Susan

Activity Three: Goldfinches frequent my finch feeder, so I've had the pleasure of watching their brilliant yellow plumage dull in the course of the fall months. I haven't seen any loons this year (not been around water enough I guess), good to know. And it looks like the Common Loon is not that common in Western PA. The summer plumage in both birds is more brilliant. The male is the more brilliant in the gold finches, but the common loon adults male and female seem to be the same.

Activity One The Northern Cardinal's range is nearly the same throughout the year, with just some movement around the edges. The Blackburnian Warbler undertakes a long migration spending the winter months as far south as Peru and the summer as far north as southern Canada. The Scarlet Tanager spends winters as far south as Peru, and summers as far north as Canada. Its' summer range is in eastern North America. The Western Tanager lives on the west coast, summering as far north as the Northwest Territories in Canada, and flying south to winter in Mexico, and as far south as Costa Rica. In summary, the Scarlet Tanager range is on the east, and more southern than the Western Tanager. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the eastern hummingbird, range from southern Canada in the summer to as far south as Costa Rica in the winter. The Rufous Hummingbird is a western bird, ranging from as far north as the edge of the Yukon in summer to as far south as Mexico in the winter. These two hummingbirds overlap in Mexico in the Winter. In all three of these pairs, the western birds' migration is within a narrower band, west of the Rockies, and extends further north, but less far south as the eastern birds. The Sandhill Crane abundance map is much patchier than the Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher. It is abundant year round in Florida, but in breeding season spreads as far north as Alaska. In non-breeding season it is concentrated in a few patches. The southern range only extends as far as south as barely into Mexico. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is the one of these eight birds that spends time in Cuba! Its' breeding range, like the Sandhill Crane, extends north and as far west as the Yukon during breeding season. There is a wealth of information in these maps, this is just scratching the surface with the roughest of observations.