State Birders Flock to Presque Isle, Erie

As Arlene Koch wrote in her recent President’s message: “Annual meetings are as much about rekindling relationships with birding friends seldom seen and meeting new ones as much as they are about the birds. They’re a place where birding stories and experiences are exchanged and that, in turn, creates a hunger to go to even more unvisited places. They whet your appetite and make you dream about  faraway places and the birds found there. They let you put faces to names. They make you aware of conservation issues in parts of the state you’re not familiar with. They inform, enlighten, and lift up your spirit. And, most of all, they make it easier to return to and deal with the realities of the everyday world.”

Included with the field trips will be the option to attend a banding operation. Other nearby attractions include the Tom Ridge Environmental Center and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, NY. The traditional Saturday afternoon speaker agenda has been changed for this year only due to the meeting's location but it will be reinstated at next year's meeting. This year, in addition to wildlife related vendors, there will be a Saturday afternoon artist's workshop for those not wishing to stay out all day. The meeting is at the Bel-Aire Clarion in Erie.

Presque Isle State Park is a sandspit of land that extends seven miles into the water with Lake Erie on its outer boundaries and the bay to the south. Its varied habitats include sandy beaches, scrubby thickets, grassy areas, willows, cottonwoods, and marshes. The peninsula is studied by naturalists and geologists, and its inner portion is an ecological reservation. To date 324 species of birds have been recorded there, some of which are seldom or never seen in other parts of the state. The field trips will visit various spots at Presque Isle. One of the best known is Gull Point, first established as a bird sanctuary in 1927. It is deservedly  famous as a viewing area for migrant waterbirds and shorebirds and a nesting area for Piping Plovers. Other places include Lily Pond, Leo’s with its view of the lagoon and cattail marsh, the Sidewalk Trail where Red-headed Woodpeckers nest, Fry’s Landing, Thompson Circle at the beginning of Dead Pond Trail and a viewing area for spring migrating raptors, Pine Tree Trail with its large stand of mostly Scots pines, Sunset Point, the Coast Guard jetty, and Beach 11. Another possible destination outside the park in Crawford County is Pymatuning State Park on the Pennsylvania- Ohio border to the south with its 16-mile long lake. East Avenue in the city of Erie itself is a good waterside viewing area, and there’s the newly established Erie Bluffs State Park southwest of the city. Located as a gateway entrance to Presque Isle is the recently completed and highly acclaimed Tom Ridge Environmental Center, a research and teaching facility. So there will be many choices. On Friday evening a sign-up sheet will be available for each of the field trips. Presque

The banquet presentation will be extremely appropriate to the location.  Jerry McWIlliams will discuss the long term results of the International Shorebird Survey at Gull Point and the Waterbird Count at Sunset Point. He will also talk about the newly established Presque Isle Hawk Watch at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center.  Presque Isle is probably the most important shorebird stopover location in the state.  

Of his many contributions to Pennsylvania ornithology, one of the most significant is the 2000 publication of The Birds of Pennsylvania which Jerry coauthored with Dan Brauning. The Birds of Pennsylvania is the definitive reference book on all the birds of Pennsylvania and makes an interesting connection with Earl Poole, who completed a comprehensive manuscript of similar content; but whose work was never published. Other publication credits for Jerry include co-author of the Birds of Erie County, Pennsylvania, co-author of the book Birding the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, and co-author of the Checklist of Birds Recorded in Erie County, Pennsylvania, Including Presque Isle State Park. Jerry has also contributed to the official PSO journal Pennsylvania Birds as a regional editor in addition to his many photographs and articles. And of course it is impossible to think of Presque Isle without thinking of Jerry, as we all read his postings on the PA birds list serve of the fall Waterbird Count and his frequent notices of Erie County rarities. Jerry has made countless contributions to bird conservation; he serves as the  Coordinator for the Special Management Area Shorebird Survey on Gull Point at Presque Isle State Park and as the Bird Records Chairman for the Presque Isle Audubon Society. In addition since 1978 he has been a cooperator for the International Shorebird Survey. As a recent addition to his effort, in 2008 Jerry established a spring hawk watch site on the south shore of Lake Erie at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center.

PSO Annual Meeting Itinerary at Erie, PA

Friday, May 14, 2010

6:00 p.m. Registration begins at Bel-Aire Clarion

7:00 p.m. Social at Bel-Aire Clarion

7:30 p.m. Business Meeting at Bel-Aire Clarion

Saturday, May 15, 2010

5:30 a.m. Bel-Aire Clarion open for breakfast

6:30 a.m. Field trips depart from Bel-Aire Clarion

12:00 p.m. Lunch on your own

1:00 p.m. Wildlife Artist Workshop – David Hughes .

1:00 p.m. Afternoon field trips

5:00 p.m. Social at Bel-Aire Clarion

7:00 p.m. Banquet

Compilation of bird list

Presentation of Poole Award to Jerry McWilliams

Banquet Speaker: Jerry McWilliams,

Migratory Bird Surveys at Presque Isle State Park

Sunday, May 16, 2010

5:30 a.m. Bel-Aire Clarion open for breakfast

6:30 a.m. Field trips depart from Bel-Aire Clarion

The photograph shown was graciously provided by Jerry McWilliams.

Story taken from columns in the PSO Pileated, newsletter of the society (Margaret Higbee, editor), and primarily from President Arlene Koch.