Huntingdon County Spotlight Summary
March 13-16, 2026
Central PA was on the stage for the first spotlight of 2026 and we hoped that one of the largest lakes in the state would offer up some goodies for the March visit. Seeing the big snow a while back, then the big freeze, then some 80 degree weather really had humans and feathered friends confused in the last month or two. We knew we would get some birds, but what kinds, where and how many is the question.
Friday morning we started it off with a visit to the Shavers Creek and Stone Valley area, being led by Doug Wentzel and some environmental education interns from various counties in the state and Linnéa Smeds from Sweden. We were also joined by Connor Schmitt from Blair, Joe Gyekis from Centre, Tiffany Willow from Perry and Renee from Huntingdon who had just retired. I got to the lake early and through the fog was able to pick out a few species of waterfowl. I heard Pine Warbler in the trees, Brown Creeper and Red-breasted Nuthatch were also letting their presence known near the boat access. We took a walk up the hill to the Shavers Creek Environmental Center which isn’t open yet as they are still working on the parking lot and some other things, but we had the inside scoop to get a personal tour of the Aviary from Alex Suleski. A few in the group had never been there and it has been a few years since I was in there. An adult American Goshawk was the highlight for me, but Matilda, the Black Vulture, was the highlight for Tiffany. Also newly arrived birds included a pair of Rough-legged Hawks and a first-unveiling-to-the-public Short-eared Owl. This owl was chill sitting there looking at us from the perch at the front of the cage. Just before our arrival it had a tarp around it while they were letting it become accustomed to its new surroundings. The eagles were noisy as ever.
From there, a few of us went over to Whipple Dam, but some construction over there was quite loud and we only got to see a few species. We met Lisa Dowd over there who did birding on her own, she was able to add Ruffed Grouse and Pine Siskin to our spotlight. Tiffany and I then decided to make a beeline down to southern Raystown Lake to see if the Black Scoters remained since March 7th. We led Warren & Nina Wolf to our spot so they could get the birds as well, they did birding on their own for the spotlight which many people enjoy vs the group birding which many enjoy as well. We were quite tickled to see the scoters remain in the same area north of the 994 causeway. We birded our way up the western side of the lake, the gulls and ducks were plentiful at Aitch and Brumbaughs.
At 5pm we were to meet at the Greenwood Furnace State Park for some evening birding, Joe G joined me as well as Connor S. They both had thermals with them and got to find some daylight American Woodcock hiding in the woods leafy areas. We got to enjoy courtships of Red-shouldered Hawk, Common Raven, 7 Great Blue Herons with 1 even carrying nesting material which got coded, 2 Great Horned Owls calling which got coded as well, so some breeding atlas work was getting done, Amber. We also kicked up a Hermit Thrush and Fox Sparrow. It wasn’t too long after dusk that the peenting of the Timber Doodle and then their flights started happening. Tom Filip from Tussey Mt came down to join us, but soon we started feeling drops, then the wind kicked up and hard rains came upon us. The owling for the night was taken away by mother nature but we had Great Horned Owl on the board. Josh Potter was able to also add Barred Owl at Shavers for us, so 2 owls on day 1. We ended up with 79 species at the end of Friday.
Saturday morning came after some hard wind and rain storms hit the area hard, some people lost power, much tree shrapnel was just about everywhere. We had to change our morning plans 2 times after Water Street parking was shut down, then the trailhead for Lower Trail was closed, so we met in Alexandria, working our way to Fort Anderson Pond, then to Warrior Dam, stopping a few places along the way. A mink walking below the dam was a highlight for those who were able to see it. Dave & Trudy Kyler led the way for us in the morning, taking us to SGL 322 for some Red-headed Woodpeckers which seems to be the only reliable spot in the county. We finished the morning at Old Crow wetlands. We then had everyone go their own way for lunch before many of us met back up at Seven Points Marina to check the lake again. We had hoped the American Coot would still be hanging at the marina, but we weren’t able to find it, but were pleased to add over 50ish Tundra Swans and a large flock of Bufflehead before a boat took off from the marina. We did add an American Herring Gull from the docks. Working our way down the western side again, we got into large numbers of ducks and gulls at Brumbaugh, Deb & Greg Grove joined us, we got to enjoy many Redheads, American Wigeons, both scaup, Ring-necked Ducks and we counted almost 30 Bald Eagles. From there we headed to Aitch access and found a large flock of mergansers and were able to find some Red-breasted Mergansers. Most of the group peeled off but we wanted to get a lifer in the Black Scoter for Kazumi Ohira which we did and also add Horned Grebe to the spotlight. From there Connor and I kept going down to Tatman Run. There we were able to add Green-winged Teal and Bonaparte’s Gull for the spotlight. Heading north, we had a nice dinner at Doans BBQ with Jon Kauffman who had been doing Tussey Mt and Golden Eagle activities with some people from the Nature Inn at Bald Eagle State Park. We met up with several people near Shavers Creek at 7pm for some American Woodcock and some owling. It didn’t take long for us to get some Timberdoodles and a Barred Owl ripped a few calls out for us, but both Jon and I tried to call in Eastern Screech Owl and he tried for Northern Saw Whet Owl in a few spots, it just wasn’t meant to be. We went on the north side of Lake Perez and got to enjoy another Barred Owl as well as Tundra Swans flying overhead. Our day 2 ended with 86 species.
Sunday started with a group of us meeting at the VFW ballfields before heading to the Dam and working our way down the river. Dave Kyler and Greg Grove led the charge, we had Steve Schmit join us as well. We added a Chipping Sparrow on the day, and found Hermit Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Cedar Waxwing, Golden Eagle who came after some Wood Ducks on the river. Dave Kyler was able to get us a Wilsons Snipe, Jon Kauffman was able to also add Horned Lark and American Pipit.
On Monday, there weren’t as many left of the birding core, but the locals and some others did kick up some great birds as well as added quite a few new ones on the cleanup of the last day. Notables for the day included Blue-winged Teal, Long-tailed Duck, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Merlin.
We ended up with 105 species on the 4 day effort from 195 checklists, pictures of 15 species and audio of 12 species. The audio is usually done by Julia Plummer who goes off on her own to get less noise from other people. We are thankful to have her join as many spotlights as she has.
If you want to check out our eBird Trip Report, here is that link. Huntingdon County Birding Spotlight – eBird Trip Report https://ebird.org/tripreport/473516
Thanks goes out to many who helped plan this event as well as others and the ones in the future. We would not have as much success on these without the help of locals as well as working hotspots on eBird. These spotlights are free to anyone, being offered by PSO, we do suggest you consider joining us to help promote birding all across the state as well as many other great things we do. Check out our website for more information about PSO and how to join. https://pabirds.org/
The next spotlight is going to be in Fayette county from April 24-27 and the last of the three spotlight events for 2026 will be in Bradford county on October 16-19th. For more information on these as well as all of the older ones, check out our link on the PSO website. https://pabirds.org/county-spotlights/
Summary by Chad Kauffman and Joe Gyekis.
