May Speaker – Twan Leenders
With so much happening at RTPI and all of the active conservation and education work we are completing this spring and summer in our local area we decided that our own President and Executive Director Dr. Twan Leenders should be our May speaker. Please join us on Wednesday, May 21 at 7:00PM at RTPI for this free and educational event. Twan is a biologist from The Netherlands interested in animal ecology and conservation management. For more than twenty years his work with birds, mammals, plants and especially tropical amphibians and reptiles has taken him to various places on the planet. As...
Read MoreBlack-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus)
Have you seen a Yellow-billed Cuckoo yet this spring? I haven’t but here’s another Black-billed Cuckoo much more concerned about a meal than me. Mmm, caterpillars…
Read MoreYellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)
This was one of 253 Yellow-rumped Warblers I recorded at a single site in Pennsylvania last weekend. Most of them have now moved through as some of the later arrivals, such as Blackpoll Warblers, trickle into our region. After a migratory lull through the weekend we should have one last huge burst next week in the Chautauqua-Allegheny region.
Read MoreChestnut-sided Warbler close-ups
Today while conducting field work for several hours at a few sites in Pennsylvania I enjoyed numerous great looks at Chestnut-sided Warblers. These birds of shrub/scrub habitat and secondary growth are distinctive and beautiful in appearance and song. Whenever I see them now I am reminded of Twan and Sean and RTPI’s work in the tropics. In Costa Rica in the Chestnut-sided wintering range they enjoy watching the birds turn into little “meatballs” as they fatten up for the flight north. In fact a Chestnut-sided Warbler banded in Rara Avis was recaptured twice over a four year...
Read MoreBlack-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus)
They’re often like ghosts but I was able to enjoy superb if brief views of a couple Black-billed Cuckoos yesterday. They move so silently and blend in so well.
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