Blogs from Powdermill Nature Reserve

Powdermill Nature Reserve is Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s environmental research center. Located 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh in Rector, Pennsylvania, Powdermill is a field station and laboratory where researchers do long-term studies of natural populations in western Pennsylvania. In addition to being positioned for Appalachian-specific studies in ornithology, ecology, invertebrate zoology, and botany, Powdermill is a great place to spend a fun-filled day outdoors with the family.

September 10, 2021 by wpengine

Milestones at Powdermill’s Banding Lab

by Annie Lindsay

On the morning of July 11, 2001, Powdermill’s bird banding crew knew that was the day they’d catch the program’s 500,000th banding record (which includes new birds and recaptured birds). With only 10 birds to go, each person on the field crew guessed what species #500,000 would be, then set out on a net round together. As we checked each net, our eager anticipation grew with each bird we extracted. It turned out that I, a young, green banding intern, guessed correctly: number 500,000 was a Gray Catbird, a very common species at Powdermill during the breeding season, and a charismatically sassy species that endears itself to many banders and birders.

Man holding a bird outside. — *Bob Leberman, founder of Powdermill’s bird banding program, with the 500,000th banding record, a Gray Catbird, caught and banded on July 11, 2001.*

We released #500,000, celebrated with sparkling grape juice, then continued the banding day with a demonstration for children attending Powdermill’s summer camp. The catbird was made famous in the local newspaper, and because we’d each wagered a dollar on our guesses, I earned a $5 bill with the catbird’s band number on it for correctly guessing the species. That year marked the 40th anniversary of Powdermill’s banding program, and another milestone about two months prior: the 400,000th new bird banded.

Over the next two decades, the number of birds banded continued to creep up. Before spring migration this year, we determined that we needed just over 5,000 birds to reach 800,000 banding records. The countdown was on, and by mid-summer we knew that we could expect to reach that number by early- to mid-August, perfect timing to celebrate the banding program’s 60th anniversary.

The morning of August 6 was the day! With 45 birds to go after banding on August 5, we knew 800,000 was within sight. We opened the nets at 5:50 a.m., but the first two net checks yielded surprisingly fewer birds than we expected. At the 7:50 a.m. net check, we still had 20 birds to go, and given the pace of the morning we assumed The Bird wouldn’t be caught until the following round, so the banding crew set out in different directions to clear the nets. About five minutes later our long-term volunteer and colleague, Nick, radioed back to say that he had 11 birds in the second set of nets he was checking! The nets in the other directions had only a few birds, so we all converged on Nick’s location, and the final countdown began with five birds to go.

Two people outside removing birds from mist nets. — *Kevin Chumpitaz and Nick Liadis, part of Powdermill’s banding crew, extracting birds #799,993 and #799,994.*

The next three sets of nets were empty, but Long Lane, a series of nine nets connected in a long line, delivered a Black-and-White Warbler, a Black-throated Green Warbler, a Gray Catbird, and a Canada Warbler. With number 800,000 just ahead, Mallory, PARC’s Motus and banding assistant, called back to the rest of us, “It’s here!” Our milestone bird was a young Cedar Waxwing, a species that is quite common at Powdermill during the migration and breeding seasons, and often is spotted in nomadic flocks during the winter.

Cedar Waxwing held in a hand outside — *Powdermill’s 800,000th banding record, a young Cedar Waxwing, caught and banded on August 6, 2021.*

Just beyond the waxwing was another Gray Catbird, which concluded the net round. We all made our way back to the lab where we banded the celebrity waxwing, recorded the usual data (age, sex, measurements, and mass), snapped a few photos and a quick video, and then released the bird.

Based on the waxwing’s plumage, we know that it hatched this summer, and it displayed an interesting plumage characteristic that is relatively common in young waxwings in southwest Pennsylvania. Cedar Waxwings have a yellow terminal band on their tails, but if an individual eats invasive honeysuckle berries while feathers are growing, the pigment from the berries, called rhodoxanthin, is incorporated into the yellow parts of the growing feathers. Honeysuckle berries are plentiful at Powdermill, and are ripe when young Cedar Waxwings are still in the nest and growing their first set of feathers. If they’re fed these berries, their tails have an orange tail band instead of the normal yellow! Adult waxwings molt when the berries are no longer ripe, so their tails have a yellow stripe. This phenomenon is a great example of how introduced plants can affect their environment.

Woman holding a bird outside — *Annie Lindsay with the 800,000th banding record.*

In keeping with previous milestones at Powdermill, #800,000 is a common species: Cedar Waxwing is the sixth most banded species at Powdermill, with over 24,000 of them banded in our 60-year history. We often like to attach meaning to notable events, and Cedar Waxwings lend themselves to this one in particular: the aberration in tail stripe pigmentation was described by Powdermill banders in a paper published in 1992, and the species was a favorite of the founder of Powdermill’s bird banding program, Bob Leberman.

Five-dollar bill with writing on the edges commemorating the 500,000th bird banding record at Powdermill. — *The commemorative $5 bill for guessing correctly what species the 500,000th banding record would be.*

I still have the $5 bill with #500,000’s band number on it, and feel honored to have been part of both milestones at Powdermill. The crew didn’t place bets on what species #800,000 might be, but several had guesses, and I was sure it would be another catbird. Cedar Waxwing was an excellent surprise, and we’re all looking forward to #900,000 and #1,000,000 in the coming years!

Annie Lindsay is the Bird Banding Program Manager at Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Who put the Smile in Smilax?

by John Wenzel

The genus Smilax is one of our most common woodland plants. Known as greenbriar, sweetbriar, or catbriar, there are about 20 species in North America, and about 300 world-wide. Technically, the plant is defended by “prickles,” which are outgrowths of the outer tissue of the stem, and not “thorns,” which are modified woody branches, as are found on hawthorn or locust trees. By contrast, “spines,” as found in cactuses, are actually modified leaves. Male and female Smilax flowers occur on different plants, with females producing dense bunches of showy black, blue, or red berries. Some species are deciduous and some are evergreen. Light loving, they are typical of disturbed habitats, and will climb up and over shrubs, up to 30 feet high. The green stems have chlorophyll, meaning that even if deer eat all the leaves, the plants will continue to photosynthesize and survive.

Thickets of briars that have their tops bitten off are an indication of severe browsing by deer. When deer densities are high, other plants may be browsed out entirely, leaving behind an understory composed of only briars and a few plants deer do not eat, such as ferns. Briars may provide good cover for small mammals to escape from larger predators, as is related in Uncle Remus’ African folktales of Bre’r Rabbit. The stout prickles have different orientations along a stem and can be difficult to remove if more than one pierces the skin at the same time. Getting into (and out of!) a briar thicket is a very sticky situation, as we have inadvertently demonstrated after a minor slip-and-fall in the woods!

Close up of man's face with blood on it after injury from briar prickles.

John Wenzel is the Director at Powdermill Nature Reserve, Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s environmental research center. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Can’t Touch This

by Andrea Kautz

From the name of them, you may guess “blister beetles” are insects you might not want to handle. However, they sure are beautiful to look at! We’ve been noticing blister beetles out and about at Powdermill over the last week or so. Some fly around clumsily, while other flightless species scurry among the leaf litter. Beetles in this family (Meloidae) secrete a defensive substance called cantharidin, a skin irritant that can cause blistering. They are also very toxic when consumed, and can be fatal for livestock if present in the hay supply.

Shiny blue blister beetle on a rock. — Two different genera of blister beetles that are common in SW Pennsylvania: *Lytta* (top) and *Meloe* (bottom). Top image credit: Shaun Pogacnik. Bottom image credit: Christian Grenier.

Blister beetles are parasites, mostly in the nests of ground-nesting bees and wasps. Watch this short video clip to learn more about their life cycle. Spoiler alert: In this species, the newly hatched beetle larvae clump together and attract a male bee using a fragrance, and then transfer to the female he mates with, ultimately gaining access to her nest, where they feed on both the pollen provisions and the bee larvae themselves!

Whether larvae or adults, these striking beetles certainly have a fascinating dark side. There is always more than meets the eye when it comes to entomology!

Andrea Kautz is a Research Entomologist at Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Spring Birds in Your Backyard

by Annie Lindsay

On spring mornings that I’m not banding birds, I like to sit on my back porch with my binoculars, watching for movement at the edge of the woods behind my house, keeping my ears tuned in to songs and short, usually high-pitched, chip and contact notes. On mornings following a night of heavy migration, small flocks of mixed species often move through the trees, feeding on insects as they refuel for the next stage of migration. These flocks often have warblers, thrushes, tanagers, grosbeaks, or sparrows foraging in their own niches: warblers tend to be in mid- to high-canopy, whereas thrushes stay low and sparrows are often on the ground.

Occasionally, I’ll stand outside in a quiet, dark spot just before dawn and listen for the soft, high-pitched flight calls of migrants settling into habitat after a night of flying. I’m an avid birder: I love to see both new and familiar birds, and watch the species that use my yard and favorite birding patches.

Baltimore Orioles arrive in southwest PA by mid-to late-April. Providing fresh orange halves on spikes can bring them to your feeders from spring through fall migration.

Last year, many people discovered birding. We spent much of the spring working from home, perhaps gazing out of our windows at our bird feeders or backyard plants, and for the first time noticed birds that we didn’t know existed or didn’t realize visited our yards. The opportunity to learn about the diversity of birds in our area and develop a passion for watching them was a bright spot (both literally and metaphorically!) in an otherwise difficult year. The seasons progressed, and now we once again eagerly anticipate the arrival of beautiful and colorful migratory songbirds. Let’s explore common spring backyard birds in southwest Pennsylvania and how to attract and find them!

Dark-eyed Juncos are a species we usually associate with winter in southwest PA. They start singing in March, then do an elevational migration up the nearby mountains.

Each year, as the temperature warms, migratory birds move through our area in search of their breeding grounds. Although arrival timing is a bit variable between years due to annual variation in weather patterns, there is a predictable progression of species, so we know what to expect next relative to what we’ve already seen. The first, and often most conspicuous, to arrive are Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles, usually in late February. They are followed by “peenting” American Woodcocks in early March, Eastern Phoebes in mid-March, and kinglets peaking in late-March. Keep your eyes to the sky any time you’re outdoors during these early spring weeks to watch for migrating waterfowl and raptors.

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks readily visit feeders with black oil sunflower seeds or safflower seeds usually in early- to mid-May before moving off into the forest to set up breeding territories.

By April, more songbirds, including vireos, swallows, early warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (a tiny bird with a wheezy song), House Wren, and the fan favorite, Gray Catbird make their way through our region, many remaining here to set up their breeding territories. In May, the migration floodgates open and some of the most brilliantly plumaged birds we’ve ever seen, like Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, and several warblers, may visit our yards and feeders, along with the less flashy, but equally beautiful, sparrows and thrushes.

Orioles readily come to feeders with orange halves, especially during migration, and seed-eating species like grosbeaks, buntings, and sparrows often visit feeders with sunflower or other seeds (or, in the case of many sparrows, clean up seeds on the ground under feeders!). Hummingbirds come to feeders with nectar (four parts water to one part white sugar, please avoid using food dyes or commercial nectar that has been dyed red). Most of these species are insectivorous, especially during spring migration, and are often observed picking things like caterpillars, midges, and spiders from foliage.

Yellow Warblers are often recognized by their signature “sweet sweet I’m so sweet!” song. You may see them flitting through small woody plants like dogwoods as they forage for caterpillars.

In addition to the migratory species that we see and hear in the spring, many birds that are year-round residents also frequent our yards. Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, Carolina Wrens, five species of woodpeckers (Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, Pileated, and Northern Flicker, plus two more if we’re lucky – Red-headed Woodpecker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker), and the colorful American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, and Eastern Bluebird mix with migratory birds. Most of these species visit bird feeders filled with sunflower or safflower seeds (chickadees, titmice, cardinals, nuthatches, woodpeckers), suet (woodpeckers, wrens), nyjer seed (finches), and mealworms (bluebirds, titmice, chickadees).

Gray-cheeked Thrushes are cryptic and secretive, but can be found skulking on the forest floor in mid- to late-May before they continue northward migration. They have a beautiful, flutey song and a distinctive call note.

One of the best ways to attract birds to your yard is planting native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and other plants. Native plants are hosts for a high diversity of insects, especially during their larval stages, and provide nutritious seeds and fruit, all of which are important food resources for birds. These plants are also valuable as cover for safety and nest sites. Although often overlooked, a source of clean, fresh water, as simple as a bird bath or as complex as a pond with a bubbler or waterfall, can make your yard especially attractive to birds. And one of the easiest and most popular ways to attract birds for close viewing is providing bird food in clean, safe feeders. I recommend visiting your local bird feeding specialty store.

You may see all of the birds mentioned in this blog in your yard, but this is a non-exhaustive list and you may even see something unexpected. Visiting a local birding hotspot with complex and diverse habitats is certainly worth the effort as well. Birding these spots several times throughout the season will reward you with an impressive list and will boost your knowledge of natural history. The combination of a good pair of binoculars and a field guide with identification tips, range maps, and text about habitat is one of the best ways to maximize your birding, whether at home or in the field.

Please visit CMNH’s blog page to find bird ID tips and field guide recommendations.

The Audubon Society put together a great guide to the best binoculars at various price ranges.

You can put your bird observation skills to good use (or further develop those skills) by participating this spring in a broad survey of local wildlife and plants called the City Nature Challenge. The observation portion of this event is April 30 – May 3.

Surprising Study Reveals that Common Potoo Bird Is Migratory

Common Potoo, *Nyctibius griseus*
© Fernando Cipriani

A team of scientists from Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve and Museu de Microbiologia do Instituto Butantan in Brazil recently documented migratory movements by a large and charismatic bird species long thought to be sedentary across its extensive South American range. The species under study, the Common Potoo, known scientifically as Nyctibius griseus, is an abundant, cryptically colored, nocturnal bird found in open woodland and savannah habitat from Nicaragua south to Uruguay and northern Argentina. The research findings, which were published in Ibis, the International Journal of Avian Studies, represent the first time any species of Potoos have been shown to migrate.

According to Luke DeGroote, research coordinator at the Powdermill Avian Research Center, and the publication’s lead author, the lack of previous knowledge about the species’ seasonal movements is both surprising and understandable—surprising because the charismatic bird is popular among the public and understandable because the species is effectively camouflaged when at rest.

As DeGroote explained in a blog post summarizing the study’s findings: “Their plumage, structure and posture allow them to masquerade as broken branches or stumps; a feat they sometimes attempt in the open, bold as brass on fenceposts and bottles. Notches in their eyelids allow them to watch intruders with eyes closed or nearly so.”

The role of citizen science in the study is of particular significance. The research largely charted movement of Common Potoos southward on the continent to a temperate zone in the austral (Southern Hemisphere) summer to breed, and then their return to a more equatorial area (such as the Amazon) in the austral winter. Much of the data documenting the movements of Common Potoos came from eBird, an online reporting system coordinated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, and WikiAves, a similar Brazilian public domain resource.

As DeGroote explains, “Data from citizen scientists is becoming more robust and could allow scientists to uncover more hidden migrations, habitat requirements, status and trends to conserve birds within South America.”

About Powdermill Nature Reserve
Powdermill Nature Reserve, the environmental research center of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, has been dedicated to its mission of research, education, and conservation for more than 50 years. It is a place for scientists, for students, and for families who are interested in the natural world. The Powdermill bird migration research program is home to the one of the longest continually running bird banding stations in the United States. A wide variety of public education programs serve children and adults. Researchers from around the world conduct diverse long- and short-term scientific studies in herpetology, botany, invertebrate zoology, and ornithology. The Powdermill Avian Research Center (PARC) is part of Powdermill Nature Reserve.

January 11, 2021 by wpengine

2020 Rector Christmas Bird Count Results

On December 20, 2020, 34 intrepid birders braved a wintry mix to count birds in assigned sectors within a 15-mile diameter circle centered just northwest of Powdermill Nature Reserve. Another eight, who lived within designated territory, closely watched their bird feeders and yards for avian visitors. Why would so many birders be out in less-than-ideal weather conditions? They were all participating in the Rector Christmas Bird Count.

Map of the Rector Christmas Bird Count circle with each count sector outlined with red, created by James Whitacre, GIS Research Scientist at Powdermill Nature Reserve.

Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is an annual event sponsored by the National Audubon Society that happens in mid-December through early January, with the compiler of each count circle choosing a specific count date within that timeframe. This year marks the 121^st anniversary of the activity. The count started on Christmas day in 1900 with the purpose of censusing birds by counting them in the field using optics rather than by using shotguns. Although there were only 25 count circles in the first CBC, it has grown into an international event with nearly 2900 circles spread across the Western Hemisphere and even to Pacific Islands as far away as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Today, the CBC is a fun day for birders and bird watchers of all skill levels to head outside with the goal of identifying and counting every bird they see and hear within their count areas. The data gathered though this citizen science initiative contributes to both long-term and short-term population studies. To date, more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications have used CBC data in their analyses.

Although the count was a bit different this year with COVID-19 precautions keeping counters in different germ pools separate, we had an excellent turnout of both advanced and beginner birders, including some young birders.

And what a count it was! This winter is an irruption year (for more info on irruptive migration, please see this blog.) for many species, and although we didn’t find hordes of these birds during the count, we did see Pine Siskins, Purple Finches, Red-breasted Nuthatches, higher-than-average numbers of Black-capped Chickadees, and the much sought after Evening Grosbeak. The counters recorded many interesting and less common species this year, including the count’s third ever Snow Goose, third ever Eastern Phoebe, and fifth ever Common Yellowthroat. Both the phoebe and Common Yellowthroat are species that winter in the southeastern US. Counting efforts that began an hour before dawn produced exceptional owl numbers (eight Eastern Screech-Owls, one Great Horned Owl, and two Barred Owls). Additionally, the birders recorded high counts for several species including Ruddy Duck, Black Vulture, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Common Raven, Carolina Wren, and Song Sparrow. Most notably, the group counted a record-setting seven Red-headed Woodpeckers, a species that is uncommon in southwestern Pennsylvania and can be reliably found in only one spot of suitable habitat within the count circle.

We thank all of the participants for a wonderful count this year! In all, we tallied 4361 birds of 69 species, a remarkable result thanks to the valiant effort of all of the counters. We look forward to hosting the Rector count next year!

Annie Lindsay is the Bird Banding Program Manager at Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Milestones at Powdermill’s Banding Lab

by Annie Lindsay

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