Save the date – January 11, 2025! Lehigh Valley Audubon Society’s tenth annual Christmas Bird Count for Kids (CBC4Kids) is coming up! A great antidote to the post-holiday letdown for kids.
Space is limited, so register early!
How You Can Stop Bird-Window Collisions
Fellow member of the Bird-window Collision Working Group (BCWG), PA Audubon Council reports,
A leading human cause of bird deaths is collisions with glass windows, doors, and other reflective and transparent surfaces. Peer-reviewed, published research estimates that a daily minimum average of 3.5 million birds collide with glass in the US alone; 1.28 – 3.46 billion annually. The majority of these deaths occur in low-rise buildings of four stories or less, including residential homes.
During a recent Lehigh Valley Audubon Society online presentation, Bird Window Collisions and How You Can Stop Them, our chapter President, Peter Saenger, explained in these few minutes:
Materials:
vinyl siding J-channel (or wood trim or anything similar that is relatively stiff)
tape measure
utility knife
spool of 1/8" paracord
lighter
drill
outdoor Velcro
Directions:
Measure the width and height of the entire glass area of a window.
Cut a piece of the J-channel to the width of the window.
Cut strips of outdoor Velcro (enough to space about every 2 feet), and affix one side of the strips to the J-channel.
Use a utility knife to cut the nailing flange off of the piece of J-channel.
Drill 1/8" or slightly larger holes every 4" in the J-channel.
Cut pieces of 1/8" paracord to the height of the window, enough pieces to hang every 4" across the width of the window.
Use a lighter to seal the cut ends of the paracord.
Tie a simple overhand knot near the end of each piece of paracord, and thread the unknotted end through each of the drilled holes so that the cords will hang from the J-channel.
Across the top of the OUTSIDE of the window, with the paracords hanging down from it, attach the J-channel by exposing and using the other side of the strips of outdoor Velcro.
You're done!
The window can be cleaned behind the cords, but the Velcro permits easy temporary removal, whenever necessary.
Read more on our website about Bird-Window Collisions and Lights Out.
Other bird-window collision deterrence options:
Learn other DIY options or purchase ready made products from Acopian BirdSavers.
Learn how to install Feather Friendly® Patterned Tape like the example pictured here to prevent bird-window collisions.
Pennsylvania’s 1st Winter Atlas Needs Your Help
Earlier in 2024 Pennsylvania birders of all ages and skill levels began working together to map the breeding and status of bird species in the state as part of the 3rd Pennsylvania Bird Atlas (PBA3), a 5-year-long survey that will end February 2029.
The PBA3 will include Pennsylvania’s first Winter Atlas which will set an important baseline for data on the distribution and abundance of the state’s winter avifauna.
The Winter Survey began December 1, 2024, and most of the data will be collected by volunteers. For directions on how to participate in the Winter Survey, get the Winter Atlas Volunteer Handbook, read how to complete Winter Priority Blocks and conduct Winter Water Surveys specifically for the Winter Atlas, watch the recording of November’s Atlas Town Hall - Introduction to Winter Atlas.
This project is supported by the PA Game Commission (PGC), headquartered at Hawk Mountain, and facilitated by Cornell Lab’s eBird online tools. The PGC initiated this project to update the information they need to prioritize conservation actions and to protect the birds of Pennsylvania. Findings will guide conservation for years to come. Read the PA Bird Atlas 3 Volunteer Handbook to learn how to participate during the other seasons.
In addition to volunteers, Pennsylvania Bird Atlas is hiring a team of seasonal point count technicians to conduct surveys throughout Pennsylvania during the summer of 2025.
Deadline to Apply to be a Paid Seasonal Research Technician for Pennsylvania Bird Atlas: April 18, 2025, but applications will be reviewed upon receipt
Employment Dates: May 19 – mid July 2025
Preference will be given to applicants with previous point count experience and eBird experience. Prior birding experience need not be through a paid position, but ability to identify birds of Pennsylvania by sight and sound required.
Read all the job details and how to apply here.
OWLOWEEN -- Presented By Lehigh Valley Audubon Society And The Wildlands Conservancy
When: Saturday, October 26, 2024 -- 11am To 1pm
CALLING ALL ADULTS AND CHILDREN (Feel free to come in costume)
Come Join Us for a morning filled with
Information About Owls
presented by Kathy Uhler,
Past Director Of The Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
Then, meet the Resident Owls Of The Wildlands
with Annmarie Sanderson,
Environmental Educator For The Wildlands
Dissect Owl Pellets to Learn about Their Diets
Enjoy Some Crafts
Take a Short Hike On One Of The Trails with Annmarie
THERE WILL BE OWLOWEEN TREATS FOR EVERYONE!!!!!
Where: The Dorothy Rider Pool Wildlife Sanctuary (Wildlands Conservancy)
3701 Orchid Place, Emmaus, PA
Lehigh Valley Audubon Society Community Events
Barbara Malt
Originally Published in July - September 2024 Quarterly Newsletter of The Lehigh Valley Audubon Society
Lehigh Valley Audubon Society (LVAS) had a busy spring meeting the public and providing information about birds and conservation at community events! We were at Herbein’s Garden Center’s 50th anniversary celebration, Allentown’s Earth Day fair, and the Rodale Spring Organic Market and Plant Sale. We also had a table at our stationary bird count for the public at the Lehigh Parkway. Altogether, we talked to about 300 members of the Lehigh Valley community!
LVAS Information Table at Community Event
Purple Martins at Minsi Lake
Jim Wilson, Recreation & Conservation Specialist, Northampton County Parks
Originally Published in July - September 2024 Quarterly Newsletter of The Lehigh Valley Audubon Society
There were no Purple Martins nesting at Minsi Lake before 2020.
Purple Martin project at Minsi Lake
Since Northampton County Parks Martin Habitat Partnership initiative with LVAS was begun in 2020 with Mike McCartney, Scott Burnett, and Tim Kita, the success of this species at Minsi Lake has been phenomenal. Thanks to LVAS volunteers, a large and growing Purple Martin colony can now be seen at Minsi.
Over the past five years, five 18-unit condo towers have been installed. Occupancy this nesting season in those condos (36 of which are new this season) is over 90% with nesting pairs in 80 of the 90 condo units. At Minsi Lake, it really is a build it and they will come situation. The lake provides an ideal habitat for these birds of greatest conservation need—a shallow, warm water lake teeming with dragonflies and other food sources.
There is lakeside space at Minsi for eight more 18-unit Purple Martin nesting towers.
Northampton County Parks and Recreation will fund three more towers at the Lake for next year’s nesting season, and Friends of Minsi Lake will have funding for the remaining five towers.
The expanded Purple Martin project at Minsi Lake means more volunteers will be needed to maintain and monitor the nesting condos over time. The Northampton County Parks and Recreation and LVAS partnership now manages 108 condos in six nesting towers—five at Minsi Lake Park and one at Louise Moore Park. Next year, they’ll be tasked with 144 units, which the small team of dedicated volunteers have agreed to do. If the Purple Martins indicate there’s continued need for nesting cavities at Minsi, up to five more towers will be provided the following year—for a total of 13 Purple Martin condo towers and 234 units to maintain and monitor from March through September.
Maintenance involves removing the PVC nesting gourds from their towers after each season, hosing them out and storing them at a nearby Parks and Rec facility. The gourds are then brought back to the lake in late winter. Pine straw is placed in each condo and the condos are attached to the towers in numeric order for recording nesting data in each unit throughout the spring and summer.
Monitoring during the nesting season requires one or two volunteers to visually check each of the 18 condos hanging from the towers by lowering and raising the racks. Observations are then recorded on a datasheet that is eventually shared with several national databases to track Purple Martins and the community and citizen conservation science needed to sustain them here in the East.
After hatching, only federally licensed bird banders can physically handle and weigh, measure and band the Purple Martin chicks when they are several weeks old. Volunteers are still needed to shuttle chicks in baskets back and forth from their nests to the banding station set up next to the towers.
Northampton County Parks and Recreation needs LVAS continued support to help with installation labor, monitoring, maintenance, winter storage, and, of course, all the banding and data collection done each nesting season. If anyone is interested in volunteering their time to this project in 2025 and subsequent years, please send an email to James Wilson, Recreation & Conservation Specialist for Northampton County Parks, at jwilson@norcop.gov.