A possible Ferruginous Hawk has been reported in central Pennsylvania, with some distant shots at http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/chadkauffy/Birds/.  Anyone have any opinions from these shots? I think I am leaning more towards a dark Red-tailed Hawk but I’d love to hear other opinions.
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We are currently enjoying a large irruption of White-winged Crossbills across much of the northern states. I have gotten to see a flock several times near New Holland and have been returning in hopes of finding a Common Redpoll or Red Crossbill mixed in with the good numbers of Pine Siskins and White-winged Crossbills. Unfortunately, I have not gotten any pictures of the crossbill but you can check out Mike’s Birding & Digiscoping blog for some great pictures and a video. I put a map together a while ago of crossbill sightings, so you can see they are quite widespread across the state. These are not all the sightings but I may have time to update them later. Leave me a comment of where you have seen crossbills in PA this year and I can add them to the map.
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A while ago, when it was still warm and there were leaves on the trees, Â I went out for a little daytime saw-whet radio telemetry. The skies were clear, it was almost warm and lots of birds such as pine siskins, white-breasted nuthatches and golden-crowned kinglets were flitting around. Scott and I were searching for owl we had named Quasimodo and her signal had us walking back and forth for a long while until we finally narrowed down here location to a group of pitch pines. We circled for a while, searching through the branches and pine cones until our necks were properly sore. Finally, Scott spotted her, high up in the top of pine, working on swallowing a mouse.
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Image via Wikipedia Here is Ron Pittaway’s Winter Finch Forecast for 2008 – 2009. Every year Ron writes up a prediction of finch(plus a few others) irruptions  based on mast production and where these birds will have to go for food.  GENERAL FORECAST This winter’s theme is where will crossbills go and will they irrupt south? Both species wandered widely this summer. Cone crops are poor in the Atlantic Provinces and fair to moderate in Western Canada. In Ontario, spruce crops are fair to good west and east of Lake Superior and in central Ontario such as Algonquin Park, but cone abundance diminishes rapidly northwards into the boreal forest. White pine (Ontario’s provincial tree) has heavy cone crops in most areas. The hemlock crop is poor in central Ontario. The white birch crop is fair to good west and east of Lake Superior to Lake Ontario, but poor in the boreal forest.
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 Here is a shot of an Osprey I digiscoped. I haven’t had too much success digiscoping flying birds but at least this one is identifiable.
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Image by bobster1985 via Flickr Now that John McCain has picked a running mate, Sarah Palin, it is a good time to take a look at what a Republican victory this fall might mean for birds and wildlife. Endangered Species For some time now, the Republican party has not been particularly friendly to the conservation agenda. The Endangered Species Act has frequently been under attack from the current administration and has suffered a revision in 2004 that limited the impact of the law in protecting our most at-risk plants and animals (Eilperin 2004). A bright spot in the Bush administration’s dealings with endangered species was considering the listing of the polar bear. It didn’t take Sarah Palin long to act against this positive step.
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A few days ago at Conejohela Flats, I was treated to my first Sanderling in Pennsylvania. Soon after we landed on the flats it was running around with a Whimbrel, similar to the Buff-breasted Sandpiper the day before. I am used to seeing flocks of Sanderlings on the shore, chasing waves back and forth as they feed. It is quite another thing to watch one loafing around in the middle of PA on a muddy island, with no waves. The Sanderling seemed pretty content to stick around, lounging around all day in pretty much the same location. The Sanderling was actually a bit difficult to digiscope. Most of my photos ended up nicely focused except for the head, which was always moving. It was in constant motion, foraging in the drier mud and pulling out worms. Its very sturdy bill enables it to probe in harder mud for prey.
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Not quite as cooperative as the Buff-breasted Sandpiper, the Whimbrel enjoyed skulking, always on the opposite end of Avocet Point where we were. This was my PA state bird #277. Whimbrels are common along the coast and the only place to reliably find them on migration in PA is at Presque Isle State Park. The large shorebirds are much less common than peeps and yellowlegs so they are always a treat. The only other of the larger shorebird I’d previously seen at the flats was a Marbled Godwit a couple years ago.
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Conejohela Flats once again produced some good shorebirds for me. A previously reported Whimbrel was still hanging out on Avocet Point and was the first bird we saw. And right in front of it was a juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper. The thing I really love about some juvenile shorebirds is their complete lack of wariness around people. While I was taking pictures, it kept walking closer and closer until I couldn’t focus on it, only about 10 feet away. A rare and irregular migrant in most of Pennsylvania, Buff-breasted Sandpipers are generally seen in fall, between the 3rd week in August and the 3rd week in September. These are mostly juveniles. Adults are much less common and pass through a few weeks earlier. Occasionally the Buff-breasted Sandpiper would stretch up and look around, presumably alerted by something. Its normal behavior though was very active foraging, running around and probing for prey.
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