Marcia Bonta

  • 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…

  • Ghost Bird

    A leucistic creature is white or pink all over, its eyes are usually blue, and it has little ability to produce color. Another source says a leucistic animal is not pure white, its pigmentation is diluted, and its plumage is lighter than usual but not pure white. David Bird, an ornithologist, recently defined leucism as…

  • Allegheny Front Hawk Watch

    “It’s the Cadillac of hawk watches,” my husband Bruce said as we were leaving the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch. Not only does it have a wide, grassy field flat enough for lawn chairs, a picnic table, and a portable restroom back near the parking area, but also a pair of platform benches, fondly called “the…

  • Nature’s Garbage Collectors

    Like residents of Hinckley, Ohio, who always welcome the first turkey vultures back on March 15, I too await the return of them in March and regard them as one of the first signs of spring.  Usually the day they appear here is windy, and they rock back and forth above First Field, their wings…

  • Golden Eagle Days (Part 2)

    Continued from November. photo by Todd Katzner Then came the great change. After a mild, misty start on December first, the thermometer hit 65 degrees and then began to plummet as the wind picked up. The northwest winds had finally arrived a month late and with it, the following morning, came the eagle researchers. They…

  • Looking for Winter Raptors

    As citizen scientists become more numerous in the birding world, there is no end to the monitoring projects we can engage in. Take the WRS, for example, which stands for the Winter Raptor Survey. The brainchild of birder Greg Grove, it seems like the easiest of exercises–driving around a specific area in the middle of…

  • Alan’s Bench

    We have a new bench on our property–a memorial bench–built to honor one of our youngest hunters. Seventeen-year-old Alan Harshberger died in a pickup truck collision, through no fault of his, on Memorial Day weekend 2000. The bench was built by Tim Tyler, a hunter friend of ours who is a close friend of the…

  • South for the Winter

    Sometime in mid to late August, the first wave of migrating warblers moves through our yard. They come in early morning to feed after flying much of the night. Their appearance signals the passing of the first cold front with a north wind and clear skies that helps them fly more quickly and easily. This…