. Venango County Birds

Welcome to the Venango County Birds webpage. The page is designed to provide birding information for those of you interested in watching, feeding, or just discussing birds in Venango County, Pennsylvania, and surrounding area.


Venango County is located in northwestern Pennsylvania approximately midway between Erie and Pittsburgh. During the past fifteen years, 265 species have been recorded in the county. Based on current available information, records previous to this are scarce.

One goal of this site is to have more local people become actively involved in finding and reporting bird sitings, so your questions, comments, criticisms, and witticisms are welcome. The more communication the better & hopefully we'll all learn something.

WHO AM I? Clue: This uncommon spring and fall migrant is the third warbler recorded this month - Answer below

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Answer: This Pine Warbler was photographed by Nancy Baker on April 14th.

BIRDING FESTIVAL A SUCCESS

Approximately 150 people participated in at least one of the birding festival activities. On Friday, following the picnic at OCSP, about 50 people attended my owl talk and 30-40 went along on the "owl prowl" afterwards. The owl outside the park office must have been otherwise occupied as we couldn't get a response from him/her. We then went to the train station and, after a few tries, had a response but could not locate the bird. A light rain began and some people left, but those who remained had an excellent look at a red phase screech owl that was perched about six feet off the ground and about 30 feet from the viewers.

The field trip to Kahle Lake was successful for the ten participants, although there weren't a lot of waterfowl on the lake. Highlights included an osprey, bald eagle, coot, ruddy ducks, and a green heron. The two trips to Buttermilk Hill Nature Sanctuary had full compliments of 24 birders each day.

BREEDING BIRD ATLAS - FINAL YEAR
The 2nd Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas project is in its fifth and final year. We still need documentation of nesting for quite a few common species in the area. Ruby-throated hummingbirds, grouse, turkey, mourning dove, all woodpeckers, song sparrow, and others have not been confirmed as breeding in many locations. All it takes is to observe nest building, see a bird on the nest, feeding young, or find recently fledged young. Any help will be welcome. To make this as easy as possible, emailing me with the information will result in my contacting you by return email to determine your general location. I'll be glad to include your name in the list of contributors to the Atlas which will be published a year or so after the completion of the project.

SENECA ROCKS AUDUBON SOCIETY

You are cordially invited to visit the Seneca Rocks Audubon Society web page at its new address: After visiting the web page, please considerjoining us at an upcoming meeting or field trip. Good times are had by all.

The next meeting is May 12, 2008, 6:30 pm at Room 150, Becker Hall, Clarion University Campus, Clarion, PA. For more detailed directions or infromation, visit the SRAS web page at www.senecarocksaudubon.org or email me at gedwards@csonline.net

Significant Sightings In The Last 30 Days:

Date Bird Name Location Comments
May 14 Summer Tanager BHNS 1st County Record
May 13 Surf Scoter Allegheny River below Reno 2 surface feeding
May 8 Black Vulture Southern Venango Co. 1st verified Co. record
May 8 Wilson's Phalarope Polk Wetlands 1 feeding along shore
May 6 Virginia Rail Two Mile Run County Park 1
May 10 American Bittern Polk Wetlands 1
April 29 Upland Sandpiper County Line Road 4
April 25 Sora Near Utica 1
April 25 Winter Wren Near Utica 1

Help Wanted!
I'm in the process of gathering information for a book on the Birds of Venango County and the more people contributing information, the better. Currently, five of us gather information on a regular basis and a few more contribute periodically. We would welcome your input. Birding experience is helpful but anyone from feeder watchers, to hunters, to bike trail enthusiasts, etc. can join in.

A BIG "THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT THIS MONTH" TO:
  • Jerry S.
  • Kathie G.
  • Russ S.
  • Nancy B.
  • Meg K


    • Other Sites to Visit

    Other Web Sites For Birds:
    All you ever wanted to know about hummingbirds
    Venango County Wildlife Rehabilitators
    Birds & other nature pictures of Charlotte County, Florida, my brother's web page with some great pictures
    National Audubon Society
    PA Soc. for Ornithology's website. Good local & statewide info
    Seneca Rock Audubon Society website
    Bartramian Audubon Society
    Eastern PA Bird Photos & Information
    Mark McConaughy's PA Bird Photos
    Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
    Find Local Birders For Your Next Trip
    Birding on the Net
    Nature site featuring on-line field guides
    Very nice general information, rarity pictures, & more
    Birding in Canada
    Birding News Around Ohio
    Purple Martin Information
    Westmoreland Co. Birds
    Rare Bird Alerts
    Virtual Birder
    About.com Bird Page
    State Checklists
    Bird Hotlines
    Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania
    Birding
    Birdzilla's comprehensive selection of wild bird info


    Other Interesting Web Sites for Related Subjects:
    Gerry Rising's Nature Watch Column
    Venango County Rootsweb Genealogy Site
    Venango County Weather
    Venango County Fishing Spots
    On-line Maps
    Local News, Oil City Derrick
    PaVisNet

    Click to find where to go birding. Where To Bird

    http://www.birding.com/Wheretobird.asp

    Discover the top birding "Hot Spots", print out free checklists and discover the best birding web sites for each area.
    Where To Bird has a separate page devoted to each State and Province as well as many foreign countries.
    The link to a specific State or Province uses this format:  http://www.birding.com/wheretobird/California.asp

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    This site was created by Gary Edwards Comments Welcome, Please Email Me

    Some graphics courtesy of Sheila Helser, all rights reserved.

    Last update, May 14, 2008