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12/7/09 The Allegheny Front Hawk Watch is now leading all the eastern hawk watches in Golden Eagles and we're still counting. Our eagles use the conveyor belt effect produced by strong east winds riding over the escarpment at the hawk watch. This wave of deflected wind allows eagles to soar while using much less energy in flight. We now know that many of these eagles will spend the winter in the Mountains of Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina, however, there is always a few eagles that overwinter in Pa.
The new blind built by Chris Payne and his scout group at Dunnings Creek Wetlands is finished and working extremely well. Once inside the blind you can see waterfowl as close as 7 feet. This fall the numbers ranged from 80 to 350 ducks and geese of 10 species in this one pool. The blind allows for accurate counting and excellent photography. This Spring I will start doing counts again (I just finished fall) and I invite anyone interested to accompany me on the counts. You will learn a lot, see more wildlife than you could ever imagine and enjoy a pleasant afternoon in the field.
The newest mammal to the wetlands is the coyote which predates on ducks, geese, herons, turtles, frogs and anything else it can catch. Fortunately, the coyotes are not as abundant as one might assume since they cover a wide geographic area. The general public's impression is that they are abundant since they hear and see them ocassionally near or on their property. What you have to consider is the long period when you don't see them. If you own a farm they may come on strong and stay several weeks, however, once all the skunks,
opossums and (unfortunately red foxes) are gone they move on.
Tom Dick
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