Fulton County Spotlight
April 26 – 29, 2024
Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology (PSO) is promoting counties across the state to explore its hotspots and find as many birds as we can.
On April 26th, join us as we lead a 4-day concentrated effort to bird Fulton County! This is another one of the state’s under-birded counties but there is so much to explore. We are hitting this southern tier county in the hopes of getting some early migrants as well as documenting resident birds. We have field trips lined up for all 4 days this time.
As a group, we want to document as many birds as possible during this extended weekend. Birders are invited to tag along with others or explore the county’s game lands, water areas, fields and wild areas on their own terms.
Notable hotspots for the county can be found https://pabirds.org/siteguide/pacountypage.php?CountyID=29
We have created a Groupme text/chat group for that area to get out the word for rarities and group information, to join that text, here is that link https://groupme.com/join_group/98968688/EF8KoBw7
For anyone who is going to be birding during the 4-day birding spotlight, we ask you share your ebird checklists with PSO Birding Data then we can keep track easier. We have also created an eBird Trip Report link where pictures, checklists, etc. will be available for everyone to enjoy. Here is the link for the eBird trip report https://ebird.org/tripreport/199085
We will be sharing pics and updates on the Fulton County Birding Spotlight event page on Facebook, here is that link https://fb.me/e/1QJZQ23RV
Birders of all skill levels are invited to join-in and contribute! If you just want to learn more about birds or you can help others and our challenge, we want you to be involved!
More details to be shared closer to the date.
Here is the info on the 4 days of trips.
Friday 4/26 – Meet at 8am at Knobsville Tract Buchanan State Forest to look for winged-warblers and other early migrants. We will meet at the parking area on the left which is located at 25185 Great Cove Rd, McConnellsburg, PA 17233. Second stop Kerper Tract Buchanan State Forest (also referred to as Redbud) for LOWA, AMRE and other early migrants. Third stop Fulton County Sportsmen’s League Fish Hatchery will be our lunch stop – plan on packing your lunch. Walking will be mostly flat terrain but potential for wet grass and a little bit of mud in all three locations so bring an extra pair of shoes. Possible fourth stop after lunch will be Union Church Cemetery to look at listen for a possible Blue Grosbeak (present at this location the last two years around this time). We’ll play this last stop by ear depending on what might be going on at the church/cemetery that day.
Saturday 4/27 – Meet at 8am at Meadow Grounds Lake at the dock (follow the signage) where we’ll take a look for any late waterfowl, SCTA, vireos and early migrants. This stop will involve driving to a couple of stops within the Game Lands. Driving will be on good gravel roads. (Note – cell service is sketchy at this location.) Second stop will be Haines-Seville Wetlands Area for LOWA, YEWA, other early warblers and GRHE. Third stop will be Sideling Hill Picnic area where we will have lunch – plan on packing your lunch. After lunch we will drive back Bark Road (good gravel road) to Cliff Trail where hopefully we can track down PRWA and maybe CSWA. If anyone has any interest in afternoon birding, we will proceed over the mountain to Wells Valley where we will bird Mosebey and Ford Roads looking for BOBO and other field birds. Walking will be mostly flat terrain but potential for wet grass and a little bit of mud in all locations so bring an extra pair of shoes.
Sunday 4/28 – Cowan’s Gap/Tower Road – Meet at 8am at the middle of the parking lot at Cowans Gap. We will be walking around the lake and exploring some trails nearby. We are awaiting some contact with the park people when they come back from seasonal off time for more details. After exploring this area, we will head SW to Tower Road for some high elevation birding and some tremendous views from some rocks that could be a hawkwatch. Bring your own lunch.
Monday 4/29 – Tracy Mosebey will be doing a wildcard day. Itinerary that day will start at 8am at Meadow Grounds. After checking the lake for waterfowl we’ll re-visit any good spots from previous days or possibly take a trip south of town to Gem Bridge Road to look for Cliff Swallow. Again, walking will be mostly flat terrain but potential for wet grass and a little bit of mud in all locations so bring an extra pair of shoes. Plan on packing your lunch.
