Lycoming County Bird Mysteries to Solve in 2016
1/24/16
By David Brown
In my last article I wrote a summary of birding in Lycoming County last year. Despite the increased effort there are still many local bird questions to be answered.
One of the best ways to contribute to local bird knowledge is to submit sightings to eBird. Simply watching your home bird feeders for fifteen minutes a day and submitting a checklist of what you see is all that is needed to begin to help out. If you cannot identify all the species then you can submit a partial checklist of what you were able to identify. Over time you will be able to identify more.
The Great Backyard Bird count is a yearly event in February to collect data about bird populations. This year the count is February 12-15. Locally, Montour Preserve is holding informational events and bird walks that weekend to introduce the public to counting birds and submitting checklists. A similar event got me involved with birding a number of years ago so I recommend that anyone interested give it a try.
Many areas of Lycoming County are rarely birded so one hope of mine is that people throughout the county will begin using eBird and submitting checklists for areas near them. Also, many birders get so burned out from looking for rare migrants during May and June, that there is little information collected in July and August as the days are hot and the birds not as vocal. Yet these are some of the key times to find what birds are nesting.
There are many questions that birders with even just a little experience can help solve. For instance, do yellow-bellied flycatchers nest in Lycoming County? How many locations do white-throated sparrows nest at? We see migrating common nighthawks and hear eastern whip-poor-wills singing, but what is the nesting status of each in the county? Are sandhill cranes regularly found anywhere in the county? Where do golden-winged warblers nest in the county and will that habitat continue to accommodate them.
White-throated Sparrow
One question that we will definitely solve this year is whether the route 15 overlook near South Williamsport is a good spring hawk watching site. Last fall we discovered that it is great during fall raptor migration. It is up ridge from the Tussey Mountain Hawk Watch, which is the top spring golden eagle migration site in the eastern United States, so we know the birds are headed towards us. Hopefully spring raptors follow the ridge this far north and then cut through the mountain gap near at the overlook. To find out all it takes is a few people with binoculars and curiosity.
For each birding hotspot, eBird has viewable bar charts that show the abundance of each species by week. The more checklists are submitted throughout the year, the more accurate these bar charts become. As more hotspots are discovered and more people submit sightings we will gain a better overall picture of what bird species are in Lycoming County at different times of year and what is actions are needed to benefit them. You don't need to be an expert to help useful collect data. All you need is a pair of binoculars and a few minutes a day to enjoy looking at birds.
