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The Rhythm of Winged Creatures

February 9, 2022 By Blake Goll

Rushton Farm Bird Banding Station | Annual Year in Review 2021

Eastern Bluebird banded at Rushton Farm in May 2021. Photo by Blake Goll

The vertiginous year of 2021 began with early spring vaccinations spurring the human world to return to its usual frenetic pace in the “aftermath” of the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses, gatherings, travel, and development resumed with vigor—and the relative quiescent lull the earth had experienced in 2020 was no more. Did the natural world benefit in some small way by briefly quieting its human inhabitants? Maybe we’ll never be able to quantify it, but when the bird banders got back together at Rushton Woods Preserve last spring, it was clear (and comforting) that the birds kept on living their celestial lives: lives that were intricately synchronized with the steady rhythms of nature millions of years before we showed up.

A small songbird weighing just a little more than a quarter may spend 30% of its year in migration, traveling to and from the exact breeding and wintering locations as the year before. Scientists are still trying to understand all the mysterious physiological mechanisms that allow these tiny athletes to make such intense journeys. Each spring an estimated three billion North American migratory birds traverse distances of over 2,000 miles from the tropical wintering grounds of South America to the critical boreal forest “nursery” of Canada—most of them putting in the mileage by night, navigating by starlight and Earth’s magnetic field. This anomalous strategy allows foraging by day along the way, which is vital especially for smaller birds that can only carry so much fuel in the form of fat reserves.

The Canada Warbler, banded at Rushton in May 2021, is an example of a bird that may overwinter in South America and nest in Canada. Photo by Blake Goll

In fact for most birds, 70% of migration is spent feeding and resting in “stopover habitat”, or pit stops, rather than in sustained directional flight. Consequently, understanding how birds use stopover habitat during migration has become just as important to ornithologists as identifying breeding or wintering habitat. This is just one of the reasons why we began banding at Rushton Woods Preserve and Farm twelve years ago. Never was the stopover value of our nature preserve better elucidated than on the morning of May 4th, 2021.

The Spring Fallout

Bleary-eyed banders arrived to the hedgerows in the blue civil twilight before dawn, expecting a good catch based on the southerly winds the previous night. As the nets were opened, the vegetation around us came alive with the whispered din of hundreds of excited bird voices chirping of their recent arrival. The low chattering exploded into full song at daybreak, and it was as if we had just entered an aviary with the roar of hundreds of birds of dozens of different species reverberating through the shrubs and vines. “It’s birdy as heck out here today,” I noted, now wide-eyed, as we convened at the banding table to anticipate the first net check.

Shelly Eshleman setting a mist net. Photo by Jennifer Mathes

Favorable migration conditions the previous night combined with pre-dawn storms presented fallout conditions (whereby birds cannot continue to their destination because of the energy required to fly through severe weather) with many travelers honing in on the closest suitable stopover sanctuary. The “good catch” we expected became our best catch ever with 180 individuals being safely processed and released by our skilled team of 4 licensed banders and 7 volunteers, plus a few friends from the PA Game Commission who happened to be visiting that day.

The avian cast included our first Brewster’s Warbler (defined as a hybrid of the Blue-winged Warbler and the near threatened Golden-winged Warbler) along with a dazzling 24 other species: Magnolia Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Blue-winged Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Waterthrush, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Wood Thrush, Veery, White-eyed Vireo, Eastern Towhee, Gray Catbird, American Goldfinch, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, and White-crowned Sparrow!

In order from top left: White-eyed Vireo (Photo by Kirsten Snyder), Wood Thrush (Photo by Kirsten Snyder), White-crowned Sparrow (Photo by Blake Goll), Yellow-rumped Warbler (Photo by Blake Goll), American Redstart (Photo by Ryan Green), Indigo Bunting (Photo by Blake Goll), and Brewster’s Warbler (Photo by Blake Goll) all banded May 4th, 2021.
Two other spring beauties banded last May: Northern Parula and Baltimore Oriole. Photos by Blake Goll.

A Summer Breeding Record

After the exhilaration of tracking spring migration in the hedgerows and thickets adjacent to the farm, the banders move to the interior woodlands of the preserve to monitor our breeding birds for the Institute for Bird Populations‘ constant-effort, nation-wide study called MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship). We sizzle beneath the cathedral-like canopy of the royal beeches and tulip poplars once every 10 days for 8 weeks in summer, using our mist nets to capture a snapshot of the nesting activity of Rushton Woods. Banding fresh, fuzzy babies just out of their nests is usually reward enough, but last summer we also had the humbling thrill of catching up with a “veery” old friend.

“It’s him!”, Alison exclaimed into the data book after I routinely read off the 9-digit band number of a recaptured Veery in hand. It was the same Veery we caught the year before and several years before that; it was the same Veery we first banded in 2011 (our inaugural MAPS year) when we proclaimed him to be at least 2 years old based on our feather and molt analysis. That makes him at least 12 years old as of summer of 2021 and our oldest banded bird for the station! (The oldest recorded Veery according to the Bird Banding Lab is 13.)

Veery recaptured at Rushton Woods in summer 2021. Photo by Blake Goll

The Veery is a long-distance migrating, neotropical thrush—overwintering in central and southern Brazil—capable of flying 160 miles in one night. How awe-inspiring that our old Veery accomplished this feat a dozen times, triumphantly returning each summer to fill the emerald understory of Rushton with his ethereal song. An incredible longevity record such as this is a testament to the importance of preserving land for wild creatures. When you consider what these migratory birds must face on their journeys— habitat loss and destruction by humans, city lights and buildings, climate change, weather, pesticides, open oil pits, natural predators, and cats—it is miraculous that a bird can persist on such a knife’s edge. 

Autumn’s Bounty

Fall brings Rushton banders back out to the migration station in the relatively open hedgerows; where young birds hatched in the dark woods find a more forgiving landscape for learning how to survive; and where migrants find an abundance of insect and berry forage to fuel their southbound journeys. Fall of 2021 turned out to be our second best with 1,372 new birds banded in addition to 174 recaptures of a total diversity of 61 species (fall of 2019 brought 1,427 new birds). Gray Catbirds—familiar and endearing garden birds related to mockingbirds— had a record year, comprising 42% of our total new birds! The majority of these were fresh youngsters hatched that summer; this annual recruitment of new birds into the population is the reason why we see a species-wide increase in abundance during the fall season relative to spring. (For comparison, Spring 2021 totaled 493 new birds.)

Gray Catbird banded at Rushton in fall 2021. Photo by Blake Goll

The fall banding season is also much longer than spring, with birds taking a more leisurely voyage in the absence of the pressure of mating. Last September brought beauties like the chartreuse Chestnut-sided Warbler, the dashing Black-throated Green Warbler, and the hard-for-every-birder-to-find Connecticut Warbler. (Our nets always manage to wrest a few skulking Connecticuts out of the dense scrub where they would otherwise go undetected.)

A young Yellow-billed Cuckoo, likely hatched that summer at Rushton, took center stage on September 14th. Having evolved one of the shortest nesting cycles of any bird—developing from hatching to fledging in a mind-blowingly short seven days (and snapping at flies from the nest at around Day 2)—allows for this species to capitalize on irruptively available food sources like noxious hairy caterpillars that other birds don’t dare to mess with.

September 3oth produced our 102nd species for the station, a Cooper’s Hawk, that was ceremoniously banded by expert raptor bander and renowned naturalist and author, Scott Weidensaul. Scott happened to be visiting for a talk he was to give that evening about the Willistown Conservation Trust’s role in Motus Wildlife Tracking and his most recent book A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds. After the raptorial hawk was gently banded and processed, it was temporarily excused from the net premises for the safety of the rest of our songbirds.

In order from top left: Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Connecticut Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Photos by Blake Goll) and Scott Weidensaul with the Cooper’s Hawk (Photo by Jennifer Mathes).

Also on that illustrious day of September 30th, we recaptured a young Worm-eating Warbler—originally banded by us on September 8th—that likely hatched that summer on a nearby wooded hillside.  With a steady high fat score and consistent weight between catches, we assumed this brand new forest bird had dispersed from its natal grounds and was simply matriculating as a student in the bounty that Rushton’s shrublands have to offer.  Recaptures like this illustrate the importance of shrub habitat for young birds (including those typically associated with forests) learning how to make a living before their first migration.

Other same-season recaptures illustrate the usage of the preserve as stopover habitat rather than “a school.” For example, last September we captured many American Redstarts—diminutive forest warblers that must refuel frequently during migratory journeys. One hatch year female that was caught multiple times gained 27% of her body weight in just 10 days; that’s the equivalent of a 145 pound human gaining almost 40 pounds in a little over a week! Birds gain weight in this rapid manner only to prepare for long overnight flights. Studying the rate of weight gain through recaptures such as these can help shed light on the quality of stopover habitat in terms of supplying adequate forage for migrants. (Lucky for us, a graduate student from University of Pennsylvania is analyzing our data for this as we speak.)

Above: Worm-eating Warbler. Photo by Celeste Sheehan.
Female American Redstart. Photo by Blake Goll

October brought muted treasures like the Brown Creeper—its bark colored plumage exquisitely flecked with the same snow white of the late blooming snakeroot; the Blackpoll Warbler with its racing tiger stripes and extraordinarily long wings that would carry it 1,800 miles nonstop over the Atlantic Ocean; and the Blue-headed Vireo with its distinguished alabaster spectacles and blue-gray hood for haunting evergreen hemlock forests.

Finally, one of the last days of the season produced our fourth ever American Woodcock! These marvelously camouflaged earthworm-eaters prefer early successional woodlots next to open fields (like those found at Rushton) where the males can perform their esoteric sky dances, electrifying the dusk and moonlit skies of spring with their wing twittering and chirping spiral descents.

Brown Creeper banded in October. Photo by Blake Goll.
Blackpoll Warbler and Blue-headed Vireo banded in October. Photos by Blake Goll.
Our 4th ever American Woodcock banded in October. Photo by Blake Goll.

Bird Banding and Land Conservation

When all said and done, we banded nearly 2,000 birds in 2021 (between spring migration, summer MAPS, and fall migration). It was a wild year with fallouts, two new species for the station, discovering a bird that was with us since our very first year, hosting and educating hundreds of visitors including special guests, and training many students and colleagues. Through banding we continue to learn information about species abundance and diversity, individual longevity and site fidelity, and how birds are using our conserved land throughout their annual cycle.

Volunteer Victoria Sindlinger and WCT’s Director of Bird Conservation Program Lisa Kiziuk educating young guests. Photos by Blake Goll.
Banding team staff. Photo by Jennifer Mathes
Child releasing a Magnolia Warbler. Photos by Blake Goll

Our banding station’s high catch rates (or “birdiness”) combined with the unique setting on a regenerative farm within a greater nature preserve shows the world that people and wildlife can coexist in harmony. On a broader scale as Rushton Woods becomes surrounded by increasing human development, our continuous banding efforts may be illuminating the preserve as a critical island habitat for birds traveling through, wintering, or breeding in the region.

The gravity of the state of birds today runs the risk of being lost on the reader through an auspicious annual banding report such as this. It must be noted that in less than one human lifetime, North American bird populations have plummeted by 30% with no ecosystem spared; that’s 3 billion, or one in four birds gone since 1970, largely due to human actions. So while we recover from our world being briefly disrupted by the uncertainty of a pandemic, we must learn to minimize our disruption of the natural systems to which we are inextricably linked. (Visit #BringBirdsBack)

One thing’s for certain: wild will always be welcome at Rushton, where the rhythm of winged creatures reigns.

Nashville Warbler banded at Rushton in October. Photo by Blake Goll

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird Conservation Tagged With: Bird banding, Bird Conservation, migration, regenerative farming, songbirds

Bird Conservation Group Receives Funding from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Track Important Migratory Routes along the Northeast

December 1, 2021 By Monica McQuail

The ability of scientists to track migrating animals as small as hummingbirds and butterflies along the Atlantic Coast will take an important step forward in the coming year, thanks to a partnership between the Northeast Motus Collaboration (NMC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

The NMC, comprised of Willistown Conservation Trust in Newtown Square (where it is based), the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Dauphin County, and Project Owlnet, has received $82,500 from the USFWS to upgrade a dozen stations in the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, a rapidly growing global network of automated telemetry receivers.

Established in 2013 by Birds Canada, the Motus Wildlife Tracking System combines highly miniaturized transmitters, some weighing as little as 1/200th of an ounce, with more than 13,000 automated receiver stations around the world. As a result, scientists can now track small birds, bats and even migratory insects like monarch butterflies and green darner dragonflies across continents and hemispheres, like a gray-cheeked thrush that made a remarkable 46-hour, 2,200-mile non-stop flight from Colombia to Ontario.

The Northeast Motus Collaboration will upgrade 12 coastal Motus sites managed by the USFWS, from Massachusetts to Virginia, which were among the earliest stations in the Motus network. With these upgrades, the receivers – which originally tracked transmitters using the 166 MHz frequency – will also be able to monitor a second, 434 MHz, which is used by a new generation of tracking tags. The funding will also underwrite maintenance on the stations through 2024 and decommission two sites that are no longer needed.

  • Oven Bird with Nanotag. Photo by PARC
  • Todd Allegher of Willitown Conservation Trust working on a Motus Station in Nantucket
  • Northeast Motus Collaboration – Todd Allegher, Pam Loring, Zoe Korpi at a Nantucket Motus Station

Says U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Public Affairs Specialist David Eisenhauer, “We are thrilled to work in partnership with Northeast Motus Collaboration to upgrade Atlantic coast Motus stations with new tracking technology. These stations provide key detection coverage at coastal sites throughout the northeastern U.S. to track regional movements of thousands of birds, bats, and insects tagged by Motus collaborators throughout the Western Hemisphere. Data collected by the Motus stations help us learn more about migratory routes and stopover sites used by many different species as they travel, rest, and refuel throughout our region. This information is critical for developing science-based conservation strategies to benefit wildlife, habitats, and people at local to international scales.”

Since its founding in 2015, the Northeast Motus Collaboration has installed more than 100 Motus sites in the mid-Atlantic states and New York, and is in the middle of a multi-year project to install an additional 50 sites in New England. It is, after Birds Canada, the largest operator of Motus receivers in the world. Says Willistown Conservation Trust’s Director of the Bird Conservation Program and Northeast Motus Principal Lisa Kiziuk, “This critical funding is a testament to the scientific understanding and advancement that we can achieve when we collaborate for conservation.” The work of Northeast Motus Collaboration has been made possible by state and federal grants, private foundations and individual donors.

Northeast Motus Collaboration – The Mission of Northeast Motus Collaboration is to create an interior northeastern U.S. telemetry network to track migratory animals while taking a landscape-scale approach to conservation – connecting enormous expanses of land through scientific research, for the benefit of both humans and wildlife. For more information, visit www.northeastmotus.com.

Willistown Conservation Trust – Found 20 miles west of Philadelphia, Willistown Conservation Trust focuses on 28,000 acres within the watersheds of Ridley, Crum, and Darby Creeks of Chester and Delaware Counties. Since 1996, the Trust has permanently conserved over 7,500 acres, including three nature preserves open to the public: Ashbridge Preserve, Kirkwood Preserve, and Rushton Woods Preserve, which is home to Rushton Conservation Center and Rushton Farm. The Trust offers six nationally renowned programs for public engagement and research: Bird Conservation, Community Farm, Education and Outreach, Land Protection, Stewardship, and Watershed Protection Programs. For more information, visit www.wctrust.org.


Filed Under: Bird Conservation, Motus

Connecting Students to Bird Conservation

November 17, 2021 By Blake Goll

By Caitlin Welsh

The bird banding net lanes at Rushton Farm. Photo by Blake Goll/Staff

Since I was introduced to Willistown Conservation Trust in 2015, it has been a privilege to spend many of my working hours in the field supporting the bird banding program at Rushton.  The time spent walking the net lanes and watching the seasons change over the last two years in particular has made it much easier to stay grounded during a time when it was often easy to find oneself feeling adrift. 

As an educator who primarily engages the public in natural settings, it was especially challenging to connect with our audiences, particularly K-12 teachers and students. However, if there’s one lesson to be learned from the challenges presented by the pandemic, it’s the importance of meeting and engaging with others where they’re at, which is an intrinsic part of good educators’ practice.

I had the fortune to connect with a group of such educators who dedicated time during the pandemic to exploring ways we could help them and their students connect with the natural world.  AIM Academy is a K-12 research-to-practice school in Conshohocken, PA that strives to support students who learn differently, often by using project-based learning strategies and emphasizing 21st century skills.  With students returning to the classroom, Alicia DeVane, Julia Bower, and Cherica Onyango – AIM Academy’s 8th grade science team – were eager to find ways to immerse students in social emotional learning through science education.

  • Ken Leister, County Coordinator for Bluebird Society of PA, and educator Caitlin Welsh at AIM Academy for the bird box building project.
  • The Mobile STEAM Lab truck at AIM Academy

We focused on introducing students to migration ecology with an emphasis on bird-human interactions to help students foster personal connections to local wildlife. Over the course of two weeks, students completed a learning module in which they were able to engage with educators both virtually and in the classroom through presentations, birding on AIM’s campus, and migration mapping activities from Birds Canada that use Motus wildlife tracking data. 

The experience culminated in a project that guided students to creatively promote human behaviors that can support bird conservation, like designing and installing decals to reduce window strikes around the school building, and recording PSAs about preventing interactions between birds and domestic cats.  Activities and other learning resources, as well as an overview of this and other experiences, can be explored in the Educational Opportunities section of the Northeast Motus Collaboration’s web page.

Seeing the ease with which students could activate their empathy through creative pursuits, we were then connected with Kathy Brandon who leads AIM’s Middle School STEAM program where students incorporate art and design principles into STEM disciplines. With the 2021 school year and field season in full swing, Blake Goll, the Trust’s Education Manager, and I took a break from the banding station to work with Kathy’s students and spread the message of bird conservation even farther than the AIM community.

After learning about the Trust’s bird banding program and our work to address the challenges faced by migratory birds due to habitat loss, students had the opportunity to build nest boxes for Eastern bluebirds with guidance from the Trust’s bluebird champion, Ken Leister.  

After building the nest boxes, Kathy plans to mobilize her program and connect with community partners at St. James School, a tuition-free school for underserved student populations in North Philadelphia. Following the AIM’s mission to seek equity and access for all to STEAM Education, Kathy will use AIM’s Mobile STEAM Lab to share cross-curricular learning experiences like the nest box project with St. James Schools’ students and community.  “I really appreciate our collaboration,” Kathy said. “Maybe one bird box at a time we can make a difference for our environment”.

  • Ken Leister and Caitlin Welsh facilitating bird box building with AIM Academy students.
  • Kathy Brandon assisting her students with bird box building.
  • The finished bird boxes!

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird Conservation, Education Tagged With: AIM Academy, Bird boxes, Bird Conservation, environmental education

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: Joan Swirsky

March 30, 2021 By Mike Cranney

Since the Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT) stewardship team began our weekly volunteer days last year, Joan has been our most dedicated participant. Week in and week out, she is ready and willing to come out to the preserves and lend a hand in any way she can. “WCT has greatly enhanced my life, especially during COVID isolation, providing outdoor distanced activities virtually year round,” Joan says.

Joan moved to the Willistown area with her husband in 2017. She became involved with the Trust soon after when she started attending bird banding at Rushton. Upon learning about the various preserves and their need for maintenance, Joan jumped at the chance to help. “I am so impressed with how much property you maintain, with such a small staff, so I am glad to help.” Joan has assisted us with trail repairs, cleared invasive plants alongside Crum and Ridley creeks, and helped blaze paths at our new preserve. Recently, she has begun lending her time to Rushton farm as well. “Whenever I visit, I’m learning about birds, land preservation, or organic farming – besides meeting nice people, enjoying the outdoors, and being active. The WCT properties are a gem in my backyard.”

If you want to get involved, email our Preserve Manager, Mike Cranney (mjc@wctrust.org)

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird Conservation, Stewardship, Volunteers

American Woodcock

March 22, 2021 By Tripp Way

American Woodcock. Photo by Mike Rosengarten.

American Woodcock (Scolopax Minor) 

An Interview with Lisa Williams, Ruffed Grouse, American Woodcock, and Webless Migratory Game Bird Specialist for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Have you ever had the opportunity to witness the skydance courtship display of the American Woodcock?  Every spring a few lucky birders are blessed with the opportunity to witness the iconic, erratic, and twirling mating dance of the American Woodcock.  Migrant Woodcock return north from their southern wintering grounds to find suitable nesting habitat – and mates.  Woodcock find open areas on the edges of early successional habitat to feed, rest, and breed.  We were able to ask Lisa Williams, the Ruffed Grouse, Woodcock and Webless Migratory Game Bird Specialist for the Pennsylvania Game Commission a few questions about woodcock and their quirky habits, as well as get a few tips and tricks for you to see more Woodcock this spring.

Where should we look for spring woodcock?

“Flat brushy fields, brush thickets, and field edges with moist soils.”

What is the peak time?

“The best time to observe Woodcock is up to an hour after sunset.  Beginning about 20 minutes after sunset, males begin an elaborate courtship display that lasts for 30-40 minutes. They display during both twilight periods of the day (dusk and dawn), with the dusk display period lasting longer than the dawn period.  If you can position yourself to have the bird displaying between you and the western sky, you will enjoy the best views.”

When is the peak migration? 

“Peak migration is occurring now. The first wave of migrants began arriving in southern Pennsylvania in late February and birds had reached the New York border by March 10th. Migration will continue for the next month, with resident birds settling down to nest by mid-April.  

When will they nest? 

“Nesting typically begins in April, with peak nesting initiation beginning in mid-April.  Some nests can show up as early as late March, but earlier nests have a higher failure rate.”

How are Woodcock populations?  

“Slowly declining across the US due to the conversion of their brushy habitat to agriculture, or commercial/ residential development.  Brushy thickets are an ‘unloved’ habitat but are critically important to many birds.”

Is there any backyard habitat that can be done for Woodcock?  

Planting native shrubs in clumps along field edges. Woodcock nest near the open fields where the courtship displays occur. So if you have displaying woodcock on your property or in a local park, working to establish native shrubs as clumps in the field or along the perimeter is highly beneficial.  Providing native shrubs while eliminating invasive shrubs such as honeysuckle, multi-flora rose, autumn olive and barberry provides even more benefit, as there is evidence that non-native shrubs can actually reduce woodcock nest success because they form a dense canopy that can inhibit the hen’s ability to flush to safety when threatened.  

What is the state doing for Woodcock habitat? 

“Public Land Managers in the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Allegheny National Forest are working hard to regenerate young forests and improve habitat quality for ground nesting birds like Golden-Winged Warblers, Woodcock, and Grouse. This is done through a combination of mature timber harvest, prescribed fire, and forest improvement activities.  However, 87% of the forest in PA is privately owned, so the State cannot conserve shrub-associated species alone. The work of private landowners is key to statewide, long term success in supporting young forest species.”

Is the suburban Philadelphia area an important stopover for Woodcock?  

“OH MY, YES!!!!  An ongoing multi-state migration study of woodcock indicates that Southeast Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia area, in particular, is critically important for migrating woodcock who need to stop over to refuel. Improving habitat and working to support dark night skies (“lights out” programs) can really improve the odds for migrants who need a safe haven during their journey.

Visit our Preserves!  To find Woodcock this spring, head to Rushton Woods Preserve and wait patiently along the edges of the hedgerows at dawn and dusk. Another excellent spot is Ashbridge Preserve along the edges of the western fields and brushy stream edges.  For maps and locations of these preserves visit, https://wctrust.org/land/preserves/ and for questions please email land@wctrust.org

https://wctbirds.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/justin-thompson-with-woodcock.jpg
Justin Thompson holds a Woodcock banded at Rushton Woods Banding Station. This bird aged as an adult male as evidenced by the shorter bill length and stubbier wings.  The outer primary feathers of Woodcock give their flight the nice twittering sound heard when they erupt from the forest floor and whirl through the sky. Notice the prehensile bill tip that these birds use to feel and grasp earthworms while probing in the soil.  With big beady eyes to see in the dark and precisely camouflaged leaf-like coloring, this bird is a spectacular and cryptic beauty!  Two Woodcock have been banded at Rushton Bird Banding Station since 2010, for more information about Bird Banding and our Ten Year Banding Report, please visit https://wctrust.org/birds/.

About Lisa Williams | Lisa Williams received her B.S. in Ecology/Environmental Studies at Juniata College in Huntingdon PA and her M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Penn State University.  Lisa is currently the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s program biologist for ruffed grouse and webless migratory game birds, with research and management expertise working in young forest habitats. For her work on grouse and West Nile Virus, Lisa received the Governor’s Award for Excellence and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ Ernest Thompson Seton Award in 2020. 

The bird whisperer: Pennsylvania Game Commission's Lisa Williams leads the  charge in ruffed grouse conservation, innovation - Dominion Post

Filed Under: Bird Conservation, Conservation, Nature

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Our nature preserves are open to the public 365 days per year from sunrise to sunset, providing natural places that offer peace and respite for all. Willistown Conservation Trust owns and manages three nature preserves in the Willistown area - Ashbridge, Kirkwood and Rushton Woods Preserve. We maintain these lands for the … Learn more about our nature preserves.

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