Pennsylvania is a Keystone State for Bird Migration
Common Loon by Jacob Dingel
The poster for 2008 migration bird day features several species that
either stop by our state or stay here to nest after spending the winter
in the tropics. Our state has healthy breeding populations of
Yellow-billed Cuckoo, American Redstart, and Bobolink. It
also has southern outposts for nesting populations of Short-eared Owl
and Blackpoll Warbler. 
The Blackpoll Warbler has the longest trans-oceanic migration route
of any songbird in the world when individuals fly from the northeast
coast of North America non-stop to the northeast shores of South
America. They are among the last migrants to reach our
state in the north-bound spring migration, most traveling through
Pennsylvania in the last week of May. Most Blackpoll Warblers
nest in the boreal forests of Canada, but a small population nests in
Pennsylvania’s spruce forests. Pennsylvania also is a stopover
for many species of waterfowl including the declining American Black
Duck and other water birds such as the Common Loon. 
Each species has its own exotic origins that make viewing them a
richer experience. The Black-throated Blue Warbler spotted in
Little Buffalo State Park may have spent the winter in Jamaica. A
Least Flycatcher heard in a Potter County forest may have flown north
from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula within sight of a Mayan pyramid.
A Louisiana Waterthrush singing along your favorite trout stream may
have spent the winter along a tropical forest stream in Costa Rica in
the company of toucans and trogons. Bobolinks that nest in
Pennsylvania hayfields have traveled thousands of miles from grasslands
in southern Brazil and Argentina. The birds connect many
countries, cultures, and habitats with their wandering lifestyle.
They truly do connect habitats and people across many borders.
Big birds migrate, too.
Pennsylvania also connects to the taiga on the wings of Golden Eagles. Researchers have found that many, if not a majority of Golden Eagles that nest in eastern Canada migrate through the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania to their wintering grounds. The Allegheny Front, Bald Eagle Mountain, Tussey Mountain, and Stone Mountain are important corridors for migrating Golden Eagles. A team of raptor researchers are studying Golden Eagles that that have been captured and tagged in Pennsylvania while in migration. This team includes ornithologists at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, the Powdermill Nature Reserve at Rector, and Lafayette College. The Golden Eagles have headed to the far North, the taiga of northeastern Canada. You can look at the flights and the history of these individual birds on the National Aviary website, connecting Pennsylvania mountains to the wilds of Canada:
http://www.aviary.org/csrv/eaglePA.php
Important conservation initiatives on behalf of our migratory birds can be found through the international bird conservation umbrella group, Partners in Flight:
The great northern bird nursery provides many of the birds we enjoy. To learn more about the boreal bird initiative, see:
http://www.borealbirds.org/
The International Migratory Bird Day provided the poster for
use. It was created by Eleazar Saenz. For more information
see the IMBD website.
