News Archive

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Tuesday Yellow Creek Outings on Hiatus
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
The Higbees will not be leading Yellow Creek outings on Tuesdays until they complete their Winter Raptor Surveys. If anyone else would like to lead these outings, please speak up. Otherwise, the Tuesday outing will be on hiatus until after the Winter Raptor Surveys are complete.

Life List Fundraiser
Monday, November 25, 2024
Todd Bird Club is in need of a fund-raiser to cover costs associated with our meetings. Members designed a two-part booklet entitled "My Life List" and "Year�s List Data." Both parts have lists of North American species and accidentals. Part one has columns for a check mark if you have seen the bird, a second column for the date first seen, and the third for the location where your life bird was spotted. Part 2 has ten columns, one for each year beginning in 2025 through 2034. The entire booklet contains 60 pages plus a cover depicting bird photos taken by members. The booklet is encased in a blue SlideLock cover.

The sample booklet was passed around at our November meeting. We are asking for a donation of $10 for this booklet. Please contact our president Sue Dickson jscm130@yahoo.com if you would like to order one. Thanks so very much.

See photos below. (There are no smudges on the pages, but we took the photos with overhead lights turned on.)

PA Bird Atlas Winter Survey Informational Zoom Meeting, November 7
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Amber Wiewel, the Third PA Bird Altas coordinator, will give a brief overview of the atlas' Winter Survey on Thursday, November 7, at 7:00 pm. Join this Zoom meeting live by clicking on the link at https://ebird.org/atlaspa/news/october-and-november-atlas-town-halls.

Or view the video later on the Pennsylvania Bird Atlas YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@PennsylvaniaBirdAtlas. The Winter Survey begins on December 1, 2024.

Armstrong Trail Outing Added for November 9
Monday, November 4, 2024
Theo Rickert will lead a newly added outing to Armstrong Trail on Saturday, November 9, at 8:00 am. For more details see https://www.toddbirdclub.org/cgi-bin/events.pl?EVENTID=984.

PA Bird Atlas Winter Survey Protocols
Monday, October 21, 2024
The PA Bird Atlas Winter Survey will begin on December 1. There will be an on-line introductory town hall on Thursday, November 7, 2024 at 7pm. A link to the Zoom meeting is at https://ebird.org/atlaspa/news/october-and-november-atlas-town-halls. If you miss the town hall, you can watch it later on the Pennsylvania Bird Atlas YouTube channel.

Here is the information that was sent out in September by Amber Wiewel, Pennsylvania Bird Atlas Coordinator:

We are excitedly gearing up for our first ever Winter Atlas season! More info will come in October and November, but here are key points to help answer some of the questions cropping up.
* Winter survey season will run December 1 - February 28.
* Winter atlas data will be collected via the PA Bird Atlas portal in eBird. You'll need to switch back into the portal on Dec 1 if you've left it.
* Observe block boundaries for the winter surveys just like you've done during the breeding season. In other words, be sure to start a new checklist if you are crossing into a new block.
* A few targets will be set for surveying priority blocks (more on that soon), but data can and should be submitted from any and all blocks possible!
* What kind of data do we want? One of the most optimal ways to contribute will be to conduct 1-hour long, traveling (by foot, not vehicle) checklists in habitat patches in your blocks. Adding this standardization to the data collection (in this case, checklists of the same length of time) will allow for more comparison across blocks!
* In addition to 1-hour checklists, all traveling, stationary (including feeder watches), and incidental checklists will be welcome and helpful data.
* As for the 1-hour checklists, don't get too hung up on the "habitat." If a block has habitat patches of significant size, it will be ideal to try to stick to a single major habitat for a 1-hour checklist. But if the block is too patchy, we'll just have to do the best we can with the habitat we've got!

Pennsylvania Bird Atlas (PBA3) Documents
Friday, May 10, 2024
PBA3 Handbook, Version 3.0

PBA3 Guidelines Chart, Version 2.0
A detailed chart showing the non-breeding periods, migration periods, and breeding periods for each species.

Guide to Singing Bird Code (S)
Further clarification of which species and calls warrant the Singing (S) breeding code.

PBA3 Beginning Safe Dates
A concise document that you can print and carry with you, listing the dates when each species' safe breeding period begins.

PBA3 Winter Atlas
The Volunteer Handbook, the Priority Blocks, and the Water Surveys.

County Atlas Block Progress
Determine which blocks most need your help in the county. Click on any column heading in the table for that county to sort by the values in that column.

For a geographical view, see the effort map. Get a list of the species that are missing from a particular block using the Breeding Bird Target form.

Ornithology Camp, Saint Vincent College, June 7 - 9, 2024
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Fri, June 07, 2024 @ 09:00 AM - Sun, June 09, 2024 @ 05:00 PM (EDT)

Saint Vincent College is excited to host an Ornithology Camp this June 7th - 9th, 2024, on our campus in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Participants will experience birds with hands-on activities that teach them how ornithological research is conducted and how it can be used to protect and care for them in their own backyards. Students entering grades 8-12 in the fall are encouraged to sign up. Enrollment is open until we reach capacity at 12 students. Binoculars issued to each student for use during the weekend.

Ornithology Camp will feature:
* Demonstrations in bird-banding, nest monitoring, song identification, radio-tracking, and surveying
* Presentations on migration, nesting behavior, owls, and raptors
* Lessons in using eBird, the Merlin phone app, and equipment such as binoculars and spotting scopes
* Activities focused on protecting and caring for birds at your home

Tuition:
$300 for overnight participants, includes single room lodging, meals, and bird supplies sent home with students.
$240 for commuter participants, includes meals and bird supplies sent home with students.

A $50 discount will be applied for families with multiple-child enrollment.
If you need financial aid to attend the camp, please contact the camp instructor.

Meet Camp Instructor:
Dr. Jim Kellam is an Associate Professor of Biology at Saint Vincent College where he teaches Ornithology, Conservation Biology, and Wildlife Biology. He is a published expert in woodpecker behavior and currently conducts work on Tree Swallows and Chimney Swifts. He is the Armstrong County Coordinator for Pennsylvania’s Third Bird Atlas and a Research Associate with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. His current collaborations are with PixCams, Inc., Wildbird Recovery, Inc., Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, the Westmoreland Land Trust, and Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve. He and his wife enjoy spending time with their two adult children, fostering cats, swimming, completing triathlons, and singing in their church choir.

Contact: Jim Kellam, james.kellam@stvincent.edu, 724-805-2171

Ornithology Camp for Teens
Sunday, January 18, 2026
The third annual Ornithology Camp at Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, PA, will be held June 14-17, 2026. The camp is restricted to students ages 13-18. The camp features four days of activities that teach students how ornithological research is conducted through participation in bird banding, nest monitoring, surveying, radio-tracking, and song identification. Classroom lessons include study-ing nesting behavior, migration, raptor identification, and bird anatomy. Dr. James Kellam, Professor of Biological Sciences, will conduct the sessions. Tuition is $200 per student for lodging in single-occupancy, air-conditioned rooms, food, and supplies. Financial aid is available.

Visit https://www.svcornithology.wordpress.com or email james.kellam@stvincent.edu.

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