Park experts talk winter bird-watching
Not all birds fly south for the winter.
Different species will follow the trail of a consistent food source as the seasons change each year. For some, Western Pennsylvania is the departing location, and for others it’s the winter destination or a rest stop on their journey.
“You get some birds who show up only in winter and are going to be winter residents here,” said Dave Kwasnick, co-owner with his wife, Lori, of the Birdwatchers Store, 630 New Castle Road, Slippery Rock. “That's part of the fun of bird-watching: learning to identify those that come in the winter versus the ones here in the warmer months.”
Kwasnick gave a virtual presentation recently for the Moraine, McConnells Mill and Jennings Commission that mainly covered survival tactics birds employ during the winter.
Kwasnick said some birds are well equipped to handle cold weather thanks to their feathers and other bodily features, and others share body heat with one another or find shelter to stay warm.
Some birds begin migrating as early as July, according to Kwasnick, and some birds won’t return to their origin until February.
Moraine State Park is a good place to spot some migrating birds, who stop at Lake Arthur for a temporary water and food source, Kwasnick said.
“The first migrants are going to be long-distance snow birds making their way back from the Arctic Circle,” he said. “They may be passing through Pennsylvania when they find an open body of water to recharge and take a break.”
In attendance for the webinar were Dustin Drew, manager of Moraine and McConnells Mill state parks, and Wil Taylor, manager of the Jennings Environmental Education Center in Brady Township.
Drew said he doesn’t see many people visit the parks specifically to look for birds in the winter, but some may stop to look when presented with a flock.
“It tends to peak around migration time, spring and fall,” Drew said of bird-watchers at Moraine. “There's different types of birds you only see during migration, especially water types. They can stop on their way and get a rest, and there is good potential for food supply as well as cover.”
Taylor also said that because Jennings is already home to several distinct species, nature lovers also enjoy bird-watching at the park.
“We do have feeders, so we have people come in quite often and watch the feeders,” Taylor said.
Kwasnick said people don’t necessarily have to venture to a park or nature area to glimpse unique birds, because they may fly into your own backyard. He said those with bird feeders or birdhouses posted near their homes should leave them up through the winter.
Gene and Gerry Scobel hang up bird feeders in the winter at their Franklin Township home, which they can keep an eye on by just looking out the window.
Gerry Scobel said she has seen as many as 14 birds at once fluttering around the three feeders the couple hung up, including cardinals, woodpeckers, blue jays and goldfinches.
Gerry Scobel said the couple enjoys bird-watching in the winter because of the convenience of watching from indoors and the images they can capture from just peeking outside.
“With the snow we didn't go anywhere, so we stayed home we watched the birds,” Gerry Scobel said. “It's beautiful especially in the snow.”
Gerry Scobel said she and her husband stock the feeders with foods such as sunflower seeds and nuts, which the birds go nuts over.
“We stock them every other day; when they get about half empty, we fill them back up,” she said. “A lot will come early in the morning. At around 5 p.m., they come back up for more.”
Kwasnick said the Scobels are doing everything right in their bird feeding. Although birds will always migrate to a place with a solid food supply, Kwasnick said feeders may become a main source of food because of their ease of access.
He said, “One feeder is great; more feeders are even better because you can stock them with more foods.”
“It's really important in winter to put out fatty foods,” Kwasnick said. “The largest percent of their calories from feeders is about 25%, which means more in the winter when there is less food.”
Taylor also said the bird feeders hung around Jennings’ visitors center are used to track birds for the national Project FeederWatch. This nationwide project tracks bird populations during the migration period, and Taylor said data is collected from November to April.
“We have volunteers come in and watch the feeders and they record the number of feeders and species they see,” he said. “They use that to gauge bird populations.”
Kwasnick said the bird population in a certain area depends on what time of year it is. This makes it even more fun as an ongoing activity, because those with sharp eyes will eventually be able to identify birds based on the season.
“When we see birds in the winter plumage here, they're typically ones you're not going to see in the summer,” Kwasnick said. “Then you have residents you have here year-round. That's part of the fun of bird-watching is learning to identify those.”
Just through her time casually watching birds find her feeders, Gerry Scobel has learned identifying factors of specific species such as cardinals.
“The males are all red and the females are greenish,” Gerry Scobel said. “You look at them and you can tell.”
In his presentation to 3MJ, Kwasnick encouraged people to just keep their eyes pointed upwards when outdoors. No matter where you are outdoors, birds are probably not too far away, he said.
“There is so much habitat around you really don't need to go to a park. In Butler County some of the quarry ponds are just fantastic,” Kwasnick said. “If you have access to a farm with a lot of land, it's great to explore different things. You can be sitting in a doctor's office and looking out the window and you're birding.”
