Morgantown Migratory Bird Day – May 5 (tomorrow!!)

Tomorrow – May 5, 2012 – the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia (ACCA) will be holding our first major event, Morgantown Migratory Bird Day! We’ve partnered with Cooper’s Rock State Forest and several other local bird and nature groups to offer a fun-filled day of events for the entire family. Morgantown Migratory Bird Day is in conjunction with International Migratory Bird Day, which is celebrated by parks, zoos, and nature centers throughout North, Central, and South America.

Morgantown Migratory Bird Day Schedule:

7am – Bird Walk on the Raven Rock Trail, guided by Hillar Klandorf and LeJay Graffious of Mountaineer Audubon and Brooks Bird Club. Cooper’s Rock will be opening its gates early for this walk, which will begin at the Raven Rock Trailhead at 7am. Hillar and LeJay are both excellent guides and birders – you don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to bird with them! While we can’t make any promises, in the past we’ve seen quite a few great birds on this trail, including Cerulean Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Ovenbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Black-and-white Warbler, Hooded Warbler, American Redstart, and others. Bring binoculars if you have them!

8:30am – Bird Walk near the overlook and pavilions, guided by Terry Bronson and John Jacobs of Mountaineer Audubon and the Brooks Bird Club. This walk will meet in the first parking lot near the overlook and pavilions. Terry and John are also both excellent birders and guides, and participants in this walk are sure to see quite a few species. Again, while we can’t make any promises, birds in this area may include Pine Warbler, Eastern Phoebe, Common Raven, Black-and-white Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird, and others. Bring binoculars if you have them!

9am-3pm – Educational Displays in the Pavilion. Stop by Pavilion #2 near the overlook anytime between 9 and 3 to check out displays from a variety of local bird and nature groups, including the ACCA, Mountaineer Audubon, Brooks Bird Club, Cooper’s Rock Foundation, West Virginia Botanic Garden, WVU’s Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society, WVU’s Student Sierra Coalition, Friends of Decker’s Creek, and others. Also, several graduate students will be setting up displays about their research projects, which feature Golden Eagles, Cerulean Warblers, Double-crested Cormorants, and more. We will also have ongoing activities for children, including owl pellet dissection, make-your-own binoculars, and a scavenger hunt.

11am – Live Birds of Prey Presentation by Flying Higher. Stop by the pavilion at 11am to meet and learn about several live birds of prey! The group Flying Higher from Elkins will be giving a presentation about these incredible birds.

12:30pm – Nature Story Time followed by a Family Hike. Meet at the pavilion to hear a special children’s story about nature, and then depart for a family hike guided by Natasha Diamond. Fun and friendly for children!

2pm – Red-tailed Hawk Release near the pond (across from the campground entrance). At 2pm the ACCA will be releasing a rehabilitated Red-tailed Hawk. The hawk was found in Preston County, suffering from a broken wing. The ACCA nursed the hawk back to health, and now she’s ready to be released. Stop by the area near the pond (across from the entrance to the campground) at 2pm to hear her story and witness her return to the wild!

Everyone at the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia is very excited about this event. The weather should be in the low 80s and partly sunny, but we’ll be there rain or shine. We sincerely hope to see you and your family at Cooper’s Rock tomorrow!!

If you’d like more information about the ACCA, please visit our website, www.accawv.org, or like us on Facebook. If you find an injured bird, call us at (304) 906-5438.

Introducing the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia

My latest bird adventure has been helping to start an organization that I’m already very proud of: the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia. Our mission is to conserve wild birds through scientific research; education and public outreach; and rescue and rehabilitation. Founded in January of 2012, the all-volunteer ACCA is based in Cheat Lake, WV. We are licensed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service to treat and rehabilitate injured, ill, or orphaned wild birds.

One of the best things about the ACCA is that every injured bird that comes through our door receives an immediate, comprehensive examination by a veterinarian who specializes in treating birds. The exam includes whole-body radiographs, and necessary medications and fluids are administered without delay. If surgery is required, our volunteer veterinarians and veterinary technicians are equipped and experienced to perform advanced orthopedic and soft-tissue surgeries. The birds are then nursed back to health by our staff of caring volunteers. We have some awesome volunteers—truly!! I’m so proud to be part of this group.

Additionally, the ACCA participates in and sponsors scientific research projects focusing on wild bird conservation throughout Appalachia and beyond. We are partnering with researchers and students affiliated with several regional universities.

We also work to conserve birds through education and public outreach. Our first major event will be our version of an International Migratory Bird Day celebration: Morgantown Migratory Bird Day. The event will be held on Saturday, May 5^th, at Cooper’s Rock State Forest. The festivities will include early morning bird walks, family-friendly hikes, and a live raptor demonstration by Flying Higher. The pavilion near the overlook will be filled with educational displays from other local groups, most of which will include activities for children of all ages. So come on out to Cooper’s Rock on May 5^th and celebrate migratory birds. And bring your friends and family!

The ACCA will graciously accept donations to assist us in caring for injured birds and promoting avian conservation. Even though we’re just getting started, we’ve already been able to treat and release several birds, including a Common Loon and a Black-capped Chickadee. We expect to release a rehabilitated Barred Owl in a few weeks. Of course, we can’t save them all; a Red-tailed Hawk that was alive when the finder put it in a box passed away by the time it reached the ACCA. The hawk had been hit by a car.

If you want to know more about the ACCA, send me an email. And if you find an injured wild bird, call our Injured Bird Hotline: (304) 906-5438. Also, injured birds can be taken to Cheat Lake Animal Hospital, 286 Fairchance Road, Morgantown, WV. Thanks in advance for your help!

Oh, and please “like” us on Facebook—we’ll be updating our page frequently.

Winter Blahhhh

January has always been my least favorite month; February is a close second. The excitement of the holidays has passed, as well as the excitement of the first snowfall. The greens of spring feel far, far away. Everything is gray—the sky, the trees, the roads, the Monongahela River, Cheat Lake. Blah.

Katie's dogs like winter. Katie does not.

Like many folks, I make an extra effort to keep my bird feeders filled during these cold winter months. I fill two tube feeders with black oil sunflower seeds, another with thistle seed, spread more sunflower seeds on the platform feeder, and keep a cake of suet in the cage. I haven’t had any unusual feeder visitors so far this winter, but the regular crew manages to brighten the yard a bit—even though most are (you guessed it) gray. Or black and white: Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Junco. The little patch of red on the male Downy Woodpecker is a welcome sight, as is the red head of the Red-bellied Woodpecker. The Goldfinches are always cute, and I actually think I prefer their muted winter fluffiness to their sleek summer yellow.

I had a strange dream the other night: it was winter, and I suddenly noticed a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in my yard, buzzing around the hook where a nectar feeder hangs in the summer. I panicked, certain that the little bird would starve or freeze. I went to the cabinet, but I couldn’t find any sugar to make nectar.

And that was, pretty much, the entire dream. Maybe my subconscious wants migrant birds back, too.

I’d be lying if I said this winter has been without bird highlights; there have been a few. I finally spotted the Bald Eagle nest near the Pennsylvania / West Virginia border. I’ve been told that both the male and female have been spending time at the nest. And a few weeks ago I watched a Common Loon on Cheat Lake. Another part of the lake sheltered a mixed raft of Hooded Mergansers and American Coots. Mergansers always seem so dignified and tidy, while I find coots comical; maybe it’s just their name!

If you’re looking for an indoor way to escape the winter blahhhhhs, I invite you to come to one of my upcoming Cerulean Warbler talks. This Monday, January 30^th, at 4:30pm, I’ll be giving a slide presentation and reading at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. The event will take place in the Mellon Living Room in the Mellon Center. Copies of my book will be for sale.

I’ll also be speaking and giving a slide presentation at Wildwood Park in Harrisburg, PA, on Tuesday, February 7^th, at 7pm, in the Olewine Nature Center. The event is free and no pre-registration is required. For more information: http://www.wildwoodlake.org/events/.

Maybe some of my PA friends will be able to come out and see me at one of these two events! Send me a message if you’d like more information. In the meantime, stay warm, and try to remember that spring is just around the corner…I hope…

Gift Ideas for Bird Lovers (and for Birds)

Looking for gifts that can please the bird lovers on your list and help preserve birds and their habitats? Search no further! The following are a few avi-philic gift ideas:

1. Shade-grown Coffee.

Purchasing certified shade-grown or “Bird Friendly” coffee is an easy way to help preserve wintering habitat for “our” Neotropical migratory songbirds. In Latin American coffee-growing regions, the forest is often cleared to make way for coffee plantations. But some farms choose to grow their coffee shrubs in the shade of the forest’s canopy, thus preserving songbird habitat. Any certified shade-grown coffee will help protect bird habitat—but if you want to specifically target the habitat of certain species, think about the following options:

• Mesa de los Santos: This coffee comes from the Santander Department of Colombia, near the town of Bucaramanga; I visited this region when I traveled to Colombia, and I can attest to the fact that there are a lot of birds there! Coffee from Mesa de los Santos is triple-certified, which is very impressive: USDA Organic, Bird Friendly, and Rainforest Alliance. Follow this link to read more about the farm. (If you visit that site and discover that Mesa de los Santos coffee is on backorder, try CoffeeAM here. This site also includes reviews.) Shade-grown coffee from the Santander region of Colombia helps protect habitat for “our” Cerulean Warblers, Blackburnian Warblers, Canada Warblers, and others, as well as residents such as the Turquoise Dacnis-Tanager, Golden-faced Tyrannulet, and Indigo-capped Hummingbird. (Friends and family, expect a bag of Mesa de los Santos coffee from me this holiday!)
• Bird & Beans: These folks sell four different varieties of coffee; all are certified USDA Organic as well as Bird Friendly (even the decaf). Of these four kinds, my favorite is the “Chestnut-sided Warbler” Viennese Roast variety. It comes from a farm in Nicaragua. Many of our migrants spend the winter in the forests of Nicaragua, including the imperiled Golden-winged Warbler, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and American Redstart. In addition to ordering here online, Birds & Beans coffees can be purchased at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary’s gift shop in Kempton, PA.

2. Bird Feeders, Houses, and Baths – homemade or otherwise.

There are way, way too many bird feeder options to list here, but maybe it will be helpful to hear what kinds of feeders we hang in our yard. We have two tube feeders filled with black oil sunflower seed; one tube feeder with nyger (aka thistle) seed; one platform feeder with black oil sunflower seed; one suet feeder; and one hummingbird feeder that we bring inside for the fall and winter. We also have two birdbaths. This configuration of feeders attracts a wide variety of birds: Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, American Goldfinch, House Finch, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, and many others. Our tube feeders are all sturdy—two are Droll Yankees and one is another brand that kind of mimics Droll Yankees. I like the Droll Yankees brand—they’re mostly made in the USA, are guaranteed for life, and use sustainable products when possible. The deer and raccoons haven’t destroyed them after years of use.

You can also make your own bird feeders from plastic bottles and other household items. Try this fun, easy project.

Birdhouses come in many varieties, too. We have four Eastern Bluebird houses, a Song Sparrow house, and a bat house. My husband has made most of them. Plans for all of these are available online; there are also quote a few how-to books about building bird boxes. Here’s an example of plans for a bluebird house.

3. Gift Memberships to Bird Conservation Groups, or Gifts from Bird Conservation Groups.

I buy my mother a gift subscription of Audubon Magazine every year. She reads each issue cover-to-cover (right, Mom?) And she even wrote a letter to the editor, which appeared in print earlier this year. I also enjoy reading the magazine of the American Bird Conservancy, Bird Conservation. You can give an ABC gift membership here. And check out The Peregrine Fund’s online gift shop. Portions of the proceeds go to help fund their worldwide research projects. There are many other worthwhile organizations and publications, but this blog is getting lengthy already…

4. Bird Books.

Have you heard about the new book by Katie Fallon? It’s called Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird. Haha – just kidding. Well, not really. But besides my bird book, there are many others to choose from. Everyone loves a good bird book, right? =)

5. Something Made Locally.

You’ve heard it before: buying locally grown or produced items made by local artisans can help local communities. The politics and economics of this concept could (and have) filled books. Purchasing an item that didn’t have to travel too far has probably saved fossil fuels, which is generally good for birds. And everyone else.

Happy gifting!

Birds I’m Thankful For

Thanksgiving is a day when we pause to reflect and give thanks. The star of the day in many homes is, of course, a bird: the turkey. (The short, cruel life of a factory-farmed Broad-breasted White may be the subject of a future blog, but I will keep this posting guilt-free out of holiday respect for my carnivorous friends!) In honor of the noble turkey, I thought I’d make a short list of birds I’m particularly thankful to have seen in 2011; most are lifers and a few are old favorites, but all made me happy. Thanks to the following birds for showing up this year:

10. Great Horned Owl. Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, May 17. The weather was rough. A ranger told us it was 15 degrees colder than normal, and several groups had cancelled their campground reservations, which meant that we got a site. By the morning the rain had cleared. After a hike to a few of the famous arches, we ate peanuts and I did some yoga next to a twisted mesquite tree. I even read a few pages of Desert Solitaire. After sunset, the moon and the stars brightened the desert, and a Great Horned Owl hooted us to sleep.

9. Peregrine Falcon. Cathedral Rock, Sedona, AZ, May 19. I was watching a Red-tailed Hawk soar above the red rocks and scrub when suddenly something screamed and shot like a bullet from small cave in a sheer cliff wall. The falcon bee-lined for the hawk, who looked slow and plodding next to the peregrine. The hawk flapped. The falcon chased, and screamed, and finally, satisfied, turned and zipped back to the cave. The hawk soared off. Through my binoculars I watched the peregrine at the cave’s threshold. I could have watched her all day.

8. Pigeon Guillemot. San Juan Island, WA, August 8. While kayaking in Puget Sound, these little guys seemed to keep popping up around us at unexpected times.

7. Black-throated Grey Warbler. Grand Canyon National Park, AZ, May 20. I’ve seen plenty of Black-throated Greens and Black-throated Blues here in West Virginia, but I’d never seen a Black-throated Grey until this spring at the Grand Canyon.

6. Swallow-tailed Kite. Myakka River State Park, near Sarasota, FL, July 24.

5. Virginia Rail and Marsh Wren. Assateague Island National Seashore, MD. November 7. OK, I know I’m cheating by listing two birds here, but they showed up in the same spot at almost the same time. Both illusive but vocal.

4. Common Black Hawk, Bullock’s Oriole, and Greater Roadrunner. Page Springs, AZ, May 22. Now I’m really cheating. We saw lots of other birds on this particular outing, but the Black Hawk and Roadrunner were life birds for me. And the Bullock’s Oriole was in a nest, which seems list-worthy.

3. Magnificent Hummingbird, Painted Redstart, Lucy’s Warbler, Acorn Woodpecker, and Hepatic Tanager. Oak Creek Canyon, AZ, May 21. All life birds, and all great looks. Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona, AZ, is a birders’ paradise. We bought a guidebook to local birding hotspots, and its directions led us right to the Magnificent Hummingbird. And we saw other great birds, too, of course.

2. Cerulean Warbler. An oak tree near my house, Cheat Neck, WV, June 19. I don’t think ceruleans breed in or around my yard, but this little guy was definitely here, and he was definitely singing. A thrill for me.

1. California Condor. Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, near Lee’s Ferry, AZ, May 15. I’m working on an essay about (in part) this experience. We saw five condors!! All had wing tags, but we were too far away to read them. I think I have an earlier blog posting about this, in fact.

I’m thankful for these birds and all the others I’ve seen (or will see!) in 2011. Of course, I’m thankful for many other things in my life, but I’m going to keep this posting to thanks-worthy birds. Hope everyone has had a lovely day!

Assateague Island Birding—and a Cerulean Talk Tonight!

If you’re looking for something to do this afternoon (Saturday, November 12), come out to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary at 4pm and hear me talk about Cerulean Warblers and my new book. The presentation will take place in the Visitors’ Center, and it should last about an hour. If you haven’t been to Hawk Mountain’s Visitors’ Center, you really should check it out. In addition to my new book, the gift shop sells dozens of other books about birds—field guides, memoirs, biographies, art books, etc. The shop also sells certified shade-grown coffee, shirts, hats, mugs, bags, Christmas ornaments, note cards, and much more. It may be my favorite gift shop of any gift shop I’ve ever visited!

Assateague Island National Seashore

I had the privilege of giving a similar talk at Salisbury University on the Eastern Shore of Maryland earlier this week. The talk was a lot of fun, and the audience was perfect—they even laughed at my jokes. My hosts at Salisbury were gracious, enthusiastic, and generous; I had a great time.

The best part of the trip was hanging out with the lovely Lisa Leslie, my dear friend and former Virginia Tech colleague. The day before my talk, Lisa and two of her friends, Ron and Carol, took me birding on nearby Assateague Island. I am not very good at identifying shorebirds; luckily, these folks were experts! And Ron and Carol had a fancy spotting scope, which certainly brought the birds into view. (I have a serious case spotting-scope envy!) Highlights of the day for me included Purple Sandpiper, Bonaparte’s Gull, Red-throated Loon, Virginia Rail (a great look), and Brown-headed Nuthatch. If you haven’t been birding on Assateague Island National Seashore—you should go!

Brown-headed Nuthatch in a loblolly pine

The complete bird list follows. (Note: all are from Assateague Island, except those followed by OC, which were sighted in various locations around nearby Ocean City.)

Red-throated Loon
Common Loon

Horned Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe (OC)

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron

Turkey Vulture

Canada Goose
Brant
Tundra Swan (OC)

This one went down as "WIPO" on our bird list...

Gadwall (OC)
American Wigeon (OC)
American Black Duck
Mallard (OC)
Northern Shoveler (OC)
Northern Pintail (OC)
Green-winged Teal (OC)
Redhead (OC)
Ring-necked Duck (OC)
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck (OC)

Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk

Can you find the Marsh Wren in this picture?

Wild Turkey

Virginia Rail
Sora
American Coot (OC)

Killdeer (OC)

Greater Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone (OC)
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper (OC)
Dunlin

Laughing Gull
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Greater Black-backed Gull

Royal Tern

Belted Kingfisher

Tree Swallow

Brown-headed Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Marsh Wren

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Grey Catbird
Northern Mockingbird

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Field Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle

House Finch
American Goldfinch

You Can’t Get There From Here

After 35 years of living in rural and semi-rural areas, I finally got to give directions that included the sentence, “You can’t get there from here.” It was awesome.

The story:

I live on a dead-end road in Cheat Neck, WV, a small community outside of Morgantown. The Mason-Dixon line is only about half a mile from here; in fact, I can see Pennsylvania from my house. To get from my hill down to “the highway” (two-lane Fairchance Road), I take a right onto narrow, poorly paved Sand Springs Road. Were I to turn left onto Sand Springs, the road would soon narrow even more and become dirt as it climbs the mountain towards Cooper’s Rock State Forest. Eventually, the road becomes deeply rutted, steep, and nearly impassible (unless you’re driving an ATV). At the top of the mountain the road again turns to pavement as it nears the State Forest, but that’s miles from here.

The other day I was driving down Sand Springs Road and a pickup truck with Texas plates was driving up. I realized he was towing a pop-up camper. I moved to the side to let him pass, but the driver waved me closer. A young man got out, straightened his Texas Longhorns tee shirt, and approached my window.

“Hi there,” I said. I suspected this man was here to work in our newly booming natural gas industry. Over the last few months, we’ve had quite an influx of young men from Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. I pass their pickups on our roads and at gas stations, and I see them on barstools at local pubs. The other day I passed a pickup truck (also with Texas plates) that had “Oilfield Trash” airbrushed on the back window. Classy. BUT, I think I will save my thoughts on Appalachia’s Marcellus Shale natural gas rush for a future blog. Back to my story:

The man nodded a hello, and asked, “Is the Sand Springs RV Park up this road?”

“Well,” I said, doing my best not to smirk, “It is, but you can’t get there from here.”

He took a drag off his cigarette and gazed up the road. “Really? Because my GPS told me to come this way.”

“No, this road pretty much becomes an ATV trail. What you want to do is go back the way you came and get on the interstate and head east. Get off at the next exit–the Cooper’s Rock exit.”

“Thanks,” he said, and began to head back to his truck.

“Hey,” I called after him, “Once you get off the interstate, you still have a few miles to go. I can tell you exactly how to get there.”

“Naw, it’s OK,” he waved, opening his truck’s door, “I’m sure my GPS can find it from there.”

I held in my (probably unkind) laughter until after I passed him. Good luck with that GPS, I thought. I imagined the digital voice saying, “You can’t get there from here. Recalculating.”