PENNSYLVANIA BIRDS Seasonal Editors Journal of the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology Daniel Brauning Michael Fialkovich Volume 27 Number 4 August - November 2013 Greg Grove Geoff Malosh Geoff Malosh, Editor-in-chief 450 Amherst Avenue Department Editors Moon Township, PA 15108-2654 Book Reviews (412) 735-3128 [email protected] Gene Wilhelm, Ph.D. 513 Kelly Blvd. http://www.pabirds.org Slippery Rock, PA 16057-1145 (724) 794-2434 [email protected] CBC Report Nick Bolgiano 711 W. Foster Ave. State College, PA 16801 Contents (814) 234-2746 [email protected] 185 Editorial Hawk Watch Reports Laurie Goodrich 186 Red-shouldered Hawks in Pennsylvania's Christmas Bird Count and Winter Raptor Keith Bildstein 410 Summer Valley Rd. .. Survey Greg Grove and Nick Bolgiano Orwigsburg, PA 17961 190 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia County (570) 943-3411 [email protected] .. David Allen [email protected] 191 Autumn Raptor Migration Summary 2013. Laurie Goodrich PAMC 197 Book Reviews.. Gene Wilhelm Franklin Haas 2469 Hammertown Road The Warbler Guide Narvon, PA 17555 [email protected] Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific Birds of North America and Greenland John Fedak 26 Race Street 199 Pennsylvania Bird Lists Report – 2013. Peter Robinson Bradford, PA 16701 [email protected] 210 Summary of the Season.. Geoff Malosh Pennsylvania Birdlists 214 Birds of Note – August to November 2013 Peter Robinson 217 Photographic Highlights P. O. Box 482 Hanover, PA 17331 221 Local Notes [email protected] Data Technician In Focus … Inside Back Cover Wendy Jo Shemansky 41 Walkertown Hill Rd. 209 Suggestions to Contributors Daisytown, PA 15427 [email protected] Publication Manager Franklin Haas 2469 Hammertown Rd. Narvon, PA 17555 [email protected] Photo Editor Amy Davis 129 W. Lancaster Ave. #2 Downingtown, PA 19335 [email protected] Cover Photo: MacGillivray's Warbler (Geothlypis tolmiei). Pennsylvania's second record of MacGillivray's Warbler was established when this remarkably cooperative bird was discovered at Highspire Reservoir, Dauphin, 22 November 2013. It remained into December and was seen by hundreds of admirers from around the region during its stay. (Alex Lamoreaux) ... from the Editor Listing and Learning: thoughts from project, like the few years when I have put on a poor showing, but the 11 years at Dashields Dam watched and listened to the skies remnants of the deep freeze of January religiously every morning and evening in and February are still being felt even As I write this in early April, I am in late May hoping for my first county now in April, as the stars this time the midst of my eleventh year monitoring Whimbrel. (I finally found one in 2011.) around are the late and rare waterfowl, waterbird migration at Dashields Dam in Dashields Dam was just such a and Red-necked Grebes. western Allegheny County. Dashields project, one goal of which was—and still By sitting there as long as I have, sits on a wide section of the Ohio River is—to find my first Little Gull in I’ve learned that Dashields Dam really where the water flows north-northwest Allegheny County. I thought it would isn’t anything special. It is not a classic into Beaver County. It is an entirely happen rather easily, actually, given all funnel for migration, and my impression innocuous stretch of the mighty Ohio, a those huge flocks of Bonaparte’s Gull we is that the birds that do migrate past the blue-collar setting where barges, light were seeing. Well anyway, I’m still dam into Beaver County and beyond do industry, and railroad tracks are the waiting. not specifically seek out the river as a dominant features. But Dashields is also So in the beginning, it was the lister migration corridor. If they did, each year unique along Allegheny County’s section in me, and the possibility of finding some would be more or less the same as the of the river, because it affords a mile-long truly rare migrant moving along the river last. Instead, birds move through and totally unobstructed view of the that sent me back to Dashields each year. southwestern Pennsylvania in a broad water, and in an area that often sees It was a project, a chance to add to my front, some of which find the river and fly more foot traffic than vehicular traffic. county list. But it was also a chance to along it for a brief stretch. Perhaps Anyone who has followed my posts learn more about this April migration—a Dashields, with its wide banks and to the PABIRDS listserv in early April phenomenon that had been happening northwestern orientation, is marginally over the years, or has kept up with Mike right under my nose for so many years, better for attracting migrants than other Fialkovich’s Allegheny summaries in but which was nevertheless largely sections of the rivers around here are. these pages, will remember that the unknown to me, and to everyone else. Perhaps some birds do more or less original star attraction at Dashields Now, having sat by the river for funnel along this short stretch of water, Dam—the species that in 2004 but on eleven Aprils, the latter of those two making Dashields the only reliable place such an unprecedented single-day show motives has moved squarely to the around here to witness this particular as to bring myself and many others back forefront. Yes, the listing is fun, and spectacle of migration. But in the end to the dam in early April every year finding something new winging past the Dashields really is nothing special. since—is the Bonaparte’s Gull. Prior to dam is still quite thrilling. But these days Yet that is precisely what endears the discovery of large-scale Bonaparte’s I find myself drawn back much more for the place to me, and what keeps me going Gull migration along this stretch of the the discovery of it, the opportunity that back. There is still a certain randomness Ohio on that amazing April 10 in 2004, the April migration at Dashields offers to to it that sets it apart from the typical Chroicocephalus philadelphia was learn something new about the birds migration watch. It’s a place like a considered rare in the Pittsburgh area, a around here that aren’t necessarily so thousand other places, where a tiny little species that could even be missed rare. I am always fascinated to witness slice of the grand migrations of these entirely in some years. We quickly just how different the character of each fascinating birds can be seen first-hand, a discovered in 2004 and the years that migration is from year to year, something snapshot of the birds of my home county followed that this was not the case, that that when I started this I wasn’t really that can only be glimpsed once a year, Bonaparte’s Gull was actually a common expecting to find. and even now after eleven seasons, it is migrant in Allegheny County in April. Some years “The Wave” comes early, still largely unknown and unpredictable, We also found other birds previously some years it’s late. Some years it doesn’t and exciting. thought to be rare or even accidental happen at all. Each year often brings a It all started with a motivation to fill here: Caspian Tern, Common Tern, new star of the show, a species that does in those checkboxes, and the desire to Forster’s Tern. I’ve even found a few something that we haven’t seen it do find a new rare bird, and it is surely still truly accidental species passing by the before. In the beginning it was the about that, in part. But my time at dam over the years, notable birds like Bonaparte’s Gulls, and their massive Dashields Dam has taught me also that Laughing Gull, Sandhill Crane, and migrations always exactly on April 10. listing can be about much more than Arctic Tern. But since three amazing showings in a ticking off the next new bird. It can lead Regarding those last three species: row on that date from 2004-2006, to the discovery of truly new things in old It’s also well known that I am a lister. I Bonaparte’s haven’t shown nearly as well familiar places. Listing and learning the chase birds all around Pennsylvania, and since, on any date. Yet there’s always migration at Dashields Dam has been a here in my home county of Allegheny, something else new afoot. In 2008, it was very rewarding experience… even if a finding new birds can border on an the season total of over 50 Caspian Little Gull just simply refuses to fly by. obsession for me. Nowadays, after 30 Terns, when reaching even 10 makes for Well, maybe next year. years of birding the Pittsburgh area, a good year. In 2010, it was a very county birds are very hard to come by. curious and unexpected late-season push Geoff Malosh Actively searching for that next new bird of Ring-billed Gulls, which lasted well Editor-in-Chief usually takes on the form of a dedicated into May. In 2014, so far, gulls and terns PENNSYLVANIA BIRDS (ISSN 0898-8501) is published four times per year by The Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology. Editorial and business offices are located at 2469 Hammertown Road, Narvon, PA 17555-9730. Subscriptions, all in US$: One year U.S.A $30, Canada $48, Foreign $60. Library rate $33. Single copies: $9. Checks and money orders in U.S.