Have a look at these images of the smoke plume being generated by fires in forests and other wildlands in the western United States.
Smoke from enormous wildfires located primarily in California and Oregon obscures ground features across the Mid-Atlantic States this morning. Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes of New York are the most readily identifiable landmarks in the center of the image. The Lower Susquehanna River Watershed is indiscernible beneath the dense blanket of haze. (CIRA/NOAA image)This morning’s satellite image of the United States and the North Atlantic looks like an illustration one might find in a meteorology textbook showing examples of a variety of extreme atmospheric phenomena. There’s something going on everywhere. (CIRA/NOAA image)Here we’ve labeled the major stuff. There are two hurricanes (Sally and Teddy), a tropical storm (Vicky), and three tropical depressions, each labeled “T.D.”. A strong cold front in central Canada is making its way toward the eastern United States. Dust from the Sahara continues to stream into the Americas and the gray-brown plume of smoke from wildfires in the Pacific Coast States stretches thousands of miles east into the North Atlantic. (CIRA/NOAA base image)
While viewing these amazing images, consider for a moment the plight of migrating birds. Each one struggles to survive the energy-depleting effects of wind, distance, storm, cold, drought, dust, and sometimes even smoke as it strives to reach its breeding grounds each spring and its wintering grounds each fall. Natural and man-made effects can cause migrating birds to become disoriented. Songbirds are known to become lost at sea. Others strike objects including buildings and radio towers, particularly when visibility is impaired. The dangers seem endless.
Neotropical migrants must somehow navigate the maze of perils that lie between their breeding grounds in the north and their wintering habitats in tropical climates (designated here using blue stars). (CIRA/NOAA base image)
For migrating birds, places of refuge where they can stop to feed and rest during their long journeys are essential to their survival. For species attempting flights through conditions as extreme as those seen in these images, there is the potential for significant loss of life, particularly among the birds with less than optimal stores of energy.
During their southbound autumn migration to tropical wintering grounds in Central America, some Ruby-throated Hummngbirds will attempt a non-stop flight across the Gulf of Mexico, a route requiring maximum stores of energy. Keep those feeders clean and full of fresh provisions!
This morning, the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed experienced remotely the effects of fire and ice.
At daybreak, the cold air mass that brought the first freeze of the season to northernmost New England gave us a taste of the cold with temperatures below 50 degrees throughout.
The air temperature at daybreak in the Gettysburg Basin east of Conewago Falls.
At sunrise, the cloudless sky had a peculiar overcast look with no warm glow on buildings, vegetation, and terrain. Soon, the sun was well above the horizon, yet there was still a sort of darkness across the landscape.
Smoke from massive wildland fires in the Pacific Coast States created a haze that persisted throughout the day in the Susquehanna valley.Away from traffic and the odors of agriculture and urban life, the smell of wood smoke was easily detectable. The haze from fires almost 3,000 miles away made it appear to be an overcast day at Conewago Falls.Due to the sudden cold, there were no insects flying above the Susquehanna during the first hour of daylight this morning, so swallows gathered in the trees to conserve energy until the hunt would be more productive.The diabase boulders at Conewago Falls retain heat and provide an even better refuge from the cold than a dead tree on a chilly morning. Here, a juvenile and an adult Tree Swallow (center) are surrounded by Northern Rough-winged Swallows. Hundreds of each of these migratory species were feeding at the falls today.Two dozen or more Barn Swallows, including this juvenile, were seen among the swarming birds.Several late Bank Swallows, including this one (bottom center), were among the flocks of migrants at Conewago Falls this morning. One Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) was seen as well.A Great Egret (Ardea alba) and a Great Blue Heron.An Osprey searching the clear pools and rapids for a morning meal.A juvenile Bald Eagle with the same goal in mind.The same Bald Eagle keeping a close watch on the Osprey. Bald Eagles frequently ambush Ospreys to steal their catch. For a young eagle, acquiring the skill of fish theft may improve its chances of survival, at least until the Ospreys head south.
All that bright filtered sunlight was ideal for photographing butterflies along the Conewago Falls shoreline. Have a look.
During the late morning, dozens of Monarch butterflies migrated past Conewago Falls. This one paused to feed.The Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) is a Monarch mimic. Its appearance fools would-be predators into thinking it is a Monarch and possesses the same foul flavor as the milkweed-raised model.This Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) was among the late-season butterflies at Conewago Falls.The Common Buckeye is presently just that, very common on flowers and moist sandy soil around the falls.The Painted Lady is a regularly-occurring migratory species of butterfly.The Red Admiral is typically a common to abundant migrant. So far in 2020, they are scarce in the lower Susquehanna valley.
If it can fly, there’s a pretty good chance it was at Second Mountain today.
What follows is a photographic chronology of some of today’s sightings at Second Mountain Hawk Watch at Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. We begin with some of the hundreds of migratory songbirds found at the base of the mountain along Cold Spring Road near Indiantown Run during the early morning, then we continue to the lookout for the balance of the day.
A Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia) searching the trunk of a tree for insects.A Rose-breasted Grosbeak.A Blackburnian Warbler high in the forest canopy.A Black-throated Green Warbler bouncing from branch to branch as it feeds.A Chestnut-sided Warbler lurks among the foliage.A Magnolia Warbler.One of a hundred or more Red-eyed Vireos found swarming the treetops, and occasionally the understory, while engaging in a wild feeding frenzy.A male American Redstart. Judging by that gray hood, it’s probably experiencing its second fall migration.Eyes were skyward at the Second Mountain Hawk Watch lookout as Broad-winged Hawks began streaming through during the mid-morning.During the morning flight, Broad-winged Hawks including this adult floated by the lookout riding updrafts created by the south wind striking the face of the mountain ridge.As the overcast became more scattered and more sunlight reached the ground, Broad-winged Hawks began riding thermal currents to gain altitude before gliding off to the southwest in continuance of their long trip to the tropics. At times, birds would disappear into the base of the clouds before ending their climb and sailing away.Broad-winged Hawks rely principally upon amphibians and large insects like this bush katydid (Scudderia species) for sustenance. With freezing temperatures just around the corner, “broad-wings” must make their way to warmer climes early or risk starvation.A Bald Eagle always gets observers looking.A juvenile Broad-winged Hawk.A juvenile Cooper’s Hawk.A Broad-winged Hawk has a look around.One never quite knows what one may see when having a look around.A Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina) in the lookout hemlock.A Black Saddlebags, one of several migratory dragonflies seen today.An Osprey glides through in the afternoon glare.A speedy Merlin thrilled observers with a close approach.One must remember that Fort Indiantown Gap is an active military installation, so from time to time training and drilling exercises may interrupt bird observation activities at the Second Mountain Hawk Watch.Today, speedy A-10 Warthog attack aircraft piloted by members of the Maryland Air National Guard based at Glenn Martin Field thrilled observers on the lookout with several close passes during their training runs.And repeat.Drill complete.
The total number of Broad-winged Hawks observed migrating past the Second Mountain lookout today was 619. To see the daily raptor counts for Second Mountain and other hawk watches in North America, and to learn more about each site, be sure to visit hawkcount.org
Okay, so it happened to be cloudy with drizzle at sunrise—not the best conditions for observing birds in the treetops. But that inclement weather effectively grounded the overnight flight of migrating songbirds leading to a really big fallout in the lower Susquehanna valley this morning.
While straining one’s neck to gaze up into the forest canopy, hundreds of migrants including warblers, vireos, tanagers, thrushes, and flycatchers could be seen. Identifying each was impossible.
Here are of few of this morning’s arrivals. Manually setting the camera to a slower shutter speed compensated a little bit for the backlighting caused by cloudy conditions.
Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus).Bay-breasted Warbler.Black-throated Green Warbler.Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla).Northern Parula (Setophaga americana).
Peak numbers of Broad-winged Hawks will pass through the area during the coming two weeks. They most often migrate in groups, with sizes ranging from several individuals to hundreds or even thousands of birds. Despite this being a less than ideal day for riding thermals and gliding off towards the southwest to continue their journey to the tropics, some “broad-wings” ventured aloft and were on their way soon after the drizzle subsided during mid-morning.
A Broad-winged Hawk lifts off from the cover of the forest where it spent the night.The same Broad-winged Hawk (bottom) and an adult Bald Eagle gain altitude on a thermal updraft before the former glides away toward the southwest.
It looks like a really big flight of nocturnally migrating birds is underway tonight. Returns from National Weather Service radar sites throughout the northeast are indicating liftoffs like this one around the station in State College, Pennsylvania.
(NOAA/National Weather Service image)
Conditions are ideal for a good fallout of Neotropical migrants at daybreak. So get out there this weekend and see ’em before they’re gone. Try thickets and forests where the rising sun provides good light for observing and warmth on the vegetation to get the bugs moving and birds feeding.
The southbound bird migration of 2020 is well underway. With passage of a cold front coming within the next 48 hours, the days ahead should provide an abundance of viewing opportunities.
Here are some of the species moving through the lower Susquehanna valley right now.
Blue-winged Teal are among the earliest of the waterfowl to begin southward migration.Sandpipers and plovers have been on the move since July. The bird in the foreground with these Killdeer is not one of their offspring, but rather a Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), a regular late-summer migrant in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.Hawk watch sites all over North America are counting birds right now. The Osprey is an early-season delight as it glides past the lookouts. Look for them moving down the Susquehanna as well.Bald Eagles will be on the move through December. To see these huge raptors in numbers, visit a hawk watch on a day following passage of a cold front when northwest winds are gusting.Merlins were seen during this past week in areas with good concentrations of dragonflies. This particular one at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lancaster and Lebanon Counties……was soon visited by another.Check the forest canopy for Yellow-billed Cuckoos. Some local birds are still on breeding territories while others from farther north are beginning to move through.Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are darting through the lower Susquehanna valley on their way to the tropics. This one has no trouble keeping pace with a passing Tree Swallow.Nocturnal flights can bring new songbirds to good habitat each morning. It’s the best time of year to see numbers of Empidonax flycatchers. But, because they’re often silent during fall migration, it’s not the best time of year to easily identify them. This one lacking a prominent eye ring is a Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii).During the past two weeks, Red-eyed Vireos have been numerous in many Susquehanna valley woodlands. Many are migrants while others are breeding pairs tending late-season broods.During mornings that follow heavy overnight flights, Blackburnian Warblers have been common among waves of feeding songbirds.Chestnut-sided Warblers are regular among flocks of nocturnal migrants seen foraging among foliage at sunrise.Scarlet Tanagers, minus the brilliant red breeding plumage of the males, are on their way back to the tropics for winter.While passing overhead on their way south, Bobolinks can be seen or heard from almost anywhere in the lower Susquehanna valley. Their movements peak in late August and early September.During recent evenings, Bobolinks have been gathering by the hundreds in fields of warm-season grasses at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area.If you go to see the Bobolinks there, visit Stop 3 on the tour route late in the afternoon and listen for their call. You’ll soon notice their wings glistening in the light of the setting sun as they take short flights from point to point while they feed. Note the abundance of flying insects above the Big Bluestem and Indiangrass in this image. Grasslands like these are essential habitats for many of our least common resident and migratory birds.
They fly about in near darkness, occasionally letting loose a buzzy call as they zigzag erratically in pursuit of fast-flying insects. In the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, they are most frequently seen during their northward spring migration—around Memorial Day—and again in late summer during their southbound journey—around Labor Day. They spend their diurnal hours perched quietly on a tree limb, positioned lengthwise to avoid easy detection. They are Common Nighthawks (Chordeiles minor), relatives of the Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus) and other nightjars.
Common Nighthawks begin their flights late in the afternoon, sometimes waiting until after sunset to begin foraging.The Common Nighthawk is declining in numbers in eastern North America. Before urbanization, this species relied upon pebble beds, grasslands, burned forest, and even cliff ledges for nest sites. During the twentieth century, they adapted to sites on flat tin and gravel roofs atop multi-story buildings and became a common nesting species in cities and towns. Through at least the late 1980s, Common Nighthawks were regular breeders in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On warm summer nights, dozens could be seen feeding on the swarming Susquehanna mayflies attracted to the illuminated rotunda of the State Capitol Building. Increased use of rubber instead of gravel-covered roofing and decreases in flying insect abundance may be among the dominant factors responsible for the sharp decline of the Common Nighthawk as a breeding species in the lower Susquehanna valley.As they pass through in spring and late summer, Common Nighthawks can be seen feeding wherever flying insects are plentiful. They are regular along the Susquehanna River where evening flights of multiple birds occur during the first week of September each year.Look for migrating Common Nighthawks over woodlands and grasslands. While you’re out, check the darkening sky over any of the valley’s cities or towns. Bright lights illuminating early September football games and other sporting events attract insects… and nighthawks too!You might see Common Nighthawks zipping around over fields used for high-intensity agricultural, usually a less-than-ideal habitat, as long as there is a source of flying insects such as a woodland, dairy farm, pastureland, fallow field, or forested streamside buffer nearby.So look up. Common Nighthawks will only be here a short while longer, then they’re off to the tropics for the winter.
It’s been more than a week since Tropical Storm Isaias moved swiftly up the Atlantic seaboard leaving wind and flood damage in its wake. Here in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, the brevity of its presence minimized the effects.
Tropical Storm Isaias moves north-northeast across the Delmarva Peninsula.
You may have noticed some summertime visitors flying about during these hot humid days that followed Isaias’ passing. They’re the dragonflies.
Our familiar friend the Wandering Glider is widespread throughout the valley right now—dropping eggs on shiny automobile hoods that look to them like a nice quiet puddle of water.
The Wandering Glider is a global traveler. Here in the lower Susquehanna valley, it is currently abundant around still water and in large parking lots.
Each of the other common migratory species is here too. Look for them patrolling the skies over large bodies of water and over adjacent fallow land and meadows where tiny flying insects abound. Did these dragonflies arrive on the winds associated with the tropical storm, or did they move in with the waves of warm air that followed it? Probably a little of both.
The Common Green Darner, a large dragonfly, can be the most abundant of the migratory species. Watch for high-flying swarms in the coming weeks.The Black Saddlebags is recognized in flight by the black base of each hindwing. These patches give the appearance of a pair of saddlebags draped across the dragonfly’s thorax.The Twelve-spotted Skimmer(Libellula pulchella) is a regular migrant.The Prince Baskettail (Epitheca princeps) can occur among mixed groups of dragonflies. Despite it rarely being mentioned as a migrant, its proclivity for non-stop day-long flight makes it a likely sighting among sizeable swarms.
Big swarms of dragonflies don’t go unnoticed by predators—particularly birds. The southbound migration of kites, Broad-winged Hawks, American Kestrels, and Merlins often coincides with the swarming of migratory dragonflies in late summer. Each of these raptors will grab and feed upon these insects while on the wing—so keep an eye on the sky.
This Peregrine Falcon found the congregations of hundreds of dragonflies worthy of a closer look……and an acrobatic fly-by to disrupt the swarms. Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.
Here it is—just as it happened, recently in the lower Susquehanna valley.
A Bald Eagle in search of a meal.The eagle glides in and grabs an unsuspecting Common Carp, the bird’s momentum and a head wind helping it to raise the fish out of the water. This particular carp appears to be eighteen to twenty-four inches in length. In that range, it could weigh anywhere from four to ten pounds or more.But as the eagle tries to flap its wings to carry the carp skyward, it loses lift, and the weight of the fish drags the raptor down. A carp exceeding twenty inches in length usually weighs more than five pounds, approximately half the mass of a male (about 9 lbs.) or a female (about 12 lbs.) Bald Eagle. From a dead stop, trying to extricate a submerged fish weighing half as much again as it does is an impossible task for this or any other Bald Eagle.The eagle fights briefly to pull the carp from the water, then abandons the effort to instead release its talons from the fish to prevent its own demise by drowning.Free of its hold on the carp, the eagle flaps its wings briskly to get up and out of the potentially deadly situation.Success!Both the eagle and, presumably, the carp survive the encounter.The eagle finds a nearby tree limb where it takes a much-needed break from fishing.Such an event may have been fatal to an inexperienced younger Bald Eagle. Though not an adult, this bird is no spring chicken. Its plumage, particularly its white head with a dark line through the eye (often called an “osprey face”), is indicative of a bird in its fourth year of life. By this time next year, it should be sporting a full set of adult feathers. In the meantime, it should stick to eating suckers; there are plenty of those to go around.Common Carp are classified as a minnow (Cyprinidae). They are indigenous to Europe and are raised as a food fish in many parts of the world. In the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, Common Carp are an introduced species with negative impacts on native fisheries. Those exceeding twenty inches in length begin to gain girth and weight, sometimes reaching thirty pounds at thirty inches.
SOURCES
Sedaghat, Safoura, Seyed Abbas Hoseini, Mohammad Larijani, and Khadijeh Shamekhi Ranjbar. 2013. “Age and Growth of Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758) in Southern Caspian Sea, Iran”. World Journal of Fish and Marine Sciences. 5:1. pp.71-73.
Birds on radar last evening. A dense liftoff of nocturnal migrants is indicated at radar sites across the northeastern United States. Rain showers can be seen in Virginia. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)
Today’s arrivals—Neotropical migrants found in a streamside thicket in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed this morning…
Red-eyed Vireos nest in forests throughout the lower Susquehanna valley.The Northern Waterthrush is a regularly occurring migrant that can be found in vegetated wetlands and along the backwaters of streams and rivers. Despite its drab appearance, it is classified as one of our Neotropical warbler species.The adult male American Redstart is unlike any other eastern warbler. It is easily recognized. Along the lower Susquehanna, redstarts nest in the dense understory of damp forests.The first-spring male American Redstart is similar to the female, but usually shows black markings beginning to develop on the breast and face. It is an energetic singer.In its strikingly colorful plumage, the Magnolia Warbler is a classic Neotropical bird. Locally, it is a regular migrant.The Wilson’s Warbler (Cardellina pusilla) forages in lowland thickets during its migratory stopovers. Riparian buffers along streams can provide critical habitat for this and other transient species.Baltimore Orioles continue to trickle in, creating squabbles when they enter nesting territories established by birds that arrived earlier in the month.
After nearly a full week of record-breaking cold, including two nights with a widespread freeze, warm weather has returned. Today, for the first time this year, the temperature was above eighty degrees Fahrenheit throughout the lower Susquehanna region. Not only can the growing season now resume, but the northward movement of Neotropical birds can again take flight—much to our delight.
A rainy day on Friday, May 8, preceded the arrival of a cold arctic air mass in the eastern United States. It initiated a sustained layover for many migrating birds.
Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) in flocks of as many as fifty birds gathered in weedy meadows and alfalfa fields for the week.A Bobolink sheltering in a field of Sweet Vernal Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum) during the rain on Friday, May 8th.Two of seven Solitary Sandpipers (Tringa solitaria) in a wet field on Friday, May 8. Not-so-solitary after all.Grounded by inclement weather, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Pheucticus ludovicianus) made visits to suburban bird feeders in the lower Susquehanna valley. (Charles A. Fox image)
Freeze warnings were issued for five of the next six mornings. The nocturnal flights of migrating birds, most of them consisting of Neotropical species by now, appeared to be impacted. Even on clear moonlit nights, these birds wisely remained grounded. Unlike the more hardy species that moved north during the preceding weeks, Neotropical birds rely heavily on insects as a food source. For them, burning excessive energy by flying through cold air into areas that may be void of food upon arrival could be a death sentence. So they wait.
A freeze warning was issued for Saturday morning, May 9, in the counties colored dark blue on the map. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)This radar image from 3:28 A.M. Saturday morning, May 9, indicates a minor movement of birds in the Great Plains, but there are no notable returns shown around weather radar sites in the freeze area, including the lower Susquehanna valley. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)To avoid the cold wind on Saturday, May 9, this Veery was staying low to the ground within a thicket of shrubs in the forest.This Black-throated Blue Warbler avoided the treetops and spent time in the woodland understory. He sang not a note. With birds conserving energy for the cold night(s) ahead, it was uncharacteristically quiet for the second Saturday in May.A secretive Northern Waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis) remained in a wetland thicket.A Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) tucks his bill beneath a wing and fluffs-up to fight off the cold during a brief May 9th snow flurry.In open country, gusty winds kept Eastern Kingbirds, a species of flycatcher, near the ground in search of the insects they need to sustain them.Horned Larks are one of the few birds that attempt to scratch out an existence in cultivated fields. The application of herbicides and the use of systemic insecticides (including neonicotinoids) eliminates nearly all weed seeds and insects in land subjected to high-intensity farming. For most birds, including Neotropical migrants, cropland in the lower Susquehanna valley has become a dead zone. Birds and other animals might visit, but they really don’t “live” there anymore.Unable to find flying insects over upland fields during the cold snap, swallows concentrated over bodies of water to feed. Some Tree Swallows may have abandoned their nests to survive this week’s cold. Fragmentation of habitats in the lower Susquehanna valley reduces the abundance and diversity of natural food sources for wildlife. For birds like swallows, events like late-season freezes, heat waves, or droughts can easily disrupt their limited food supply and cause brood failure.For this Barn Swallow, attempting to hunt insects above the warm pavement of a roadway had fatal consequences.Another freeze warning was issued for Sunday morning, May 10, in the counties colored dark blue on this map. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)This radar image from 4:58 A.M. Sunday morning, May 10, again indicates the absence of a flight of migrating birds in the area subjected to freezing temperatures. Unlike migrants earlier in the season, the Neotropical species that move north during the May exodus appear unwilling to resume their trek during freezing weather. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)On Sunday evening, May 10, a liftoff of nocturnal migrants is indicated around radar sites along the Atlantic Coastal Plain and, to a lesser degree, in central Pennsylvania. The approaching rain and yet another cold front quickly grounded this flight.After a one day respite, yet another freeze warning was issued for Tuesday morning, May 12. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)And again, no flight in the freeze area. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)The freeze warning for Wednesday morning, May 13. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)And the nocturnal flight: heavy in the Mississippi valley and minimal in the freeze area. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)The freeze on Thursday morning, May 14. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)At 3:08 A.M. on May 14th, a flight is indicated streaming north through central Texas and dispersing into the eastern half of the United States, but not progressing into New England. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)The flight at eight minutes after midnight this morning. Note the stormy cold front diving southeast across the upper Mississippi valley. As is often the case, the concentration of migrating birds is densest in the warm air ahead of the front. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)
Today throughout the lower Susquehanna region, bird songs again fill the air and it seems to be mid-May as we remember it. The flights have resumed.
Indigo Bunting numbers are increasing as breeding populations arrive and migrants continue through. Look for them in thickets along utility and railroad right-of-ways.Common Yellowthroats and other colorful warblers are among the May migrants currently resuming their northward flights.The echoes of the songs of tropical birds are beginning to fill the forests of the lower Susquehanna watershed. The flute-like harmonies of the Wood Thrush are among the most impressive.Ovenbirds are ground-nesting warblers with a surprisingly explosive song for their size. Many arrived within the last two days to stake out a territory for breeding. Listen for “teacher-teacher-teacher” emanating from a woodland near you.
You need to get outside and go for a walk. You’ll be sorry if you don’t. It’s prime time to see wildlife in all its glory. The songs and colors of spring are upon us!
Flooding that resulted from mid-week rains is subsiding. The muddy torrents of Conewago Falls are seen here racing by the powerhouse at the York Haven Dam.Receding waters will soon leave the parking area at Falmouth and other access points along the river high and dry.Migrating Yellow-rumped Warblers are currently very common in the riparian woodlands near Conewago Falls. They and all the Neotropical warblers, thrushes, vireos, flycatchers are moving through the Susquehanna watershed right now.A Baltimore Oriole feeds in a riverside maple tree.Ruby-crowned Kinglets are migrating through the Susquehanna valley. These tiny birds may be encountered among the foliage of trees and shrubs as they feed upon insects .Gray Catbirds are arriving. Many will stay to nest in shrubby thickets and in suburban gardens.American Robins and other birds take advantage of rising flood waters to feed upon earthworms and other invertebrates that are forced to the soil’s surface along the inundated river shoreline.Spotted Sandpipers are a familiar sight as they feed along water’s edge.The Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) is a Neotropical migrant that nests locally in wet shrubby thickets. Let your streamside vegetation grow and in a few years you just might have these “wild canaries” singing their chorus of “sweet-sweet-sweet-I’m-so-sweet” on your property.
If you’re not up to a walk and you just want to go for a slow drive, why not take a trip to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area and visit the managed grasslands on the north side of the refuge. To those of us over fifty, it’s a reminder of how Susquehanna valley farmlands were before the advent of high-intensity agriculture. Take a look at the birds found there right now.
Red-winged Blackbirds commonly nest in cattail marshes, but are very fond of untreated hayfields, lightly-grazed pastures, and fallow ground too. These habitats are becoming increasingly rare in the lower Susquehanna region. Farmers have little choice, they either engage in intensive agriculture or go broke.Nest boxes are provided for Tree Swallows at the refuge.Numbers of American Kestrels have tumbled with the loss of grassy agricultural habitats that provide large insects and small rodents for them to feed upon.White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) are a migrant and winter resident species that favors small clumps of shrubby cover in pastures and fallow land.When was the last time you saw an Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) singing “spring-of-the-year” in a pasture near your home?And yes, the grasslands at Middle Creek do support nesting Ring-necked Pheasants (Phasianus colcichus). If you stop for a while and listen, you’ll hear the calls of “kowk-kuk” and a whir of wings. Go check it out.
And remember, if you happen to own land and aren’t growing crops on it, put it to good use. Mow less, live more. Mow less, more lives.
For those of you who dare to shed that filthy contaminated rag you’ve been told to breathe through so that you might instead get out and enjoy some clean air in a cherished place of solitude, here’s what’s around—go have a look.
Northern Flickers have arrived. Look for them anywhere there are mature trees. Despite the fact that flickers are woodpeckers, they often feed on the ground. You’ll notice the white rump and yellow wing linings when they fly away.The tiny Chipping Sparrow frequently nests in small trees in suburban gardens. Lay off the lawn treatments to assure their success.Field Sparrows (Spizella fusilla) are a breeding species in abandoned fields where successional growth is underway.White-throated Sparrows spend the winter in the lower Susquehanna valley. Their numbers are increasing now as waves of migrants pass through on their way north.Northbound flocks of Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus) are currently found feeding in forest swamps along the Susquehanna. Their noisy calls sound like a chorus of squeaking hinges.Migratory Red-shouldered Hawks are also making feeding stops at area wetlands.The Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum) is easily identified by its tail pumping behavior. Look for it in shrubs along the river shoreline or near lakes and streams. Palm Warblers are among the earliest of the warblers to move through in the spring.
The springtime show on the water continues…
Common Loons will continue migrating through the area during the upcoming month.Buffleheads are still transiting the watershed.Horned Grebes are occurring on the river and on local lakes.Seeing these one-year-old male Hooded Mergansers, the bachelors, wandering around without any adult males or females is a good sign. The adults should have moved on to the breeding grounds and local pairs should be well into a nesting cycle by now. Hatching could occur any day.Like Hooded Mergansers, Wood Ducks are cavity nesters, but their egg laying, incubation, and hatching often occurs a month or more later than that of the hoodies. Judging by the attentiveness of the drake, this pair of woodies is probably in the egg-laying stage of its breeding cycle right now.Redheads (Aythya americana) are stopping for a rest on their way north.In spring, Double-crested Cormorants proceed up the river in goose-like flocks with adult birds like these leading the way.
Hey, what are those showy flowers?
That’s Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna). It’s often called Fig Buttercup. In early April it blankets stream banks throughout the lower Susquehanna region. If you don’t remember seeing it growing like that when you were younger, there’s a reason. Lesser Celandine is an escape from cultivation that has become invasive. While the appearance is tolerable; it’s the palatability that ruins everything. It’s poisonous if eaten by people or livestock.The Eastern Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) is a dainty native wildflower of riparian forests and other woodlands throughout the lower Susquehanna valley.The Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) is beginning to bloom now. It’s a native of the region’s damp forests.Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) is not native to the Susquehanna watershed, but neither is it considered invasive. It creates colorful patches in riparian forests.Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) is a strikingly beautiful native wildflower that grows on undisturbed forested slopes throughout the Susquehanna valley.
Fog and mist lingered throughout the day, as did the migratory water birds on the river and lakes in the lower Susquehanna valley. As a continuation of yesterday’s post on the fallout, here’s a photo tour of some of the sites where ducks, loons, grebes, and other birds have gathered.
American Robins may have comprised a large portion of the northbound flight appearing on last evening’s radar images. Today, hundreds could be seen on soggy lawns where earthworms might be found near the surface. This flock was finding sustenance at Highspire’s Reservoir Park in Dauphin County.This drake Gadwall (Mareca strepera) and two hens had dropped in for a visit at the Highspire Reservoir Park.Hundreds of Buffleheads were on the fogged-in Susquehanna River at Harrisburg this afternoon. From Front Street and Maclay Street in front of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion, they seemed to be everywhere in sight on the rain-swollen current. After passing downstream, flocks flew in a straight line formation just above the water’s surface as they made a short trip back up the river to then drift down through the channels once again.A portion of a raft consisting of about three dozen Red-breasted Mergansers floats by the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion. Several of the hundred or more Scaup on the river intermingled with these mergansers from time to time.A lone Long-tailed Duck (Clanqula hyemalis) near the aforementioned raft of mergansers. The Long-tailed Duck was formerly known as the Oldsquaw in North America. The common name used in Britain and Europe is now preferred.Two of at least a hundred Horned Grebes (Podiceps auritus) seen in the Susquehanna at Harrisburg this afternoon.American Coots (Fulica americana) at Memorial Lake State Park in Lebanon County.Buffleheads continue at Memorial Lake.One more Common Loon than yesterday at Memorial Lake.A mixed raft of diving ducks and grebes at Memorial Lake.A closeup of the same raft reveals Buffleheads, Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis), a Pied-billed Grebe, and Horned Grebes.
Local birders enjoy going to the Atlantic coast of New Jersey and Delmarva in the winter. The towns and beaches host far fewer people than birds, and many of the species seen are unlikely to be found anywhere else in the region. Unusual rarities add to the excitement.
The regular seaside attraction in winter is the variety of diving ducks and similar water birds that feed in the ocean surf and in the saltwater bays. Most of these birds breed in Canada and many stealthily cross over the landmass of the northeastern United States during their migrations. If an inland birder wants to see these coastal specialties, a trip to the shore in winter or a much longer journey to Canada in the summer is normally necessary—unless there is a fallout.
Migrating birds can show up in strange places when a storm interrupts their flight. Forest songbirds like thrushes and warblers frequently take temporary refuge in a wooded backyard or even in a city park when forced down by inclement weather. Loons have been found in shopping center parking lots after mistaking the wet asphalt for a lake. Fortunately though, loons, ducks, and other water birds usually find suitable ponds, lakes, and rivers as places of refuge when forced down. For inland birders, a fallout like this can provide an opportunity to observe these coastal species close to home.
Not so coincidentally, it has rained throughout much of today in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, apparently interrupting a large movement of migrating birds. There is, at the time of this writing, a significant fallout of coastal water birds here. Hundreds of diving ducks and other benthic feeders are on the Susquehanna River and on some of the clearer lakes and ponds in the region. They can be expected to remain until the storm passes and visibility improves—then they’ll promptly commence their exodus.
The following photographs were taken during today’s late afternoon thundershower at Memorial Lake State Park at Fort Indiantown Gap, Lebanon County.
A one-year-old male Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus).Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) are a familiar sight in saltwater bays, not so familiar on inland bodies of water.A small raft of Scaup (Aythya species).A pair of Buffleheads.A Common Loon that lands in a parking lot is unable to take flight again. It must be transported to a body of water large enough for it to run across the surface and get the speed it needs to take off and resume its flight. This Common Loon at Memorial Lake has selected an ideal fallout haven. It will have plenty of runway space when it decides to leave.A Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) in a heavy downpour.
Migrating land birds have also been forced down by the persistent rains.
The tail-pumping Eastern Phoebe is a common sight around the lower Susquehanna valley right now. Many will stay to breed, often building their nests under a man-made bridge, porch. or other structure.
Why not get out and take a slow quiet walk on a rainy day. It may be the best time of all for viewing certain birds and other wildlife.
Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopovo) will often leave the cover of woodlands and forest to forage in the open during a rain shower.During the final hours of this evening, wind-assisted flights of northbound migrating birds are indicated as blue masses around radar sites south of the Mason-Dixon Line. These nocturnal flights may constitute yet another fallout in the area of the showers and storms shown passing west to east through Pennsylvania, adding to the existing concentration of grounded migrants in the lower Susquehanna valley. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)
The mild winter has apparently minimized weather-related mortality for the local Green Frog population. With temperatures in the seventies throughout the lower Susquehanna valley for this first full day of spring, many recently emerged adults could be seen and, on occasion, heard. Yellow-throated males tested their mating calls—reminding the listener of the sound made by the plucking of a loose banjo string.
Here’s a gathering of Green Frogs seen this afternoon along the edge of a small pond. How many can you find in this photograph?
If you venture out, keep alert for the migrating birds of late winter and early spring.
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are moving through on their way north. Look for them in mature trees in woodlands, suburbs, and city parks.The Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca), our largest sparrow, is a thrush-like denizen of shrubby forest understories and field edges. It is an early spring and late autumn transient in the lower Susquehanna valley.While stopping to rest and feed during their northbound spring journey, Ring-necked Ducks and other diving duck species visit wetlands and flooded timber along the Susquehanna River as well as clear ponds and lakes elsewhere in the watershed.Eastern Bluebirds are presently migrating through the area. Some will stay to breed where nest boxes or natural cavities are available in suitable habitat.Tree Swallows are now arriving. In open grasslands, pastures, and adjacent to almost any body of water, they will nest in boxes like those placed for bluebirds.Keep that bird bath clean and fill it with fresh water, the American Robin flights are peaking right now. Breeding males like this one are starting to sing and defend nesting territories.Red-winged Blackbirds, like other native blackbirds, are moving through in a fraction of the numbers that were seen in the lower Susquehanna valley during the latter decades of the twentieth century. They remain a common breeding species in pastures and cattail wetlands.And of course, keep an eye to the sky. There are still thousands of Snow Geese in the area.
If you’re staying close to home, be sure to check out the changing appearance of the birds you see nearby. Some species are losing their drab winter basic plumage and attaining a more colorful summer breeding alternate plumage.
European Starlings are losing their spotted winter (basic) plumage and beginning to display a glossy multicolored set of breeding feathers.An American Goldfinch in transition from winter (basic) plumage to bright yellow, black, and white summer colors.
So just how many Green Frogs were there in that first photograph? Here’s the answer.
If you counted seven, you did really well. Numbers eight and nine are very difficult to discern.
Happy Spring. For the benefit of everyone’s health, let’s hope that it’s a hot and humid one!
According to the most recent Pennsylvania Game Commission estimate, there are presently more than 100,000 Snow Geese at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area (W.M.A.) in Lancaster and Lebanon Counties. It’s a spectacular sight.
Noisy flights of Snow Geese, which can number from hundreds to thousands of birds, consist of strings of multiple V-shaped flocks. During late-February and early-March, they are a common sight as they make excursions from the lake at Middle Creek W.M.A. to feeding areas in the farmlands of the lower Susquehanna valley and back again.During the early 1990s, Snow Geese started moving away from compromised late-winter feeding areas in tidal marshes on the Atlantic Coastal Plain and began taking advantage of grazing and gleaning opportunities among grass crops (wheat, etc,), and more recently cover crops, in the almost predator-free high-intensity farming areas near the Middle Creek refuge.
If you go to see these and other birds at Middle Creek, it’s important to remember that you are visiting them in a “wildlife refuge” set aside for, believe it or not, wildlife. “Wildlife refuge”, many would be surprised to learn, is short for “terrestrial or aquatic habitat where wildlife can find refuge and protection from all the meddlesome and murderous things people do”.
It’s not necessary to cross the well-marked boundaries of the refuge to get a better look at the geese, swans, and other wildlife at Middle Creek. Nor is it necessary to blow your motor vehicle’s horn, clap your hands, yell, or make other noises to scare the geese into flying so that you might get a good photograph. Such disturbances cause the birds to expend the energy they need to continue their journey north. They also cause the Pennsylvania Game Commission to spend funds on crowd control that might otherwise be spent on improvements to wildlife habitat.By embracing the virtue of patience, observers can get spectacular views and take great pictures from outside the refuge boundaries.Photographers who stand quietly and make no sudden movements will find that the foraging Snow Geese will often approach well within the range of most cameras. All of these pictures were taken with an inexpensive model purchased at a Walmart.Intermixed within the flocks, there are usually good numbers of gray-mottled hatch-year (juvenile) birds and often a few examples of the dark brown “Blue Goose”, a not-so-rare color morph of the Snow Goose.Observers viewing tens of thousands of Snow geese from the Willow Point observation area at Middle Creek W.M.A.There are approximately 1,500 Tundra Swans at Middle Creek W.M.A at the present time. Compare their pure white plumage and long necks with the black-tipped wings and short stocky necks of the Snow Geese accompanying them in this image.Clamoring geese let observers know that a massive lift-off may be in the making. Cameras are made ready.Away they go with a cackling roar!Sooner or latter, the geese will engulf the patient observer within one of their swirling swarms.Marvelous! Go check it out.
Nothing says Happy Valentine’s Day like a really bad poem, so here it is…
FOR THE LOVE OF DUCKS
I like to feed the duckies
Try it and you’ll see
Aren’t they really lucky?
Relying just on me
My neighbors are complainin’
I can hear them talk
The mallards eat their garden
Let surprises on their walk
Dung stains on the carpets
They tracked it in the house
It’s from those ducks and not the pets
Can’t blame it on the spouse
I like to feed the duckies
Try it and you’ll see
Aren’t they really lucky?
Relying just on me
Tamed with bread and crackers
I gave them as a treat
I soon found maimed dead quackers
Lying in the street
A driver who intended
To miss the hens and drakes
Had their car rear-ended
When they hit the brakes
I like to feed the duckies
Try it and you’ll see
Aren’t they really lucky?
Relying just on me
The flock is very wasteful
Each bird a pound a day
Web-foots in a cesspool
Pollute the waterway
There are some kids playing
In that filthy ditch
Soon they’ll be displaying
The rash of Swimmer’s Itch
I like to feed the duckies
Try it and you’ll see
Aren’t they really lucky?
Relying just on me
These ducks they do not migrate
They’re here day in, day out
Aquatic life they decimate
No plants, no fish, no trout
Hurry! Hurry! Heed my call
Before it starts to rain
Ten more ducklings took a fall
And are stranded in a drain
I like to feed the duckies
Try it and you’ll see
Aren’t they really lucky?
Relying just on me
Have you people lost your minds?
I see you by your fence
These ducks are cute and I am kind
It’s you who’ve lost your sense
Beggars from the handouts
My God what have I done?
Their senseless habits leave no doubt
Their instincts are all gone
I like to feed the duckies
Try it and you’ll see
Aren’t they really lucky?
Relying just on me
Now I know just what to do
Like one would teach a child
I’ll feed the ducks at the zoo
And let the rest live wild
So if you feed the duckies
Beware of the spell
Or you will do the same as me
Loving ducks to death as well
—Ducks Anonymous, LLC
They’re cute, but if you really love waterfowl, then please refrain from feeding them. Hand-fed ducks soon lose their survival instincts. These clueless birds do dumb things like loiter in traffic and, perhaps worst of all, omit migration from their yearly life cycle. Daily plundering by year-round congregations of Canada Geese, Mute Swans, polygamous Mallards (seen here), and domestic waterfowl is decimating native plant and animal populations in waterways, wetlands, ponds, and lakes throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. For aquatic food chains and fisheries to recover, people must stop feeding (and releasing) these highly-impressionable birds.
Inside the doorway that leads to your editor’s 3,500 square foot garden hangs a small chalkboard upon which he records the common names of the species of birds that are seen there—or from there—during the year. If he remembers to, he records the date when the species was first seen during that particular year. On New Year’s Day, the results from the freshly ended year are transcribed onto a sheet of notebook paper. On the reverse, the names of butterflies, mammals, and other animals that visited the garden are copied from a second chalkboard that hangs nearby. The piece of paper is then inserted into a folder to join those from previous New Year’s Days. The folder then gets placed back into the editor’s desk drawer beneath a circular saw blade and an old scratched up set of sunglasses—so that he knows exactly where to find it if he wishes to.
A quick glance at this year’s list calls to mind a few recollections.
The 2019 bird list included 48 species, the 47 on the board plus Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which was logged on a slip of paper found tucked into the edge of the frame.
This Green Frog, photographed on New Year’s Day 2019, was “out and about” along the edge of the editor’s garden pond. Due to the recent mild weather, Green Frogs were active during the current New Year’s holiday as well.On a day with strong south winds in late February or during the first two weeks of March, there is often a conspicuous northbound spring flight of migrating waterfowl, gulls, and songbirds that crosses the lower Susquehanna valley as it departs Chesapeake Bay. These Tundra Swans were among the three thousand seen from the garden patio on March 13, 2019. A thousand migrating Canada Geese, 500 Red-winged Blackbirds, numerous Ring-billed Gulls, and some American Herring Gulls were seen during the same afternoon.This juvenile Cooper’s Hawk was photographed through the editor’s kitchen window. From its favorite perch on this arbor it would occasionally find success snagging a House Sparrow from the large local flock. It first visited the garden in November, the species being absent there since early spring. Unlike previous years, there was no evidence of a breeding pair in the vicinity during 2019.Plantings that provide food and cover for wildlife are essential to their survival. Native flowers including Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans) and Partridge Pea provide nourishment for the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that visit the editor’s garden, but they really love a basket or pot filled with Mexican Cigar (Cuphea ignea) too. The latter (seen here) can be grown as a houseplant and moved outdoors to a semi-shaded location in summer and early fall. But remember, it’s tropical, so you’ll need to bring it back inside when frost threatens.A Swamp Sparrow is an unusual visitor to a small property surrounded by paved parking lots and treeless lawns. Nevertheless, aquatic gardens and native plants helped to attract this nocturnal migrant, seen here eating seeds from Indiangrass. It arrived on September 30 and was gone on October 2.
Before putting the folder back into the drawer for another year, the editor decided to count up the species totals on each of the sheets and load them into the chart maker in the computer.
Despite the habitat improvements in the garden, the trend is apparent. Bird diversity has not cracked the 50 species mark in 6 years. Despite native host plants and nectar species in abundance, butterfly diversity has not exceeded 10 species in 6 years.
It appears that, at the very least, the garden habitat has been disconnected from the home ranges of many species by fragmentation. His little oasis is now isolated in a landscape that becomes increasingly hostile to native wildlife with each passing year. The paving of more parking areas, the elimination of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous growth from the large number of rental properties in the area, the alteration of the biology of the nearby stream by hand-fed domestic ducks, light pollution, and the outdoor use of pesticides have all contributed to the separation of the editor’s tiny sanctuary from the travel lanes and core habitats of many of the species that formerly visited, fed, or bred there. In 2019, migrants, particularly “fly-overs”, were nearly the only sightings aside from several woodpeckers, invasive House Sparrows (Passer domesticus), and hardy Mourning Doves. Even rascally European Starlings became sporadic in occurrence—imagine that! It was the most lackluster year in memory.
The Tufted Titmouse was a daily visitor to the garden through 2018. This one was photographed investigating holes in an old magnolia there during the spring of that year. There were no Tufted Titmouse sightings in the garden in 2019. This and other resident species, especially cavity nesters, appear to be experiencing at least a temporary decline.Breeding birds including Northern Cardinals may have had a difficult year. In the editor’s garden, a pair were still feeding and escorting one of their young in early October. The infestation of the editor’s town by domestic house and feral cats may have contributed to the failure of earlier broods, but a lack of food is also a likely factor.
If habitat fragmentation were the sole cause for the downward trend in numbers and species, it would be disappointing, but comprehensible. There would be no cause for greater alarm. It would be a matter of cause and effect. But the problem is more widespread.
Although the editor spent a great deal of time in the garden this year, he was also out and about, traveling hundreds of miles per week through lands on both the east and the west shores of the lower Susquehanna. And on each journey, the number of birds seen could be counted on fingers and toes. A decade earlier, there were thousands of birds in these same locations, particularly during the late summer.
At about the time of summer solstice in June each year, Common Grackles begin congregating into roving summer flocks that will grow in size to assure their survival during the autumn migration, winter season, and return north in the spring. From his garden, the editor saw just one flock of less than a dozen birds during the summer of 2019. He saw none during his journeys through other areas of the Susquehanna valley. Flocks of one hundred birds or more did not materialize until the southbound movements of grackles passed through the region in October and November.
In the lower Susquehanna valley, something has drastically reduced the population of birds during breeding season, post-breeding dispersal, and the staging period preceding autumn migration. In much of the region, their late-spring through summer absence was, in 2019, conspicuous. What happened to the tens of thousands of swallows that used to gather on wires along rural roads in August and September before moving south? The groups of dozens of Eastern Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) that did their fly-catching from perches in willows alongside meadows and shorelines—where are they?
Several studies published during the autumn of 2019 have documented and/or predicted losses in bird populations in the eastern half of the United States and elsewhere. These studies looked at data samples collected during recent decades to either arrive at conclusions or project future trends. They cite climate change, the feline infestation, and habitat loss/degradation among the factors contributing to alterations in range, migration, and overall numbers.
There’s not much need for analysis to determine if bird numbers have plummeted in certain Lower Susquehanna Watershed habitats during the aforementioned seasons—the birds are gone. None of these studies documented or forecast such an abrupt decline. Is there a mysterious cause for the loss of the valley’s birds? Did they die off? Is there a disease or chemical killing them or inhibiting their reproduction? Is it global warming? Is it Three Mile Island? Is it plastic straws, wind turbines, or vehicle traffic?
The answer might not be so cryptic. It might be right before our eyes. And we’ll explore it during 2020.
A clean slate for 2020.
In the meantime, Uncle Ty and I going to the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. You should go too. They have lots of food there.
It’s that time of year when one may expect to find migratory Neotropical songbirds feeding among the foliage of trees and shrubs in the forests, woodlots, and thickets of the lower Susquehanna valley.
During a late afternoon stroll through a headwaters forest east of Conewago Falls outside Mount Gretna, I was pleased to finally come upon a noisy gathering of about two dozen birds. It had, previous to that, been a quiet two hours of walking, only the rumble of an approaching thunderstorm punctuated the silence. Among this little flock were some chickadees, robins, Gray Catbirds, an Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), and a Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus). Besides the catbirds, there were two other species of Neotropical migrants; both were warblers. No less than six Black-throated Blue Warblers (Setophaga caerulescens) were vying for positions in the trees from which they could investigate the stranger on the footpath below. And among the understory shrubs there were at least as many Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla) satisfying a similar curiosity.
The Black-throated Blue Warbler nests to the north of the lower Susquehanna valley, which it transits as a common spring and fall migrant. On their wintering grounds, they have a thing for warm weather and the better part of a P.B. & J. sandwich.Throughout the Susquehanna watershed, the Ovenbird is a common ground-nesting species in deciduous forests with moderately vegetated understories. The birds seen today may have been a family group that has not yet begun the journey south.
When they depart the Susquehanna valley, these two warbler species will be southbound for wintering ranges that include Florida, many of the Caribbean Islands, Central America, and, for the Ovenbirds, northern South America. Their flights occur at night. During the breeding season and while migrating, both feed primarily on insects and other arthropods . On the wintering grounds, they will consume some fruit. It is during their time in the tropics that the Black-throated Blue Warbler sometimes visits feeding stations that offer grape jelly, much to the delight of bird enthusiasts.
Black-throated Blue Warblers and Ovenbirds commonly winter on the Florida peninsula and in the Bahamas. With the major tropical cyclone Hurricane Dorian presently ripping through the region, these birds are better off taking their time getting there. There’s no need to hurry. The longer they and the other Neotropical migrants hang around, the more we get to enjoy them anyway. So get out there to see them before they go—and remember to look up.
Category 4 Hurricane Dorian at 9:06 EDT on September 2, 2019. If you’re headed that direction, there’s no need to hurry. Note the cloud-free skies over much of the mainland. (NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service image)A massive bird migration is indicated on Doppler radar in the clear skies over the eastern United States tonight (blue and green over most of the mainland). In this loop of composite radar images from the southeastern states, note the relative absence of a flight over the Florida peninsula where the outer precipitation bands of Hurricane Dorian can be seen. Note too that there appears to be a heavy concentration of birds flying in a southwest direction to cross the Gulf of Mexico, thus continuing their journey to Central or South America while avoiding the deadly hurricane and a much smaller tropical disturbance off the shores of Texas and Tamaulipas, Mexico. (NOAA/National Weather Service image)
There was a hint of what was to come. If you were out and about before dawn this morning, you may have been lucky enough to hear them passing by high overhead. It was 5:30 A.M. when I opened the door and was greeted by that distinctive nasal whistle. Stepping through the threshold and into the cold, I peered into the starry sky and saw them, their feathers glowing orange in the diffused light from the streets and parking lots below. Their size and snow-white plumage make Tundra Swans one of the few species of migrating birds you’ll ever get to visibly discern in a dark moonless nighttime sky.
The calm air at daybreak and through the morning transitioned to a steady breeze from the south in the afternoon. Could this be it? Would this be that one day in late February or the first half of March each year when waterfowl (and other birds too) seem to take advantage of the favorable wind to initiate an “exodus” and move in conspicuous numbers up the lower Susquehanna valley on their way to breeding grounds in the north? Well, indeed it would be. And with the wind speeding up the parade, an observer at a fixed point on the ground gets to see more birds fly by.
In the late afternoon, an observation location in the Gettysburg Basin about five miles east of Conewago Falls in Lancaster County seemed to be well-aligned with a northwesterly flight path for migrating Tundra Swans. At about 5:30 P.M., the clear sky began clouding over, possibly pushing high-flying birds more readily into view. During the next several hours, over three thousand Tundra Swans passed overhead, flocks continuing to pass for a short time after nightfall. There were more than one thousand Canada Geese, the most numerous species on similar days in previous years. Sometimes on such a day there are numerous ducks. Not today. The timing, location, and conditions put Tundra Swans in the spotlight for this year’s show.
Tundra Swans flying northwest, paralleling the Susquehanna five miles distant.Tundra Swans winter on the Atlantic Coastal Plain and often stage their northbound movements on the Piedmont along the lower Susquehanna River and at the nearby Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. The birds seen this evening are possibly coming directly from the coast or Chesapeake Bay. With five hours of favorable wind helping them along, covering one hundred miles or more in an afternoon would be no problem.High-flying Tundra Swans on their way to breeding grounds on, you guessed it, the arctic tundra in Alaska and northwestern Canada.Tundra Swans in the largest flocks, sometimes consisting of more than 200 birds, were often detected by their vocalizations as they approached.Tundra Swan flights continued after sunset and nightfall.All of the high-flying migratory Canada Geese seen this evening were on a more northerly course than the northwest-bound swans. These geese probably spent the winter on the Atlantic Coastal Plain near Chesapeake Bay and are now en route to breeding grounds in, you guessed it again, Canada. They are not part of the resident Canada Goose population we see nesting throughout the lower Susquehanna valley.
Other migrants moving concurrently with the waterfowl included Ring-billed Gulls, American Herring Gulls (6+), American Robins (50+), Red-winged Blackbirds (500+), and Common Grackles (100+).
Though I’ve only seen such a spectacle only once during a season in recent years, there certainly could be another large flight of ducks, geese, or swans yet to come. The breeze is forecast to continue from southerly directions for at least another day. Keep you eyes skyward, no matter where you might happen to be in the lower Susquehanna valley. These or other migratory species may put on another show, a “big day”, just for you.
Second Mountain Hawk Watch is located on a ridge top along the northern edge of the Fort Indiantown Gap Military Reservation and the southern edge of State Game Lands 211 in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. The valley on the north side of the ridge, also known as St. Anthony’s Wilderness, is drained to the Susquehanna by Stony Creek. The valley to the south is drained toward the river by Indiantown Run, a tributary of Swatara Creek.
The hawk watch is able to operate at this prime location for observing the autumn migration of birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and bats through the courtesy of the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Garrison Commander at Fort Indiantown Gap. The Second Mountain Hawk Watch Association is a non-profit organization that staffs the count site daily throughout the season and reports data to the North American Hawk Watch Association (posted daily at hawkcount.org).
Today, Second Mountain Hawk Watch was populated by observers who enjoyed today’s break in the rainy weather with a visit to the lookout to see what birds might be on the move. All were anxiously awaiting a big flight of Broad-winged Hawks, a forest-dwelling Neotropical species that often travels back to its wintering grounds in groups exceeding one hundred birds. Each autumn, many inland hawk watches in the northeast experience at least one day in mid-September with a Broad-winged Hawk count exceeding 1,000 birds. They are an early-season migrant and today’s southeast winds ahead of the remnants of Hurricane Florence (currently in the Carolinas) could push southwest-heading “Broad-wings” out of the Piedmont Province and into the Ridge and Valley Province for a pass by the Second Mountain lookout.
The flight turned out to be steady through the day with over three hundred Broad-winged Hawks sighted. The largest group consisted of several dozen birds. We would hope there are probably many more yet to come after the Florence rains pass through the northeast and out to sea by mid-week. Also seen today were Bald Eagles, Ospreys, American Kestrels, and a migrating Red-headed Woodpecker.
Migrating Broad-winged Hawks circle on a thermal updraft above Second Mountain Hawk Watch to gain altitude before gliding away to the southwest.
Migrating insects included Monarch butterflies, and the three commonest species of migratory dragonflies: Wandering Glider, Black Saddlebags, and Common Green Darner. The Common Green Darners swarmed the lookout by the dozens late in the afternoon and attracted a couple of American Kestrels, which had apparently set down from a day of migration. American Kestrels and Broad-winged Hawks feed upon dragonflies and often migrate in tandem with them for at least a portion of their journey.
Still later, as the last of the Broad-winged Hawks descended from great heights and began passing by just above the trees looking for a place to settle down, a most unwelcome visitor arrived at the lookout. It glided in from the St. Anthony’s Wilderness side of the ridge on showy crimson-red wings, then became nearly indiscernible from gray tree bark when it landed on a limb. It was the dreaded and potentially invasive Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula). This large leafhopper is native to Asia and was first discovered in North America in the Oley Valley of eastern Berks County, Pennsylvania in 2014. The larval stage is exceptionally damaging to cultivated grape and orchard crops. It poses a threat to forest trees as well. Despite efforts to contain the species through quarantine and other methods, it’s obviously spreading quickly. Here on the Second Mountain lookout, we know that wind has a huge influence on the movement of birds and insects. The east and southeast winds we’ve experienced for nearly a week may be carrying Spotted Lanternflies well out of their most recent range and into the forests of the Ridge and Valley Province. We do know for certain that the Spotted Lanternfly has found its way into the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.
This adult Spotted Lanternfly landed in a birch tree behind the observers at the Second Mountain Hawk Watch late this afternoon. It was first recognized by its bright red wings as it glided from treetops on the north side of the lookout.
One can get a stiff neck looking up at the flurry of bird activity in the treetops at this time of year. Many of the Neotropical migrants favor rich forests as daytime resting sites after flying through the night. For others, these forests are a destination where they will nest and raise their young.
The Veery (Catharus fuscescens) is a Neotropical thrush that breeds in extensive mature forest on the dampest slopes of the Diabase ridges in the Gettysburg Basin. Their rolling flute-like songs echo through the understory as newly arrived birds establish nesting territories.The whistled song of the Baltimore Oriole is often heard long before this colorful Neotropical is seen among the foliage of a treetop. Some dead branches allow us a glimpse of this curious beauty.The “Pee-a-wee……..Pee-urr” song of the Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens), a small flycatcher, is presently heard in the Riparian Woodlands at Conewago Falls. It breeds in forested tracts throughout the lower Susquehanna valley. The vocalizations often continue through the summer, ending only when the birds depart to return to the tropics for the winter.While constructing a nest beneath a tree canopy, an Eastern Wood-Pewee form-fits the cup where eggs will soon be laid.The Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americana) nests in the treetops of Riparian Woodlands along the Susquehanna and its tributaries. Most arrive during the second half of May for their summer stay. It is a renowned consumer of caterpillars.The Cedar Waxwing is a notorious wanderer. Though not a Neotropical migrant, it is a very late nester. Flocks may continue moving for another month before pairs settle on a place to raise young.Of the more than twenty species of warblers which regularly migrate through the lower Susquehanna Valley, the Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) is among those which breeds here. It is particularly fond of streamside thickets.
For the birds that arrive earlier in spring than the Neotropical migrants, the breeding season is well underway. The wet weather may be impacting the success of the early nests.
Northern Rough-winged Swallows arrived back in April. At traditional nest sites, including the York Haven Dam and local creek bridges, small groups of adults were seen actively feeding and at times perching in dead treetops during recent days. There was an absence of visits to the actual nest cavities where they should be feeding and fledging young by now. It’s very possible that these nests failed due to the wet weather and flooding. Another nest attempt may follow if drier conditions allow stream levels to subside and there is an increase in the mass of flying insects available for the adults to feed to their young..A Carolina Chickadee, a resident species, is seen atop a hollow stump where it and a mate are constructing a new nest for a second brood. Did the first brood fail? Not sure.Common Mergansers are an uncommon but regular nesting species of waterfowl on the lower Susquehanna River. They nest in cavities, requiring very large trees to accommodate their needs. It was therefore encouraging to see this pair on a forested stream in northern Lancaster County during the weekend. However, a little while after this photograph was taken the pair flew away, indicating that they are not caring for young which by now should be out of the nest and on the move under the watchful care of the female.
So long for now, if you’ll excuse me please, I have a sore neck to tend to.
The warm weather late last week and the several inches of rain that followed have left the farm fields of the lower Susquehanna valley a soggy muddy mess…waterlogged. Runoff has made its way down the tributaries to raise the waters of the river and fill up its banks.
Migrating gulls find it difficult to locate food when the Susquehanna becomes a silty turbid torrent. It’s not at all unusual to find hundreds of them enjoying a feast of earthworms in the agricultural uplands when conditions such as these exist. As you may have guessed, the birds alluded to are the familiar Ring-billed Gulls, the same species seen mooching french fries and other snacks in fast-food restaurant parking lots. They are by far the most common inland gull in eastern North America.
A flock of gulls feeding in farmland in the Gettysburg Basin northeast of Conewago Falls. Gulls frequently feed in wet farm fields where earthworms are the prized meal.
Ring-billed Gulls are notorious for loafing and feeding in flocks which seldom include other species of gulls. They are frequently the smallest gull found in their inland habitats, so it is understandable that they may avoid the company of the larger and often more aggressive species.
However, today I was reminded that one must be ever vigilant and check for other species among those flocks presumed to consist solely of Ring-billed Gulls, particularly during times when the river is so inhospitable to passing migrants.
A few Ring-billed Gulls can be seen in this flock consisting almost entirely of noticeably smaller Bonaparte’s Gulls.Bonaparte’s Gulls are easily recognized by their small size, black heads, and flashy white primary feathers in the wings. They are the only small gull commonly found in the Mid-Atlantic states.Two Ring-billed Gulls (upper left and upper center) are outflanked by Bonaparte’s Gulls. Bonaparte’s Gulls spend the winter feeding in the surf along the Atlantic coast. As spring migrants they peak in April, closely following the Susquehanna River as they journey through the area. The adults will continue to the northwest, passing through the Great Lakes region to nesting areas in Canada.Adult Bonaparte’s Gulls in breeding (alternate) plumage have conspicuous black heads.Several first-year Bonaparte’s Gulls in basic plumage can found among the adults in this image. Most notable is the one to the right of center (flying left). Note its lack of flashy white in the primary feathers of the wings, a black tail bar, and the dark spot behind the eye instead of a black hood. The black spot behind the eye is characteristic of all Bonaparte’s Gulls in basic (non-breeding) plumage, including adults. Bonaparte’s Gulls mature in two years.Bonaparte’s Gulls invade the farmlands of the Gettysburg Basin. Despite their common name, they seem uninterested in french fries and similar cuisine.
It seems as though the birds have grown impatient for typical spring weather to arrive. The increase in hours of daylight has signaled them that breeding time is here. No further delays can be entertained. They’ve got a schedule to keep.
Thursday, March 29: Winds began blowing from the southwest, breaking a cold spell which had persisted since last week’s snowfall. Birds were on the move ahead of an approaching rainy cold front.
Friday, March 30: Temperatures reached 60 degrees at last. Birds were again moving north through the day, despite rain showers and a change in wind direction—from the northwest and cooler following the passage of the front in the late morning.
Flocks of Double-crested Cormorants followed the Susquehanna River north in numerous V-shaped flocks during the recent several days.There were Turkey Vultures by the hundreds on the way north.And nearly as many Black Vultures too.
Saturday, March 31: It was cooler, but birds were still on the wing headed north.
At sunrise, a migrating Northern Flicker stopped by at a suet feeder to refuel.Osprey pairs have arrived at nest sites on the lower Susquehanna.
Sunday, April 1: The morning was pleasant, but conditions became cooler and breezy in the afternoon. Migratory and resident birds began feeding ahead of another storm.
A distant flock of fast-flying Bonaparte’s Gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) moves expeditiously up the Susquehanna at Conewago Falls as winds begin to pick up during the late morning. Are they hurrying to get north of the path of the forthcoming weather system?A Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) feeds in anticipation of a snowy night ahead.A male Downy Woodpecker devours a late-afternoon meal.This Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor), a cavity-nesting species, is distracted by a potential new home.Dark-eyed Juncos winter in the lower Susquehanna valley. During the month of April, they will begin departing for their breeding grounds, some nesting in the mountains just to our north.Tufted Titmouse…still house hunting.A male American Goldfinch is progressing through molt into a showy breeding (alternate) plumage.A male House Finch takes a break from its melodious song to feed before the arrival of our next spring snow. His mate is already incubating eggs in a nest not far away.Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) feed through the late afternoon, often as the last birds out-and-about before darkness. This male remains close to his mate as she forages beneath nearby shrubs.
Monday, April 2: Snow fell again, overnight and through the morning—a couple of inches. Most of the snow had melted away by late afternoon.
Horned Larks are plentiful in large open bare-soil (tilled) farmlands in winter, particularly near fresh manure. Their sandy-tan coloration hides them well, and they are seldom noticed unless spotted at roadside following snow storms. Horned Larks are migratory ground-nesting birds found in many sparsely vegetated habitats including tundra, parched fields and prairies, beaches, and even airports. There is a breeding population in the lower Susquehanna valley which may be increasingly attracted to favorable nesting habitat created in some no-till fields, possibly using a window of opportunity between the demise of cold-season cover crops and the ascendency of the warm-season crops to complete a brood cycle. Comparing the site selection and success rates of nesting Horned Larks under various crop management methods, including reactions to herbicide use, could be an enlightening study project for inquisitive minds. (Hint-Hint)The dainty Chipping Sparrow has arrived. This species commonly nests in small trees, often in suburban gardens.
Snow accumulations from yesterday’s storm amounted to approximately 12 inches in the vicinity of Conewago Falls, some areas of the lower Susquehanna valley receiving more.
American Robins were in the process of moving north through the region in abundance just prior to the arrival of our latest “nor’easter”. When the storm struck in the early morning hours yesterday, their flights were grounded. After sunrise this morning, hungry robins quickly seized the opportunity to feed using the only open ground available—the edges of cleared roadways, particularly where they pass through woodlots and agricultural lands. Other migrants use the same strategy, picking and probing the wet soils alongside quickly thawing pavement to search for morsels of sustenance.
Early this morning, an American Robin takes a break from tossing the soil to search for invertebrates along the roadside edge of a snow-covered farm field.Nearly all of the robins seen today were males, indicating that the migration is still in its early stages with the females yet to come.A Killdeer feeds on the muddy edge of a thoroughfare bisecting snowy cropland.This American Robin is one of dozens seen feeding on the steep south-facing slope of a road cut excavated through Gettysburg Formation redbeds. This little sun-drenched oasis along a sparsely traveled rural road was snow-free by early afternoon, much to the delight of feathered travelers whose weather-induced stopovers will soon come to an end. The journey will continue.
You remember the signs of an early spring, don’t you? It was a mild, almost balmy, February. The earliest of the spring migrants such as robins and blackbirds were moving north through the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. The snow had melted and ice on the river had passed. Everyone was outdoors once again. At last, winter was over and only the warmer months lie ahead…beginning with March.
Common Grackles are often the first perching birds to begin moving north through the lower Susquehanna valley in spring. They often winter in large roving flocks of mixed blackbird species on the nearby Atlantic Coastal Plain Province. These flocks sometimes wander the farmlands of the lower Piedmont Province near the river, but rarely stray north of the 40th parallel before February.
Ah yes, March, the cold windy month of March. We remember February fondly, but this March has startled us out of our vernal daydreams to wrestle with the reality of the season. And if you’re anywhere near the Mid-Atlantic states on this first full day of spring, you know that a long winter’s nap and visions of sugar peas would be time better spent than a stroll outdoors. Presently it’s dusk, and the snow from the 4th “Nor’easter” in a month is a foot deep and still falling.
In honor of “The Spring That Was”, here then is a sampling of some of the migratory waterfowl that have found their way to the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed during March. Some are probably lingering and feeding for a while. All will move along to their breeding grounds within a couple of weeks, regardless of the weather.
Tundra Swans will migrate in a northwest direction to reach breeding grounds west and north of Hudson Bay.Migratory Canada Geese departing the Chesapeake Bay area typically pass over the lower Susquehanna valley at high altitudes. A south wind can bring a sustained day-long flight of migrating geese and ducks over the region on a given day in late-February or March.Snow Geese (Anser caerulescens) historically wintered in the marshes of the Atlantic seaboard where the tide cycle kept vegetation primarily snow-free for feeding. Removal of hedgerows and intensive farming since the 1980s has attracted these birds to inland agricultural lands during their preparation for the move north. For nearly three decades, tens of thousands have annually begun their spring journey with a stopover at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. Flocks range widely from Middle Creek to feed, commonly as far west as the fields of the Conewago Creek valley in the Gettysburg Basin to the east of Conewago Falls. American Black DucksA pair of Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata).Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris) are “diving ducks”.A male Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis, (front center) and Ring-necked Ducks (rear and left) seen between feeding dives.A male Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola). These miniature diving ducks will sometimes winter on the Susquehanna in “rafts” of dozens of birds.Tundra Swans journey toward the “Land of the Mid-Night Sun”.
Many are wont to say that they have no capacity for scientific pursuits, and having no capacity, they consequently have no love for them. I do not believe, that as a general thing, a love for science is necessarily innate in any man. It is the subject of cultivation and is therefore acquired. There are doubtless many, whose love for these and kindred pursuits is hereditary, through the mental biases and preoccupations of their progenitors, but in the masses of mankind it is quite otherwise. In this consists its redeeming qualities, for I do not think the truly scientific mind can either be an idle, a disorderly, or a very wicked one. There may be scientific men, who, forgetful of its teachings, are imperious and ambitious–who may have foregone their fealty to their country and their God, but as a general thing they are humble, social and law-abiding. If, therefore, there is a human being who desires to break off from old and evil associations, and form new and more virtuous ones, I would advise him to turn his attention to some scientific specialty, for the cultivation of a new affection, if there are no other and higher influences more accessible. In this pursuit he will, in time, be enabled to supplant the old and heartfelt affection. The occupation of his mind in the pursuit of scientific lore will wean him from vicious, trivial, and unmanly pursuits, and point out to him a way that is pleasant and instructive to walk in, which will ultimately lead to moral and intellectual usefulness. I wish I was accessible to them, and possessed the ability to impress this truth with sufficient emphasis upon the minds of the rising generation. This fact, that in all moral reformations, a love for the opposite of any besetting evil must be cultivated, before that evil can be surely eradicated, has been too much overlooked and too little valued in moral ethics. But true progress in this direction implies that, under all circumstances, men should “act in freedom according to reason.”
-Simon S. Rathvon
In the cellar of the North Museum on the campus of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is an assemblage of natural history specimens of great antiquity. The core of the collection has its origins in the endeavors of a group of mid-to-late nineteenth-century naturalists whose diligence provided a most thorough study of the plants and animals found within what was at the time America’s most productive farming county.
The members of the Linnaean Society of Lancaster City and County shared a passion for collecting, identifying, classifying, and documenting the flora and fauna of the region. Some members were formally educated and earned a living in the field of science, but the majority were in the process of self-education and balanced their natural history occupation with an unrelated means to provide financially for their families. The latter benefited greatly from their associations with the former, gaining expertise and knowledge while participating in the functions of the group.
On February 24, 1866, Simon S. Rathvon, the society’s Treasurer, read an essay in commemoration of the group’s fourth anniversary. Rathvon earned a living as a tailor, first in Marietta, a thriving river town at the time, then in Lancaster City. In 1840, Rathvon was elected into the Marietta Natural History Lyceum where, as a collections curator, he became associated with principals Judge John J. Libhart, an amateur ornithologist, and Samuel S. Haldeman, a geologist and soon to be widely-known malacologist. Haldeman, in 1842, upon noticing the new member’s interest in beetles and other insects, provided books, guidance, and inspiration, thus intensifying Rathvon’s study of entomology. Rathvon’s steadfast dedication eventually led to his numerous achievements in the field which included the publication of over 30 papers, many on the topic of agricultural entomology. Rathvon’s scientific understanding of insect identification and taxonomy was a foundation for his practical entomology, which moved beyond mere insect collection to focus upon the study of the life histories of insects, particularly the good and bad things they do. He then applied that knowledge to help growers solve pest problems, often stressing the value of beneficial species for maintaining a balance in nature. From 1869 through 1884, Rathvon edited and published Lancaster Farmer, a monthly (quarterly from 1874) agricultural journal in which he educated patrons with his articles on “economic entomology”. Rathvon continued earning a living in the tailor business, seemingly frustrated that his financially prudent advice on insect control in Lancaster Farmer failed to entice more would-be readers to part with the one dollar annual subscription fee. For many years, Rathvon crafted articles for local newspapers and wrote reports for the United States Department of Agriculture. In recognition of his achievements, Simon Rathvon received an honorary Ph.D. from Franklin and Marshall College in 1878.
In Rathvon’s anniversary essay, he details the origins of the Linnaean Society as a natural science committee within the “Lancaster Historical, Mechanical, and Horticultural Society” founded in 1853. The members of the committee, not finding sufficient support within the parent organization for their desired mission, “the cultivation and investigation of the natural history of Lancaster County…”, sought to form an independent natural history society. In February of 1862, the “Linnaean Society of Lancaster City and County” was founded to fulfill these ambitions.
Above all else, the written works by the members of the Linnaean Society and their predecessors have provided us with detailed accounts of the plants and animals found in Lancaster County, and in the lower Susquehanna River valley, using scientific binomial nomenclature, a genus and species name, as opposed to the variable folk and common names which, when used exclusively, often confuse or mislead readers. Consider the number of common names a species could have if just one was assigned by each of the languages of the world. Binomial nomenclature assigns one designation, a genus name and species name, in Latin, to each life-form (such as Homo sapiens for Humans), and it is adopted universally.
Rathvon would say of the naming of the Linnaean Society:
“…the name which the Society has adopted is in honorable commemoration of LINNAEUS, the great Swedish naturalist—one who may be justly regarded as a father in Natural Science. To him belongs the honor of having first promulgated the “binomial system of nomenclature,” a system that has done more to simplify the study of natural science than any light that has been brought to the subject by any man in any age.”
Carl Linnaeus lived from 1707 to 1778, and published his first edition of Systema Naturae in 1735.
The names of a number of the members and corresponding members on the Linnaean Society of Lancaster City and County’s rolls remain familiar. John P. McCaskey (educator) served as Corresponding Secretary. Doctor Abram P. Garber was a prominent Lancaster botanist and society member. Professor Samuel S. Haldeman (naturalist, geologist, and philologist), Professor J. L. LeConte (entomologist), Judge John J. Libhart, Professor Asa Gray (botanist), and the foremost legal egalitarian in the United States House of Representatives, the Honorable Thaddeus Stevens, were listed among the roster of corresponding members.
By the end of its fourth year, Rathvon enumerated the specimens in the collections of the society to exceed 32,000. These included all the species of mosses and plants known in the county, 200 bird specimens, an enormous insect collection with nearly 12,000 Coleoptera (Beetles), and more than 1,400 mollusk shells. The work of the society had already provided a thorough baseline of the flora and fauna of the lower Susquehanna River valley and Lancaster County.
Rathvon would continue as Treasurer and primary curator through the group’s first twenty-five years, their most active. By 1887, their library contained over 1,000 volumes, they possessed over 40,000 specimens, and more than 600 scientific papers had been read at their meetings.
Many of the society’s specimens were moved to the custody of Franklin and Marshall College following the group’s dissolution. In 1953, the collection found a home on the F&M campus at the newly constructed North Museum, named for benefactor Hugh M. North, where many of the specimens, particularly the birds, are on prominent display.
Among the mounted specimens in the North Museum collection is a Heath Hen, once a numerous coastal plain bird which was also of limited abundance in the Piedmont Province areas of southeast Pennsylvania prior to its rapid decline during the first half of the nineteenth century. In southern Lancaster County, the burned grasslands of the serpentine barrens in Fulton Township may have provided suitable Heath Hen habitat prior to the bird’s demise. Curiously, Judge John J. Libhart did not note the Heath Hen in his enumeration of the birds of Lancaster County in either 1844 or 1869, indicating it was seriously imperiled or may have already been extirpated.
The Heath Hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido) became extinct in 1932. While the collection of this particular specimen had little significant impact on the population of this subspecies as a whole, prolonged hunting pressure was largely responsible for decimating the numbers of Heath Hens on the mainland of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. According to the museum tag, this specimen was “probably taken in southern Lancaster County prior to 1850”, and was part of the collection belonging to the Linnaean Society of Lancaster City and County. It is among hundreds of bird specimens on display in antique wood and glass cabinets in the North Museum.
The Heath Hen was extirpated from its entire Atlantic Coastal Plain mainland range by the mid-1860s. The last remaining population was restricted to Martha’s Vineyard where, for the first time, a conservation effort was initiated to try to save a species. After some promising rebounds, the Heath Hen’s recovery failed for a variety of reasons including: the population’s isolation on an island, severe winter storms, feral cat predation, and a flawed understanding of methods for conducting mosaic burns to maintain the bird’s scrub habitat and prevent large catastrophic fires. A large fire in 1906 reduced the island population to just 80 birds, then there was a strong rebound to an estimated 2,000 birds (800 counted) by April, 1916. One month later, a fire burned twenty percent of Martha’s Vineyard, striking while females were on the nest, and leaving mostly males as survivors. A downward spiral in numbers followed for another decade. Finally, from 1929 until his death in 1932, “Booming Ben”, the last Heath Hen, searched the island every spring for a mate that wasn’t there.
Based on life history and the morphology of specimens, the Heath Hen has long been considered to be a subspecies of the Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus), a bird of the tallgrass prairies. However, for more than a decade now, modern DNA analysis has kept taxonomists busy reclassifying and reworking the “tree of life”. For certain species, genetic discoveries often disqualify the long-trusted practice of determining a binomial name based on the visual appearance of specimens. Molecular study is making Linnaean classification more scientific, and is gradually untangling a web of names that man has been weaving for 200 years, often with scant evidence, in an effort to better understand the world around him. In the case of the Heath Hen, DNA research has thus far failed to conclusively determine its relationship to other species of prairie chickens. The lack of a sufficient pool of genetic material, particularly from mainland Heath Hens, reduces the ability of researchers to draw conclusions on this group of birds. There remains the possibility that the Heath Hen was genetically distinct from the Greater Prairie Chickens of the mid-western United States. This would be bad news for organizations studying the possibility of introducing the latter into the former’s historic range as a restoration program.
The Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) specimen on display at the North Museum was collected by John C. Jenkins in Nanchez, Mississippi in 1835. The specimen was remounted by conservator H. Justin Roddy.
The last Carolina Parakeet (the only parrot species native to the eastern United States) died in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo on February 21, 1918, one hundred years ago this past week. It was a species inhabiting primarily the lowland forests of the southeastern United States
In Lancaster County, Judge John J. Libhart wrote of the species in 1869, “…Carolina Parrot, Accidental; a flock seen near Manheim by Mr. G. W. Hensel.” Libhart did not mention the species in his earlier ornithological writings (1844). Therefore, the Hensel sighting probably occurred sometime between 1844 and 1869. The fate of a specimen reported to have been collected in the town of Willow Street sometime during the nineteenth century is unknown, the written details lack the date of its origin and other particulars that may clarify the authenticity of the sighting.
McKinley (1979) researched numerous historical sight records of Carolina Parakeets, but found no specimen from Lancaster County, or from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, the District of Columbia, or Maryland to substantiate any of the reports in the Mid-Atlantic states. In the days prior to high-speed photography, verification and documentation of the presence of an animal species relied on what seems today to be a brutal and excessive method of nature study, killing. Lacking a specimen, the historical status of Carolina Parakeets in Pennsylvania, an area often considered to be within the bird’s former range, may be considered by many authorities to be hypothetical.
The Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was abundant in the lower Susquehanna River valley through the early nineteenth century. Specimens in the North Museum collection include colorful males in breeding plumage. Several are from the original Linnaean Society of Lancaster City and County collection.
The Passenger Pigeon, too, has been extinct for more than a century. In Lancaster County, Judge John J. Libhart listed the Passenger Pigeon by the common name “Wild Pigeon” and wrote of the species in 1869, “Migratory; spring and autumn; feeds on grain, oak and beach, mostly on berries; stragglers sometimes remain and breed in the county.” There are numerous accounts of their precipitous decline both locally and throughout their former range, each illustrating the tragic loss of another portion of the North American natural legacy.
The North Museum specimen label describes the precipitous decline of the Passenger Pigeon in the lower Susquehanna River valley.
Martha, the last surviving Passenger Pigeon, died on September 1, 1914, in the Cincinnati Zoo. Ironically, the last Carolina Parakeet would die in the same enclosure just three-and-one-half years later. In the wild, the final three records of Passenger Pigeons were all of birds that were shot for taxidermy mounts in 1900, 1901, and 1902—an embarrassing human legacy.
By the early twentieth century, concerned citizens were beginning to realize the danger posed to many species of flora and fauna by man’s activities. In the eastern United States, the vast forests had been logged, the wetlands drained, and the streams and rivers dammed. Nearly all of the landscape had been altered in some way. Animals were harvested with little concern for the sustenance of their populations. Nearly unnoticed, the seemingly endless abundance and diversity of wildlife found in the early days of European colonization had dwindled critically.
In 1844, Judge John J. Libhart noted the “Log-Cock” among the birds found in Lancaster County. Fortunately, he included the scientific name “Picus pileatus”, the binomial nomenclature then recognized for the Pileated Woodpecker (specimens to right) among taxonomists. A record of “Log-Cock” could confuse researchers, leaving them to guess whether Libhart was referring to a woodpecker, a woodcock, a grouse, or any number of other birds including the long-extinct(?) Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). Of the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus today), Libhart wrote in 1869, “…now become rare and is only met with in old and extensive woods; breeds in the county.” The Ivory-billed Woodpecker (specimen to left), a species of vast forests of large timber, living and dead, was restricted to the southeastern United States and Cuba. Logging following the American Civil War and, to a lesser degree, shooting impacted both species detrimentally. The Pileated Woodpecker recovered, the larger Ivory-billed Woodpecker, which has never been documented in the northeastern United States, has not. These specimens are in the North Museum collection.
The movement to conserve and protect threatened species from relentless persecution owes its start to the Linnaean taxonomists, the specimen collectors who gave uniformly recognizable names to nearly all of North America’s plants and animals. Significant too were John James Audubon and many others who used specimens as models to create accurate artwork which allowed scientists and citizens alike to learn to identify and name the living things they were seeing and, as time went by, not seeing.
Binomial nomenclature enabled the new conservationists to communicate accurately, reducing misunderstandings resulting from the use of many different names for one species or a shared name for multiple species. Discussions on the status of Columba migratorius (the binomial name for Passenger Pigeon in the nineteenth century) could occur without using the confusing local names for the Passenger Pigeon such as Wood Pigeon or, here in Pennsylvania, Wild Pigeon, a term which could describe any number of free-ranging pigeon or dove species. A binomial name, genus and species, makes the identity of a particular plant or animal, for lack of a more fitting term, specific.
Appreciation for the work completed by taxonomists who killed thousands of animals so each could be classified and assigned a name particular to its lineage is what finally motivated some to seek a cessation of the unchecked catastrophic killing of living things. It’s the paradox of late nineteenth-century conservation. The combined realization that a species is unique among other life-forms and that continuing to kill it for specimens, “style”, “sport”, or just an adrenaline thrill could eliminate it forever became an intolerable revelation. The blood would be on the hands of an audacious mankind, and it was unthinkable. Something had to be done. Unfortunately for the Passenger Pigeon, the Carolina Parakeet, and the Heath Hen, help came too late.
SOURCES
Greenburg, Joel. 2014. A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction. Bloomsbury Publishing. New York.
Libhart, John J. 1844. “Birds of Lancaster County”. I. Daniel Rupp’s History of Lancaster County. Gilbert Hills. Lancaster, PA.
Libhart, John J. 1869. “Ornithology”. J. I. Mombert’s An Authentic History of Lancaster County. J. E. Barr and Company. Lancaster, PA.
McKinley, Daniel. 1979. “History of the Carolina Parakeet in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia”. Maryland Birdlife. 35(1):1-10.
Palkovacs, Eric P.; Oppenheimer, Adam J.; Gladyshev, Eugene; Toepfer, John E.; Amato, George; Chase, Thomas; Caccone, Adalgesia. 2004. “Genetic Evaluation of a Proposed Introduction: The Case of the Greater Prairie Chicken and the Extinct Heath Hen”. Molecular Ecology. 13(7):1759-1769.
Rathvon, S. S. 1866. An Essay on the Origin of the Linnaean Society of Lancaster City and County, Its Objects and Progress. Pearsol and Geist. Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Wheeler, Alfred G., Jr. and Miller, Gary L. 2006. “Simon Snyder Rathvon: Popularizer of Agricultural Entomology in Mid-19th Century America”. American Entomologist. 52(1):36-47.
Winpenny, Thomas R. 1990. “The Triumphs and Anguish of a Self-Made Man: 19th Century Naturalist S. S. Rathvon”. Pennsylvania History. 57(2):136-149.
At the moment there is a heavy snow falling, not an unusual occurrence for mid-February, nevertheless, it is a change in weather. Forty-eight hours ago we were in the midst of a steady rain and temperatures were in the sixties. The snow and ice had melted away and a touch of spring was in the air.
Big Bluestem in the Riverine Grasslands is inundated by the rising waters of the Susquehanna at Conewago Falls. The river ice has been dispersed by the recent mild temperatures and rains.
Anyone casually looking about while outdoors during these last several days may have noticed that birds are indeed beginning to migrate north in the lower Susquehanna valley. Killdeer, American Robins, Eastern Bluebirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Common Grackles are easily seen or heard in most of the area now.
Just hours ago, between nine o’clock this morning and one o’clock this afternoon, there was a spectacular flight of birds following the river north, their spring migration well underway. In the blue skies above Conewago Falls, a steady parade of Ring-billed Gulls was utilizing thermals and riding a tailwind from the south-southeast to cruise high overhead on a course toward their breeding range.
Ring-billed Gulls swarm in a thermal updraft above Conewago Falls to gain altitude prior to streaming off to the north and continuing their journey.Ring-billed Gulls climbing to heights sometimes exceeding 1,000 feet before breaking off and gliding away to the north.
The swirling hoards of Ring-billed Gulls attracted other migrants to take advantage of the thermals and glide paths on the breeze. Right among them were 44 American Herring Gulls, 3 Great Black-backed Gulls, 12 Tundra Swans (Cygnuscolumbianus), 10 Canada Geese, 3 Northern Pintails (Anas acuta), 6 Common Mergansers, 3 Red-tailed Hawks, a Red-shouldered Hawk, 6 Bald Eagles (non-adults), 8 Black Vultures, and 5 Turkey Vultures.
A first-winter American Herring Gull (top center) is a standout in a “kettle” of Ring-billed Gulls.How many Ring-billed Gulls passed by today? More than 18,000…with emphasis on MORE THAN. You see, early this afternoon, the handy-dandy clicker-counter used to tick off and tally the big flights of birds as they pass by quit clicking and counting. Therefore, 18,000 is the absolute minimum number of Ring-billed Gulls seen migrating north today. Hopefully the trusty old oil can will get the clicker working again soon.
In the afternoon, the clouds closed in quickly, the flight ended, and by dusk more than an inch of snow was on the ground. Looks like spring to me.
Two days ago, widespread rain fell intermittently through the day and steadily into the night in the Susquehanna drainage basin. The temperature was sixty degrees, climbing out of a three-week-long spell of sub-freezing cold in a dramatic way. Above the ice-covered river, a very localized fog swirled in the southerly breezes.
By yesterday, the rain had ended as light snow and a stiff wind from the northwest brought sub-freezing air back to the region. Though less than an inch of rain fell during this event, much of it drained to waterways from frozen or saturated ground. Streams throughout the watershed are being pushed clear of ice as minor flooding lifts and breaks the solid sheets into floating chunks.
Today, as their high flows recede, the smaller creeks and runs are beginning to freeze once again. On larger streams, ice is still exiting with the cresting flows and entering the rising river.
Ice chunks on Swatara Creek merge into a dense flow of ice on the river in the distance. Swatara Creek is the largest tributary to enter the Susquehanna in the Gettysburg Basin. The risk of an ice jam impounding the Swatara here at its mouth is lessened because rising water on the river has lifted and broken the ice pack to keep it moving without serious impingement by submerged obstacles. Immovable ice jams on the river can easily block the outflow from tributaries, resulting in catastrophic flooding along these streams.Fast-moving flows of jagged ice race toward Three Mile Island and Conewago Falls. The rising water began relieving the compression of ice along the shoreline during the mid-morning. Here on the river just downstream of the mouth of Swatara Creek, ice-free openings allowed near-shore piles to separate and begin floating away after 10:30 A.M. E.S.T. Moving masses of ice created loud rumbles, sounding like a distant thunderstorm.Ice being pushed and heaved over the crest of the York Haven Dam at Conewago Falls due to compression and rising water levels.Enormous chunks of ice being forced up and over the York Haven Dam into Conewago Falls and the Pothole Rocks below.Ice scours Conewago Falls, as it has for thousands of years.The action of ice and suspended abrasives has carved the York Haven Diabase boulders and bedrock of Conewago Falls into the amazing Pothole Rocks.The roaring torrents of ice-choked water will clear some of the woody growth from the Riverine Grasslands of Conewago Falls.To the right of center in this image, a motorcar-sized chunk of ice tumbles over the dam and crashes into the Pothole Rocks. It was one of thousands of similar tree-and-shrub-clearing projectiles to go through the falls today.
The events of today provide a superb snapshot of how Conewago Falls, particularly the Diabase Pothole Rocks, became such a unique place, thousands of years in the making. Ice and flood events of varying intensity, duration, and composition have sculpted these geomorphologic features and contributed to the creation of the specialized plant and animal communities we find there. Their periodic occurrence is essential to maintaining the uncommon habitats in which these communities thrive.
Fish Crows (Corvus ossifragus) gather along the flooding river shoreline. Soon there’ll be plenty of rubbish to pick through, some carrion maybe, or even a displaced aquatic creature or two to snack upon.
Is this the same Conewago Falls I visited a week ago? Could it really be? Where are all the gulls, the herons, the tiny critters swimming in the potholes, and the leaping fish? Except for a Bald Eagle on a nearby perch, the falls seems inanimate.
Yes, a week of deep freeze has stifled the Susquehanna and much of Conewago Falls. A hike up into the area where the falls churns with great turbulence provided a view of some open water. And a flow of open water is found downstream of the York Haven Dam powerhouse discharge. All else is icing over and freezing solid. The flow of the river pinned beneath is already beginning to heave the flat sheets into piles of jagged ice which accumulate behind obstacles and shallows.
Ice and snow surround a small zone of open water in a high-gradient area of Conewago Falls.Ice chunks and sheets accumulate atop the York Haven Dam. The weight of miles of ice backed up behind the dam eventually forces the accumulation over the top and into the Pothole Rocks below. The popping and cracking sounds of ice both above and below the dam could be heard throughout the day as hydraulic forces continuously break and move ice sheets.Steam from the Unit 1 cooling towers at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station rises above the frozen Riverine Grasslands at Conewago Falls. The scouring action of winter ice keeps the grasslands clear of substantial woody growth and prevents succession into forest.Despite a lack of activity on the river, mixed flocks of resident and wintering birds, including this White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis), were busy feeding in the Riparian Woodlands. The White-breasted Nuthatch is a cavity nester and year-round denizen of hardwoods, often finding shelter during harsh winter nights in small tree holes.The White-breasted Nuthatch is often seen working its way head-first down a tree trunk as it probes with its well-adapted bill for insects among the bark.Jackpot!Looking upstream from the river’s east shore at ice and snow cover on the Susquehanna above Conewago Falls and the York Haven Dam. The impoundment, known as Lake Frederic, and its numerous islands of the Gettysburg Basin Archipelago were locked in winter’s frosty grip today. Hill Island (Left) and Poplar Island (Center) consist of erosion-resistant York Haven Diabase, as does the ridge on the far shoreline seen rising in the distance between them. To the right of Poplar Island in this image, the river passes by the Harrisburg International Airport. At the weather station there, the high temperature was eighteen degrees Fahrenheit on this first day of 2018.
CLICK ON THE LOGO FOR TODAY’S MIGRATION COUNT TOTALS
A steady stream of birds was on the move this morning over Conewago Falls. There were hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls, scores of American Herring Gulls, and a few Great Black-backed Gulls to dominate the flight. Then too there were thirteen Mallards, Turkey Vultures and a Black Vulture, twenty or more American Robins, a half a dozen Bald Eagles (juvenile and immature birds), a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds, and, perhaps most unusual of all, a flock of a dozen Scoters (Melanitta species), a waterfowl typical of the Mid-Atlantic surf in winter. All of these birds were diligently following the river, and into a headwind no less.
“Hold on just a minute there, buster,” you may say, “I’ve looked at the migration count by dutifully clicking on the logo above and there is nothing but zeroes on the count sheet for today. The season totals have not changed since the previous count day!”
Ah-ha, my dedicated friend, correct you are. It seems that today’s bird flight was solely in one direction. And that direction was upriver, moving north into a north breeze, on a heading which conflicts with all logic for creatures that should still be headed south for winter. As a result, none of the birds observed today were counted on the “Autumn Migration Count”.
You might say, “Don’t you know that Winter Solstice was three days ago, so autumn and autumn migration is over.”
Okay, point well taken. I should therefore clarify that what we title as “Autumn Migration Count” is more accurately a census of birds, insects, and other creatures transiting from northerly latitudes to more favorable latitudes to the south for winter. This transit can begin as early as late June and extend into the first weeks of winter. While most of this movement is motivated by the reduced hours of daylight during the period, late season migrants are often responding to ice, bad weather, or lack of food to prompt a journey further south. Migration south in late December and January occurs even while the amount of daylight is increasing slightly in the days following the Winter Solstice.
So what of the birds seen flying north today? There was some snow cover that has melted away, and the ice that formed on the river a week ago is gone due to the milder than normal temperatures this week.
One may ask, “Were the birds seen today migrating north?”
Let’s look at the species seen moving upriver today a try to determine their motivation.
First, and perhaps most straight-forward, is the huge flight of gulls. Wintering gulls on the Susquehanna River near Conewago Falls tend to spend their nights in flocks on the water or on treeless islands and rocky outcrops in the river. Many hundreds, sometimes thousands, find such favorable sites along the fifteen mile stretch of river from Conewago Falls downstream to Lake Clarke and the Conejohela Flats at Washington Boro. Each morning most of these gulls venture out to suburbia, farmland, landfill, hydroelectric dams, and other sections of river in search of food. Gulls are very able fliers and easily cover dozens of miles outbound and inbound each day in search of food. Many of the gulls seen this morning were probably on their way to the Harrisburg metropolitan area to eat trash. Barring any extraordinary buildups of ice on this section of river, one would expect these gulls to remain and make these daily excursions to food sources through early spring.
Ring-billed Gulls fly upriver through the Pothole Rocks at Conewago Falls.American Herring Gulls stream upriver through Conewago Falls on their way to fine dining.
Second, throughout the season Bald Eagles have been tallied on the migration count with caution. Flight altitude, behavior, plumage, and the reaction of the “local” eagles to these transients was carefully considered before counting an eagle as a migrant. They roam a lot, particularly when young, and range widely to feed. The movement of eagles up the river today was probably food related. A gathering of adult, juvenile, and immature Bald Eagles could be seen more than a half mile upstream from the migration count lookout. Those moving up the river seemed to assemble with the “locals” there throughout the morning. White-tailed Deities occasionally drown, particularly when there is thin or unstable ice on the river (as there was last week) and they attempt to tread upon it. Then, their bodies are often stranded among rocks, in trees, or on the crown of the dam. After such a mishap, their carcasses become meals for carrion-eaters in the falls. Such an unfortunate deity, or another source of food, may have been attracting the eagles in numbers today.
A distant gathering of Bald Eagles at the south end of Three Mile Island in upper Conewago Falls.
Next, Black and Turkey Vultures often roam widely in search of food. The small numbers seen headed up-river today would tend to mean very little when trying to determine if there is a trend or population shift. Again, food may have been luring them upriver from nearby roosts.
And finally, the scoters, Mallards, American Robins, and Red-winged Blackbirds may have been wandering as well. Toward mid-day, the wind speed picked up and the direction changed to the east. This raises the possibility that these and others of the birds seen today may sense a change in weather, and may seek to take flight from the inclement conditions. Prompted by the ocean breeze and in an attempt to avoid a storm, was there some movement away from the Atlantic Coastal Plain to the upper Piedmont today? Many species may make these types of reactive movements. Is it possible that some birds flee or avoid ever-changing storm tracks and alter there wintering locations based on jet streams, water currents, and other climatic conditions? Probably. These are interesting dynamics and something worthy of study outside the simpler methods of a migration count.
A Ring-billed Gull begins feeding as storm clouds approach Conewago Falls at mid-day. This and other gull species travel widely in their winter range to find food and safe roosting sites. For them, northward spring migration usually begins no earlier than late February.
