Marcia Bonta

  • The Many-Tongued Mimic

    The Many-Tongued Mimic

    Every winter we have at least one unusual bird visitor. The winter before last it was the northern shrike. Last winter, during the pandemic, most birders were excited about the superflight south of boreal birds and welcomed huge numbers of pine siskins, red-breasted nuthatches and common redpolls, as well as evening grosbeaks and even hoary…

  • Fishy Crows

    Fishy Crows

    Fish crows have not been studied as much as American crows but like their congeners they are curious, intelligent and social birds

  • The Mystery of Night

    The Mystery of Night

    Last September fall songbird migration was well underway. Almost every day I encountered a migrant in our yard, our meadow, or our forest. Many of the birds are not as colorful as the males are in spring and there are huge numbers of immature warblers that wear the drab coats of females such as the…

  • Disappearing Bullbats

    Disappearing Bullbats

    Years ago I used to hear the nasal “peents” of bullbats, also known as common nighthawks, as they flew over First Field at dusk on summer evenings. During the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, we heard or saw a few most years, and back in July 1987, four nighthawks appeared every evening, “peenting” and swooping low…

  • Those Darn Empids

    Those Darn Empids

    Keen birders are aware that the best time to identify the five small, look-alike Empidonax flycatchers that breed in Pennsylvania is in May when they are singing and calling during migration. Easier to identify by their voices than by their appearance, all empids, as birders call them, have gray heads, backs, wings, and tails, white…

  • Woodcock Spring

    Woodcock Spring

    Shortly before dark last February 10, our son Dave walked up the driveway and heard the “peenting” of an American woodcock. He raced up to our house to alert our son Mark and me, and we joined Dave on our veranda to listen. A couple minutes passed before both sons said, “Listen.” That’s when I…

  • Counting Raptors in Mid-Winter

    Counting Raptors in Mid-Winter

    Last winter was the 20th year of the Winter Raptor Survey. This innovative survey is the brainchild of Greg Grove, who is a retired biochemist from Penn State University, the compiler of the Stone Mountain Hawk Watch and the editor of Pennsylvania Birds magazine. The Winter Raptor Survey (WRS) is designed to count all raptors…

  • Butcher Bird

    Butcher Bird

    A week of light snow, followed by sleet and freezing rain last January, turned our mountain into an ice rink and penned me inside until it warmed above freezing. That occurred on January 25 when it was 36 degrees and dripping rain at dawn. Late that afternoon our son, Mark, who was living in our…

  • Female Songsters

    Female Songsters

    Last November dozens of migrating white-throated sparrows took refuge in our fields and forests during the early cold and snow. Despite the weather, they sang their “poor Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody” song and occasionally they were joined by a singing song sparrow. Like most birdwatchers, I assumed the singers were male, but I may have…

  • The Yellow-throated Vireo

    The Yellow-throated Vireo

    Late last June I sat next to our mountaintop vernal pond that has become a permanent pond the last couple wet years. For an instant, I glimpsed the white spectacles of a blue-headed vireo as it foraged on a large red maple tree across the pond. Then I heard a singing yellow-throated vireo, followed by…

  • The Cut-Throat Bird

    The Cut-Throat Bird

    On a hot, humid morning in late June, I climbed to the top of Sapsucker Ridge. As I followed the trail, I was serenaded by the singing of a hooded warbler, a black-throated green warbler, red-eyed vireos, and eastern towhees. Suddenly, I heard harsh, loud, and repeated calling from an agitated brown and white rose-breasted…

  • A Sedentary May

    A Sedentary May

    After days of fighting my arthritic left foot and back last May, I gave up wandering our trails during my favorite time of year. Instead, I spent hours watching and listening for birds from our veranda. The veranda side of our house faces a roughly-cut patch of grass, the driveway, our 37-acre overgrown First Field…