Next 3RBC Membership Meeting
by Carlos Sanchez
WE CAN EXPLORE ESPAÑA WITH CARLOS SANCHEZ ON APRIL 7
Birding in Spain will be the focus of our April 7, 2021 membership meeting. Carlos Sanchez, birding tour guide in Central and South America, will present a comprehensive look at the birds of this European country situated on a major migratory flyway. Carlos will guide us from Sierra de Gredos mountains in central Spain southwest to grasslands and forests in Extremadura, south to the wetlands of Doñana National Park, and finally east to Castille-La Mancha. We’ll see such birds as White-capped Dipper and Citril Finch, a variety of nesting raptors, Marbled Teal and White-headed Duck, and nesting waterbirds.
Carlos Sanchez, a native of Miami, Florida, has led tours at Bellavista Lodge in Ecuador and at Cristalino Jungle Lodge in Brazil. He graduated from the University of Miami, and then accepted a position to do pelagic bird surveys in the Gulf of Mexico on a NOAA ship — the Gordon Gunter. He has birded throughout Florida, as well as in Costa Rica and Australia. He has lead tours from Costa Rica to Cuba and from Brazil to Madagascar.
As usual, this will be a Zoom meeting online starting at 7:00 PM ET, giving you access time to log on. The business meeting will begin at 7:30 PM, and Carlos’ presentation will start at 8:00 PM. Details on joining the meeting (Zoom passwords and other instructions) will be supplied in the days before the meeting.
What's New? (3/3/2021)
THE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 EDITION OF THE PEREGRINE IS NOW AVAILABLE!
The January/February 2021 issue of The Peregrine is online.
Also, see additional photos for Tom Moeller's 'Observations' column on Pine Siskins (PDF).
MEETING MINUTES OF OUR FEBRUARY 2021 MEETING ARE AVAILABLE
The written minutes of our fourth Zoom meeting from February 3, 2021, featuring Sarah Sargent of Erie Bird Observatory, are available on our "Meeting Minutes" page. We continue our tradition of written minutes along with recordings of our meetings from the Zoom platform.
Find the written version of the minutes here: February 3, 2021 Minutes.
2020 CLUB ACTIVITIES WERE SHARPLY CURTAILED BY THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK
HOWEVER, BIRD OBSERVATIONS IN ALLEGHENY COUNTY SURPASSED 2019!
Steve Thomas has compiled a summary of the club's 2020 limited activities. Hopefully, 2021 with the vaccines will be better! Check out what we were able to accomplish.
Allegheny County bird observations were not curtailed during the year. Mike Fialkovich has compiled the 2020 Birds Reported in Allegheny County summary.
VISIT OUR NEW PAGE FOR PAST ZOOM MEETINGS
We now have a website page for the Zoom membership meetings we have recorded. If you missed a meeting or would like to see one again, past meetings are available at the “Past Zoom Meetings” link in the left-hand menu of each page. We hope you find this feature of our website useful.
PSO SPONSORS STUDENT RESEARCH GRANT
The Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology (PSO) is sponsoring up to two $500 student research grants in support of research on Pennsylvania’s avifauna. Details of the criteria and submission of applications can be found in the announcement found at this link: PSO Student Research Grant.
READ FRANK IZAGUIRRE'S ARTICLE FROM BIRDING MAGAZINE ON PILEATED WOODPECKERS IN FRICK PARK
With permission from the author, Frank Izaguirre, and the Editor of Birding magazine, Ted Floyd, we are presenting Frank's article "Celebrating the Stumpbreaker of Squirrel Hill" from the January 2021 issue of Birding, which is dedicated to the 2021 ABA Bird of the Year, the Pileated Woodpecker. Enjoy! Click on the link to read Frank's article: Stumpbreaker. (PDF)
READ FRANK IZAGUIRRE'S ENTIRE REPORT FROM FRIGID CANADA
Frank Izaguirre's report "Frigid Canada's Birds Warmed a Pair of Birders" was presented in two parts in The Peregrine – the July/August 2020 edition and the September/October 2020 edition. Now you can read the entire report on one page in this website. Follow the link: Frigid Canada.
PSO's PA BREEDING BIRD BLITZ for CONSERVATION (B4C) - June 18-21, 2021
The Breeding Bird Blitz for Conservation has identified two flagship birds whose populations are declining in Pennsylvania: the Northern Harrier and the Wood Thrush. Both species are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the Pennsylvania Wildlife Action Plan. The Northern Harrier is state-listed as "threatened" since its numbers are declining so rapidly.
According to the Breeding Bird Survey, almost half of the Wood Thrushes have disappeared over the last 50 years. Pennsylvania is particularly critical to Wood Thrush survival since 8.5% of the global population is found in our forests.
Although Northern Harriers have a wide range in North America, their dependency on extensive, open, grassy fields and scrub-wetlands makes them scarce breeders in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, reclaimed strip mines provide the highest amount of suitable habitat.
Read in-depth about this project in this release from the PSO Birding Blitz, and find more details at this website: PA Breeding Bird Blitz
BIRDS CAN DANCE! - Another Delightful Diversion for Birders
More diversions for a cold winter: From the maker of "Bird Song Opera," (below) Volker Pannes of www.shakeup.de, a new video "Birds Can Dance!" shows various birds cavorting to the Strauss waltz “The Blue Danube.” Watch and maybe you can dance along too.
View this delightful video on our "Videos" page.
BIRD SONG OPERA - A Delightful Diversion for Birders
As an escape from the stress of COVID-19, we wanted to present some 'light opera' performed by birds from around the world titled Bird Song Opera. This is an original video conceived and created by Volker Pannes of www.shakeup.de, a German website. Volker based this 'opera' on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute, which he rearranged and edited for this video.
Take some time to enjoy this video and see how many of the birds in it you can identify. There is a helpful list at the end of all the performers.
View this delightful video on our "Videos" page.
MORE DIVERSIONS AS WE WAIT FOR BETTER DAYS
In addition to the “Bird Song Opera,” we have many videos to enjoy on our “Videos” page. Click “Videos” on the Side Menu to see many interesting bird videos.
Also, on our “Links” page there are 15 ‘Live Wildlife WebCams’ to choose from to entertain you. Most are bird webcams, but there are also wildlife (deer, foxes, elk, squirrels, etc.) cams. Three of the links lead to a variety of webcams to increase your viewing choices. Again, click “Links” in the Side Menu and look under ‘Live Wildlife WebCams.’
Hopefully, you are getting out to enjoy the spring migration (with proper social distancing), but you can also enjoy Nature virtually with our video and webcam selections.
THE VIDEO PAGE HAS MORE NEW TAPES!!
Our "VIDEOS" page has several more videos by members, incluing Virginia Rails in Harrison Hills Park, a Baltimore Oriole enjoying an orange, a Red-tailed Hawk nestling expelling a pellet, and a new video of an American Avocet in Pittsburgh.
Click on "Videos" in the Side Menu to find these interesting videos by members!
SEE THE PAGE CREATED FOR LOWELL BURKET'S DISCOVERY OF THE THREE SPECIES, TWO GENERA WARBLER!
If you're wondering where photos of the "Burket's Warbler" have gone, you'll have to look on the new webpage created for all the information on that exciting new bird. There are photos, background information, links to articles and interviews, and more. Be sure to read about the new honor received by Dave Toews, the researcher who deciphered the three-species warbler's DNA.
Click on "'Burket's Warbler' News" on the side menu to see this new page.
Items to Note!
ABA CODE OF ETHICS
The American Birding Association's Principles of Birding Ethics now has its own page (ABA Code of Ethics) on this website. All birders are reminded to follow these guidelines while birding for the protection of the birds, respect for the environment, and enjoyment of other birders.
THE AMERICAN BIRD ASSOCIATION'S ABA LIVE! CONTINUES DISCUSSIONS OF NEW BIRDING TOPICS
The American Birding Association continues its Virtual Bird Club series on ABA Live! about every two weeks. The earlier programs on the site are replaced by newer ones. Right now three recent talks in the series available are these: "Exploring Attu" by Christian Hagenlocher from June 3, "A Story of Perseverance; The Brown Pelicans of Coastal Louisiana" by Juita Martinez from June 17, and "Birding for Everyone; A Conversation with Tykee James, Nicole Jacjson, and John C. Robinson" from June 25.
(See below for even older programs.)
Ted Floyd, editor of Birding magazine and the author of many articles and books on birds and nature AND a 3RBC member, presented "How to 'See' Birdsong; Sound Spectrograms 101" on July 22. You can still see this recorded program on ABA Live!
Go to ABA Live! to view this and the other three recent programs.
The older programs from ABA Live! are still available at a separate site. You can find any that you may have missed in the Virtual Bird Club archive on YouTube here: Archive.
PENNSYLVANIA BIRDS -- See what you've been missing!
The Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology (PSO) publishes sample article from the current issue of Pennsylvania Birds online. Anyone who does not subscribe or perhaps does not even know about PSO can now actually see a little bit of what they've been missing, and hopefully be encouraged to join PSO!
Follow us on FACEBOOK!
Be sure to visit our club's Facebook page for up-to-date news on happenings with the club, member photos, or links to other birding sites.
Longer Articles are Still Available
Read Kathleen Siebert's article on her journey to Ecuador Take the "Sun Route" to Enjoy Ecuador's Avian Wealth, and Geoff Malosh's tale of chasing the sun's eclipse A Different Kind of Chase: Not for Birds This Time.
Don't forget David Yeany II's wonderful report by about his adventure pursuing a Kirtland's Warbler in Michigan with friends on a "slow" day at Magee Marsh in May 2018: Kirtland's Warbler.
Plus, enjoy the stunning gallery of birds and scenery from Northwest Argentina, which is an adjunct to Claire Staples' article "A Very High Adventure: Birding to 15,000 Feet in Argentina's Andes" [The Peregrine Vol. 18, No. 2, March/April 2019], can still be enjoyed: Northwest Argentina.
The Peregrine "Online-only" Option Remains Available to Members
Our members may choose NOT to receive a paper copy of our newsletter The Peregrine, in order to reduce clutter, save trees, or protect the environment. If you only want to view our newsletter online, please email Tom Moeller at thosjmoel@gmail.com and ask him to put you on the "online only" list to NO LONGER receive paper copies of The Peregrine.
Our membership rates remain the same with this change. It is your preference whether or not to receive the paper copy of the newsletter.
The List of Birding Checklists
We offer many checklists on our Outings page. There are now nine (9) lists you can download and use as you explore these birding hotspots. Check them out!
