Next 3RBC Membership Meeting
releasing a Yellow Warbler
WE'LL LEARN WHAT'S SPECIAL
ABOUT PRESQUE ISLE'S BIRDS
AT OUR FEBRUARY 3 MEETING
Ask a long-time 3RBC member to name the best birding hotspots in western Pennsylvania, and Presque Isle along the Lake Erie shore is sure to be among them.
We'll appreciate why when Sarah Sargent, executive director of the Erie Bird Observatory, presents her program at our meeting on Wednesday, February 3, 2021.
She will tell us how the Observatory is working to preserve Presque Isle's environmental treasure in a program titled "Erie Bird Observatory: Bird Monitoring and Conservation in Northwest Pennsylvania."
Among Observatory projects are banding migrant birds to monitor their timing and numbers, monitoring shorebirds, marsh birds, and water birds, and maintaining Osprey nesting platforms in cooperation with utility companies. The efforts also include a study of the economic impact of birders on the Erie region.
Again, 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 the 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.
Future Programs:
- April 7, 2021 — Carlos Sanchez will present "Birding Spain"
- June 2, 2021 — Mark Bonta will present "Fire Hawks: Arsonists or Land Managers"
What's New? (1/16/2021)
THE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 EDITION OF THE PEREGRINE IS NOW AVAILABLE!
The November/December 2020 issue of The Peregrine is online.
Also, see additional photos for Tom Moeller's 'Observations' column on Cedar Waxwings including the References for the article. (PDF).
MEETING MINUTES OF OUR DECEMBER 2020 MEETING ARE AVAILABLE
The written minutes of our second Zoom meeting from December 9, 2020, featuring our annual "Slide Slam" with thirteen presenters, are available on our "Meeting Minutes" page. We continue our tradition of written minutes along with presentation of our meetings on the Zoom platform. Find the written version of the minutes here: December 9, 2020 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.
VIDEO OF OUR DECEMBER 2020 SLIDE SLAM MEETING IS AVAILABLE
For those of you who missed our December Slide Slam Zoom meeting or would like to see it again, we offer the video of our entire membership meeting from December 9, 2020, featuring 13 members presenting their wonderful photos of birds from their backyards, Florida, the western USA, Canada, Australia, and Antarctica! Club officers start things off with several announcements and then the fun begins as our presenters display their fine work right up close on your computer screens. Enjoy!
You may notice the video goes over the border of the page, but that is so we can present the highest quality version of this program. The entire video runs 2 hours and 17 minutes in length. The Slide Slam itself begins at 17:30 minutes into the video.
A REQUEST FROM THE ERIE BIRD OBSERVATORY
Did you bird Presque Isle State Park in September or October? If so, Erie Bird Observatory needs your help! EBO is collecting information about birding visits to Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania during the months of September and October 2020. Your response will help us document the economic impact of birding on the region and assist in the development of services, infrastructure and facilities to enhance birders’ experiences. We are conducting this study as part of a larger program funded by a grant through DCNR’s Community Conservation Partnerships Program.
The survey is confidential (and can be completed anonymously if you choose) and will take approximately 10 minutes of your time.
Please do include your email address if you would like to hear back about our study result!
We thank you for your participation in advance!
To take the survey, follow this link:
Erie Bird Observatory Survey
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.
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!
