WBNC
Birding and nature observation
in Westmoreland County
southwestern Pennsylvania

About the club | Links | Officers | Book Club | Meetings | Field Trips & Outings
Join | PABirds Email List | Application Form | Sitemap
(links to external websites will open in separate windows)

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Gray Screech Owl, Red Screech Owl, photos by Dick Byers, 2013

Fox Sparrow, photo by Dick Byers, 2013

Harlequin Duck at Keystone State Park, Nov. 19 2008
Reported by Linda Huber & Ken Byerly
Photo by Dick Byers

Pine Siskin in Latrobe PA, Jan. 21 2009

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Sandhill Crane

Lake Ethel in Derry, PA
Mid December 2007 to last week of April 2008

More photos are here, more Sandhill Crane info is at wikipedia | Middle Creek | Platte River Nebraska | Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge | International Crane Foundation

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Upland Sandpiper Hutter's Farm Mammoth-Kecksburg PA May 25 1996

Sedge Wren 3rd Bridge Loyalhanna Creek Latrobe PA June 7 1997

Both species are listed as threatened in Pennsylvania by the PA Department of Natural Resources. A threatened species may become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout their range in PA. An endangered species is in danger of extirpation throughout their range in PA.
Endangered & Threatened Species of Pennsylvania: PA Game Commission || DCNR || Fish & Boat Commission

Atlas of Breeding Birds in Pennsylvania

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Links to other web sites about nature and birds seen locally. These links can become inactive at any time.

Links open in separate browser windows.

Photos by Mark McConaughy:

Pine Siskin, White-winged Crossbill at Bushy Run Battlefield, Westmoreland Co., Feb. 2009

WBNC outing to West Lebanon, Indiana County, Feb. 24 2008.

Common Redpolls at Bushy Run Battlefield Park

Sandhill Crane at Derry Lake, Dec. 31 2007.

Herring Gull Nest in Armstrong County, 29 May 2005.

Short-billed Dowitcher at Mammoth Wetlands and Mammoth Lake, Sat. May 14 2005.

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Westmoreland Botanical Society

Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club

Three Rivers Birding Club

Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh

Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania

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Westmoreland Bird & Nature Club

The Westmoreland Bird and Nature Club is a natural history organization serving Westmoreland County and surrounding areas. The WBNC is primarily an outdoor club averaging about 30 field trips a year for birds, butterflies, flowering plants, dragonflies and damselflies, trees and general ecology. Outings can be hiking, canoeing or cycling in nature. Sometimes impromptu field trips are organized over the internet. In addition, members participate in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count and the Pennsylvania Annual Migration Count in early May. Field trips are sometimes held in conjunction with the Botanical Society of Westmoreland County (BSWC), and the Three Rivers Birding Club (3RBC). Several members also belong to the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club. There are three general membership meetings a year including a summer picnic. All meetings are held in the Barn at the Donohoe Center, 218 Donohoe Road, Greensburg. The 10-18 page newsletter entitled The Syrinx is published four times a year summarizing past field trips, upcoming events, natural history information, and recent bird sightings. The Westmoreland Bird & Nature Club (formerly Westmoreland County Bird Club) formed on Feb 26, 1981 to promote interest in birds and conservation and to provide field trips in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.The first newsletter, Vol. 1 No. 1, was for March 1981. In that newsletter five field trips were scheduled. Seven people were listed as paid charter members.

Club Membership: $7 individual/family. Paid memberships currently stand at 217. All Membership Dues are due in January, unless you joined after September 1st. See Join for details.

Current officers of the club

Acting President - Dick Byers
Secretary/Treasurer - Rose Tillmann
Newsletter Editor - Dick Byers
Bird Records - Karen Jackson
Archives Scrapbook - vacant
Website - Tim Vechter

History of club officers

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Club Meeting

Thurs. April 18, 7:00 P.M.
Donohoe Center Barn
Camera Technology for Wildlife Photography and Research

Our speaker, Bill Powers, after graduating from Franklin Regional School District in Murrysville (where he was a former pupil of Tom Pearson), went on to earn a degree in physics from Kent State University. For the next 17 years he was employed by the R J Lee Group in Monroeville where he built electronic equipment and wrote software programs for the PC scanning electron microscope. Currently, Bill is the owner of Pix Controllers Inc. in Export where he builds and sells wildlife trail cameras on the world market. Being an outdoorsman, Bill is much interested in the behavior of wildlife and makes good use of the cameras he designs. He has worked with wildlife researchers around the country who use his equipment to gather data on their research projects. You have probably seen some of his videos on You-tube. The bobcat photo on page 4 was taken with a Pix Controller camera. Come for a fun evening of listening to the interesting tales of what his camouflaged cameras capture on the trail. Doors open at 6:30. Directions: From route 30 at the overpass light in front of the Westmoreland Mall, turn north onto Sheraton Drive and bear right at the first intersection onto Donohoe Road. Go through the next light, pass WOW markets, up a small hill and look for the Donohoe Center sign on your right. Drive behind the first building to the barn. Donohoe Center is 0.7 miles from route 30.

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Field Trips for Spring of 2013

Cancellation Policy: In the event of inclement weather, please call the field trip leader in advance to confirm if the outing is on or cancelled. The leaders have the right to cancel. Please check weather reports and road conditions. If there's any question, please call the leaders for confirmation. Car pooling is a good idea. Field trips are free and open to the public.

Weather for Latrobe (weather.com) || Weather for Westmoreland County || Weather(underground) for PA

Sat. April 20, Duff Park Wildflower Walk

Botanical Society of Western PA. Meet Pia van deVenne in the parking lot at 1 p.m. (the time was changed after distribution of the newsletter).

Thur. April 18, Club Meeting

Donohoe Center Barn at 7:00 p.m. Details above.

Sun. April 21, Westmoreland Earth Day at Saint Vincent College

Carey Center Gymnasium 11 AM – 4 PM. Drop in to check out our WBNC display. Want to help man the table? Call Rose Tillmann. (The Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve at Saint Vincent College)

Sat. April 27, Bird Walk at the Kellman and Skena Nature Reserves in Murrysville.

From Rt. 22, turn right at Tarr Hollow by the CreekSide Shoppes at Shur-Save. Cross over Old Wm Penn, stay on Tarr Hollow and turn left at the very end onto North Hills Rd. The large gravel parking area is on the left after Meadowgate Dr. Meet Karen Jackson there at 8:00 a.m.

Sun. May 5, Harrison Hills Park for trees and birds.

Meet Glenn Davis at 9 o'clock in the park. Directions: Take Rt. 66 N from Delmont. Continue past the 286 bridge and 380 bridge to the "Y" and bear left onto Rt. 356. Follow Rt. 356 to the "T" and turn left. Follow this again to a "T" at the 3rd traffic light and turn left. (Stanford Lumber on left). Travel Vt mile and bear right at the "Y". Continue on this hilly road until you cross the Freeport Bridge and come to a traffic light. Turn left at the light, drive a little beyond the top of the hill and look for the park entrance on the left. Turn into the park, bear left at the "T", drive down the hill and turn left on the 1st road on your left. Drive up the hill and park just past the Environmental Learning Center.

Sat. May 11, County wide PAMC (Pennsylvania Annual Migration Count).

Contact Dick Byers for confirmation of your chosen birding area, feeder watch, or request to join a field party. Contact info on first page. You can download a tally report sheet at pabirds.org

Tues-Thurs. May 13-16, Crane Creek, Ohio for the topnotch birding location in the eastern U.S.

This is a do-it-yourself-outing. WBNC members already have rooms reserved at the Best Western Motel in Port Clinton (419-734-2274).

Sun. May 19, Seton Hill Tree Walk

Join members of the Westmoreland County Botanical Society at 1:30 p.m. Directions: From the Route 30 by-pass, take the Pittsburgh St. exit into Greensburg. At the 5th traffic light, turn left onto Bell Way. Go 1 block through the next traffic light straight onto College Ave. and through the tunnel. The university entrance is on the left. Park in the lot past the back of the library.

Sat. May 25, Evening Vespers

Dine at the Darlington Inn Buffet at 5 p.m. RSVP Karen Jackson by Wednesday May 22 before our annual trip to Spruce Flats Bog to hear the thrushes sing. The bog has a new boardwalk.

Sat. June 1, Charles F. Lewis Natural Area

Join Jim Pemberton at 9:30 A.M. in the parking lot for this joint outing with the Allegheny Plateau Audubon Society for birds, amphibians, venomous snakes and wildflowers in the beautiful and biologically diverse Clark Gorge. The trail is dastardly steep and requires non-slip footwear and a walking stick. Those with heart problems should stay home. Directions: Head east from New Alexandria on Route 22. Turn south on Route 403 past the Armaugh exit. Follow Route 403 two miles through Cramer. Just past Cramer, look for the parking lot to your left. Or follow Route 30 to Ligonier. From Ligonier follow Route 711 north to Cramer. Turn right in Cramer and look for the parking lot on your left just out of town.

Sun. June 2, Laurel Highlands Trail

Join Tim Vechter at 5:30 p.m. in the Spruce Flats Bog parking lot to carpool to the intersection of the Laurel Highlands Trail on Hickory Run Road. We'll hike to the new bridge over the PA Turnpike and back. Should be lots of spring wildflowers along the way. We'll go south of the bridge as time, conditions, and consesus allow. The walk from Hickory Flats Rd to the turnpike bridge is about 1/2 hour.

Sat. June 15, Erie Bluffs State Park

Meet at the far end of the parking lot behind Kohls on Route 30 near the Irwin entrance to the PA Turnpike at to carpool at 7:15 a.m.. Plan on a 3.5 hour drive from that point. We'll do a general nature walk along the Bluff Trail.

Sat. June 22, Walter Nature Reserve

Join Dick Byers for a "Read the Landscape' walk at 10:00.
Directions: From Route 22 in Murrysville, turn north at the Walnut Hollow Plaza light onto Cline Hollow Road. Follow Cline Hollow Road 1.7 miles to Hills Church Road. Turn left and continue on Hills Church Road .4 miles where you'll bear straight ahead onto Weistertown Road. Follow Weistertown Road past the Murrysville Community Park entrance (1.1 miles) on your left. Continue around the next bend and look for the Walter Reserve parking lot on your left.

Note: for the email addresses replace "_AT_" with "@", and "_DOT_ with ".", without the quotes. This is done to help foil spamming programs.

Bookmark outings.htm on a mobile device for quick download of scheduled outings for a text only bare bones web page.

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To join Westmoreland Bird & Nature Club

Rose Tillmann
PO Box 188
New Derry PA 15671

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Bookmark outings.htm on a mobile device for quick download of scheduled outings. outings.htm is a text only bare bones web page.

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Web page, and photos (unless otherwise noted), by tim vechter.

For places to bird in Westmoreland County click here

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