From the President’s Desk (December 2025)
For long-time members, this President’s Desk essay will feel a little different. It is the first one being sent to members by email and it will also appear in the Pennsylvania Birds journal. The board is excited about the potential of this new format to provide more timely information on PSO’s programs and encourage participation in birding and bird conservation. We are indebted to our newsletter editor, Kaitlyn Stouch, for her hard work and design skills.
So, first, a few logistics. For members with an email address on file, The Pileated will now be sent to you every other week via email. For members with no email address on file, you will see printed highlights from the newsletter starting with the next issue of Pennsylvania Birds, such as field trip reports, community science updates, the President’s Desk essay, and program announcements. All members who elect printed materials will continue to receive a print version of the journal.
As we have worked behind the scenes to make this transition, it has been a useful and informative exercise to look at the evolution of The Pileated and how it has reflected broader changes in birding and communication. It is interesting to note that PSO’s newsletter wasn’t always called The Pileated. The familiar logo of the state outline with a Pileated Woodpecker first appeared in July of 1992. It was not until December of 2023 in Volume 14, No. 4, that the name appears on the headline. Before then, it was generally just labeled as the PSO Newsletter.
The first issue of our newsletter, from April 1990, is instructive and provides an interesting point of comparison to what PSO has become 35 years later. You can view the first issue – and all prior issues – at https://pabirds.org/back-issues-of-the-pso-pileated/.
Volume 1, Number 1 of the PSO newsletter announced the formation of the organization and invited readers to return a membership form. Conrad Schmidt, President, noted that PSO was the “first state-wide organization for amateur and professional ‘bird-people’ of Pennsylvania” and that PSO intended to be an active group that develops its own projects, supports projects led by others, sponsors field trips, and holds an annual meeting.
The initial newsletter makes clear that PSO, fresh off of the conclusion of data collection for the first Breeding Bird Atlas, was off to a quick start.
There was a report on the first-ever PSO field trip, held March 17, 1990, at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lancaster and Lebanon Counties. A group of 14 birders found three roosting Long-eared Owls near the visitor center and a variety of dabbling ducks. The report casually mentions seeing several pheasants, which would be noteworthy today. An announcement noted upcoming planned field trips, visiting Presque Isle State Park in May and the Tinicum National Environmental Center (now known as the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum) in August. The leaders for these trips were Jerry McWilliams and Johnny Miller, respectively.
PSO’s founders certainly had good taste in birding locations, as their first three field trip destinations are currently among the top four hotspots in the state for total species in eBird. Trips to well-known birding sites are still a part of PSO’s repertoire, especially during our Birding Festivals, but we also try to encourage birding in lesser-known locations through our County Spotlight series.
A brief summary of the 1989-1990 Christmas Bird Count is included. Lower Bucks and Southern Lancaster shared the top species count honors with 95 each; both sites are still routinely among the top counts in PA. A few maps detailed the counts of species of interest across every CBC circle. The northward march of Red-bellied Woodpecker is highlighted with high numbers in the southeast and southwest, along with reports at nearly all circles in the state. The current birder may have their mind boggled by the number of Evening Grosbeaks present during a “small invasion of northern finches.” Nearly half of all circles had double digit Evening Grosbeaks, with two sites hitting three digits.
Updates on the Breeding Bird Atlas and several Pennsylvania Game Commission bird survey programs, such as colonial nesting birds and grassland birds, are included and assistance is sought to support these efforts. This is still a key role of PSO. As demonstrated through the current Third Pennsylvania Bird Atlas, PSO is a conduit for communicating to the state’s birders about opportunities to support bird science.
The upcoming year will show that much has remained the same since that 1990 launch, but with a few modern twists and expansions.
We will highlight opportunities for summer birding and supporting the Bird Atlas at our Birding Festival, which evolved from the annual meeting mentioned in the first newsletter. From June 19-21 we will gather in Altoona, Blair County, for field trips, talks, socializing, and, yes, the annual business meeting.
PSO will host three County Spotlight field trip weekends: March 13-16 in Huntingdon County, April 24-27 in Fayette County, and October 16-19 in Potter County. These events include some traditional bird walk outings and use eBird and Discord to connect birders and track observations.
And we will lead the sixth annual Breeding Bird Blitz for Conservation from June 6-16. The Blitz is an example of PSO developing its own program, a unique event that encourages birding and supports bird conservation, having distributed more than $92,000 in grants to support local projects across the state.
Of course, most of the communications about these events will come digitally, including on our website, www.pabirds.org. Much as Conrad Schmidt asked in that April, 1990, newsletter, I hope you will engage with PSO. In addition to joining our scheduled events, please let me know any time if you have program ideas or would like to volunteer. PSO has grown in many ways over the past 35 years, but we are still driven by volunteers and a desire to support and connect birders across the state.
-Brian Byrnes
President
