My Journey as a Young Birder in Pennsylvania

Fourteen-year-old Ezra White will present his experiences of becoming a young birder in Pennsylvania and how our state’s unique avifauna, geography, and birding community have inspired and cultivated his birdwatching journey. He will also reflect on how digital technology and resources have transformed his generation’s birding practices.

Ezra lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has been committed to viewing and documenting Pennsylvania’s birdlife since age six. He has led bird outings for the Three Rivers Birding Club, the Pennsylvania Society of Ornithology, and the American Birding Association, and he has won the PSO’s Youth Scholarship and medaled in the ABA’s Young Birder of the Year Program.

At age six Bracken Brown shifted from birding enthusiast to research when he began volunteering with Hawk Mountain’s kestrel project on his family’s farm. He enthusiastically pursued a career that saw him working with many species and organizations across the globe but is most at home when working with raptors in the agricultural communities along the Kittatinny ridge.

Charismatic Conservation:
Using Farmland Raptor nestboxes to engage private lands with conservation management

Bracken Brown

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association’s boasts 70-year experience engaging landowners in conservation through our American kestrel nest box program. This talk will feature a new conservation partnership using nestboxes to augment watershed conservation efforts in the Chesapeake watershed through a collaboration with Stroud Water Research Center and partners in PA DCNR, Pennsylvania Game Commission and Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership. Goals are to improve private lands conservation efforts and practices to benefit habitat and water quality as well as nesting raptors.

Audubon Certified Backyard Habitat: A Framework for Meaningful Stewardship

Nickolus Stahlman

Nickolus Stahlman has been birding for about 12 years, inspired by a naturalist-led walk in East Tennessee. He has since developed a strong interest in bird behavior and habitat needs, which he has carried into his professional work as a technician on migratory bird projects. He currently works with the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, supporting Bird Town Pennsylvania and the Certified Backyard Habitat program, and is always scanning waterways for his favorite bird, the Belted Kingfisher.

Nocturnal Flight Calls

Joe Gyekis

Joe will talk about recording bird migration from his suburban home at night for the past 8 years as well as observations from other Pennsylvania nocturnal flight call (NFC) recording friends, including fun rarities, interesting discoveries about migration timing, and which species are consistently easier to find by NFC than normal daytime birding.

Joe Gyekis is a health science instructor at Penn State and an enthusiastic lifelong birder with particular interests in patch listing, nocturnal flight calls, and bird-window collisions.

Ross has been birding since age 7 where his journey as an active member of the Alleghney Plateau Audubon Society in Cambria County. Since then he’s lived on both sides of the state (Washington and Chester Counties) and has spent years traveling the world to far flung spots in search of some of the world’s rarest birds. While at home Ross is an avid state and county lister.

Chasing Birds, Chasing History: The Journey to a Pennsylvania Big Year Record: 2024

Ross & Melissa Gallardy

What does it take to see more bird species in Pennsylvania in a single year than anyone ever has? Join us for a fun and personal journey through the making of a PA Big Year record. Follow along with the early mornings, the wild chases, the birds that got away, and the ones that showed up just in time. We’ll dig into the rich history of Pennsylvania big years, the obsessive preparation and split-second decisions that go into chasing every last species, and the quirky geography that makes the Keystone State a frustrating yet uniquely rewarding place to bird. Along the way, we’ll explore how a little science and a lot of stubbornness can help you predict where the next rarity will turn up and we’ll close with a look ahead at what’s still possible. Whether you’re a hardcore lister or just love a great adventure story, this talk will leave you inspired and maybe a little dangerous with a pair of binoculars.