Lancaster County Bird Club
	Lancaster, Pennsylvania Founded December 8, 1937 to secure the cultivation of public sentiment in the preservation of our native bird life.

"CALL NOTES"
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2006

PREVIEWS OF COMING EVENTS

Saturday, August 26, 2006 - Speedwell County Park and Lake. Meet at 6:30 a.m. at the Speedwell County Park parking lot. Leader - Bruce Carl (Akron 859-4179 or e-mail carls [AT] dejazzd [DOT] com). Early migrants will be the target birds.

Friday, September 8, 2006 - Club meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Farm & Home Center, 1383 Arcadia Road, Lancaster. Tonight's program, "The Uncommon Crow: the hidden life of a common but misunderstood bird," is the Club's effort to get some important information to the public about the American Crow. Dr. Kevin J. McGowan will be the speaker. Here is his program description:

"The American Crow is much vilified for its appearance and fondness of congregating in large, messy groups. In fact, it has one of the most human-like social systems of all birds and is fascinating in its own right. Come hear about the intricacies of crow life as discovered by an 18-year study of individually marked crows."

Saturday, Sepember 9, 2006 - Cornwall Fire Tower Trails. Meet at 7:00 a.m. on the parking lot at the end of the road beyond where the old fire tower stood. Leader - Steve Rannels (Hershey 534-2480 or e-mail srannels [AT] psu [DOT] edu).

Saturday, September 16, 2006 - Pumping Station Road and Second Mountain Hawk Watch. Leaders: Thom Kurtz and Nancy Clupper (Lancaster 299-9406). Meet at 7:00 a.m. at Pumping Station Road and Route 322, west of Brickerville. A good time for the Broad-winged Hawk Flights.

Sunday, October 1, 2006 - Memorial Lake and Second Mountain Hawk Watch. Meet at 7:00 a.m. along Route 934, just north of I-81. Leader - Rosemary Spreha (Harrisburg 657-0271 or e-mail rspreha [AT] excite [DOT] com). Morning birding will be at Memorial Lake State Park, with the afternoon being spent at Second Mountain Hawk Watch.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE BY ANN M. BODLING

As the new incoming president of the Lancaster County Bird Club, I'd like to take a moment to express my gratitude for this Club and for the impact it has had on my own life and personal development over the last number of years. I became a member a little over ten years ago through my friendship with Jonathan Heller and his family when Jonathan was a high schooler. I decided that, if he and Randy Miller and others rould learn the songs of most of the birds that pass through Pennsylvania, I could too and set out to do just that. Now, ten years later, I can't say I know all of them, but I have learned most and being able to walk through the woods and the fields and recognize the birds by sight and song has been a tremendous privilege and joy.

I am also extremely grateful for the friends and kindred spirits I have found in the Club and hope that this has been and will be other member's experience as well. I'd like to encourage everyone to think about joining in on some of the field trips the Club is offering this year. Some are familiar and some are new, some are close by and others are farther afield. Not only are these outings a great way to learn and enjoy the birds, but also to learn from and enjoy other members who go along.

I hope that my tenure as Bird Club president might be known as a time of commitment to conservation awareness and action. A paraphrase of the Club's statement of purpose gives us this charter: "The purposes of the Lancaster County Bird Club are to record the observation of bird life in Lancaster County, to let others know of that bird life, to provide education about the habits and identification of birds, and to encourage public sentiment towards the preservation of Lancaster County bird life."

I look forward to the coming year and hope all of you do too.

MEMORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS PUT TO GOOD USE

From time to time when Club members have passed away, the LCBC was listed as an organization to which memorial contributions could be given.

With the sizeable amount of money received in memory of Shirley Bubb, the Board of Directors decided to use this money to help further interest in one of Shirley's pet projects: the Lancaster County Elementary Envirothon. In consultation with the Envirothon's Steering Committee, it was decided to purchase three books to be placed in the libraries of each of the 22 schools participating in the Envirothon. This meant a total of 66 books being purchased; each book had a memorial bookplate honoring Shirley inside the cover.

The books purchased were "The Reader's Digest Book - The Birds of North America," "The Golden Book of Birds - A Guide to Field Identification," and "Waterbirds of the Northeast."

The Lancaster Mennonite High School (LMHS) library was also the recipient of three books placed there in memory of Luke Shank, who had taught biology there. The books placed in the LMHS library were "Hawks from Every Angle - How to Identify Raptors in Flight," "Identify Yourself - the 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges," and "The Reader's Digest Book - Birds of North America." These books had a memorial bookplate inside the cover honoring Luke.

BIRDS ON THE MOVE (March 1, 2006, to May 31, 2006) COMPILED BY BARBARA HUNSBERGER

Editor's Note: Please report your sightings to Barbara Hunsberger, 984 Woodridge Boulevard, Lancaster, PA 17601. She prefers to have reports sent to her e-mail address: phunsberger [AT] comcast [DOT] net, but will accept mail or phone reports (Lancaster 393-4091). Remember, our focus is not just on rare or uncommon birds, but also on more common species that appear in unusual numbers, out-of-season, or exhibiting behaviour that would be of interest to our members. Your help is needed in making this column a way of recording the county's birdlife. If you send a report to the PABIRDS Listserv or make a verbal report at a Club meeting, please send that report to Barb also. Thanks for your help!

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS BY BETTINA HEFFNER

Editor's Note: Items for this column should be sent directly to Bettina Heffner. Her address is 539 North Mary Street, Lancaster, PA 17603-3009, or you can e-mail her at bettinahef [AT] msn [DOT] com.

The last newsletter included an entry about Joanna Sadler's volunteering at Reamstown Elementary School. The "resourceful teacher" mentioned is actually Deb Raudenbush, a relatively new LCBC member. Deb teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) and has invited Joanna to her class to help with communication skills through the medium of knitting. I had the good fortune to bird with Joanna and Deb at Joanna's farm early this spring. It's always neat to get to know fellow members, especially through birding.

Our Club represents a wealth of experience and knowledge as well as the love of bird life. As a retired biology teacher from Lancaster Mennonite High School, Charlie Longenecker has a lifetime of sharing his enthusiasm for the outdoors - and he is still teaching, just with a different age group. Charlie was featured in the Intelligencer Journal's Senior Citizen column on March 6th. His photo was included. As a resident of Landis Homes, he gardens and leads wildlife walks for his fellow residents. As the headline stated, "Biology was just in Longenecker's nature."

Congratulations to ll^th grader Andrew Odell for placing second in the Zoology Division of the Lancaster Newspapers/Pfizer Science & Engineering Fair! His winning topic was "The Effects of the Weather on Nocturnal Passerine Migration." The fair was in March. Other senior-high divisions were Behavioral-Social Sciences, Biochemistry, Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, Medicine & Health, Microbiology, and Physics.

I know Milt Steffy as my birding buddy at Middle Creek. We volunteered to help the public identify waterfowl. I encourage folks to look through our scopes and Milt answered all the hard questions. Milt's a veteran as well as a birder. A new memorial to 468 Denver area veterans includes his name. The memorial is at the entrance of the Denver Memorial Park. Milt's photo at the memorial was on the front page of the May 17, 2006, issue of the Shopping News.

The Pennsylvania Avian Monitor is the newsletter of the 2nd Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas. In this spring's issue, Sandy & Gary Lockerman were pictured and featured as Regional Coordinators for Region 78, which is largely Harrisburg and its suburbs. The very western tip of Lancaster County is included. The Lockermans have been active volunteers in birding for years. Participating in the first PA Breeding Bird Atlas was their first "birding with a purpose." They could be role models for those of us who have not committed to the task. To see the newsletter on the web, go to www.pabirdatlas.org.

Tom Raub has also committed himself to the PA Breeding Bird Atlas and his work with the Atlas inspired the Lancaster County Conservancy to feature warblers in this spring's Landview, the Conservancy's newsletter. Tom is hoping that the River Hills region, which includes several Conservancy preserves, will have the most warbler species in the state.

During May, there was a large "migration" of LCBC members to Crane Creek State Park in Ohio. Included in the group in their search for warblers and other spring migrants were Gerry & Jeanne Boltz, Fritz Heilman, Ken & Jane Light, Richard & Karen Light, Darryl & Sally Lownsbery, Mike & Linda McKinne, Steve & Sharon Rannels, Rosemary Spreha, Jan & Pat Witmer, and Fred Zimmerman and his daughter Kathryn. Most of the members observed over 20 species of warblers "close up and personal." Thanks to Darryl & Sally for all their help in distributing information to interested members! My apology if any names were omitted.

MEMBERSHIP NEWS BY PAT WITMER

A reminder: your membership renewal for 2006-2007 is due now. Enclosed with this newsletter is the renewal form for your membership. This is also being mailed to prospective members who have requested information regarding the LCBC. Since this is the only notice you will be receiving, please complete the form and mail it, along with your check made payable to the Lancaster County Bird Club, to our treasurer, Jonathan Heller, 206 Newcomer Road, Mt. Joy, PA 17552-8401, at you earliest convenience. It would be helpful if you include your nine-digit zip code and your e-mail address on this form. Also, a few people have already renewed, or new members have joined, for 2006-2007. This is indicated on their mailing label by a "7/07" and there will not be a renewal form enclosed in their mailing.

Total Club membership for 2005-2006 was 385, a decrease of 12 members from the previous year.

REVIEW OF COMPLETED EVENTS

Saturday, April 1, 2006 - Jonathan Heller led 15 birders on this trip along the Susquehanna River on a pleasant morning. Stops were made at Long Level, Columbia, Accomac Inn, and Safe Harbor. Sixty species were identified. These included Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and at least 16 Bald Eagles. Most notable sightings, however, were the single adult Little Gull and the one adult Black-headed Gull in among the 200+ Bonaparte's Gulls.

April 7, 2006 - Chris Rebert was the speaker for the evening's program. His topic, "Birding by Ear," explored the variations of bird songs, pointing out patterns and similarities in the these songs. Through his PowerPoint program of matching sounds with birds, one could easily see the advantages to learning bird songs as part of the enjoyment of birding.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - This trip to the Safe Harbor area for birds, and then to Shenk's Ferry for wildflowers, was led by Jim Smith. The 11 trip participants identified 40 bird species. A good number of singing Yellow-throated Warblers, a Palm Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, both Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Eastern Phoebe, both Vultures, and a couple of adult Bald Eagles were included in these sightings.

The wildflowers were spectacular!

Butterflies observed included Anglewings, Sulfurs, and Whites, Spring Azures, Tiger Swallowtail, Zebra Swallowtail, and a very early Silver Spotted Skipper.

Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - This date was changed due to a job conflict for leader Jim Smith. Covering the Lower Susquehanna IBA #57, these trip participants were amazed by the abundance of Cerulean Warblers. Other trip highlights were the Bald Eagle chicks and the Osprey nests. The previous night's "fallout" provided both Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Hermit and Wood Thrushes, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Yellow Warblers, Redstarts, Chat, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Kingbird, White-eyed Vireo, Chipping Sparrow, and Eastern Bluebird.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - Leaders Leon & Jane Schreffler had a group of 18 birders on this walk through Landis Woods. It was a beautiful, clear, sunny morning that provided an excellent bird walk on which 45 species were identified. Eleven warbler species included Redstart, Blackburnian, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Black & White, Common Yellowthroat, and Parula. Other sightings of Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Yellow-throated Vireo, Great-crested Flycatcher, Wood Thrush, Green Heron, and several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds helped fill the morning's experience.

May 12, 2006 - The picnic meeting at Middle Creek WMA was attended by 21 people. Jan Witmer led the birding activities before and after the picnic and business meeting. The group identified 55 species of birds.

Saturday, May 13, 2006 - Warbler Walks and Pennsylvania Migration Count

• Middle Creek WMA - Thirteen birders joined leader Fred Habegger as they tallied 94 species for the day. Even though migrants were almost non-existent, nine warbler species were identified. Other sightings included Snipe, Common Nighthawk, and some lingering Tundra Swan. The best sighting was of a stunning hybrid, Lawrence's Warbler!
• Hammer Creek - Bruce Carl had nine participants helping him cover Pumping Station Road, the Triangle, Dead End Road, Speedwell County Park and Speedwell Lake areas. Seventy-nine species were identified, which included 16 warbler species. Among the migrant warblers were Canada, Blackpoll, Yellow-rumped, Nashville, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, and Blackburnian. The six shorebird species tallied included Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Semi-palmated Plover. Northern Orioles seemed to be everywhere, along with a good many Yellow-billed Cuckoos. Other highlights of the day were Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Brown Thrasher, Yellow-throated Vireo, Orchard Oriole, Double-crested Cormorants, and 8 Black-Crowned Night Herons.
• Chickies Rock County Park - No report received.

Pennsylvania Migration Count - Preliminary count is at 159 species. A complete report of this count will be included in the 2006 Research Report.

Sunday, May 21, 2006 - This year's trip to Safe Harbor Park and Observation Site was led by Bruce Carl. The seven participants identified a total of 76 species, which included 16 warbler species. Among these were Cerulean, Yellow-throated, Wilson's, Magnolia, Yellow-rumped, and Kentucky. The group had excellent looks at Yellow-breasted Chat, Blackpoll Warbler, Prairie Warbler, and Blue-winged Warbler. Solitary Sandpiper, Osprey, Yellow-throated Vireo, along with numerous sightings of Bald Eagles added to the trip. Baltimore Orioles, Orchard Orioles, and Warbling Vireos were abundant. Probably the most unusual observation was a Common Nighthawk sleeping on a horizontal branch of a Sycamore tree over the Conestoga River.

Saturday, May 27, 2006 - Larry Coble had 16 people on this trip he led along the Susquehanna at Falmouth and Bainbridge Lock Swamp. A great day with temperatures in the 70s produced 61 species. Highlights were 6 Great Egrets, 12 Great Blue Herons, a pair of Osprey tending a nest, 2 Semi-palmated Sandpipers, a great look at an American Redstart on territory, and one Prothonotary Warbler (heard only).

Saturday, June 3, 2006 - Only two people were with leader Randy Miller on the Mystery Trip. This year the trip went to bird SGL 145. Rainy conditions existed for most of trip. Sixty species were observed. Yellow-throated Vireo, Chestnut-sided Warbler, lots of Blackpoll Warblers, 5 Hooded Warblers, and lots of Scarlet Tanagers were the highlights of the day.

Created for the Internet on ... 5 September 2006