Fayette County Spotlight Summary
April 24-27, 2026
Our 2nd of 3 spotlights for 2026 took us waaaaay down in the SW corner of PA. So far, those counties haven’t been claimed by WV so we still count them as part of our 67 counties in the commonwealth of PA. We planned this one for the last weekend of April as we have done all of our April spotlights in the hopes the southern tier counties will have earlier migrants. How will this one fare compared to other ones we have visited, being less populated and not birded as much as some others? We shall see.
We hit up some friends we know from that area, created a list of possible helpers, formed our planning committee and let them know how this works, and started sharing ideas about what spots to visit and how to hit them. There is a good bit of behind the scenes work on these spotlights and we are getting better and more organized on each one, especially with so many locals involved.
I got in the day prior and met up with Bolana and David Schofield at Bear Run to do some scouting and birding. I had 40 county birds prior to the weekend. Could I hit 100 in my challenge to get that mark in all 67 counties? The yellow trail was a bit quiet, but about ⅔ of the way through, we heard an odd Common Raven noise and saw one going after what looked like a raptor or an owl. It was gliding through the woods ahead of the raven and we soon realized it was a young Great Horned Owl that probably got kicked off a branch and was going to another tree. It went into a broken tree snag and we couldn’t see it again, the Raven flew off making its noises. We enjoyed hearing a Brown Creeper calling and singing, so many Black-and-white Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler kept us entertained. We split ways and I went to enjoy the evening at my Airbnb which was in just a fantastic spot. It looked like it would hold woodcock and winged warblers. I got out on the deck with my phone, camera, bins and a fine beverage to enjoy the sunset and dusk. I heard American Woodcock almost instantly along with my first of the year Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
Waking up early on spotlight day 1, I was excited to get back on that deck early, with coffee this time, and heard Field Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Wild Turkey, Great Horned Owl, Wood Thrush and many of the regulars in the predawn chorus. The 2nd round of deck setting while waiting for Mike Fialkovich got me 6 species of warbler including Nashville which was scarce this weekend. Mike was leading a trip at Mill Run Reservoir and Indian Creek Valley Trail. Twelve people from various counties were at the meeting spot. Tom & Janet Kuehl, from Westmoreland, were in charge of keeping everyone in line, not sure who was keeping Tom in line, but that is another story. Carole Winslow came from Clarion, Sandy Kline came from Somerset, Justin Merry from Blair, Judy Lesso and Paul Worona from Alleghany and the Wetzel clan from Somerset. The parking lot was full of birds and songs so the eBird checklist and Merlin were going fast and furious. White-eyed Vireo started the excitement, Yellow-throated Warbler was quite loud, it didn’t take long for us to hear a winged warbler song of the Golden-winged type, but since songs could be hybrids or even the wrong species in overlap zones, we had to try and see it. In this case, it wouldn’t show for us. We did later hear two Blue-winged type songs and finally got to see them to confirm that species. Some shorebirds were on the lake, so we could add Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpiper and Spotted Sandpiper. We enjoyed finding a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on and building a nest. A couple of Palm Warblers was also a nice find.
We then ran to Ohiopyle for lunch and some birding around the bridges and town. We got to enjoy the swallow storm, so many Cliff Swallow nests under the bridge, heard another Yellow-throated Warbler, and saw Northern Parula building a nest in the parking lot by the visitors center. We got news of a new Red-headed Woodpecker colony near Deer Lake, so we ran there, looking at the water first, we got lucky when we saw a large flock of Willet there on the water, so we got out and just birded there at the crossing, getting our first Green Heron, saw 2 Osprey doing some fishing and saw/heard Rusty Blackbird. We were able to scope and hear Red-headed Woodpecker to the north along the tree line. It was the first time seeing our friend Andy Keister from Columbia county, who was birding on his own and finding many great things for the tally. We then all split up until the evening birding so Mike and I ran to the rental to get his car, he was able to get his year hummingbird as well as get the Blue-winged Warbler. That evening we were meeting with Bolana again at Jacobs Creek Wetlands. Our highlights were Gray Catbird, Least Flycatcher and Carolina Chickadee. As the walk continued, Shannon Thompson came to join us, some others took off and Joe Gyekis from Centre county came to join us. The spring peepers got so loud that we weren’t able to hear any American Woodcock. I tried to kick up an Eastern Screech Owl and we all got to hear it a few times to add to the tally. Joe and I made it back to the rental and got to hear a Great Horned Owl youngster bleating, a Black-billed Cuckoo chortling, and some more American Woodcock peenting. We ended up day 1 with a tally of 102.
Day 2 (Saturday) took us to Ohiopyle again for GAP and Ferncliff walk. The rain was starting on the day for us, we did a walk out over the gorge, then around some trails under the towering canopies. There was so much storm damage of large trees laying in various spots, the chainsaw crew really had their work cut out for them a while back. We were able to get some warblers and enjoy some wildflowers, including the showy orchis. We then went to the campground near the Audubon fields, while the rain was picking up, that didn’t stop the birds being active and singing. We got to hear and see another Blue-winged Warbler, Nashville Warbler and get fooled by a Northern Parula thinking we had a Cerulean Warbler (that “second category” song can be such a tease).
With the rains being around, we decided to run to some water spots, so Deer Lake again, able to add Wilsons Snipe and Hooded Merganser. Enjoyed the Red-headed Woodpeckers again, a perched adult Red-shouldered Hawk in the scope was some nice eyecandy on the day. We then went to SGL 51 to meet Shannon Thompson, but the directions got skewed and we were on the wrong side of a locked gate. Birding from the parking spot we were able to add Purple Finch, a flyover Common Loon and a Sharp-shinned Hawk on the day and tally. On the drive back out, we heard Chestnut-sided Warbler and White-eyed Vireo. This was the 2nd visit to that road based on the first one checking out a new reported Red Headed Woodpecker colony which we didn’t find but saw the tree type that would hold them. We didn’t see or hear any the first visit and on the way out, I was telling Joe that ‘I just don’t see this being a good habitat for them, maybe they would just come through,’ and then bam, there was one flying from tree to tree. What do we know about what a Red-headed Woodpecker likes or doesn’t like? 🙂
So a run to Greenlick was in store with more rainy weather coming through and we got to enjoy a Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Eastern Kingbird and many swallows. Connor Schmitt from Blair county joined us. For the evening, we had the planned visit to Forbes State Forest – Shepherd Rd. We met locals Dennish Trapnell, Ken Woolsten and Arnie Meier. We were able to see and hear several Eastern Whip-poor-wills. Calling it a night, we ended up with 134 species on day 2.
Day 3 started with 2 different field trips that were earlier and further south than our tired bodies wanted to try for, so we decided to stick more local, bird the rental area then visit Bear Run. Joe left early and was exploring and we got the awesome message that he had found the Swainson’s Warbler for the first time of the year. Connor had already walked in before me. I was trying to catch up with spotlight emails and creating a hitlist of missed birds, but I soon got changed for more rainy weather and scurried out of my car. On the way out, I was able to hear a Ruffed Grouse go off to add to the tally. Joe’s pin got me right to them and the bursty sound of the warbler filled the trail. I was lucky to get there when I did because in a few minutes it moved downstream and not sure when/if it sang or returned. As we were walking out, we added Red-breasted Nuthatch. From there, we went to Mill Run again to check out that water spot and let Joe and Connor enjoy it for the first time. The shorebirds weren’t there, no waterfowl, terns or gulls, but we saw an adult Peregrine Falcon perched and then flying away from us. Sifting through the swallows, we were able to add Bank Swallow that was being seen simultaneously around a few other places in the county the same morning. We met local Bill Dell who was getting some amazing pictures of birds and was able to share his eBird checklists with our effort, even sparked his interest in asking about PSO and maybe joining later. Walking out, we connected with Shannon Thompson, and together we made a special effort to listen for the Kentucky Warbler at the pin where Andy Keister reported it a day prior. We were rewarded with hearing the Golden-winged type song again from up on the hillside and also after a minute the Kentucky sang too. Shannon took her doggies up the trail to get eyes on the Golden-wing bird and confirmed that the songster had all the right colors in all the right places for non-hybrid Golden-winged Warbler. She also heard another bird with a similar song even further off trail. After a parking lot lunch, we all decided to part ways heading home. Connor stayed around birding, Joe did some on the way home as well, but I was done. I would follow the spotlight progress from home. Day 3 ended with 146 species.
When I got home Sunday evening, I finally got to work on the hit list for missing species, and put the word out to everyone on what to look for Sunday night as well as Monday on day 4. Many of the locals, Dennis Trapnell, Carl Thompson, Dan McGuire, Arnie Meier, Eric Yanyo, Ken Woolsten and Kerry Bell were doing their own thing through the weekend and kept going even into Monday. They really got some target birding done to find some missing species. The whole weekend was just so much fun for me and everyone that went. While we did have to deal with some rain, that can help hold birds down too and bring some down as well. The prior record for a county spotlight was York at 148 species, we are pleased to note that we got to 150 on this one. We always have to depend on the weather and the migration, but the habitat and good birders with great eyes and ears also help. So the final tally was 150 species, 231 checklists, 22 species with pictures and 13 with audio. Julia Plummer didn’t make this one to help on that front, but that’s okay, she makes almost every other one. I was able to get 127 species myself, taking my Fayette county list up to 131 all time. That is now the 35th county I have been able to get over 100 in.
The next and 3rd of 3 county spotlights for 2026 is Bradford County in October from the 16-19th. Some of the friends we birded with on last October’s spotlight are going to be involved in this one as well. Thank you for all that have joined this and ones prior to make for an enjoyable birding adventure for PSO and locals who get with us. We do have 2 of the 3 spotlights for 2027 locked in and 1 probable, you will have to wait until the next writeup after Bradford for that news. This article was with the assistance of Joe Gyekis who I thank for editing and making it more entertaining.
