Three Rivers Birding Club
Bi-monthly Membership Meeting
Monday, January 12, 2004
7:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Phipps Garden Center, Shady Avenue

A social gathering was held for thirty minutes before the meeting began; refreshments were available. Members had the opportunity to select free birding brochures and magazines to take home. Members who provide freebies should check the table after the meeting and take home any of their remaining items. Seventy-three enthusiastic birders attended.

President Jack Solomon called the meeting to order. Jack recognized seven people who were attending a meeting for the first time. Some were familiar faces from club-sponsored outings. Steve Carbol from The National Aviary and Gabi Hughes from Beechwood Farms were in attendance. Jack pointed out the Informal Birding part of the 3RBC website as a way for birders to make arrangements to go birding with others.

Vice-president and Outings Chairman Jim Valimont mentioned the outing scheduled for Presque Isle on January 17 because there was some confusion about the correct day. Pat Lynch said that the Saturday outing is correctly listed in The Peregrine.

Carol McCullough gave details about the Great Backyard Bird Count scheduled for February 13-16. More information will be available in The Peregrine or at http://www.birdsource.org. The North American Migration Count will be done on May 8; Carol and Fred McCullough are Allegheny County compilers. IBA counts at Buffalo Creek South are being coordinated by Larry Helgerman and Neil Nodelman, at Raccoon Creek by Chuck Tague, and at Buffalo Creek North by Brian Shema. Larry reported that a winter count at Buffalo Creek South on January 4 turned up 51 species and about 2600 birds. Contact these people to volunteer your help.

Wendy Jo Shemansky listed future programs. The March and November meetings will be members' slide slams. Chuck Tague will present Advanced Waterfowl in April. Mike Fialkovich will do the July program, and Wendy Jo would like to have a raptor show in September.

Treasurer Bob Machesney indicated that with about 220 mailing addresses the club has over 300 total members. Bob reported that some people need to renew their memberships.

Jim thanked the hospitality committee and other members for providing refreshments.

Bird Reports Chairman Mike Fialkovich led a discussion of recent bird sightings. Highlights included a Short-eared Owl at a cemetery near Sharpsburg, a Northern Shrike at North Park, a Brewer's Blackbird in Crabtree, a hummingbird in South Connellsville, Merlins in Schenley Park, an albino Wild Turkey north of Claysville, and a Peregrine Falcon at the Cathedral of Learning. Over 9000 crows were counted for the Pittsburgh CBC by Ted Floyd. Members were urged to call other birders when they find either rare birds or birds unusual for the season or location.

Mike introduced Bob Mulvihill from the Powdermill Nature Reserve near Ligonier. Bob is involved in banding birds and compiling data on species, sex, age, wing length, fat deposits, and body mass. His spectacular digital photos can be seen on Powdermill's website. Bob is in charge of the next Breeding Bird Atlas for Pennsylvania, and Mike is a regional coordinator.

Bob gave an impressive Power Point presentation which showed the history of the Powdermill Nature Reserve and the future of the Breeding Bird Atlas. Dr. M. Graham Netting from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History had the vision to establish Powdermill to study birds. Bob's pictures vividly traced the evolution of Powdermill under Bob Leberman's leadership from the first bird banded, an Indigo Bunting, to currently over 500,000 entries recorded in the database. Birds caught most often in the mist nets are Dark-eyed Juncos; one of the rarest birds was a Kirtland's Warbler; an unexpected bird for a mist net was an American Bittern. Banded birds havebeen recovered as far away as Peru and northern Manitoba.

Bob next enthusiastically discussed his plan for Pennsylvania's second Breeding Bird Atlas. The state's first Breeding Bird Atlas was compiled/completed from 1983 to 1989. Bob envisions the new atlas to be a state-of-the-art atlas, the best breeding bird atlas in the world. During the next five years, volunteers will utilize geo-referencing and e-Bird to pinpoint locations. He showed how the grid on the DeLorme atlas will be used to divide up the work load and discussed how more than 1,000,000 breeding bird records will be stored in a database. Not only will the different species be shown but also the frequency of the individual species. There will be special surveys for nocturnal birds, wetland species, and rare and/or difficult species to detect (e.g., Golden-winged Warbler). Paid researchers will do an estimated 40,000 point counts over five years.

Bob expects to enlist over 10,000 volunteers to work on the new breeding bird atlas. He requests that all 3RBC members participate, recruit friends, and tell everyone about this mammoth undertaking. Bob hopes that the club can also adopt an area in a less inhabited part of the state.

Submitted by Pat and Sherron Lynch
Co-secretaries, Three Rivers Birding Club