Conversations About Nature

Boaters and anglers are reminded that Pennsylvania’s current annual cold weather life jacket requirement period remains in effect through April 30, 2026

By Steven Brodsky

The following news release was issued by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC):

HARRISBURG, Pa. (March 9) – With warmer temperatures expected to arrive this week across portions of the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) reminds anglers and boaters that the annual cold weather life jacket requirement remains in effect through April 30.

“While many of us are looking forward to finally putting this year’s frigid winter weather behind us, don’t be fooled by a few days of sunny skies and balmy air temperatures that tend to be temporary this time of year,”  said Ryan Walt, PFBC Boating and Watercraft Safety Manager.  “Even though you may be anxious to get outside to enjoy your favorite activities like fishing and boating, please remember water temperatures are still bitterly cold and present tremendous danger to someone who falls into the water.”

From November 1 through April 30, boaters are required to wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket while underway or at anchor on boats less than 16 feet in length or on any kayak, canoe, or paddleboard.  The requirement applies to all Pennsylvania waters and violators are subject to fines.

Sudden cold-water immersion, or cold-water shock, occurs when a person is unexpectedly plunged into cold water resulting in an involuntary gasp where water is often inhaled.  This uncontrollable reaction causes panic, hyperventilation, inhalation of water, and inhibits the ability of a person to swim.

According to Pennsylvania boating accident reports, nearly 80% of all boating fatalities occurred because boaters were not wearing life jackets.  Since the mandatory life jacket wear law was enacted in 2012, the PFBC has seen a significant drop (approximately 50%) in the percentage of boating incidents resulting in fatalities during the cold weather months.

Posted 3-11-26

How hunters and members of waterfowl organizations can submit comments on Pennsylvania’s 2026-2027 proposed migratory game bird seasons

 By Steven Brodsky

… is the subject of this Pennsylvania Game Commission news release that was issued on March 6, 2026:

COMMENTS ON PROPOSED WATERFOWL SEASONS ACCEPTED

Hunters and members of waterfowl organizations have several options to ask questions and voice opinions on the 2026-27 proposed migratory game bird seasons.

Questions or comments can be submitted by email to waterfowlcomments@pa.gov, or by mail to Pennsylvania Game Commission, Bureau of Wildlife Management, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797.

An informational livestream, followed by a live question-and-answer session, will be held on the proposed seasons on Wednesday, March 11 at 6:30 p.m. on the Game Commission’s YouTube channel. The briefing will be recorded, and a link will be available to view at https://www.youtube.com/pagamecommission.

And a Waterfowl Open House is scheduled to take place at the Game Commission’s Northeast Regional Office, 3917 Memorial Hwy, Dallas, PA 18612 on Saturday, March 14 from noon to 4 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with Game Commission staff and view proposed seasons presented.

It still hasn’t been determined whether Sundays will be included in the 2026-27 migratory game bird seasons. Because migratory seasons follow federal frameworks that establish the maximum number of hunting days for each season, including Sundays would create more-compact seasons. The Game Commission is conducting a random survey to find out more about which option waterfowl hunters prefer, and all who are interested in this matter can submit comments to the agency. If Sundays are included in the migratory game bird seasons, they cannot be closed in the future.

The season proposal document that’s posted on the Game Commission’s website shows two proposed season structures, one with Sundays and one without. Both proposals follow the federal framework. These proposed migratory seasons are in accordance with the preliminarily approved 2026-27 general hunting seasons that, if adopted, would allow small game hunting during regular firearms deer season, meaning woodcock and snipe hunting would be open then.

Another notable proposal for 2026-27 seasons would increase the Atlantic Population Canada goose regular season to 45 days, with a daily bag limit of 3. This change to the framework would take effect once published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Additionally, the regular snow goose season is proposed to run from November through March 10, with the light goose conservation order not utilized unless 2026 spring snow goose surveys indicate its necessity. This recommendation to drastically reduce or forgo the conservation order will be followed by all high-harvest states within the Atlantic Flyway due to 2025 spring snow goose surveys indicating populations are below the target range.

If you have questions or are interested in commenting on proposed seasons, please provide the species, zone (if applicable) and County/Counties you are specifically commenting on. The comment period closes March 22.

Posted 3-9-26

Romanticized notions about nature

By Steven Brodsky 

… pass away for the speaker of Seamus Heaney’s poem “Death of a Naturalist.”

Many “naturalists” have had a similar experience.

And most would, with sufficient exposure to realities of the natural world.

May we all acquire and retain a sense of wonder in regard to the natural world.

Posted 3-3-26

Avian influenza viruses circulating in wild birds across Pennsylvania

By Steven Brodsky

… are the subject of this news release that was issued today, February 23, 2026, by the Pennsylvania Game Commission:

GAME COMMISSION MONITORING AVIAN INFLUENZA IN WILD BIRDS

This winter, avian influenza viruses have continued to circulate in wild birds across Pennsylvania, and more birds will be migrating to and through the state in the coming weeks. Strains of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus have been present in Pennsylvania’s wild birds since early 2022.

As migration unfolds, the Pennsylvania Game Commission continues to respond to the outbreak, and is asking the public to report any wild birds observed sick or found dead.

Reports can be phoned in to 1-833-PGC-WILD (1-833-742-9453). Submitting reports allows the Game Commission the opportunity to step in with wildlife-management actions including dispatching sick wild birds, recovering and removing carcasses, pursuing diagnostic testing, and conducting stakeholder outreach. The agency continues to work with the Wildlife Futures Program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other partners when deploying these strategies. The most substantial activity this winter involved the removal of an estimated 2,000 wild bird carcasses, predominantly snow geese, from a quarry in Northampton County in December and January.

“Over the past five years, Game Commission dispatchers and field personnel, along with our dedicated partners, have worked tirelessly to respond to and investigate suspected highly pathogenic avian influenza events across the Commonwealth,” said the agency’s wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Andrew Di Salvo. “Responding to every report received from the public is neither logistically possible nor in the best interest of the wildlife, so incidents are prioritized to ensure our actions will have the most impact. High-priority incidents include cases with clear human or domestic animal exposure, a public site, such as a park or playground, that could pose an exposure risk to humans or domestic animals, or a large number of sick or dead wildlife on the landscape that could pose an exposure risk to scavenging wildlife.”

Waterfowl – from wood ducks and pintails to snow geese and tundra swans – have been bottled up farther south by cold weather and frozen conditions here. Timing is important for these and other birds returning to their breeding grounds because arriving late means delayed nesting. But they also can’t make the demanding journey if food and resting areas along their route are too hard to come by, as happens when conditions are harsh. As Pennsylvania continues to thaw out, though, migrating birds will begin showing up.

Snow geese often come to mind when talking about migration because they flock in large numbers and attract much attention when they come through Pennsylvania on their way to the Arctic. The Game Commission’s Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, on the border of Lebanon and Lancaster counties, is a key stop for migrating snow geese, in some years hosting more than 100,000 of them. Snow geese have just begun showing up at Middle Creek, and more will follow.

Wild birds are natural carriers of avian influenza viruses and bird migration enables the disease to be spread over vast distances. The disease also can be spread by legal and illegal movement of infected birds, poultry products, contaminated materials, equipment and vehicles if appropriate biosecurity precautions are not taken.

Aside from waterfowl and shorebirds, avian influenza viruses can significantly impact wild poultry such as turkeys and grouse, raptors such as hawks and eagles, and other avian scavengers, such as crows and ravens. Birds infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza can exhibit neurologic signs, such as swimming or walking in circles, tilting their heads in an unnatural position, tremoring, seizing or having difficulty flying.

Infected birds shed the virus in their feces and saliva, and the disease can impact other mammals, including humans. The public should avoid contacting wild birds or their feces. The Game Commission does not advise that the public handle any abnormal, injured, sick or dead wildlife unless authorized to do so.

Waterfowl and upland bird hunters are encouraged to continue participating in open seasons, but should take precautions while handling and dressing birds. These include wearing nitrile gloves, protective eye wear, and a mask. Following any hunt, make it a point to practice good hygiene, including washing hands and any clothing used in the process of dressing game that may contain blood or feces. Also never handle wildlife that is sick or displaying signs of sickness. Instead, report it to the Game Commission. Hunting dogs can also be protected from the virus by preventing them from contracting or consuming wild bird feces or environmental water that may contain bird feces, and preventing them from contacting sick or found dead wild birds (i.e., non-harvested).

Good hygiene is also recommended in maintaining backyard birdfeeders. While avian influenza typically does not affect bird species that frequent birdfeeders – and there’s no prohibition on feeding birds during the outbreak  – birdfeeders and bird baths should be emptied every couple of weeks, washed with soapy water, rinsed, then disinfected with a 10% household bleach solution before refilling (either allow a 10-minute contact time before rinsing or allow to air dry). Any spilled seed should also be cleaned up to mitigate disease spread.

If noticing multiple sick or dead birds over a short period of time, taking feeders down and emptying bird baths helps ensure a potential outbreak is not made worse.

Pennsylvanians who raise captive wild birds, domestic backyard poultry, or are involved in commercial poultry operations, meanwhile, should review their biosecurity plans to protect their flocks. The USDA offers free biosecurity information on its website.

Any sick or dead domestic birds should be reported to Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture at 717-772-2852. If you have had contact with sick or dead birds and are not feeling well, contact your primary care physician or the Pennsylvania Department of Health at 877-724-3258.

And everyone should always observe wildlife from a safe distance, avoid contacting surfaces that may be contaminated with feces from wild or domestic birds, and refrain from handling wildlife unless you are hunting, trapping, or otherwise authorized to do so.

More information about avian influenza is available through the Game Commission’s website.

Posted 2-23-26

A perennial truth about the Bible

By Steven Brodsky

… is stated in Isaiah 40:8: “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”

Posted 2-11-26

If you love birds

By Steven Brodsky

… you’ll probably very much enjoy the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “Best Bird Cams Highlights of 2025” video.

Entertainment, Culture and More readers will find themselves saying “ooh” as they watch the 4:59 video from the comfort of their nests (homes).

Nests are featured in a 12-line poem that you can read at: Choices | The Poetry Foundation.

Posted 1-19-26

Did you know that King Solomon was extraordinarily knowledgeable about the natural world?

By Steven Brodsky6

… He was and his knowledge was renowned, as revealed in 1 Kings 4:29-34.

You’ll find those Bible verses on this page: 1 Kings 4 (KJV) – So king Solomon was king.

Posted 1-6-26

The phrase ‘oaks of righteousness’

By Steven Brodsky

… might come to mind when seeing oak trees in the great outdoors.

The phrase is from Isaiah 61:3.

You’ll find Isaiah 61:3 at: https://biblehub.com/nasb/isaiah/61.htm.

https://www.gotquestions.org/imputed-righteousness.html

Posted 8-31-25

Day and night in the great outdoors

By Steven Brodsky

… readers of this column can look at the sky and be reminded of this Bible verse: https://biblehub.com/daniel/12-3.htm.

Proverbs 9:10: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”

Why does Christ’s righteousness need to be imputed to us? | GotQuestions.org

The Bible and spending time in the great outdoors, perfect together.

Posted 6-15-25

A Conversation With Katie Fallon, Author of ‘Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird’

By Steven Brodsky

Katie Fallon is a co-founder of the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia. She’s worked with many species of raptors and other kinds of birds. Katie’s books include Cerulean Blues (2011) and the recently released Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird. Her essays have appeared in a number of literary journals. She has a lifelong love of nature. I’ve heard that the first word she ever spoke was “bird.”

Your new book gives vultures, particularly turkey vultures, the positive attention these non-predator raptors deserve. What brought about your interest in these maligned birds?

I’ve been fascinated by vultures for at least fifteen years. There was a roost near where I lived in West Virginia; every day I’d drive by this big, old dead tree with ten or so turkey vultures hunched in it. They became a familiar sight, and I looked forward to seeing them. Vultures are big and kind of dramatic, and in flight, there’s nothing more beautiful. In addition, they’re the ultimate recyclers—they turn death into life.

Many people in the U.S. have an aversion to vultures. Speak about this.

I think vultures remind people of their own mortality. It can be a little creepy to think about a large, dark bird waiting to consume your body when you die. In general, I don’t think people in the US are comfortable with thinking of our bodies as food. Vultures remind us that life will continue after we die, and that some life will continue because we die. They remind us of our animal bodies. Which can be unnerving!

In the absence of vultures, we’d have major health issues to contend with. Tell us why.

Vultures clean up our ecosystems by removing animal carcasses that could potentially contaminate soil and water. They can eat animals that have died of anthrax and botulism. In the absence of vultures, mammalian scavengers could increase in number, and many mammalian scavengers such as raccoons, skunks, feral dogs and cats can spread rabies; vultures do not. Several vulture species in India have suffered catastrophic population crashes in the last twenty years, and public health has suffered. India leads the world in human rabies cases, and the number of cases has increased as the number of feral dogs increased in the absence of vultures.

People get close to vultures by attending your presentations that feature non-releasable birds. How are these birds acquired? How are they trained?

The nonprofit I co-founded, the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia, keeps eight non-releasable raptors for educational purposes (you need permits from the US Fish & Wildlife Service to do this, of course – the birds aren’t pets or personal property). All of our birds were injured wild birds that cannot return to the wild. We have three vultures. Lew the turkey vulture was hit by a car and suffered an injury to his shoulder that prevents flight. His “girlfriend,” Boris, was shot in the wing, and by the time she reached us the bone had already healed incorrectly. Our black vulture is Maverick, and he was hit by a car, which resulted in a shoulder injury that prevents adequate flight.

Our birds are all trained using positive reinforcement. We avoid negative reinforcement and punishment, and we try to empower the birds to have some control over their environments. We condition behaviors by offering food rewards when the birds perform the behaviors. Vultures (especially our black vulture!) learn quickly, and they are a lot of fun to work with.

What myths and misunderstandings about vultures do these presentations help to dispel?

People are surprised at how clean and charismatic the vultures are – and how beautiful they are up close, despite their featherless heads.

What vulture behaviors do people find to be most interesting?

People often ask if vultures throw up on us; our education vultures usually don’t (unless they get scared). Vultures also expel liquid waste on their legs and feet, probably to clean them as well as to keep cool. This often fascinates people as well.

Which species of vulture are found in Pennsylvania and neighboring states?

We have turkey vultures and black vultures. During the last Ice Age we may have had California condors, too, and possibly some other now-extinct vultures.

What has been learned about migration of these species?

Hawk Mountain has taken the lead on turkey vulture migration research. Dr. Keith Bildstein and his team have placed transmitters and wing tags on turkey vultures all over the Americas. They’ve learned that our eastern turkey vultures are partial migrants—some spend the winters in Florida, some on the New Jersey shore, some in Virginia, and in many places in between. Many western turkey vultures are complete migrants, leaving their breeding ranges in Canada and heading all the way to South America. And still others in the American southwest migrate into Central America and return. It’s fascinating how the different subspecies have different migratory strategies. Dr. Bildstein and his colleagues have ongoing research projects about turkey vulture migration, and are discovering more all the time.

Vultures have spectacular flying ability. What makes this possible?

Turkey vultures are very light – they have almost the same wingspan as a bald eagle but weigh less than half what an eagle weighs. Their wings are long and broad, and are made for soaring.

How high can they fly?

The Ruppell’s vulture holds the record for the highest-flying bird. Unfortunately for that individual, it was hit and killed by a jet flying over Africa at 37,000 feet.

Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird informs readers about lead toxicity in vultures. What is the extent of the problem? How do vultures ingest lead?

Vultures (and eagles, hawks, crows, ravens, and owls) can ingest small pieces of spent lead ammunition in animal carcasses or “gut piles” left by hunters. When someone shoots a white-tailed deer, for example, the deer is usually field-dressed, and many of the organs are left. This can be a delight for vultures and other scavengers! In ecosystems, scavengers often follow the big predators to clean up the leftovers; here, the same thing is happening—a human is the big predator, a gut pile is the leftover, and a vulture or eagle is the scavenger. However, if small lead fragments are still in the gut piles, avian scavengers can inadvertently ingest the lead and become sick. Lead toxicity from spent ammunition is the biggest obstacle in the way of California condor recovery.

The Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia provides rehabilitation for injured birds. What kind of care do vultures receive?

We’ve treated vultures with a wide variety of injuries and ailments—broken bones, head trauma, lead toxicity, soft tissue injuries. Every bird we admit receives an immediate comprehensive examination by an avian veterinarian, and is then treated as necessary with antibiotics, antifungals, anti-inflammatories, fluid therapy, or chelation therapy. They also receive orthopedic surgery if necessary. We do our best to get the birds back out in the wild if possible.

It must be very joyful to enable an injured bird to regain flight ability. Please tell us about a memorable release.

Two and a half years ago we released a female turkey vulture that had been shot with a shotgun—she had three pellets embedded in soft tissue. We had to leave the pellets in her body because removing them would cause damage. Once she was nursed back to health, we released her wearing a transmitter to track her movements. We learned that she travels to northern Georgia in the winters and comes back to West Virginia in the breeding season. We are thrilled that this vulture was able to return to the wild—and thrive!

Vulture watching is growing in popularity. Turkey vultures are very widespread. Where are some of the best places and times to observe them?

In many parts of the southeastern United States, you can see turkey vultures any day of the year in a variety of habitats. In the winter, vultures can be observed roosting together in and near many cities: in Virginia, check out Leesburg, Staunton, Radford, Pulaski, and Charlottesville; in West Virginia, many vultures can be observed migrating in the fall over Hanging Rock Tower in Monroe County and over Harper’s Ferry in the eastern panhandle. During the summer and fall, the overlook at Cooper’s Rock State Forest near Morgantown, WV, is a sure place to see turkey vultures. Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania, of course, is an excellent place to watch turkey vultures and birds of prey during migration, especially in September and October.

What stimulated your interest in nature?

I’ve always been an outdoors person. I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, and I had horses as a kid. I spent a great deal of time with my horses, trail riding and competing, and when I got a bit older I often went hiking and camping with friends and family. One of my favorite childhood hiking spots was Ricketts Glen State Park—it’s filled with hemlock trees and many gorgeous waterfalls. It’s definitely worth checking out if you visit northeastern PA.

Was “bird” your first word?

Yes! My parents had bird feeders in their yard when I was a baby (well, they still do) and my mother says she used to hold me in front of the window to show me the birds at the feeder. One day, she said, “Look at the birds! Look at the birds outside.” And I nodded and said, “Bird.” I haven’t stopped talking about them since.

Katie Fallon’s website address is: www.katiefallon.com.

Posted 4-6-17, Reposted 10-29-19