Seasonal Editors PENNSYLVANIA BIRDS Daniel Brauning Journal of the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology Michael Fialkovich Nick Bolgiano Volume 33 Number 4 August - November 2019 Geoff Malosh Greg Grove, Editor-in-chief Department Editors 9524 Stone Creek Ridge Road Book Reviews Huntingdon, PA 16652 Gene Wilhelm, Ph.D. 513 Kelly Blvd. (814) 643 3295 [email protected] Slippery Rock, PA https://pabirds.org 16057-1145 (724) 794-2434 [email protected] Contents CBC Report Nick Bolgiano 711 W. Foster Ave. 213 from the Editor State College, PA 16801 (814) 234-2746 [email protected] 214 Barbara Haas Hawk Watch Reports 21 6 Twenty-fifth Report of the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records David Barber 410 Summer Valley Rd. Committee 2018 Records...........................................Mike Fialkovich Orwigsburg, PA 17961 (570) 943-3411 [email protected] 222 American Kestrel nest box numbers from 2019 Data Technician 22 3 The Identification of the Burket Triple Hybrid — A Wendy Jo Shemansky 41 Walkertown Hill Rd. Brewster's/Chestnut-sided Warbler.......................Deborah S. Grove Daisytown, PA 15427 [email protected] 226 Merlin: Expansion of Breeding Range into Pennsylvania................... Publication Manager . .....................................................................................Robert Snyder Franklin Haas 2469 Hammertown Rd. Narvon, PA 17555 230 Pennsylvania Autumn Raptor Migration Summary 2019..................... [email protected] ...................................................................................David R. Barber Photo Editor Rob Dickerson 238 Book Review: FAR FROM LAND: The Mysterious Lives of 44 Oak Ridge Road Lewistown, PA 17044 Seabirds.........................................................................Gene Wilhelm [email protected] Assistant Editor 240 Summary of the Season: Fall 2019...............................Geoff Malosh Deb Grove [email protected] 24 5 Birds of Note – August – November 2019 24 9 Photographic Highlights 256 Local Notes 300 Twenty-five Years ago in Pennsylvania Birds ...................Frank Haas 300 Suggestions for Contributors – Publication Schedule Cover:Inside Pennsylvania’s back cover first record– In Focusof Snail –Kite Fall, obviously, 2019 Rarities seemingly totally unlikely, was found by Jennifer Ferrick mid-day 22 October at Presque Isle SP, Erie, re-found and photographed later that afternoon, but never seen thereafter; the closest reports are from over 500 miles to the south – South Carolina 2016 and southeastern North Carolina 2009. (Conner Vara) ... from the Editor In the early months of 2020, the very active member of the Meadville Bird Pennsylvania birding community lost two and Tree Club. In 1958 (the year this prominent members. Barb Haas and Bob younger Bob was born!) he became the Leberman are remembered in this issue with Editor-in-Chief of The Sandpiper, a joint words from the people who knew them best, quarterly publication of the Meadville Bird Frank Haas and Bob Mulvihill, respectively, and Tree Club, the Presque Isle Nature Club, on this page and the next two. and the Sam Wharram Nature Club. At Powdermill, Bob was a regular Sponsoring of color photos contributor to the Bulletin of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, and to A major improvement in Pennsylvania seasonal summaries in American Birds, of Birds the last two years is the printing of which Bob eventually took over as regional photos and other figures in color. Of course, editor. Bob was a member of the color does not come free. It adds roughly Pennsylvania Ornithological Records $1000 per year (four issues) to the cost of Committee and served as a county compiler printing. This cost has so far been borne by for Pennsylvania Birds for many years. sponsors – Frank and Barb Haas, Bob Among more than one hundred publications Snyder, Tom and Janet Kuehl, and in this written by Bob, two were of particular issue the Bartramian Audubon Society in interest to birders: Birds of the Ligonier honor of the services and accomplishments Valley published in 1976; and in 1988 a of long-time member Gene Wilhelm, who revised Birds of the Pittsburgh Region, an has also been a faithful contributor to the of the Erie Bird Observatory. In June 1961, updating of Ken Parkes’s classic 1956 work. journal with his book reviews. he moved to the newly created Powdermill Bob was one of the organizers for the first As we head into the 34th year of Nature Reserve of Carnegie Museum, BBA in Pennsylvania, served as a regional Pennsylvania Birds, we seek more sponsors. where, using the relatively new technique of coordinator for the seven-year project, was We suggest a donation of $200 for exclusive mist netting, he banded some 1500 birds that on the verification and other committees, sponsorship for a given issue, or some summer and fall—and with that effort, the and authored more than twenty species fraction for a partial sponsorship (for world-famous Powdermill bird-banding accounts for the book. Bob also contributed example, $100 for half). Sponsors will be station was born, one of the premiere block coverage and species accounts for the acknowledged on the first page of the main banding research stations in North America. second BBA in 2004-2010. photo section. Contact the editor at During his early years there, Bob raised the In addition to Bob’s contributions to [email protected] . practice of “skulling” birds-in-hand (not as ornithology in Pennsylvania, he was an bad as it sounds!) to an art and published a expert on the birds of Belize. He participated In Memoriam seminal paper on the subject of skull in expeditions to Belize in the 1970’s and Robert Charles Leberman pneumatization rates in the Ruby-crowned 1980’s, resulting in an avian distribution (April 3, 1937 – March 10, 2020) Kinglet in 1971. paper in the Annals of Carnegie Museum by Robert S. Mulvihill Because Bob was among the most and a new Checklist of the Birds of Belize, skilled at accurately determining the ages of co-authored with D. Scott Wood and Dora After a courageous battle with a rare birds-in-hand, he pioneered studies of Weyer. cancer (leiomyosarcoma) that cost him his “differential migration,” the temporally Bob Leberman truly may be among the left leg and, ultimately, his life, Robert separated passage of immature and adult last of the era of largely self-taught Charles (Bob) Leberman, passed away birds of a species within migration seasons. ornithologists. His knowledge and influence peacefully at his Powdermill home in the Bob was among the first banders to routinely shapes our understanding of birds, their woods on March 10, 2020 at the age of 82. collect data on the body condition of birds migrations, their ecological importance, and In his professional lifetime, Bob was a life- caught for banding, including measures of our efforts to conserve them through the changing mentor to a lucky few and a visible fat deposits and body mass. With collective dedicated works of the dozens of beloved friend and esteemed colleague to Mary Clench, Bob summarized that data in students whom he mentored in his countless others. 1978 in a research monograph of the unfailingly genial and humble manner. Born in Meadville on April 3, 1937, Bob Carnegie Museum of Natural History. In Many of us owe him a debt of gratitude for was the second child of Charles and Mary 2004, with far more data available, I, along that, but not only that: Bob didn’t just offer (Nodine) Leberman. His surviving brother, with Bob, and Adrienne Leopold, re- experience and knowledge; he frequently Ronald F. Leberman, is a year and a half older. analyzed Powdermill’s body mass and other fed his charges, too—I wouldn’t even want The Lebermans were a nature-loving family, data and published the first-ever research to hazard a guess as to how many volunteers, and Bob grew up exploring the rich hemlock monograph of the Eastern Bird Banding visitors, and interns he nourished from his woods, glacial lakes, swamps, and bogs Association. own kitchen and cupboards during his tenure around his home. In 1958, Bob obtained a As important as Bob’s contributions to at Powdermill! federal bird-banding permit, and soon after bird banding and ornithology were and are, Bob Leberman was an unassuming but initiated a seasonal migration-banding it was his energy and commitment to field uniquely talented man who made a large and project at Presque Isle State Park, an effort birding that endeared him to the local indelible mark on Pennsylvania birding, and that continues to this day under the auspices birding community. He was a long-time, on many Pennsylvania birders, too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– VOLUME 33 NO.4 Barbara McClure Haas (1939-2020) On January 8, 2020, Pennsylvania lost a birding icon when foot tall hawk watching Barb Haas passed away. Along with husband Frank, Barb was a tower to record the hawk founding Editor of Pennsylvania Birds and played a central role in migration there. We the formation of the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology. She was manned that location for 15 also instrumental in planning and implementation of the first years.