Three Rivers Birding Club
Bi-monthly Membership Meeting
Monday, April 5, 2010
6:30 - 10:00 PM
Phipps Garden Center, Shady Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
Sixty-seven members and visitors remembered the unusual Monday night meeting on the day after Easter. The first hour allowed time for munching on some treats (including Easter candy), discussing the beautiful spring day, selecting from the many free magazines and books (some people have been spring housecleaning), admiring the plethora of door prizes, and networking about past and future birding plans.
President Jim Valimont called the meeting to order, made the introductory announcements, and recognized three first timers, before turning the business meeting over to Vice President Bob VanNewkirk.
Bob gave members time to make several important announcements.
* Paul Hess showed a book offered free by Ted Floyd and the American Birding Association. Copies of this “great little book,” Let’s Go Birding were available after the meeting.
* Tom Kuehl announced the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology meeting is on May 14-16 in Erie. Because there is no host organization, Tom asked those attending to let him know if they can serve as outings leaders.
* Ian Haigh let everyone know that the next meeting will be on June 2, and the speaker will be Dr. Andrew Vitz. His topic will be shade coffee and Neotropical migrants like the Cerulean Warbler.
* Don Gibbon presented information about the 5th Annual Environmental Film Festival on April 14 and 24. Check the Sierra Club’s website for details.
* Steve Thomas, Outings Director, listed many future outings, and Paul Hess suggested that people should check the 3RBC website for up-to-date information.
* Jack Solomon mentioned that the Frick Outing on April 17 would begin around noon. Sue Solomon invited everyone to visit Frick Park on April 17 to celebrate Earth Day and to visit the many booths that will be set up by local organizations.
Bird Reports Editor Mike Fialkovich listed observations of many early spring migrants. Among these were Fish Crow; Peregrine Falcon; Northern Pintail; Surf Scoter; Gulls such as Thayer’s, Lesser Black-backed, and Great Black-backed; shorebirds including Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe, and American Woodcock; Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; Ovenbird; Louisiana Waterthrush; Fox Sparrow; Tundra Swan; Northern Shoveler; Redhead; Common Loon; Osprey; Bald Eagle; Rough-legged Hawk; Merlin; Bonaparte’s Gull; Barred Owl; Common Raven; Eastern Bluebird; Northern Shrike; and Rusty Blackbird. Members added sightings (Winter Wren, Yellow-throated Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Cooper’s Hawk) and reports of breeding activities. Donna Foyle reported that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are nearing Pittsburgh according to a tracking website.
Program Director Ian Haigh introduced our guest speaker Tammy Colt, Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Wildlife Diversity Biologist for the Southwest Region, and her topic on Barn Owls. The Barn Owl is a bird close to Ian’s heart. He often saw them flying parallel to his car as he drove in his native United Kingdom. This is because the UK has a very good conservation program for the species. Ian wondered why he was not seeing Barn Owls in our area.
Tammy introduced her program by pointing out that the Barn Owl, Tyto alba, has a worldwide distribution and is one of the seven owl species inhabiting Pennsylvania. The forest species of owls (Great Horned, Barred, Eastern Screech-Owl, and Northern Saw-whet) are doing well. The three grassland species (Long-eared, Short-eared, and Barn) are declining in number. This decline piqued the audience’s curiosity.
Tammy gave many details about the natural history, ecology, and reproduction of Barn Owls. They occur year-round but are most often seen hunting over large open spaces, such as farmland, hedgerows, edge habitat, and riparian edges in spring and fall. Meadow voles make up seventy percent of the owl’s diet. The long legs and grippers (papillae) on the toes help the owls to catch the plump meadow voles in long grass. The species usually nests in silos or barns. Unlike many birds, the Barn Owl lays eggs two to three days apart and incubates the eggs as soon as they are laid. This is a nesting strategy that allows the parents to concentrate on the older (larger) birds during food shortages.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) compared the results of the 1984-89 Breeding Bird Atlas and the 2004-2008 atlas. The recent atlas showed fewer confirmed nests, and these were concentrated southeast of the Appalachians. Barn Owls are in trouble because of urban sprawl, loss of grassland habitat, modern agricultural practices (rodenticides and monocultures which do not allow for diversity in insects and small mammals), loss of nest sites, and more traffic on highways.
A Barn Owl Conservation Initiative was started in 2004 with the hiring of wildlife biologists and was expanded statewide by 2006. The purpose of the initiative is to estimate abundance and distribution, evaluate habitat and prey, assess survival and dispersal, and look at genetic diversity. In 2009, 71 active nest sites were found and 243 owls were banded. Unfortunately, none of these were in the southwestern region. Additional studies in radio telemetry, pellet analysis, and genetic diversity are being done through York and Lycoming Colleges. The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania is working on a site fidelity study.
After her fascinating and thorough report about Barn Owls, Tammy suggested a few things that we can do to help. Private landowners can retain riparian corridors and allow fields to go fallow periodically. Everyone can support farmland preservation efforts, join non-profit groups like the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy that preserve land, report Barn Owl sightings and nesting activity to the PGC, practice good land management, and put up an owl nest box. For more information about the PGC, click here to go to their website.
Submitted by Pat and Sherron Lynch
Co-Secretaries of Three Rivers Birding Club
