Bird count helps mark the impact of a changing climate

Walking along the Westmoreland Heritage Trail on Saturday morning, counting the birds flying around the woods of the Saltsburg and Slickville areas, Alex Busato said the tally serves a larger purpose than just counting birds one day in the winter.

The Christmas Day bird counts in some sections of Westmoreland County have been ongoing for more than 60 years, which shows a trend that can be used to monitor the movement of breeds into the state and those that are leaving the state because of shifts in climate, said Busato, 25, president of the Westmoreland Bird and Nature Club.

The data suggests more birds, such as the gray catbird, are remaining in Pennsylvania over the winter and making shorter migrations to places such as Virginia because of warmer temperatures in the state, said Busato, a science teacher at the Valley School of Ligonier, near Rector.

“It’s probably because of a shift (northward) in (vegetation) growth zones caused by milder and warmer climate. It’s part of the reason why this data set is so important. It’s going to tell us how we are to focus on our conservation efforts,” Busato said.

The data collected over decades allows conservationists to track the trends in birds in the state and how their habitat is impacted by changes in the climate, said Busato, who was jotting down the species of the birds he saw and how many.

“Birds are in a unique position in conservation” because of their need for clean water, woods, seeds, plants and insects, Busato said.

Busato participated in the Bushy Run Christmas Bird Count that spread across a 15-mile radius from the site of the historic Bushy Run Battlefield along Route 993 in Penn Township.

About a dozen people were participating in the Bushy Run Christmas Bird Count at other sites, including Loyalhanna Lake and Beaver Run Reservoir, Busato said. He anticipated traveling about 50 miles on back roads north of Route 22 and around the Beaver Run Reservoir, stopping randomly to count birds.

Busato was joined by Faye Wentling of Monroeville in starting their bird-counting day at 6 a.m. in Saltsburg. Their nighttime trek was successful because they heard the sounds of the mating calls of two great horned owls in the midst of their courtship and heard a response from a third owl along back roads near Saltsburg, Busato said.

He said he used an owl caller, amplified by a Bluetooth speaker.

Going out before dawn’s first light is a necessity to locate owls, Busato said.

“Once first light hits, they go to bed,” Busato said.

Morning is an ideal time to spot birds, which are foraging for seeds and insects after enduring a cold night where they could expend a lot of their weight just keeping their bodies warm, Busato said.

They spotted about 250 birds and some 25 species, including blue jays, cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers, titmouse, sparrows, eastern Meadowlark and American kestrel, Busato said.

Wentling, a retired English teacher with Pittsburgh Public Schools, was making her first Christmas Day bird count. She said she wanted to join someone experienced at counting birds, and Busato fit the bill. He’s a veteran of Audubon Society bird counts, having done four at Powdermill Nature Reserve in Cook Township and two Bushy Run Christmas bird counts.

Busato said he has been interested in birds for the past six years, since taking an ornithology class at Bucknell University in Lewisburg.

“It just kind of fit into what I wanted to do,” Busato said.

During his search for the birds, he also relied on the Audubon Bird Guide app on his cellphone to help him identify the sounds he was hearing. The app serves as a free field guide to the sounds of North American birds, giving the user the identity of the bird and providing other characteristics.

In addition to the Bushy Run bird count, the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania has sponsored bird counts this month in the Buffalo Creek Valley, the Mon Valley, at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve in Fox Chapel and in South Butler.

The survey is the largest citizen science effort held for one day, between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5, throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands, according to the Audubon Society.

The data Busato collects will be added to national Audubon Society’s bird count and that of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Third Pennsylvania Bird Atlas. That count is a comprehensive tally of birds in the Keystone State, which will end in February 2029, according to the state Game Commission.

“They (birds) are really a great poster child for conservation in general,” Busato said. “When we help birds, we typically help the entire ecosystem.”