Fulton County Spotlight Summary
April 26-29, 2024
For our 2nd of 3 installment of spotlights this year in the state, PSO ventured to south central PA to visit Fulton County. I had just found out the week prior that Fulton and Juniata County are the only 2 counties in the whole state that have more cows than people in population. Being from one and traveling to the other last weekend almost seemed like it was fitting knowledge to gain that week. Moooooo.
I poked my friend Vern Gauthier about the county since I knew he was working it well and doing official birding work there lately and for the atlas. He let me know that we couldn’t attempt such a thing without the help of one of the (if not The) Queen of Fulton County Birding, Tracy Mosebey.
On Friday 4/26, Vern led the charge from Buchanan State Forest with Tracy co-leading. We were met by several friends who joined us kickstarting our weekend spotlight. The birds were loud and active right from the get-go, we had a nice fallout through the day. I thought I kept hearing a buzzing bird call, but those with better ears than me weren’t getting on it, finally everyone heard a good call and we knew we had a winged warbler, but you have to see them, as they can learn each other’s call and do have hybrids of several levels. No one got great looks and no pics, but we were excited to have them there already in a nice clearcut by a weather station setup. We didn’t have to wait too long until we got it or another one appear at point blank looks, singing and perched for maybe 5 minutes. Mark Nale got some amazing photos of the bird and we felt like our spotlight was off and running successfully. Deuane Hoffman had stayed in a cabin with Magpie and they were able to get some owls and whips at dawn.
In our visit to SGL 128 at Moss Rd after lunch, we were able to see and get great looks at a Worm-eating Warbler as well as Scarlet Tanager. Also enjoyed hearing Chestnut-sided Warbler. Checking out some fields near Warfordsburg, we were able to find Eastern Kingbird. In the later afternoon, we made a preview visit to Meadow Grounds and were able to find the recurring Common Loon, Red-breasted Merganser and much to our delight, we heard 2 different Barred Owl calling across the lake and the dam. Coming in late that night Jeff Kenney and Angela Romanczuk were able to find some whips and woodcock calling at the same time, of course they did, she woos them in with her love of the timber doodle. Our day ended with 99 species.
On Saturday 4/27 we met at Meadow Grounds Lake and a few more people had come into the county and were able to join us. Tracy led us again around to many places in the on again off again rain all day. Haines – Seville Wetlands proved to keep its reputation of having good birds. We were able add a lifer to Tracy with the Northern Waterthrush. Another excitement for everyone was an all time on eBird first for the county Marsh Wren, found by Michael David, with some awesome looks and calls. Together with the waterthrush and the wren, a White-eyed Vireo helped carry Tracy over the 200 species mark for Fulton County which is a real achievement especially in the rural and mountainous regions. Something that stumped us all was many of us were hearing what we thought was Common Raven, but after seeing and knowing it was coming from an entirely different species, a Hooded Merganser hen. She seemed nervous, as if so many people around a probable nest site was causing agitation. It was so similar to a raven sound that we were all humbled and laughed at being fooled.
Some late evening birding around a Cemetery in McConnellsburg gave us Horned Larks, Savannah Sparrow, and a pair of Bald Eagles coming into a nest across the valley.
That night as we ended touring the county, the fog/clouds were really getting thick, making it hard to see very far driving. After doing dinner in our Airbnb, Joe G and I decided to make a night time run to Tower Road, in the fog in fading light, we got rewarded with an adult American Woodcock on the road with 3 little cotton balls following her and they were making little chink noises back and forth. We ended day 2 with 112 species combined across all participants.
On Sunday 4/28 our day started off with Joe G leaving the rental at 4am and walking towards and on Tower Rd off Aughwick Rd, which we had planned on meeting Tracy at 5:30am. As soon as we drove onto the road, we could hear the Whips going, saw a woodcock fly across the windshield, Prairie Warblers and Eastern Towhees were calling out. The heavy fog from the night before was not on the top of the ridge thankfully and when we got to the end at the vista viewing platform, all of our jaws dropped with the view. The ocean of fog and clouds made the mountain tops look like islands in the sea. The clouds were moving like waves, we got so many great shots and video as the sun was coming up and changing our view. We were able to hear and feel a Ruffed Grouse doing its thing.
The morning flight of birds was also tremendous and we hated to leave, but we had to get ready to pack up and meet our crew at 8am at Cowans gap for our planned walk. As we were getting lower in elevation, the clouds got thick again and until I pulled into the parking lot, I couldn’t see either end or the lake. As we were waiting for others to arrive, the birds showed us that there was a fallout, we were getting species we hadn’t gotten yet on the weekend, including Black-throated Blue, Nashville and Cape May Warblers. A nice walk around the lake gave us a fantastic list to add to our spotlight. A few more peeled away from our crew while the rest of us headed south to Tower Rd, just before route 30. Some of the crew had been on part of that road, but most didn’t go to the end at the vista. After a nice lunch in the shade, I had to head home while some of the others went their separate ways to continue birding in various places. The day ended with 129 species.
On Monday 4/29, Tracy met some others at Meadow Grounds Lake and then did some cleanup of lingering species and to refind some for some of the newbies who came into the spotlight. Their big news blast for us all was finding a Surf Scoter on the lake. That is always a fun bird to find anytime. Mark and Darla were able to find Red-headed Woodpecker. After missing on Cliff Swallow, Tracy was able to find it for the weekend as well.
So, our final numbers came out to be 133 which is just fantastic to allow some fallouts of the spring migration land right where we were at. We had 117 checklists, 52 species with photos and 31 with audio. Julia Plummer did her own thing again solo so she could get better quiet audio. Will Krohn also did some on his own and with our group Sunday. Joe Gyekis & Jeff Kenney was able to add several pics and audio to our effort too.
To enjoy our official eBird trip report, here is that link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/199085
Fulton county just isn’t visited enough or appreciated enough. It offered all sorts of habitats, terrain, elevations and views. It has some great game lands and state forests. I have been lucky enough to have visited it several times either camping, doing the hawk watch, driving through, chasing birds or just visiting with friends. I was personally able to add 22 new species to my county list which is now at 146.
