Turns out that Hurricane Irene did send some unusual birds our way two weeks ago.
Although I wasn't brave enough to venture out, several intrepid birders weathered the winds and rain to witness a record-setting five-tern day at Lake Ontelaunee.
Rudy Keller, Ken Lebo and Katrina Knight saw five tern species: an immature sooty, common, black, royal and Caspian.
Ken suspected that an arctic tern was also among the terns, but no one got a view of the bird definitive enough to make the call.
Wind and rain are the most difficult conditions in which to bird.
But the day goes down in the red-letter book for its variety of tern species and the rarities.
The sooty tern is definitely a hurricane bird.
Rudy had seen a sooty tern before at Blue Marsh following a hurricane, and the first Berks record of this species was Aug. 13, 1955, at Lake Ontelaunee following Hurricane Connie, when three of them were seen.
During the late stages of that hurricane, Earl Poole saw a tern that he believed was a royal tern at Lake Ontelaunee, but the terrific wind prevented his getting a good view.
The four royal terns seen at the lake during Irene may be the first since Poole's possible sighting.
As with most hurricane birds, all of the terns were gone by the next day.
As exciting as the terns were, birders received more great news last week: a second county peregrine falcon nesting in southern Berks.
The location is being kept under wraps for now, but it's unique because the falcons nested in a natural cliff location and not a manmade structure.
During the recent recovery years for the peregrine, nesting for the most part has taken place on bridges or ledges of tall buildings.
Our Reading peregrines have nested on center-city buildings.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has been hoping to see peregrines re-occupy historical nest sites along the major rivers in the state, but success has been slow due to nest predation by great horned owls and other predators.
The southern Berks nest produced three female young, and game commission peregrine specialist Art McMorris banded them on May 16.
I'd be interested in finding out if the parents are offspring of our Reading peregrines.
Art noted that the banding team was able to determine that one of the parents was banded, but they weren't able to discern further details that could specifically identify the bird.
The Reading peregrine offspring were all banded, except for the young three years ago that fledged a little early.
Matt Wlasniewski sent along this terrific photo of an immature red-tailed hawk harassing the owl decoy at Hawk Mountain's North Lookout on Aug. 22, the day 16 bald eagles and 15 osprey were among the migrants.
We hope to see such dramatic sights Saturday when the Baird Ornithological Club will hold a hawk watch at the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower along Skyline Drive in Lower Alsace Township.
Birders can access the tower beginning at 9 a.m., but I'm sure several of us will be there a little earlier for some warbler watching.
Mid-September is the best time for the broad-winged hawk migration, when several hundred can be seen passing at a time in large "kettles."
It will be interesting to see if the recent foul weather either speeds up or delays the migration.
An immature red-tailed hawk harassing the owl decoy at Hawk Mountain's North Lookout.
Reading Eagle
