2024: Reflections
It’s hard to believe that 2024 is already drawing to a close, it has been a big year! EBO is growing- a testament, surely, to the shared belief in our mission statement. Thanks to your support, Erie Bird Observatory undertook many projects and events in 2024, including:
With the help of Pennsylvania DCNR & partners, including Visit Erie and The Presque Isle Partnership, we completed a feasibility study for adding birding infrastructure to Presque Isle State Park. Environmental Planning and Design of Pittsburgh did a fabulous job. We’ll be looking into developing some of the ideas outlined in the study in the near future, including a banding station! Full report HERE.
Shorebird Monitoring
Erie Bird Observatory proudly monitors not only Pennsylvania’s only nesting pair/s of federally-endangered Piping Plovers, but also our state’s only pair/s of nesting Common Terns! This work is done in partnership with the PA Game Commission, PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, US Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Wildlife Services and the Western PA Conservancy.
Piping Plover Monitoring
106-day monitoring season | 125 slogs
5 adult Piping Plovers observed.
3 fledged Piping Plover chicks.
8th consecutive year of successful nesting!
1 of this season's chicks, ‘Red Dot’ already spotted on a coastal island in Georgia.
Common Tern Monitoring
113-day monitoring season.
1 pair of adult Common Terns.
2 nesting attempts.
2 fledged Common Tern chicks.
Media Coverage: It was their tern! | Allegheny Front Interview
““To see them flying for the first time made my heart soar””
Saturday, August 17th, 2024 marked the FIRST TIME in 60+ YEARS that Common Terns successfully nested in Pennsylvania!
We hosted a work day in April to install posts and roping along the Gull Point trail in preparation for the upcoming season. Then another in October to take it all back down for winter storage. Reminder: all of Gull point is open to birders and others October through March!
Shorebirds weren’t the only ones nesting on our beaches!
EBO summer intern, Victoria Walton, observed Bank Swallow nesting colonies on 51 days at 3 locations within Presque Isle State Park - one at Beach 8, one at Beach 7, and one at Beach 6.
Morning Flight Monitoring
With nearly ONE MILLION BIRDS counted and 138 taxa documented, EBO’s Morning Flight Program continues to help cement Erie’s place as one of the top sites for spring migration in all of North America!
115 Days atop the TREC Tower
498.31 Observation hours
1,972 Visitors - a new record!
979,611 Total Birds counted - our highest season yet!
138 taxa
Top 5 Species Counted:
Common Grackle: 302,365
Red-winged Blackbird: 256,232
European Starling: 73,144
American Robin: 41,496
Turkey Vulture: 27,913
April 17th, 2024 was a record-shattering day with EBO's Morning Flight Counter, Jason Bojczyk, helping tally 20,005 Broad-winged Hawks in just 1 HOUR!
Read more HERE
Landbird Monitoring
Spring Banding
36 days of banding over a 7-week period | 3,185.5 mist net hours.
85 species processed.
29 nanotags deployed on 4 species of neotropical migrants.
859 visitors - a new station record!
Highlights
Record number of Cape May Warblers- all well fed, 60+% "weight out of range."
Record number of American Robins- with almost all females showing evidence of breeding locally.
Multiple young birds that only recently fledged from nearby ‘local’ nests- a first for us at our migratory station!
Long Point Bird Observatory recaptured a Yellow Warbler 2 days after we banded it!
Fall Banding
35 days of banding over 8-week period | 3,279.25 mist net hours.
60 species processed.
10 nanotags deployed on 2 species of neotropical migrants.
555 visitors - a new (fall) record!
Highlights
Carolina Chickadee: a station first & the FIRST Erie County Record!
Bicknell's Thrush: a station first & the 3rd Erie County record!
1st fall foreign recapture- a hatch year Yellow-rumped Warbler banded only a few days prior in Canada.
Recap of a 6-yr old House Wren &
a 5-yr old Downy Woodpecker.
Marshbird Monitoring
187 total surveys conducted from May 21st - July 19th.
56 survey points.
~18 miles walked
~50 miles kayaked, often through dense, tall spadderdock & smartweed!
Common Gallinules detected at 5 locations.
Least Bitterns detected at 12 locations.
Virginia Rails detected at 4 locations.
Pied-billed Grebes detected at Head of Bay on 2 dates, very likely indicating nesting (doesn’t happen every year!)
Though the marsh birds this season remained elusive with regard to being photographed, several were quite vocal prompting EBO Lead Marshbird Monitor, Chris Lundberg, to record their calls. Click on species name to listen. Common Gallinule Least Bittern
Erie Bird Observatory and partners received the 2024 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for the project, The Restoration of Nationally Designated Priority Wetlands at Presque Isle State Park. A prestigious honor and a validation of all our hard work over the years.
EBO offered five Birding by Kayak trips with Lead Marshbird Monitor, Chris Lundberg, leading a total of 17 people out into the PI marshes along his marshbird monitoring routes. Participants were thrilled to hear (and occasionally even catch glimpses of!) some of our most secretive study species.
BirdSafe Erie Monitoring
SPRING
54 days | 5 monitoring routes
291.6 total miles walked by 8 volunteers
47 total birds found.
12 birds successfully released after receiving treatment at Tamarack Wildlife Center
FALL
56 days | 5 monitoring routes
302.4 total miles walked by 9 volunteers
85 total birds found
15 birds successfully released after receiving treatment at Tamarack Wildlife Center
Birding with EBO:
Guided Walks, Outings, Events, & More!
SPRING
20 Guided Bird Walks in Erie County.
94 participants.
157 species of birds.
Highlights
Multiple walks treated to nice looks at some of the more secretive warblers like Northern Waterthrush & Canada Warbler.
2 Woodcock Watches - 1st time ever!
Offered 5 Evening Walks.
Birded new locations- Headwaters Park.
38 people braved the temps on a brisk February day for our annual Winter Hike to Gull Point!
FALL
18 Guided Bird Walks in Erie County.
60 participants.
75 species of birds.
Highlights
Many beginner birders looked through binoculars for the 1st time!
Frequently treated to great views of Red-breasted Nuthatches on Pine Tree Trail.
Red-shouldered Hawk- a fitting bird for the last walk of the season.
2 Owl Prowl Events - Our 1st Ever!
Our 1st Dabblers & Divers event was so popular in the spring, we offered it again!
From above average numbers of Willets, Godwits & Whimbrels to the more rare visitors: Hudsonian Godwit, Ruff & Roseate Tern (plus everything in between!), Gull Point proved to be this summer's shorebirding hotspot!
Read the riveting recap HERE by Ripley Kindervater, whose Ruff documentation marked the first-ever photographic record of this species for Erie County!
On June 15th, the EBO Piping Hot Plovers participated in the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology's 4th Annual Breeding Bird Blitz for Conservation— and with 130 SPECIES documented in just 1 DAY set a NEW PA State RECORD for June! Read More HERE.
Friends,
If these numbers and stories inspire you, and you want to be part of helping these and similar projects continue to grow, please make a year-end donation today. More knowledge of birds and their habitats, by more people in northwest Pennsylvania and beyond, is what EBO's core mission is all about: avian research, education and community engagement in conservation.
You helped EBO soar in 2024, and we look forward to another strong year ahead—
Help us thrive in 2025!
P.S. Thank you for caring about birds in northwest Pennsylvania and globally. If you have recently donated, thank you!