Brothers to address Westmoreland Woodlands group on Chestnut Ridge raptor count

Western Pennsylvania’s ridges can serve as superhighways for birds of prey migrating north each spring and south when fall arrives.

Two Fayette County brothers have established that Chestnut Ridge, the western-most of those ridges, provides just such a route. At a Thursday presentation of the Westmoreland Woodlands Improvement Association, they’ll discuss the field work they’ve completed on the ridge since the spring of 2018.

The talk by Calvin Livengood, 21, and his brother, Peter, 18, is set for 6:30 p.m. in the J. Roy Houston Conservation Center (the Westmoreland Conservation District barn behind the Donohoe Center) at 218 Donohoe Road in Hempfield.

The Livengoods, both Eagle Scouts and students at California University of Pennsylvania, learned about counting migratory raptors — known as hawkwatching — in 2016, through the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch project near Schellsburg. They reasoned that Chestnut Ridge, not far from their Stewart Township home, would be equally suited for spotting birds of prey in flight.

“There was no record of anyone attempting a hawk watch on Chestnut Ridge, so we thought, ‘Who better to do it than us?’” said Peter Livengood.

“One reason birds fly on ridges is to save energy,” he explained. “Wind strikes the ridge, gets deflected up by the slope and gives them extra lift. They get a free ride.”

Over nearly two years, the Livengoods have spotted more than a dozen species of raptors at three sites on Chestnut Ridge — including hawks, eagles, falcons, ospreys and vultures. With some volunteer help, they documented 823 birds of prey over eight days of observation this past September.

They’ve switched among Point Lookout, along Route 40 east of Uniontown, and, with permission from the owners, two private sites — the Summit Inn Resort Golf Course and a gas well road near Laurel Caverns.

Point Lookout, Peter Livengood noted, is “really good for broad-winged hawks. They come through in September and they fly in groups. You might see 100 at a time fly over.”

The Livengoods partnered with California University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Undergraduate Research, which helped with funding for high-powered binoculars and a spotting scope. Calvin Livengood, a junior majoring in environmental science, business management and fisheries and wildlife biology, received additional assistance through the university’s Jesse B. Guttman Student Research Grant Program and the Dr. Barry Hunter Memorial Fund.

Carol Bocetti, a professor in the university’s Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, advised the brothers on the project.

Body shapes and wing proportions are among the signs the brothers look for to correctly identify migratory birds.

“It can be a very difficult endeavor,” said Peter Livengood, a freshman who is majoring in fisheries and wildlife biology and jurisprudence. “They’re flying at pretty high altitudes and, sometimes, they’re going pretty fast.

“It’s time-intensive. Normally, a daily count can last six to eight hours.”

Peter Livengood earned the Boy Scouts’ coveted William T. Hornaday Silver Medal for completing the raptor watch and three other conservation-related projects.

The Livengoods have dubbed their project the Summit Mountain Hawkwatch and they post their raptor count data online at the Hawk Migration Association of North America’s website.

They hope to recruit more volunteers to help them complete spring and fall raptor counts on days when they have other obligations at the university. Those who would like to help may contact Peter at LIV0452@calu.edu.

Peter Livengood pointed out that hawkwatching is the best method for tracking population trends among raptors since many species have remote nesting sites in Canada. “The more (count) sites you have in Pennsylvania, and with years of data, you can get a really good idea of where raptor populations are at,” he said.

Light refreshments will be served at 6 p.m., prior to the talk.

The program is free to association members and students with a current ID. It costs $5 for all others. Register by Tuesday by calling Sandy at 724-837-5271.

Learn more: The Livengood brothers talk about their raptor research in a video provided by California University of Pennsylvania.