Council, to challenge the Trump Administration’s move to eliminate longstanding
protections for waterfowl, raptors, and songbirds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. I responded and was guided
through the process of submitting a declaration.

https://www.audubon.org/news/audubon-lawsuit-seeks-restore-protections-migratory-birds
Background
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 was passed by Congress and signed by President Wilson to protect
birds and for the last 50 years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has interpreted MBTA, to protect birds from incidental
take. The Act has been used sparingly as a punitive measure—just 14 times over the past two decades, including 9 federal
prosecutions that were against energy industry operations and two that involved the use of pesticides. After the Deepwater
Horizon oil spill, $100 million in fines stemming from the MBTA were directed toward the restoration of damaged
habitat.
MBTA Was a Powerful Tool “Numerous common sense solutions [stemming from the MBTA] have reduced
the incidental, wanton killing of millions of birds by such hazards as open oil waste pits, oil spills, unprotected pesticide
residues, unmarked transmission lines, and lethally situated wind farms,” wrote Cornell Lab director John W.
Fitzpatrick in a 2018 column for Living Bird magazine. “Under [the Trump Administration’s] new and extremely narrowinterpretation, whole industries (e.g., energy, mining, chemical production) are suddenly freed from legal liability even if
their actions result in predictable, avoidable, and massive killing of birds.”
In September 2019, Cornell Lab scientists led by Ken Rosenberg coauthored research published in thejournal Science that found North American bird populations have lost nearly 3 billion breeding birds—a 29% decline
since 1970. “Now is clearly not a good time to be weakening regulations that prevent the killing of birds,” says
Rosenberg.
The MBTA has for a century been one of the most powerful legal protectors of migratory birds. Thisadministration’s interpretations will undermine it. If this concerns you, contact your Senators and Representatives inCongress.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/storm-clouds-brewing-for-the-migratory-bird-treaty-act/
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/analysis-reinterpretation-of-migratory-bird-treaty-act-runs-counter-tospirit-of-the-law/https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/vanishing-1-in-4-birds-gone/

Senator Bob Casey Responds to Inquiry on the Conservation of Birds in North America:
On October 4, 2019, Science Magazine, an academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS), published a study about the significant decline of the North American bird population. Since the 1970s,
North America has lost three billion of its native birds, or approximately 29 percent of the overall population. Due to theincreasing threat of continued bird population decline, the study identified an urgent need to address habitat loss,
agricultural intensification, coastal disturbance and commercial development, all of which are expected to be
exacerbated by climate change.
Several pieces of legislation have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives aimed at supporting birdconservation efforts:•

Representative Mike Quigley of Illinois introduced H.R. 919, the Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2019, on January 30,
2019. This legislation would require each public building constructed, substantially altered or acquired by theGeneral Service Administration to meet standards to reduce bird collisions with windows.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/919

Page 5•••February 15, 2019, Representative Alan Lowenthal introduced H.R. 1305, the Albatross and Petrel Conservation
Act. This bill would implement the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), which isan international treaty to conserve and protect albatrosses and petrels from known threats.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1305
February 25, 2019, Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon introduced H.R. 1337, the Saving America's
Pollinators Act, which would compel the Environmental Protection Agency to take actions specifically related topesticides that may negatively affect pollinators and other species.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1337
Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan introduced H.R. 3742, the Recovering America's Wildlife Act, on July12, 2019. This legislation would authorize $1.3 billion of federal funding for fish and wildlife conservation
programs.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3742

Currently, these bills have not been introduced in the Senate. Should these or similar legislation reach the full
Senate for consideration, please be assured that I will keep your views in mind.
I also believe it is essential that Congress provide consistent and sufficient funding for conservation programs.
Programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the State Wildlife Grant Program, the North American
Wetlands Conservation Act and the Multinational Species Conservation Fund serve many important purposes and play
an important role in preventing many of our Nation's wildlife species from becoming endangered.
http://casey.senate.gov

How to Give Deceased Birds a Second Life – Ian Cost, Albright College
It is a sad reality that birds hit our windows, and sometimes our vehicles, and suffer tragic consequences.
However, the loss of these unfortunate birds can be used to educate future biologists and for conducting research thathelps us to not only better understand, but also to help birds that might need rehabilitation. Fortunately, we have anumber of universities and colleges that can accept donations of deceased animals for these purposes.
I met some of the members of the Baird Ornithological Society back in December, when I attended a meeting tohear more about the Reading Christmas Bird Count. I know that this organization cares about birds and I would like tooffer my services to help you help birds! For those of you whom I did not speak to, my name is Ian Cost and I am aprofessor of biology at Albright College. My research is in dinosaur and bird feeding and I teach classes in humananatomy and physiology and comparative vertebrate anatomy. As one of the scientists that can accept these donations,
I was asked to write a short guide on how one might go about doing so. I have also provided my contact information
below, so that you can donate birds to my classroom and lab.
The first step of collecting birds is to assess their situation. Most important, of course, is determining whether
they are alive or dead. As we all know, some window strikes merely daze birds and, after some time, they might get up
and fly away. No scientific collector accepts birds that are inhumanely treated or were killed without veterinarianconsultation. If you come across a live bird that needs rehabilitation, we scientists, or the game wardens of our area, willhappily help you find rehabilitation services. Birds that are deceased can be collected only if they are recently deceased.
We do our best to keep that window to within the last few hours to reduce the amount of scavenging and natural
decomposition that the birds have been subjected to.
The next step is that the bird must be frozen if it cannot be immediately deposited in the proper collections. It is
important to protect the bird (and your freezer!) when freezing. Place birds in Ziploc bags and properly label them with apermanent marker (Sharpies are the marker of choice). Labels should include the species of bird (genus and species aswell as common name if possible), name of the collector, the place it was collected, and the time and date. Whenrecording the place, be as specific as possible. If one can attach latitude and longitude coordinates to their bird then thatis wonderful data, but something like “southwest corner of X St.” is fine. Scientific collectors should never share youraddress, but these kinds of data allow us to build a database of where window strikes occur and how certain man-madestructures impact birds.
Migratory birds can be held for a limited amount of time according to state, federal, and international laws andtreaties. After you have frozen your bird contact the institution as soon as you can. This allows the institution to label

Page 6the bird with the proper state and federal numbers and to catalog the deceased bird in all proper databases. After one
contacts the institution arrangements can be made for pick-up or drop-off of animals that need to be deposited.
Because these are relatively infrequent occurrences the timing and method will vary based on the situation.
To summarize, here is a list of what one should do upon finding a bird:
1. Determine if the bird is deceased or needs rehabilitation services.
2. If deceased, place in a Ziploc bag and label appropriately.
a. Full common name, genus, and species should be used if known.
b. Name of person collecting.
c. Time and date.
d. Location.
3. Freeze the bird as soon as possible.
4. Contact a permitted collector.
a. To contact me please send an email to icost@albright.edu with a subject heading of “DeceasedBird”. This allows me to see and respond to your email faster.
b. You can also leave me a voicemail at 610-921-7728; I’m not often near my office phone, but I
will call you back as soon as possible.
5. Deposit birds with a permitted collector.

Trip Reports
Fire Tower Hawk Watch - Bill Uhrich
You know you're striking out at hawk watching when you see more blimps than hawks.
The Baird Ornithological Club's September hawk watch atop the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower along
Skyline Drive in Lower Alsace Township came up empty on the raptor side. But sharp-eyed birder Katrina Knight spotted
way in the distance to the northeast a blimp that entertained us as it journeyed through Berks. It took its good old time,
too, until we were able to read Goodyear on its side, and then it passed above the Reading Regional Airport before
leaving the scene.The good news is that Katrina before arriving stopped at the List Road corner on Skyline Drive, always
a good, small-bird hot spot, and came up with a mixed flock of chickadees and titmice. Finally! Some tufted titmice!
And as the watchers departed the fire tower, a lone raven flew up and perched on the nearest antenna tower,
providing us a good look at this increasingly familiar species that once could only be foundalong the Kittatinny Ridge.
Join Bill next season on the third Saturdays of September and October from 9am until 2pm.

COMMON RAVEN IN FLIGHT – Photo BY Mike Slater

Koch Field Trip for Sparrows, October ,2019 – Matt Wlasniewski
The annual field trip to Arlene Koch’s bird sanctuary near Easton and the search for Lincoln’s Sparrow always
poses two questions: What effect will the weather have on the bird activity and are we early or late for the special
sparrow migration? One thing is always certain: the hospitality of our host-Arlene Koch. She welcomes us with open
arms and a report on the previous day’s activity with the caveat that seeing a Lincoln’s Sparrow is not guaranteed.
We understand our chances but there are a lot of other birds to be found in the jumbled jungle of special
plantings. At this point, our success rate is about 50% in finding the elusive sparrow but we never leave disappointed.
There were only two of us this year: Katrina Knight and myself. The light drizzle that was predicted and stayedwith us for two hours may have been a deterrent for some BOC members. There was still the thrill of the hunt as we

Page 7
worked our way through the tangled aisles and used our best pishes. Sparrows popped out of the tall grasses, clutched
the top of a swinging stalk for seconds and then dove headlong back into the grass.
We missed the Lincoln’s Sparrow this year but had plenty of stand-ins: Song, Swamp, White-throated, Field andSavannah Sparrows put on a grand show. Each bird was checked carefully and we noted the many varieties in plumages
for each species. Some have fresh feathers and sharp markings and others are not as neat looking.
We ended the morning, as always, sitting on the front porch
where we find American Goldfinch at the thistle feeders and vulturesand hawks taking advantages of the winds along the ridge. We
recorded eighteen species with great looks at most of the birds.
Will we do this again in 2020? Sure will. I made a reservation
with Arlene before we left. Maybe this year… a Lincoln’s or someother lost western species. At Arlene’s sanctuary, anything ispossible.

Juvenile Swamp sparrow – photo by Mike Slater

January 1, 2020 BOC Big Day - Peter Wolfe
It was a 32oF, breezy, partly cloudy day. Seven members of the BOC participated. They were Mike Slater, Liz
Cates, Art Zdancewic, Russ Hoffman, Linda Ingram, Peter and Jane Wolfe. The goal was to follow a similar route to theone used by Ken Lebo for several years and see as many species as possible.
The group assembled at E.J. Breneman Quarry at 8:00 AM. Among the 800 Canada Geese and 30 Mallards were
2 Redhead males, 2 Common Mergansers, 4 Ruddy’s and a Ring-necked Duck. Surprisingly, only 3 American Coots were
found possibly due to the nearby Bald Eagle. Mike Slater found a Cackling Goose which most of us viewed through his
scope.
From Breneman’s we drove to the Blue Marsh State Hill Boat Launch where 3 Bald Eagles gave a nice aerial
performance. There were hundreds of Ring-billed gulls and some distant ducks which could only be seen with a scope.
As we were trying to decide whether they were Greater or Lesser Scaup, we sadly realized that they were DECOYS!
We headed to the Stilling Basin where we all got to see Hermit Thrushes, Great Blue Heron and a cooperative
Belted Kingfisher along with Carolina Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Goldfinch, Song Sparrow, Northern
Cardinal, Red-bellied Woodpecker, American Crow, and Carolina Wren.
After a bathroom stop at the Visitor Center, we drove to the Dry Brooks beach where there were 30 Ring-bills
and 2 larger Herring Gulls. The Sensory Trail yielded 3 Downy Woodpeckers, 3 House Finches, 3 White-throatedSparrows and a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
The next stop was on Bright School Road where we saw Turkey Vultures, 7 Eastern Bluebirds and a flock ofabout 35 Dark-eyed Juncos. From here we traveled and birded country roads stopping at Meadow Bend farm on
Belleman’s Church Road, where there were Blue Jays, a Northern Mockingbird, but no sparrows.
After a lunch stop at Sheetz on R. 61, the last stop was Lake Ontelaunee Dam where we saw not only more Ringbilled and Herring Gulls but also 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a beautiful pair of Hooded Mergansers. We returned toBreneman’s at 1:30 PM. The total species for the fun event was 40, a good start to the New Year 2020, or 20+20!
Peter Wolfe

Page 8Christmas Bird Count (CBC): Let’s Up Our Game! - Lucy Cairns, Compiler for theReading CBC
Be careful who you sit next to at the BOC Annual Banquet, lest you find yourself volunteered to take over a job
for which you have no knowledge or experience! I learned this lesson in May of 2019, when Ken Lebo stopped by thetable where I was sitting with Tony Grimm. Ken brought up the need to find a new compiler for the Reading CBC due tohis imminent move out of state. Minutes later, with some nudging from Tony, I had the job. It sounded to me as though
all I would need to do was add up participant observations from their checklists and enter the data onto the site at
Audubon. How hard could that be? Months later, I learned that the job included a number of other responsibilities
including contacting prior year participants to determine who intended to help out this year, updating contact info for allparticipants, assigning new volunteers to specific teams, coordinating last-minute changes when more than one key
participant fell ill, ensuring that all participants had the necessary sector maps and data-collection forms, AND compilingand submitting our data after the count! As I waded through the compiler manual, trying to figure out how toaccomplish all these tasks, I could not help wishing that I had had the opportunity to complete an apprenticeship before
being given the reins! But thanks to the generous help of Art Zdancewic and (remotely) Ken Lebo, my maiden voyage
ended happily.
Through this experience, I became aware of the potential for improving our performance in the 3 local CBCs:
Reading, Hamburg, and Bernville. The other BOC officers and directors all agreed that our club should place a highpriority on improving our approach to this historic and important citizen science project, with the goals of increasing
participation and maximizing the quality and quantity of our data. We are very fortunate to have a good group of skilled
birders committed to the CBC, but we were stretched a little thin in 2019--especially with the last-minute issues which
prevented a couple people from participating. Our team needs more depth, in other words, so recruiting moreparticipants is one priority--both for the teams that spend the day in the field and those who submit feeder watch data.
Opportunities for improving the quality and quantity of the data we submit include making sure all team leaders
can easily review the exact boundaries of the sector they are responsible for, organizing pre-count scouting forays toidentify locations likely to produce birds on count day, and reviewing CBC rules with all participants. I spent a lot of timetrying to identify the best means of providing team leaders with maps of their sectors, since Audubon had a couple of
new map tools available. I was excited to find a map of our circle that could be downloaded to a smartphone, on which
one’s exact location was flagged via GPS tracking as one moved about. Unfortunately, there was no way to mark theboundaries of the 15 sectors the Reading CBC circle is divided into on this map. Audubon also offers an online mapping
tool, which Ken used prior to his departure to draw the boundaries of our sectors. While this map could be accessed
online from a smartphone, vital landmarks such as street names could not be seen until I zoomed in so far that only asliver of a sector showed on the screen. In the end, photos Ken had taken of each sector outlined on our ‘historic’ (i.e.
ancient) paper map and emailed to participants turned out to be the only workable option. Maybe this year Audubon
will provide a better solution. I also hope that for 2020 we can identify a secondary compiler to work with me on theprocess so that if/when I am not able to fill this role the Reading CBC can have an experienced compiler to fall back on.
You would be forgiven for thinking that a project that has been underway since 1900 would run like a well-oiled
machine, but with a little more effort and planning I know we can make the 2020 Christmas Bird Count the best yet.
Hoping you will consider participating, Lucy Cairns“Italian”? Robin - by Sheila Martin
Late October ‘19, I traveled to far northern Italy to hike The Cinque Terre, a series of rugged historic coastal
Mediterranean towns connected near the sea and upwards onto fertile piedmont by steep, rocky footpaths brilliantly
tempting a keen athletic walker. Eye-popping, quaint, 1000-year-old architecture and thirty flavors of gelato add to thedelight of this destination.
Of course I took my binoculars! This being October, though a different continent, I realized that most migrants
would have already flown to Africa. I kept spirits up by telling myself that I’d take whatever European birds I could get
and be happy. Focus of this trip was challenging walking; nowhere near dedicated birding could be done! Of the dozen

Page 9late-season resident birds I bagged, I was able to view two very nice species daily from my 4th-floor window down to a
Mediterranean rock garden. Great Spotted Woodpecker & European Robin. Nothing like balcony birding when one’s
motives are mixed!
Asking “How do you say “birds” in Italian?”, my guide replied, “Ucelli” (pron. [oo-cheh-lee]). Each opportunity to
speak to locals, I’d ask them what the chubby, bold little orange-breasted bird was; and got “Italian Robin, our national
bird”, as the reply everywhere, without pause. Once I finally got a copy of Birds of Europe by Lars Swenson for mylibrary, I realized that European Robin is definitely its correct name. Leave it to the Italians to embrace such aubiquitous, precious species as their own informal mascot, boldly nicknaming it to their liking, to boot!
More recent travels took me to Tokyo, Japan. I encountered there a similarly short list of year-round avian
residents (this time, five in all) – with the locals doing the same by imbuing their favorite common birds with place
names. I spotted Japanese Bush Warbler without binoculars deep in bare branches along a city path. Okay, its correct
ornithological name is as above. BUT locals call it by its (now incorrect) name, Japanese Nightingale, since that namejust stuck from centuries of art & poetry, and from its distinctive beautiful song. Seeing this bird without bins in 65
degrees, mid-February, this little guy is lovingly said to be the earliest harbinger of spring in Japan.
of these two species’ sweet legendary attributes. Fair enough to grant them that. I guess that’s also how
plants get their many regional, colloquial, slang names as well.

My Life List – Bird #1 – Matt Wlasniewski
Every trip worth taking starts with a first step. With each step is a learning experience. Some lessons are easierto learn than others and there is something to be learned even when the expected outcome isn’t reached. This all
sounds rather obscure but I have found my adventure in birding has pretty much followed that process.
I found birds fascinating even in grade school. I still have some of my primitive art class creations that were
supposed to resemble birds. In fifth grade, I was assigned a scrap book project. I found mine at J.J. Newberry’s, the only
department store in my home town of Wellsville, New York. I still have it. The Lone Ranger on his trusty steed, Silver,
still jumps of the cover at me.
I filled it pages with poems and dozens of bird drawings I cut from the National Geographic journals stacked in
the make-shift library of my small school. The artists were unknown to me at the time: Singer, Peterson and Fuertes. I
read about them years later.
My uncle Ted often took my brothers and me out for walks. He brought along his binoculars and shared themwith us. I remember feeding chickadees by hand in winter. There was no birding club that I knew of in the area. My Cub
Scout troop came the closest to a bird club. So my early birding was quite unorganized.
It wasn’t until 1978 that I realized that there were clubs of people who took walks to find birds and kept lists ofthe birds they saw. A co-worker at the school that hired me as its maintenance man had bird feeders outside hisclassroom. He was the biology teacher. One morning in January, 1978, I stopped by and noticed the sparrows at thefeed he threw under the oak tree. I mentioned that they were not all alike in either plumage or behavior. My friend
gave me his Golden field guide and told me to find the sparrows.
There was one sparrow that was more aggressive and chased the other birds away from its seeds. Its breast was
heavily streaked with a large spot in the middle. I found a sheet of paper and numbered the lines up to ten. Bird #1 on
my life list—Song Sparrow on January 20, 1978.
My life list stands at 522 and the last entry was in 2017 for the Black-backed Oriole that captured the birding
world for several months. So many steps and lessons in the 42 years that have passed. Birding has been rewarding in somany ways and there are still more birds to find.

Page 10My Best Three Hours - Russ Hoffman
The word pelagic, accent on the middle syllable, means
pertaining to the open oceans. Birds that spend their lives at sea,
except for when they nest, are referred to as pelagic birds. They
range from the small swallow-like storm petrels to the very large(wingspan wise) albatrosses. Other birds included in this group are
the petrels, shearwaters, and diving petrels. One of the main
characteristics that they share are external nostrils fused to the top of
their bills. Through these pathways seabirds excrete the saltwater
they ingest while feeding. Most of these birds are threatened or
endangered due to interaction with human activity.
Salvin’s (rear) and Chatham (front) Albatrosses in Chile – by Russ
Hoffman
I became interested in seeing seabirds about twenty years
ago and have been on many pelagic trips on both sides of the US. This can become an obsession, just as birding in generalcan become an obsession. After a few trips on the ocean, one quickly will want to see the largest of this group of birds, thealbatrosses. In the northern hemisphere one is restricted to the possibility of seeing three species of the twenty-four
species that exist on earth. The Black-footed albatross can be seen in large numbers off the west coast of the US. The
Laysan albatross is casual off the coast in the west and the Short-tailed albatross is found in Alaskan waters. Other thanthe Waved albatross found in the Galapagos Islands, one must travel to the southern hemisphere to see the rest of thespecies.
Last fall, a group of BOC members along with three others traveled to southern Chile to see birds. I had theopportunity to extend my stay for two extra days to participate in a pelagic trip out of Quintero, Chile, a small town northof Valparaiso. Checking eBird reports from past trips gave me hope that I might see some new sea-going species of birds.
We left the dock at 7:00 AM and headed to sea. Within thirty minutes we started seeing birds. This contrasts withtrips in the United States where you must travel two or more hours before seeing birds. The great part of going to a newplace for a birder is that almost every bird you see is a ‘life’ bird. This was the case on this trip. We saw shearwaters –Pink-footed and Sooty; petrels – White-chinned and Northern Giant; and four species of albatrosses. Black-browed
albatross was the first to appear. We had seen this bird from shore in southern Chile the previous week. Then we started
chumming (putting food in the water from the stern), and this brought in close a variety of birds. Included were three more
species of albatross; Salvin's, Chatham, and the largest, Northern Royal. This bird also has the distinction of having thelongest wingspan in the avian world which is eleven feet.
I considered this to be my best three hours of birding in my life. My life total of albatrosses seen is now six, which
is one-fourth of the total that exists. My eBird checklist for the trip is here. https://ebird.org/checklist/S62127610

Berks County Birds-Fall 2019 - Matt Wlasniewski
Locations:
Bartram Trail (BAT), Berne Township, (BT), Blue Mountain Academy (BMA), Blue MarshLake (BML), Blue Marsh Lake State Hill Boat Launch (BMLSH), Blue Marsh Lake Sheidy Boat Launch(BMLSBL), Christman Lake (CL), EJ Breneman’s Quarry (BQ), Exeter Township (ET), French Creek State
Park (FCSP), Gotwal’s Pond (GP), Hamburg Commerce Park (HCP), Hamburg Reservoir (HR), Hawk
Mountain North Lookout Data (HMNL), Hawk Mountain South Lookout (HMSL), Keim Road (KR),
Kernsville Dam Recreation Area (KDRA), Kutztown University (KU), Lake Ontelaunee (LO), Lake
Ontelaunee Blue Falls (LOBF),Lake Ontelaunee Water Street (LOWA), Lake Ontelaunee West Shore Drive(LOWS), Lowland Road Retention Pond (LRRP), Monacacy Hill Recreation Area (MHRC), Mount Penn (MP),Old Topton Road (OTP), Peter’s Creek (PC), Pine Swamp Road (PSR), Sacony Trail (ST), Shartlesville Farm
Pond (SFP), State Game Lands 52 (SGL52), State Game Lands 106 (SGL106), State Game Lands 110 North
Kill Gap (SGL110), Wyomissing (WYO).

Page 112019 entered the record books as the 13th wettest year in Berks weather history. 2018 and 2019combined to be the wettest back-to-back years with a total of 121.83 inches. In apparent contradiction to therain totals, there were few cold fronts to push migrants along their migration routes. Weekend rainstorms had anegative impact on raptor counts and hours in the field by Berks birders.
Snow Goose migration at HMNL totaled 52 with the first two counted 11/2 (RK) and 50 on 11/8 (SG).
A single Greater White-fronted Goose first seen at GP 11/13 (RK), spent two days there 11/18 and 11/19 (DP).
A Cackling Goose was found in a flock of Canada Geese at GP and stayed six days 11/18-11/23 (S&F, EH). An
unusual low count of 5,226 Canada Geese was evidence of the lack of beneficial cold fronts (HMNL). The only
report of Tundra Swan, an unknown number, was reported at BML 11/27 (JS).
The three main Berks lakes (BML, BQ and LO), did not have any significant fall outs of migrantwaterfowl. Twelve American Widgeon were reported at LO 11/8 (DH). The single Redhead found at BQ 11/9
(DH, RK) is a small number when compared with spring migration for this species. The same is said for the
two Ring-necked Ducks at LO 11/3 (RK). The expected rafts of Bufflehead were missed due to lack of properconditions. Three Bufflehead were found at LO 11/9 (RK) and LOWS 11/19 (JSp).
The first Common Loons at HMNL were two birds 9/24 and the total number was 91 for the quarter.
The highest number of Common Loons was 47 11/8. Single birds were found off-ridge BML 11/25 (DP) andLO 11/23 (EH). The weak cold front 11/8 that resulted in small total of waterfowl also put eleven Pied-billed
Grebes down on LO (CH) and one Horned Grebe (DH).
The seven Great Egrets at LOBF 9/6 (JSp) was the high for this species. Single Great Egrets were foundthroughout Berks. One egret lingered at HCP 8/16 -11/2 (MW) although whether it was the same bird cannot be
confirmed, of course. The lone immature Little Blue Heron at LRRP 8/11 to 8/30 (MTG, KG) was more likely
to be the same bird. The late summer dispersal of Black-crowned Night Herons resulted in eleven at BMLSBL
8/27 (EB) and four at LOBF 9/6 (JSp). An uncommon immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron fished in thespillway at LO 8/13 (MW).
A change of roosting sites seemed to take place for Black Vultures recently BML 10/24 (JS). Due totheir tendency to be destructive and the negative press in local newspapers, Black Vultures were encouraged toleave the Wernersville School and have, at the moment, moved on to the dam and beach at BML. Hundreds ofBlack Vultures now perch on beach buildings and furniture when not probing the beach for food. The vulture
flocks at the dam breast are now comprised of both Black and Turkey Vultures.
The lack of significant cold fronts resulted in lower than usual raptor movement along the ridge at
HMNL. The final numbers will be reported in volume one 2020. As of this quarter-end, these are high counts
of some species: Osprey 36 9/13, Bald Eagle 30 10/4, Northern Harrier 6 9/15, Golden Eagle 12 11/8. Two
Golden Eagles were tallied at the Route 183 Hawk Watch 11/1 (EB).The first Northern Goshawk passed
HMNL 11/9. An adult Swainson’s Hawk, a rare ridge migrant, made an even more rare appearance off-ridge at
BML 11/29 (JS) where it was observed several minutes before it flew off.
The last documentation of Virginia Rail at KDRA was 8/11 (KG) where it first appeared 4/30 (KG).
Despite the high rainfall this season, the continuing loss of suitable habitat proves to decrease shorebird
presence in Berks. A new retention pond at HCP resulted in small shorebird numbers stopping there briefly until
heavy rains covered the shorelines. These shorebirds were all observed at HCP: two Greater Yellowlegs 10/11(MW), eight Lesser Yellowlegs 8/24 (MW), five Least Sandpipers 8/16 (MW), one Pectoral Sandpiper 8/16
(MW) and one Wilson’s Snipe 9/30 (MW). The only Semipalmated Sandpiper was found at KDRA 8/29 (KG).
An American Woodcock surprised some homeowners in Shoemakersville when it dropped in to their back yard
11/7 (SM).
A small rain storm resulted in Bonaparte Gulls being found on 11/15. Five Bonaparte Gulls werecounted at both BML (DP) and LO (AC, ES). Ring-billed Gulls and American Herring Gulls commenced theirwinter roost at BML in early November when 80 Ring-billed Gulls arrived 11/1 (JSp).. High numbers were
found at BML by DP on 11/20 800, 11/25 1600 and 11/26 850. 39 American Herring Gulls spent the night at
BML 11/10 (RK). Lesser Black-backed Gulls are annual visitors to BML. Two were found at BML 11/25(DP). Three uncommon Great Black-backed Gulls made their first visit to BML 11/26 (DP).

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Caspian Terns make scattered showings at LO and BML. Two Caspian Terns appeared at LO 8/29
(MTG) while six flew around BML 9/3 (DP). Eurasian Collared-Doves have yet to be confirmed breeders in
Shartlesville. A single dove was reported 8/3 (JH).
A Long-eared Owl’s harassment by crows alerted a BT resident to the owl’s presence in the woods
behind her house. The Long-eared Owl arrived 11/18 and departed 11/28 (JS). A Northern Saw-whet Owl
called from the kettle below Hemlock Heights shortly after the counter’s morning arrival at HMNL 11/10(MW).
Two western hummingbirds, both Rufous Hummingbirds, were banded in Berks. A first-year female
arrived 10/14 at a home in ET and departed 11/30. The second hummingbird, also a young female, stayed for
only two days in WYO 11/10 to 11/12 (SL).
A total of fifteen migrating Red-headed Woodpeckers were seen at HMNL. A recently active nestingpair at Allendale Road was consistently seen 8/19 to 11/23 (MTG, MW, SM). An immature Red-headed
Woodpecker was at the nesting cavity 8/2 (MW). Yellow-bellied Sapsucker are common fall migrants—usually
only one at a sighting. Three Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were observed 10/13 LOBF (JSp).
A single Merlin returned to BML, its winter residence, 10/27 (JS). It was joined by a female Merlin
11/12 (JS). BML has been a Merlin over-winter residence annually for several years. Fifty-six migrant
Peregrine Falcons have been tallied to date HMNL with a high count of eleven 11/12.
The ridges have consistently been good places to spot flycatchers in fall migration. Sightings include:
Olive-sided Flycatcher seven, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher three and Least Flycatcher five—all at HMNL.
Vireos also follow the ridges and descend on HMNL in the early morning hours. White-eyed Vireo is rarely
seen and one passed the lookout 11/3. Six Yellow-throated Vireos were seen as were 76 Blue-headed Vireos
although the last one was documented 10/28. HMNL is a favorite site to find Philadelphia Vireos and thisseason, 21 were found in a four-week period 9/3 to 10/2. The most common vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, numbered
336.
Common Ravens continue to make their presence known off-ridge. One pair appears often along Route183 in Bernville’s commercial area. High counts in migration along the ridge were 17 11/20 and 13 11/21
HMNL. The most common swallow along the ridge is the Tree Swallow. High numbers at HMNL were: 9/14
623, 9/19 520 and 10/23 350. A total of 52 Bank Swallows are spotted at HMNL during the quarter with a highcount of 18 9/7.
The Tufted Titmouse appears to be slowly recovering from its “crash” with single numbers being
reported throughout Berks. On 11/23, six were spotted at HMNL. The first Red-breasted Nuthatch appeared
9/22 on the ridge HMNL. A single Red-breasted Nuthatch fed a home feeder in BT 10/6 (JS). Spring migrationis the more common period for Marsh Wren to appear in KDRA reeds. A single Marsh Wren was heard andseen 10/12 (KG).
On 10/12, an overnight thrush migration ended in a woods of a BT resident. Competing for a spot at
the water bath were: Swainson’s Thrush, Veery, Gray-cheeked Thrush and Hermit Thrush. The number of birds
was not reported. Snow Buntings appeared at HMNL 11/15-11/30. On 11/23, thirteen flew past with a number
landing on the lookout rocks.
There was no large warbler fall-out reported this season along any of the Berks ridges although 9/16
resulted in the best counts for several species. High counts at HMNL reported were: Tennessee Warbler 4 9/16,
Nashville Warbler 3 9/16, Cape May Warbler 43 9/23, Magnolia Warbler 17 9/16, Bay-breasted Warbler 20
9/16, Blackburnian Warbler 22 9/16 and Black-throated Green Warbler 64 9/16.
The first reported American Tree Sparrow came from Kempton 11/13 (HW). Fall migrating Fox
Sparrows were seen in single numbers by many birders. Five found along the BT 11/26 (KG) was the highest
number reported. A prized fall Lincoln’s Sparrow found at the Acopian Center was the only report 9/19 (DS).
A single White-crowned Sparrow found at BML 10/30 (JS) was the first report.
Scarlet Tanagers and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks often are often reported in the same flocks at HMNL as
warblers and vireos. High count of Scarlet Tanagers was 61 9/16 and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks 43. An unusualsighting, perhaps the first, of two Blue Grosbeaks, on 9/7 took the counters and visitors at HMNL by surprise.
The winter finch forecast predicted few if any migrants from the far north. This forecast has held true todate. During the month 10/19 to 11/14, only 8 Purple Finch had flown past HMNL.

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Observers: Matt Wlasniewski, 191 Scenic Drive, Hamburg, PA 19526, 610-463-8845,
martind28@comcast.net
Ed Barrell, Scott Clark, Andrew Consler, Steven Fordyce, Laurie Goodrich & HMS Volunteers/Staff, Scott
Godshall, Mary-Therese Grob, Kerry Grim, Elaine Hendricks, Daniel Hinnebusch, Russell Hoffman, Jeff
Hopkins, Chris Hugosson, Rudy Keller, Larry Koch, Edward Komito, Katrina Knight, Sandy Lockerman,
Nathan Lewis, Holly Merker, Sandra Moroney, Barbara Murse, Derek Price, Joan Silagy, Mike Slater, Adrian
Smith, Jo Spilde (JSp), Stollery & Flood, Danny Stoner, Russell Taylor, Jaime Thomas, Todd Underwood, Bill
Uhrich, Esther Vallejo, Helen Weaver, Matt White (MWh), Jane Wolfe, Peter Wolfe, Art Zdancewic._