When you hear the term "flight path" you probably think of airplanes, but what about birds?

If you were to go almost directly west from Buzzie's Corner for approximately 7.5 miles you will have landed at Pittsburgh International Airport where the runways are in an east and west configuration. If you look to the left and upriver toward Pittsburgh you will see flights over the city and heading west on their approach to the airport. There are about 125 passenger flight departures per day, so there must be 125 arrivals. There are passenger flights to destinations in the United States; Toronto, Canada; London England; and Frankfurt, Germany. What may be surprising is that there are domestic cargo departures by UPS, FedEx, and Amazon, AND international cargo flights to Singapore, and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

While it seems that many of the commercial flights cross the Ohio River closer to Pittsburgh, it seems that the military flights pass over Buzzie's Corner on their approach to Pittsburgh International Airport. The military flights are the 911th Airlift Wing a unit of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). The 911th Airlift Wing's mission is to organize, recruit and train Air Force Reserve personnel to provide strategic airlift of airborne forces, their equipment and supplies and delivery of these forces and materials by airdrop, landing or cargo extraction systems.

When you have taken a comfortable seat on the guardrail near Buzzie's Corner you will hear and see birds on their flight path. You will hear and see the sea gulls near the water as it spills from the dam. (Why are the called "sea gulls" -- maybe they should be "dam gulls"!) If you watch the hillside above the Dickson Log House you will see as many as 7 large birds of prey lazily gliding the sky on their flight path. Perhaps there is a birdwatcher of two that can provide more information about the birds of Buzzie's Corner -- use this form to send some names of birds and how to spot them.