Birding from a boat offers special vantage point for enthusiasts
Tour along rivers featured everything from ospreys to a peregrine falcon
The great blue heron doesn’t know it is majestic to the human eye. The breeze ruffled its neck feathers as it stood alert along the shore of the Monongahela River, at the base of a rusted yellow storage tank that stood in the water.
Several people on board the riverboat spotted it before the boat slipped past it and roused everyone else. Captain Ryan O’Rourke put the boat in reverse, and most of the 40 people on board rushed to starboard, binoculars up.
There it was, in perfect posture. It offered its admirers a long moment before elongating its head straight up and lifting off, skimming the water to a chorus of “Ooooo!”s
It might have been the highlight of the morning excursion that gave bird-lovers a chance to see bird life from the river, a vantage point that lets you look under bridge supports where falcons and hawks nest, and along shorelines where sandpipers scuttle.
The nearly four-hour tour Saturday morning was a joint venture of Rivers of Steel and the National Aviary, using Rivers of Steel’s floating classroom, the Explorer.
Theboat left from the CarnegieScience Center on the NorthShore, plowed up the Ohioto encircle Brunot Islandthen chugged up the Monongahelajust past Homesteadbefore returning.
“This is something that’s been in my brain to do for a while,” said Aviary ornithologist Bob Mulvihill. “The shoreline is an ecosystem unto itself, not just for water birds but because the trees along the shore attract birds like orioles and vireos.”
Also, insects hatch on water, and birds eat insects, so many birds can be seen near water, he said.
Saturday’s tour and one scheduled for next Sunday sold out quickly, so it’s something the Aviary and Rivers of Steel are likely to repeat next year, said Molly Toth, Aviary spokesman.
When the boat glided past the former state penitentiary, Mr. Mulvihill informed his class that common ravens have been nesting in crevices in the brick work.
On the approach to the McKees Rocks Bridge, he said, “There’s a peregrine falcon in a nest up there.” He was pointing and a clutch of people around him scanned the bridge supports with their binoculars trying to find the birds.
“See the horizontal support, two up from the bottom?” he said, pointing. “It’s tiny, but you might see it’s head sticking up. “Just above there,” he said, stretching as if to touch the bird’s head.
A tiny black bump stood out above the pale blue support beam in profile against the massive stone pier.
Along one side of Brunot Island, the boat slowed as several people spotted a pair of ospreys perched on a tower of the NRG power generating plant.
Margie and Dan Fritz of Ross were among many on board who are fans of Mr. Mulvihill and have taken tours on land with him.
“Anytime I’m on a trip with Bob, I feel I’m in the presence of a master,” Ms. Fritz said. “He speaks with such knowledge and respect for birds and the environment.”
A self-described “backyard birder,” Ms. Fritz said she and her husband feed birds and take tours to learn more of what Mr. Mulvihill knows. “I love birds. I think they’re amazing.”
Linda Hand, a registered nurse from Mt. Lebanon, said she doesn’t feel she can call herself a birder since she can’t identify many songs or every bird, “but I appreciate learning on trips like this. I find it peaceful.”
She went to the Cape May Bird Festival several years ago and met Becky Nichols, who was there from Belle Vernon. When they found out they were both from the Pittsburgh area, they bonded.
“We’ve taken a few trips with the Aviary and a few ourselves,” Ms. Nichols said. She began birding when she retired five years ago from a job in the technology field. “It’s a great hobby that anyone can do. Just hang a pair of binoculars around your neck and be observant.”
As the morning grew late, much of the bird life had gone silent, but people scanned the shoreline anyway, their binoculars fixed on the tops of trees and the river bank.
Then drama: A red tailed hawk soared up from a tree, swooping and banking like a stunt pilot, showing off its coppery tail feathers.
Soon, the city skyline came back into view. The magic was now of a pretty day of people in boats and kayaks. Through the trees, there were flecks of movement, dartings of color, but they were simply cars.