Category WildWatch Weekly

Queens of the Sky: Understanding Female Size Dominance in Raptors

WildWatch Weekly Queens of the Sky: Understanding Female Size Dominance in Raptors Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube A Perfect Time to Look Up As we get ready to kick off another exciting Bald Eagle Cam season at PixCam, it’s the perfect time to look up and reconnect with the incredible raptors that call Pennsylvania home. Soon, fans of the Hays bald eagles (now Glen Hazel), and our other eagle nests across the state, will once again be tuning in daily to watch courtship displays,...

Beyond Parrots: Surprising Songbirds That Mimic in Your Backyard

WildWatch Weekly Beyond Parrots: Surprising Songbirds That Mimic in Your Backyard Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube The Hidden Impersonators: Local Birds That Copy Calls and Songs When most people think of birds that mimic sounds, their minds jump straight to parrots. It’s no surprise that parrots are famous for imitating human speech and other noises. But what many backyard birdwatchers don’t realize is that some of the best vocal impressionists in the bird world are found right...

Why the Male Cardinal Wears Red: The Science Behind the Scarlet

WildWatch Weekly Why the Male Cardinal Wears Red: The Science Behind the Scarlet Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube A Flash of Red in the Gray On a quiet winter morning, when the trees stand bare and the world seems painted in shades of gray, a sudden burst of color can take your breath away. A male northern cardinal lands on a snowy branch, a living ember glowing against the cold. His feathers blaze crimson in the pale light, as if he carries a piece of summer in his wings....

When Weasels Work in Pairs: Unexpected Insights from Our Trail Cameras

WildWatch Weekly When Weasels Work in Pairs: Unexpected Insights from Our Trail Cameras Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube The Unexpected Guests Trail cameras are often full of surprises, but this fall one of our remote setups in southwestern Pennsylvania captured something extraordinary, a flurry of long-tailed weasel activity that defied expectations. What began as a routine camera check turned into a genuine mystery. These small, fast, and secretive predators rarely show...

The Starling’s American Takeover: Beauty, Chaos, and Song

WildWatch Weekly The Starling’s American Takeover: Beauty, Chaos, and Song Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube A Sky in Motion Like a living cloud, a murmuration of starlings twists and folds above a winter field, nature’s ballet, born of an accident in American history. The flock moves as if guided by a single mind, sweeping and turning in fluid arcs that shimmer with the last golden light of day. Each bird reacts in perfect harmony with its neighbors, creating patterns that seem...

Autumn Builders: Muskrats Prepare for Winter at Iroquois Refuge

WildWatch Weekly Autumn Builders: Muskrats Prepare for Winter at Iroquois Refuge Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube The Marsh Comes Alive Autumn settles gently over the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, draping the wetlands in gold and amber. Morning mist drifts across the still water, and the rustle of dry cattails mixes with the calls of distant geese. Just beneath the Bald Eagle nest, where so many eyes focus skyward, another drama unfolds at water level. Ripples spread through...

The Snowbird Returns: Meet the Dark-eyed Junco

WildWatch Weekly The Snowbird Returns: Meet the Dark-eyed Junco Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube The Arrival of Winter’s Little Messenger There’s a quiet magic to that first cold morning when the juncos return. The leaves have mostly fallen, the air carries a sharper edge, and suddenly the familiar flutter of small gray wings animates the ground beneath your feeders. Dark-eyed Juncos, those tiny, slate-colored songbirds with snowy bellies and pink bills, seem to appear overnight,...

The Giant Woodpecker of Our Woods: A Closer Look at the Pileated

WildWatch Weekly The Giant Woodpecker of Our Woods: A Closer Look at the Pileated Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube A Drumbeat in the Forest It’s often the sound that reaches you first, a deep, resonant whock-whock-whock echoing through the woods like the steady rhythm of a carpenter at work. The forest seems to pause for a moment as the sound rolls across the hills, revealing that one of the woodland’s most impressive residents is nearby: the pileated woodpecker. With its bold...

Bats on the Move: Migration and Hibernation in Pennsylvania

WildWatch Weekly Bats on the Move: Migration and Hibernation in Pennsylvania Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube Bats on the Move: Migration and Hibernation in Pennsylvania If you’ve peeked into the Schwarz barn this month, you may have noticed fewer furry faces hanging from the rafters. All summer long, the barn has been alive with the flutter of wings at dusk as our big brown bat colony took off to hunt insects over the fields. Now, as the days grow shorter and the nights turn...

The Power of Many: How Citizen Scientists Are Changing Ornithology

WildWatch Weekly The Power of Many: How Citizen Scientists Are Changing Ornithology Live Cams Latest Posts Store Facebook YouTube The Power of the Crowd Every spring and fall, one of nature’s greatest spectacles unfolds overhead: millions of birds embark on epic migrations, traveling thousands of miles across continents. For centuries, this awe-inspiring movement was a mystery. Scientists pieced together clues using small-scale banding programs, scattered field observations, and a lot of...