Pennsylvania Game News - December 2019 - 58

a white-breasted nuthatch joined them.
That was after Kurt and Carl Engstrom
arrived, prepared, as usual, to help count
birds on the steeper, brushier section of
our property. I suited up and headed in
the opposite direction, while my husband Bruce counted feeder birds from
the window.
Our "sparrow field" dripped with rain
and was shrouded in fog. Still, I saw
several chickadees and at least three song
sparrows and heard the calls of tree sparrows. Many juncos popped up from the
protection of dried goldenrod, but the fog
prevented me from viewing any birds at
a distance with my binoculars.
After crossing the field, I climbed up
the powerline right-of-way to the top of
Sapsucker Ridge but found no birds. Then
I walked on to the rain-soaked vernal
ponds. Still, I saw no birds.
Next, I sat on Alan's Bench at the top
of First Field in front of the spruce grove,
but only heard the distant calls of crows.
I retreated into the spruce grove's shelter and soon heard a woo-woo, quickly
followed by a barred owl's who cooks for
you, who cooks for you-all, repeated five
times. As I exited the grove, I looked up
at the trees and saw the owl fly from the

top of one spruce tree to another. That owl,
it turned out, was my one unique species
contribution to our JVAS count.
It started to rain harder, but I walked
out Far Field Road almost to Coyote
Bench before bagging it for the day. After
all, my preliminary searches for birds at
Far Field and the thickets beyond hadn't
netted me any real sightings. Besides, my
winter jacket and bug pants were soaked,
despite the umbrella I used.
It's almost impossible to use binoculars while balancing an umbrella, too.
Meanwhile, Kurt and Carl had beaten
their way through the underbrush up and
down Sapsucker Ridge above Greenbrier
and Ten Springs trails and found 19 species, including two golden-crowned kinglets and a brown creeper. But their best
discovery was the only eastern towhee
for our count.
Including my barred owl, we had found
a mere 20 species on the mountain and our
feeder species - one junco, two cardinals,
four white-throated sparrows, two mourning doves, four tufted titmice, four blackcapped chickadees, four goldfinches,
five house finches, two white-breasted
nuthatches, one red-bellied woodpecker
and one song sparrow - matched those

Cover Painting by bob SoPChiCk
Snow cascading from lower branches of the hemlock tree
in the still morning chill is your first clue something is
amiss. You catch sight of antler tips then this guy pokes
his head out. You count 11 points on a heavy rack with
sweeping main beams, but you have no shot until, or if,
he steps out. A signed and numbered limited edition of
150 canvas prints of "In the Hemlocks" are available from
the artist. The 12- by 18-inch prints sell for $95, which
includes sales tax and shipping. Order from Bob Sopchick
at 200 Wynwood Road, York, PA 17402. For more information email Bob at sopchickstudios@msn.com.

Pennsylvania Game News - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - December 2019