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Introduction The PSO’s Pennsylvania Site Guide is intended to be a comprehensive guide to birding spots in Pennsylvania, from the local Red-headed Woodpecker nesting area to such premier spots as Presque Isle State Park. We want every spot listed so birders from near and far, novice and expert, young and old can enjoy birding there for a few minutes or a few days. Do you have local areas that you bird regularly? They do not have to be mega-sites, just areas that afford access and provide a chance to go birding. For instance, you may have a number of spots that you drive to regularly during spring migration. They may consist of a few woodlots, a fallow field or two, and a few small ponds that occasionally get a shorebird or two. You could submit that route as a spring migrant tour and name it after the township it is in, a stream it follows, or the main road it follows, etc. We are also looking for more details on larger spots such as state parks and game lands. We know many of these are birded regularly, but we don’t have the information on where to go in the park, what kind of birds to expect, etc. So, if you bird a particular park or other accessible property, please submit information about it so we can have a more complete description of the site. We strongly encourage you to add your local birding areas to the list or correct or update information about existing sites. You do not have to be a wordsmith to submit your information. We will probably be rewriting it anyway in order to keep some consistency of style on the site. We will let you review the text before we post it to the web site. Instructions can be found on the Submit New Site and Update Site pages. Maps There are one or two map resources for each site; a Google Map link and/or a drawn map. Google Map - Please review the Google Map link for any site with which you are familiar and notify us of any needed corrections. In some cases, we made a “best guess” as to a certain location based on the written description, but sometimes we guessed wrong. So if you see an obvious (or not so obvious) error, please let us know. Other Maps - Google Maps are great, but do not necessarily show the relevant details needed for birders (ie. Trails, parking pull-offs, etc.). Therefore, a simplified map showing just the needed points of interest can be much more useful. We therefore welcome users to submit maps of sites. They can be hand-drawn or computer generated, or a copy of a local park’s map with handwritten notations. We will convert it to our needed format. Send paper copies to PSO, 2469 Hammertown Rd, Narvon, Pa 17555. Email digital copies to fchaas@pabirds.org. Photos We would like to have at least one photo for every site. More would be better! Photos should be of typical habitat or prime birding spots at that location. We are NOT looking for bird photos, just scenery/habitat. The photo should be labeled with the County, location, sub-location, date (month/year is sufficient), and photographer. (Example: Allegheny_Imperial_MainPond_May2008_FrankHaas.jpg). I know! It’s a lot of stuff to put in a file name, but it avoids a lot of confusion. Send them (as attachments) to fchaas@pabirds.org. If a site has an associated web site, it can be accessed by clicking on the More Info link. Bird Lists We hope to have comprehensive bird lists for each site. If you would like to add species to the site’s list (or start a list for a site) go to the site’s page and click on Edit BirdList and follow the instructions. If a site has a reference specific to this location, it is listed by clicking on the References link. Examples would be a guide booklet to a site or an annotated checklist, etc. Statewide references are also listed. County Information The following statistics are provided for each county: Square Miles References - A list of publications (some may be out-of-print) that focus on the status and distribution of the birds in this particular county. Some of the publications are regional and refer to more than one county, but statewide publications are listed in the state’s reference list. If you know of a book or checklist that has been published for your county, please let us know. Bird Clubs - Any bird clubs located in or serve the county. If any of this information is missing or incorrect, please send additions/corrections/updates to fchaas@pabirds.org. |