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Powdermill Nature Reserve

Avian Research Center

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Virtual Tour

Tour our Bird Banding and Research Facilities

Flight Tunnel at Powdermill Avian Research Center

Avian Perception of Glass at PARC

Millions of birds die every year flying into windows, because they can’t tell reflections from trees, plants, and sky. Most of these windows are on houses.  In partnership with the American Bird Conservancy, PARC is studying bird behavior in a specially built flight tunnel (one of only two of its kind in the world).

The flight tunnel is completely safe and there is no chance of birds actually striking a pane of glass.  A variety of commercially available windows are undergoing trials to determine which treatments best alleviate the possibility of bird strikes.  Each bird makes one flight down the tunnel and is immediately released.

Visit our Avian Perception of Glass at PARC page to learn more.


Bird Banding Station

Blackburnian Warbler, second-year Male

In season, hundreds of birds are caught each day in PARC’s 70, 12 meter long mist nets. Captured birds are carefully removed throughout the day and returned to the banding lab for processing.

Birds are identified to species, banded, and information about their age, sex, wing length, fat deposits, and body mass is recorded.  Studies of molt in birds is of particular interest at PARC, so detailed notes regarding the pattern, timing, and sequence of molt is also often recorded.  The banding and data collection process takes less than a minute, after which most birds are promptly released through a small sliding door in the window next to the banding desk.  Visit our Bird Banding page to learn more. Researchers interested in collaborations or access to banding data should Contact PARC for more information.


Photo Tour of Net Lanes

Arial Map showing net lanes at Powdermill

Feeder Nets

10 Nets total, in 5 sets of 1 to 3 Nets

The Feeder Nets are all situated very close to our Banding Lab. They are distinguished from the other nets because all are in proximity to feeders and feeding tables that are baited with seed daily from late fall through early spring. These are the only of our nets that are left up after fall banding and used on milder winter days instead of (or along with) a number of wire Potter-type traps.

Habitats in the vicinity of the Feeder Nets are varied and serve to attract a lot of non-feeder birds. Nets 1A, 1B, 10A, and 10B are located very near or alongside our complex of small to medium-sized marshy ponds (or the streams draining them). Dominant shrubs, therefore, include willows, alders, and silky dogwood.

Feeder Nets 26A and 26B are located immediately to the southwest of the Banding Lab in a dense thicket of honeysuckle, gray-stemmed dogwood and blackberries, flanked by two mature Japanese larch trees.

The Powdermill Banding Lab. Feeder Nets 26A & 26B are located immediately to the left
Feeder Net 1
Net 26A (Net 26B crosses at the far end)
The small building is a hide overlooking Alder Pond
Feeder Net 2
Feeder Net 26B
Feeder Net 3
Feeder Net 1A
Feeder Net 4
Feeder Net1B
Feeding Table for birds
Feeding Table situated between Feeder Nets 1A & 1B
Storage "barn" and Powdermill's weather station
Storage “barn” and Powdermill’s weather station. Feeder Nets 10A & 10B are located immediately beyond this structure
Feeder Nets 5 & 6
Feeder Nets 10A & 10B, looking down from the bank of Crisp Pond. Net 10B extends to the base of the highest bank of the pond.
Pond net 1
Pond Net 9B
This net is directly across from the Banding Lab and extends to the bank of Crisp Pond.
Pond nets 2 & 3
Pond Nets 8A & 8B
These nets are set on the dike of Alder Pond.
Pond nets 2 & 3 with a bird house in the foreground
Another view of Pond Nets 8A & 8B
Bird nets by Crisp Pond
A view of Crisp Pond
Pond net 4
Pond Net 8C. Set on the bank between Crisp (in the foreground) and Alder ponds, this net is open to both sides.
Pond net 4 in front of the pond
Another view of Pond Net 8C, looking toward Alder Pond. This net is in a good position for catching waterbirds, and, consequently, this a location where we use a 61mm mesh net.

Pond Nets

18 nets total, in ten sets of one to three and a half nets

The Pond Nets take advantage of edges and wet areas associated with the construction at Powdermill of a variety of small marshy ponds, beginning in the early 1960s (Crisp Pond was the first of these, is the largest–about 0.5 hectares–and has the most open water). The majority of nets in this set are within or in close proximity to wetlands of various kinds. As a result, dominant shrubs include willows, alders, and silky dogwood, but a variety of invasive upland species also are frequent in this area, including honeysuckle and multiflora rose. In addition, Pond Nets 3A & 3B and 4A-4D extend to the very edge of extensive mature deciduous forest.

Pond Nets 8 - 10
Pond Nets 2A, 2B & 2C;  Edge of Plover Pool and an alder-dominated riparian thicket.
Pond nets 11 & 12
Pond Nets 27A & 27B
Set across the bank between Plover Pool, on the left, and Heron Pond, on the right.
Pond Nets 13 & 14
Pond Nets 3A & 3B
Managed forest edge habitat dominated by shrubs like alder and willow, at the far end of Net 3B, and grape, multiflora rose, and silky dogwood; invading trees are mostly black locust and ash.
Pond nets 15-18
Pond Nets 4A, 4B, 4C &4D
Like the previous net set, this net lane is situated within an extensively managed upland forest edge habitat. Net 4D, the far net, is a half-length, i.e., 6M net.
Pond nets 19-22
Pond Nets 5A, 5B, 5C & 5D
This net lane traverses a willow-dominated wet shrub-scrub habitat that requires little or no active management to remove taller trees and shrubs.
Net 5D, the near net, is a another half-length net.
Pond nets 5 & 6
Pond Nets 6A & 6B
Pond net 7
Pond Net 7
Extends to the southern edge of Alder Pond.

Backfield Nets

15 Nets total, in 7 sets of one to four nets.

These nets are situated east of Crisp Pond.  The majority of the nets (Nets 19-21, & 24) are in upland situations, specifically, late successional old field habitat with scattered taller trees.  This area is maintained at a the mature shrub and low sapling stage by periodic cutting of taller trees.  Immediately to the south of the Back Field Nets is an extensive area of mature second growth deciduous forest.

Dominant shrub species in the upland sites within the Back Field Net area include multiflora rose, Morrow’s honeysuckle, blackhaw viburnum, autumn olive, gray-stemmed dogwood; characteristic trees include hawthorn, ash, red maple, black cherry, wild crabapple, and flowering dogwood.

Nets 22 & 23 are situated within or at the edge of seasonally flooded shrub wetland habitats that are dominated by willow, blackhaw viburnum, and silky dogwood (note boardwalks associated with these nets in the photos below).

Eastern Edge of Crisp Pond
Eastern Edge of Crisp Pond – Back Field Nets are in the area to the right of the pond in this photo
Back Field Nets 1 & 2
Back Field Nets 19A & 19B
Back Field Nets 3, 4, 5 & 6
Back Field Nets 20A-D, the “Plus Nets,” named after the numerical symbol, “+” – Net 20A is closest, Net 20D to the right, Net 20C farthest, Net 20B to the left
Another view of Back Field Nets 3-6
Another view of the “Plus Nets” looking from Net 20B; the end pole for Net 20D is at the edge of an extensive tract of mature forest.
Back Field Nets 7 & 8
Back Field Nets 21A and 21B
Another view of Back Field Nets 7 & 8
Another view of Back Field Nets 21A & 21B (looking from Net 21B)
Back Field Net 9
Back Field Net 22A
Back Field Nets 10 & 11
Back Field Nets 22B & 22C
 Another view of Back Field Nets 10 & 11
Another view of Nets 22B & 22C
Back Field Net 12
Back Field Net 23A
Back Field Net 13
Back Field Net 23C

Strip Mine Road Nets

9 Nets total, in 4 sets of 2 to 3 nets

The Strip Mine Road Nets are mostly parallel to a gravel service road that historically was a farm lane and later provided access to small strip mines that were begun in the 1940s. Mining activity was halted in the early 1950s after the land was purchased for the purpose of donating it to Carnegie Museum as one of several original tracts of land (totaling over 400 hectares) for establishing its field research station, Powdermill Nature Reserve, in 1956. The Reserve has doubled in size since then.

Strip Mine Road Nets 11A-C and 18A-B are in association with small riparian areas, and so have shrubs like willow and silky dogwood in association with portions of them, but Strip Mine Road Nets 25A-D are in entirely upland situations. These net lanes are located the edges of experimental “game food plots” planted for wildlife enhancement shortly after the Reserve was established in the mid-1950s. A number of the fruiting shrubs originally introduced into these areas along the Strip Mine Road, including Morrow’s honeysuckle and autumn olive, have naturalized extensively in the successional habitats on the Reserve (including virtually all of the banding area).

Stripmine Road, a gravel road through green trees and shrubs
Looking up the Strip Mine Road
Strip Mine Road Nets 11A, 11B & 11C are to the left and roughly parallel with the bottom portion of the road.
black bird net strung across a path
Strip Mine Road Nets 11A, 11B, & 11C
Strip Mine Road Nets 4 & 5
Strip Mine Road Nets 18A & 18B
These nets are roughly perpendicular to the south side of the Strip Mine Road. Net 18A is dominated by multiflora rose, while Net 18B is in more of a wetland, extending almost to the bank of Crisp Pond, and dominated by willows.
Looking upa gravel road
Looking up Strip Mine Road from Nets 18A & 18B. Long Lane Nets 15A-17C are perpendicular to the road to the north (left) side, just beyond the first patch of shaded road in the photo. Strip Mine Road Nets 25A-D are on the right side of (and parallel to) the road, beginning at the upper patch of shade across the road.
black nets strung along the road
Strip Mine Rd Nets 25A & 25B
bird nets strung beside Strip Mine Rd
Strip Mine Rd Nets 25C & 25D

Long Lane Loop

17 Nets total, in 4 sets of 1 to 8 nets.

Net lanes 12 and 13 are both situated north of Crisp Pond alongside or across the narrow sluggish stream that drains the pond (two of our Feeder Nets and three of the Strip Mine Road Nets also are situated across this same small riparian strip).

Because both net lanes are in permanently wet areas, little maintenance is required to keep the associated habitats at the shrub-scrub stage (Net 13A is in a more upland situation and scattered trees near that net are mostly black cherry and wild crabapple). Dominant shrubs associated with these nets are willows and alders. Nets 13D and 14A are at the edge of a large open old field that is mowed annually. Net 14B crosses the small stream draining Iron Spring Swamp and is surrounded by willows, arrow-wood, and blackberries but also is near a mature forest edge.

The Long Lane Nets contain just that – our longest set of linked nets (15A-C, 16A-C & 17A-C). Originally, ten nets were connected end-to-end, but we were forced to create a gap between Nets 15B & 15C in order to accommodate a heavily used deer path (the alternative being the repeated destruction and costly replacement of any net in position number 15C!).

The upper end of the Long Lane Net set (Nets 17A-C, 16A) is in an upland late successional habitat dominated by shrubs like honeysuckle, multiflora rose, and blackhaw viburnum; it is quickly invaded by a variety of trees, including ash, red maple, black cherry, tulip poplar, and cucumber magnolia, all of which are periodically removed.

Nets 16B, 16C & 15A cross a small sweet flag/cattail marsh (Iron Spring Swamp) that is fringed by wetland shrubs like alder, willow, and arrow-wood viburnum. Nets 15B & 15C are in a fairly thick stand of hawthorn and wild crabapple.

Bear Crossing Nets 1 & 2
Nets 12A & 12B
Bear Crossing Nets 3, 4 & 5
Nets 13A, 13B & 13C
Bear Crossing Net 5
Net 13C [note: a fourth net, 13D, has been added and extends into Crisp Field towards Net 14A].
Another view of Bear Crossing Nets 3-5
Another view of Nets 13A-C looking back from the adjacent open field.
Long Lane Net 10
Long Lane Net 14B; [note:a 6M “half net,” 14A, has been added since this picture was taken; the half net extends into Crisp Field]
Long Lane Net 10
Path leading across Crisp Field from Net 13D to  Net 14A.
White-tailed deer
White-tailed deer making their own path across Crisp Field!
Long Lane Nets 1 & 2
Long Lane Nets 17A & 17B
The first two of eight linked nets.
Long Lane Nets 3, 4, & 5
Long Lane Nets 17C, 16A &16B
Long Lane Nets 6, 7, & 8
Long Lane Nets 16B, 16C, & 15A
Stretching across Iron Spring Swamp.
Long Lane Net 9
Long Lane Net 15C
Powdermill Avian Research Center sponsored in part by Colcom Foundation and the Laurel Foundation.
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