Red-shouldered Hawks Nesting in Chester Co

Red-shouldered Hawk nest under construction
March 8, 2011~Uwchlan Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania

Back on March 8, 2011, I was walking my dog when I heard a Red-shouldered Hawk calling from behind a neighbor's house. This wasn't terribly surprising, as I'd been seeing and hearing an adult Red-shouldered much of the winter in my neighborhood. What was surprising is what I noticed next... I looked over towards the noisy calls, and noticed a hawk fly into a prominent crotch in a mature tree in my neighbors yard. Upon a closer look, I could see there was what appeared to be a nest under construction. Within minutes, I ran into the owner of the property, Catharine, and she had exciting news to share with me: "some hawks are building a nest in our tree!"
Later that day, I went down with my camera, binoculars, and spotting scope in tow in order to give Catharine closer looks at the amazing event that was taking place in her yard. She reported that the hawks were most active when the sun was rising and setting, but not too much during the day. From the literature I have read since, this is typical of their behavior while building the nest.
As we were standing there talking about how special it was to have Red-shouldereds nesting in Chester County, an adult flew over our heads, offering great looks at the classic translucent
"crescents" at the ends of the wings.















Adult Red-shouldered in flight near the nest site in Uwchlan Twp, March 8, 2011

To give you an idea of the history of this species in Chester County, it is not one that is commonly found, and breeding records are few. The Annotated List of Chester County Birds, published by the West Chester Bird Club in 1999, states this of Red-shouldered Hawk: "Uncommon migrant, uncommon winter and rare summer resident".
The Birds of Pennsylvania, by Jerry McWilliams and Daniel Brauning, 2000, wrote on the status of Red-shouldered Hawk in Pennsylvania:" Breeding Red-shouldered Hawks are uncommon statewide. They were most frequently reported during the BBA project in the northwestern counties and least frequently in the southeastern (Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia cos) and southwestern (Washington and Greene Cos)." The authors also state: "They are rather secretive during the breeding season".
During the first Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas, only one confirmed record of breeding was noted in Chester Co.. During the second BBA (recently conducted 2004-2008) there were few reports of this species, and while I don't have access to those records, I can say that in those four years I only entered Red-shouldered Hawk once with a flyover observation denoting "possible" breeding species in the county.
What is more interesting and exciting is that within the last year, two separate nests were discovered and monitored right here in Uwchlan Twp, just a few miles from one another.
Josh, a local birder that discovered and monitored one of those nests, which that fledged two young in early summer, reports that this spring the Red-shouldereds in his neighborhood are once again getting vocal, and hanging around last year's nest site.
So, why are these uncommon breeders adopting nesting sites in a suburban township, choosing tree hosts all viewable from the street, and with a moderate amount of foot and car traffic? It's a good question. What I can say is that all of these sites fall within the Brandywine Creek watershed, and all boast small second and third order streams within a few hundred yards of the nest. It's an area rich in riparian habitat and mixed woodlands, which is favored by this buteo that specializes in a diet of small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, crayfish, and insects.
With good habitat available, and potentially lots of food on the menu here in Uwchlan Township, it's no wonder they are choosing to make it home.
Adult Red-shouldered Hawk sits in the nest, March 20, 2011

As time went forward after March 8, I continued to notice more activity around the nest site when I would pass by. On March 20, I noticed one of the adults sitting in the nest. The posture was a bit too elevated to suggest incubation, but hinted that egg laying may occur soon.
On March 23, I noticed what I thought was the top of a head peeking above the rim of the nest. Drenching rain that afternoon and evening prevented me from using the optics, and checking to confirm. On March 24, I was finally able to check the nest with my scope, and sure enough, the bird appeared to be postured low enough in the nest to suggest incubation had begun!
Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "Birds of North America Online", an online subscription database of all current species accounts of North American birds, states : "Incubation usually starts before clutch is complete, so eggs hatch asynchronously" and eggs are listed as having a 33 day incubation. This puts the possible hatching of the first eggs in this nest somewhere around April 24-26. Something very special to look forward to in the coming weeks.
Hopefully, my next blog entry on this topic will be news to share of hatchlings!

A Red-shouldered Hawk sitting low in the nest suggests incubation is underway. March 24, 2011. Chester Co., PA

BCDC & American Woodcocks at Marsh Creek

This year, the BCDC joined the West Chester Bird Club in their annual Woodcock Walk at Marsh Creek State Park in Chester County on Sunday, March 13, 2011. This event offered birders the chance to catch a glimpse of the spectacular courtship rituals of American Woodcocks.
The twenty-nine eager birders, that patiently waited for the show to begin, were not disappointed.
At approximately 7:29pm, the first "peent" was heard. Shortly afterwards, a woodcock silhouetted in flight against the warmly lit western sky, gave us hope that the "sky dance" would soon begin. We had to wait a few minutes more, but eventually did get to see and hear the male woodcock's courtship flight and accompanying whirs, chirps, and peents. It was agreed among participants that up to four birds were present. Though the show didn't last very long on this cold evening, birders seemed pleased and satisfied to have witnessed such a special spring ritual in the world of the American Woodcock.
Photograph courtesy of Mary Bleecker

The Trip Home from Florida

Epcot (Click on any picture to enlarge)

   Sharon and I had a wonderful time at Disney World with our Daughter-in-law and Grandson but it was time to leave and start our drive home. We decided to drive through the center of Florida as we never visited that area before. So we headed to Osceola State Forest near Lake City. Our objective there was to find the Red-cockaded Woodpecker. We lucked out and managed to find two of them along with Brown-headed Nuthatches and Chuck-Wills-Widow calling at evening. Among the mammals that we found was this lonely Armadillo scouring through the leaf litter. From here we headed north to the Okefenokee Swamp.

Armadillo

 

     Next stop was at Harris Neck NWR in Georgia. This was a real gem of at refuge where we found a nesting colony of Herons, Egrets, Ibis, Anhinga and Wood Storks. It was fun to watch the Wood Storks as they plucked sticks from dead trees and carried them to their nest sites.

Wood Stork gathering nesting material

White Ibis

Wood Stork

      After the refuges, we stopped in Savannah and took the Paula Dean tour. It was quite interesting, even though I don't watch the show. We had lunch at Uncle Bubba's (Paula Dean's brother) restaurant. Along the river, behind the restaurant, we found some Brown Pelicans and in the parking lot were Summer Tanagers.

Uncle Bubba's Restaurant

Brown Pelican

        Farther along on the way home we visited the town of Charleston, SC. It had a lot of nice southern homes and plantations but I actually preferred Savannah over Charleston. In Charleston bay we found American Oystercatchers as we were viewing Fort Sumter across the bay. This is where the first battle of the Civil War began and this April is the 150th anniversary of the start of that war.
       Leaving Charleston, we headed to Congaree National Park on central South Carolina. There is not much to do there except walk around a 2 1/2 mile boardwalk through the swamps. But we did that and even though the walk was through the swamps we didn't encounter any mosquitoes as the sign below indicates.

Mosquito Meter

        We did encounter other wildlife as seen below.

Carolina Anole

      We finally arrived home safely and were greeted by snow flurries and cold rain. Not what we were used to after being in 80 degree weather.

Florida Trip - March 2011

Sharon and I decided to take a trip to Florida to visit the keys and southern Florida. Well, plans changed, and we are now going to meet our daughter-in-law and grandson and spend time at Disney World. But at least we can bird on the drive down and back. Our first stop was at Santee NWR in South Carolina. Already we are finding reptilians giants as pictured below.

American Alligator at Santee NWR

We managed to get to St Augustine the second night just after sunset, and as we were watching Black Skimmers and Great Egrets flying up the channel at Velenzo Beach we noticed a strange light in the southern sky. As pictured below you can see a Delta Rocket which was launch from Kennedy Space Center about 100 miles south.

Delta Rocket launch

The third day found us at Lake Woodruff NWR north of Orlando. What a great place to bird. I never saw so many Blue-winged Teals in one place. Coots and Common Moorhens were everywhere also. Large waders were present in large numbers also including Herons, Egrets, Sandhill Cranes and Wood Storks.

Snowy Egret, White and Glossy Ibis

Wood Stork (Click on images to enlarge)

As we were walking around the dikes the local Black Vultures were acting like toll collectors and we were having trouble trying to pass them.

 Black Vultures

Other birds seen at the refuge were Sora Rail, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Caspian Terns. Tomorrow we head for Disney so that's all for now. Good birding.

Woodcock at Darlington

Good morning,

I made my annual visit to the Darlington Tract this morning to make sure that the American Woodcock were displaying and therefore ensure all will be right with the world for another year. It will be.

I arrived at the parking area around 5:35 am and walked Darlington Road to the large field on the right most recently of LeConte's sparrow fame. My favorite spot for listening is directly across the road from the large house on the hill. I got there at 5:45 just about at the recommended time of 45 minutes before the 6:24 sunrise. Peenting seemed to be coming from everywhere. I very conservatively estimated 4 displaying birds but I suspect there were more. Two were very close and I got a couple nice looks at the displaying birds fluttering high above in the early morning light. Fifteen minutes later the sky was getting brighter and the morning chorus and the geese had started up and woodcock were no longer apparent. This is the third year in a row I have found woodcock at this spot.

I have always done this here in the early morning. I have never tried it in the evening. I'm sure they are there although traffic on Darlington Rd would be more of an issue. Win Schaefer has reported to me that he heard 5-6 woodcock on the Episcopal Academy grounds 3/4. Unfortunately there is no public access to the spot.

I would appreciate hearing from others where they find displaying woodcock especially in Delaware County.

I'm ready for spring now.

Dave

Wild Goose Chase at Green Lane Reservoir - Montgomery County

Barnacle Goose 2/24/2011 at Green Lane Reservoir

         Dave Eberly and I were planning to go birding at the airport when he saw an email about a Barnacle Goose at Green Lane Reservoir in Montgomery County. So we quickly changed our itinerary and headed north. Upon our arrival there was a huge flock of Canada Geese in the playing field off of Walt Rd. We started scanning the flock and Dave quickly got on a goose that was not a Canada. Expecting to see the Barnacle Goose, I was surprised that he had found a Greater White-fronted Goose laying among the Canada Geese. That was a nice unexpected find. When we went back to scanning the flock, I managed to get a quick glimpse of the Barnacle Goose laying in the grass, but the other geese kept walking in front of our target bird. Finally we were able to get good looks at the Barnacle Goose (photo above & below).

        So after watching the geese for a while we headed to the reservoir itself and managed to relocate the Eurasian Wigeon that I had seen a few days previous. Also present of the lake were 1000+ Snow Geese, Hooded & Common Merganser, Ring-necked Ducks, Mallards, Black Ducks, American Wigeons, Gadwall and Pintails.

Volunteers needed to help migrating Amphibians

Help Needed to Protect Hollow Road Frogs


    Because there is a world-wide decrease in the number of amphibians, and because diversity of species is a general indicator of environmental health, and because a lot of people feel that it is unfair to pit a frog trying to reproduce against hurrying people in their vehicles, the West Vincent Township Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) would like to protect the amphibians which cross Hollow Road near Horseshoe Trail during their annual migration from the woods where they live to the wetlands where they breed.  This photo is of a wood frog; the next picture is a spotted salamander.

    The migrating animals are likely to be wood frogs, spotted salamanders, American toads, and spring peepers.  (The nearby North Coventry crossing site has some rare amphibians—Jefferson and four-toed salamanders—but we may not have them.)  They tend to move on only three or four evenings a year—rainy, the first thaw, miserable weather, usually from the end of February to early March.  Sometimes it is easy to predict the evenings of the crossings; sometimes it is not.  We have help predicting this.

    The EAC consulted with both Kim White (who has organized such a volunteer program in North Coventry for the last four years) and Police Chief Mike Swininger (to find out how to be both safe and effective).  This is an American toad.

    The Township Supervisors have approved the following plan.  We will  close Hollow Road from Horseshoe Trail to the first bridge over the Birch Run below the mill (except for the residents of that stretch) from dark (roughly 6 pm) to 10 or 11 pm.  We would be glad to meet personally with the residents of this area to answer any questions—and to get volunteer help.  In addition, we will distribute flyers to all Hollow Road residents from Horseshoe Trail to the intersection with Birchrun Road.  We will have an article in the late-winter township newsletter, an explanation on the township website, and yard signs well ahead of the events to give warning of likely road closure.  This photo is a spring peeper.

    Because we will close the road, we will be able to protect the amphibians without moving them in the wrong direction or disrupting the protective covering on their skin.

    We will use the township road barricades, lights, and protective vests.

    Please call Harriet Stone (610 469 9050) with questions or to volunteer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_Frog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_Salamander
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Salamander
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-toed_salamander
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_toad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Peeper

AMPHIBIAN FRIENDS 2011

Dear Amphibian Friends,
    On Sunday, February 6th a group of migrating robins was seen nearby.  This usually heralds other creatures that are soon to begin their migrating, such as our amphibian friends.  Last year in North Coventry they began migrating on the 12th of February.  The weather is supposed to be warm this week so I thought I had better get some information to you.  Whenever the conditions are right we may see movement.  Here are the conditions that must be met:

1.  Raining or very damp
2.  Temperatures above freezing
3.  Dark

Our North Coventry neighbors have protected four successful migrations with the support of their volunteers and help of North Coventry officials.  We are a newly formed group helped by the Supervisors and Police of West Vincent Township.  The safety of our volunteers is of utmost importance.  Any children must have very close parental supervision.  Drivers will not find us easy to see.  We expect very few cars, but some residents will need to get to their homes.

If a driver needs to come on the closed part of Hollow Road, we will use a bucket brigade system.  It is described in the guidelines.

Guidelines for Volunteering                   

- Please come dressed for the weather.  Bring a flashlight, safety vest, and a non-metallic bucket.  We will have some vests.

- Please enter Hollow Road from the Birchrun Road end.  There will be parking just before the bridge on Hollow Road.  People working at the Horseshoe Trail end will walk there from where we will be parking.  There is to be no parking on Horseshoe Trail.

       If you see migration and I have not contacted you, please call me and I will call out the volunteers.  You may get last-minute notice.
- Check in at the orange Honda Element at Hollow Road bridge before going out so I can assign you a section of road to patrol and make sure you have a safety vest.

- Volunteers will position themselves on a segment of Hollow Rd. and watch this section of road.  If a vehicle approaches you will pick up any amphibians that are in danger and cross them to the side of the road that they were heading to.  Use bare hands as they interfere least with the protective coating on the amphibian skins.  The non-metallic bucket can help you carry them.

- Try to keep a rough tally of what kind of amphibians you are crossing and which way they are crossing.  Check out with me when you leave and let me know what your tally was.  We expect to start shortly after dusk and stay until 10:00 or when it gets too dry for migrating.  I will have photocopies of some of the animals we are likely to see.

I will be sending an email alert to let you know if I think the weather conditions are optimal for a migration.  If you are still in doubt whether to come out, call my home number.  If it's after about 6 pm, I expect to be at the Hollow Road bridge.

Last year the North Coventry volunteers watched or aided the crossing over of 1,730 salamanders and wood frogs.  We don't know what species will be migrating on Hollow Road, but it should be fun to learn which amphibians share our West Vincent lives.   Please come out when you can and help.

Thank you,
Harriet Stone
Coordinator of Volunteers

My contact information is: email: harriet04@comcast.net; h:  610 469 9050;  cell:  484 941 4108; alternate phone 610 469 8964.  I will have my phone on when I am at the migration site, but I don't know how well it will work.
   
  *If you would like to be taken off the volunteer email alert list, please let me know.   If you know of someone that would like to be added to the list, please send me their email address.
                                                  

Winter Raptor Survey (WRS) DelCo west

Click to Enlarge photos

Saturday, February 12 the Delaware County Winter Raptor Survey team completed the western route of the county. We did the eastern portion on January 15 and managed to find 10 species of raptors. Team members besides me were Al Guarente, Chris Pugliese, and Bob Kelly. We logged 86 miles from 10 am to 3 pm. We started at Rose Tree Park and covered portions of Newtown Square, Ridley Creek SP, Delchester Rd, the Darlington area, Glen Mills, Fox Valley, Brinton Lake, Chadds Ford, Garnet Valley, Neumann College, Linvilla and Elwyn. We found only 6 species of raptor in contrast to the 10 found on the eastern route. The airport (harrier), Commodore Barry Bridge (peregrines) and our sleeper industrial park (Merlin this year, Great-horned Owl in 2009) seemed to make the difference on the eastern route.

The western route although more scenic, was homogeneous and heavily snow covered.

An industrial park helped us again! We came upon 21 Black Vultures roosting in some trees at eye level inside the Newtown Square Corporate Campus.

Black Vultures- Newtown Square. Faces only a birder would love

The Newtown Square vultures made it a banner day for Black Vultures. We counted 45 which combined with the 15 we found on the eastern route beat the 48 counted in 2008.

We also counted 78 Turkey Vultures which brought the county total for this year to 97 which may be a new high but I don't have all the records.

Red-tailed Hawk counts however may be down this year. Greg Grove, the WRS coordinator state-wide, speculates that the snow cover may have something to do with it. We'll see when the totals come out.

Another highlight was this gorgeous Red-shouldered Hawk spotted by the sharp-eyed Bob Kelly in Ridley Creek SP.

We also came across a Red-tailed Hawk sharing lunch with a Turkey Vulture on a road-kill deer near the Dilworthtown Inn (yes, that's right).

Speaking of lunch our only accipiter of the day was a sharpie circling the Chick fil-A restaurant at 202 & 1. WE shared our lunch with 5,000 6 year olds (or 6,000 5 year olds) at Jimmie John's restaurant on 202.

County totals for the year (east+west): TV- 97; BV- 60; RT Hawks- 38; Rough-legs- 0; Kestrels-0; Sharpies- 2; Cooper's Hawks-1; Red-shouldered Hawks- 2; Bald Eagles- 4; Peregrine Falcons- 2; Merlin- 1. Species total 10.

Hey, it's a fun way to spend a few hours on a mid-winter's day!