Yearly Archives: 2010

Not Shy… Right Now

Peregrines

Peregrine at Tarentum (photo by Steve Gosser)
Peregrine nesting season is coming soon and our local birds are showing it.

When peregrines court they are very noticeable.  Lone peregrines with a territory but no mate fly conspicuously to advertise their availability.  Peregrines with both a nest and a mate engage in dramatic courtship flights to signal that their site is taken.  In both cases they mean to be seen.

The best time to observe this behavior in southwestern Pennsylvania is during February and March so, despite the snow last Sunday, Steve Gosser went down to the Tarentum Bridge where he’d seen a pair of peregrine falcons a year ago.  And there they were.

According to Steve, “they both came perching on a beam practically right above where I was standing.”  He got some great photos (this is one of them) and confirmed that this is the same pair Dan Yagusic identified at the bridge on December 20.  Their continued presence is a good sign they intend to nest there.

Conspicuous peregrine activity lasts until the female lays eggs (late March or early April).  Then they become quite secretive and if you didn’t watch carefully you’d think they were gone.

So make the effort in the next two months to watch for peregrine falcons near potential nest sites.  You won’t be disappointed.  The peregrines aren’t shy … for now.

(photo by Steve Gosser)

Say it ain’t so!

Weather & Sky

Snow in Pittsburgh, 8:00am, Feb 6, 2010 (photo by Kate St. John)
The weatherman says it’s going to snow 6 to 10 more inches in the next two days with gusty winds and blowing, drifting snow.  Oh no!

Where will we put more snow?  Will the wind break the trees that survived until now?  Will the power stay on?  Will my street ever get plowed?  When will garbage collection resume?  When will the 56U bus, the one I take to work, start to run again?  Will any buses be running?  Will I be able to walk in the street to get to work without being killed?

I’m losing my resilience. 

It was pretty, but enough already!

(Snow in Greenfield, 8:00am Saturday Feb 6, 2010, photo by Kate St. John)

Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb 12-15

Books & Events

Child with binoculars (linked from allbestbinoculars.com)
Get ready for the easiest bird count you’ll ever do ’cause you can do it in your jammies.

This coming weekend — February 12 to 15 — is the Great Backyard Bird Count.  Participants across North America will spend time counting birds and recording the greatest number of individuals they see per species.  The results show trends in winter bird populations.  It’s a great “citizen science” event for all ages.

And it’s easy.  You can be as ambitious or laid back as you like.  You can go outdoors looking for birds in cold, windy places, or you can fill your feeders and count birds outside your window while you lounge in your pajamas.  You can count every day for four days, or you can count for as little as 15 minutes in the comfort of your home.  When you’re done, just turn on your computer and report it online at Birdsource.

Don’t want to count alone?  Do your kids want to learn about birds?  There will be many opportunities to gather and learn at events across North America.   In the Pittsburgh area, Fern Hollow Nature Center will hold children’s workshops and bird-count walks in Sewickley Heights Borough Park.  (NOTE ON FEB 11, 2010:  THE WALKS IN THE PARK ARE CANCELED DUE TO SNOW DEPTH.)

And if you like to take pictures you can enter the Great Backyard Bird Count photo contest.

So no matter what the weather is – even if it snows two feet – you can safely plan to count birds next weekend.  Click on the photo above for all the details.

Easy!

(photo linked from allbestbinoculars.com Click on the image to see the original article about Birding for kids)

Wishful Thinking

Schenley Park, Weather & Sky

7 February 2010

This morning dawned clear and cold at 5oF.   We’re back in the deep freeze, but this time with an official 21.1 inches of snow.  This is the fourth largest snowfall since Pittsburgh began keeping records in 1884 and it sets the record for February.

After the snow stopped falling yesterday, the sun came out and the air felt almost balmy.  Heavy snow began to fall off the trees, people came outdoors to dig out their cars and I took a walk to Schenley Park to see what was going on.

The snow was up to my knees.  I had to walk in the road, but so did everyone else and there were very few cars.  If I hadn’t been able to walk where it was plowed I’d never have made the 3.7 miles round trip.

When I got to Phipps Conservatory I found the sign show at top.  Yes, there are tropics inside their building but it was closed.  All the action was on Flagstaff Hill, mobbed by thrill-seekers with snowboards, saucer-sleds and makeshift toboggans.

As promised I took a lot of pictures on my low quality cell phone, shown in the slideshow below. (Click on any image to see the slideshow in its own lightbox.)

  • Cars and their tracks are buried

The tropics are definitely wishful thinking today.

p.s. Here’s a map of the total snowfall.  Notice how Pittsburgh, Westmoreland County and the mountains got the most snow!

(photos by Kate St. John)

Real Snow

Weather & Sky

21 inches in my backyard, 8:00am Feb 6, 2010 and still snowing (photo by Kate St. John)
Remember last month when I showed you Marcy’s orange ruler measuring almost 10 inches of snow?

This morning I had to get out the yardstick.

At 8:00am there were nearly 21 inches in my backyard.  I left the ruler out there and it now reads 21.75 inches.

And it’s still snowing heavily.

I’ll try to take more pictures today if I can get outdoors, but it’ll be a challenge because my boots aren’t that high!  Meanwhile you can click on the yardstick to see what our neighborhood looked like from the street at 8:00am.

(Sorry for the poor image quality; these are from my cell phone.)

(photo by Kate St. John)

Anatomy: Rectrices

Bird Anatomy

Great Crested Flycatcher in flight (photo by Chuck Tague)Having covered the nape, mantle and rump we’ve gotten to the end of the bird and can now talk about its tail.

Rectrices is a word for tail feathers that’s not often used.  I find it hard to remember because it resembles another feather word, remiges, and because I tend to mispronounce both of them.

The good news is that information on the origin of these words makes it easier to figure out their meanings.  Here’s how.

Rectrices (pronounced REK.tris.iz) are the strong tail feathers that direct the bird’s flight.  Rectrix is the singular form.  When you see them spelled side by side, it’s pretty obvious that rectrix and direct come from the same Latin word.

Remiges (pronounced REH.midg.iz) are the wing’s flight feathers.  Remex, its singular form, comes from the Latin word for oar and used to mean “rower.”   Watch a crow fly and you’ll see his wings rowing through the sky.

So the remiges are for rowing and the rectrices are for directing.

Wings row.  Tail directs.  Maybe now I’ll remember.

(photo of a great-crested flycatcher showing off his cinnamon rectrices, by Chuck Tague)

Beyond Bounds: Wood Stork

Beyond Bounds, Water and Shore

Wood Stork (photo by Kim Steininger)
This bird may have beautiful feathers but look at its feet, look at its face that only a mother could love.

This is the wood stork, a wading bird native to the Western Hemisphere and the only stork that breeds in the U.S.

The wood stork is found year-round in South America, along the Gulf Coast in winter and in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina during the nesting season. It feeds on fish, frogs and large insects that it feels with its sensitive bill.  It also clatters its bills to communicate because, like all storks, it has no voice.

Wood storks are beyond the bounds of western Pennsylvania except for the rare lone juvenile that may show up at Presque Isle State Park in autumn.  These solo birds probably make a fatal navigational error that takes them to the shores of Lake Erie.   The loss of these youngsters is made sadder by the fact that the wood stork is endangered due to water degradation and habitat loss.  Their population has declined so dramatically that they’re now considered an indicator species for the Everglades restoration.

Storks and motherhood are often associated but this stork is not the one who brings babies.  That’s the job of the white stork of Europe, Central Asia and Africa who nests on chimneys and roofs.

(photo by Kim Steininger)

Cold Road

Beyond Bounds, Weather & Sky

Roadrunner (photo by Cris Hamilton)
This is one very cold bird who’s so fluffed up he doesn’t look like himself. 

Can you guess who he is?  Here’s a hint:  I put part of his name in the title of this blog.

Still stumped? 

Cris Hamilton sent me this photograph of a greater roadrunner she saw on a trip to New Mexico last December.  She writes:  “We found that the roadrunners were very skittish – not real easy to find, and once found, they would take off quickly in the opposite direction. … We found this one at the visitor’s center of the White Sands National Monument.  It was really cold – like in the teens if I remember correctly, but sunny.”

At that temperature he’s indeed a “cold road.”  Click here to see what greater roadrunners normally look like.

(photo by Cris Hamilton)

Tomorrow is a really big day

Books & Events, Mammals

Groundhog Day 2005 (photo by Aaron Silvers, Wikipedia, Creative Commons license)
If you’ve got nothing to do at dawn tomorrow, jump in your car right now and head for Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  You’re going to have to leave early because the festivities are already underway and the really big show starts long before dawn.

Yes, tomorrow is Groundhog Day and people across North America will pull their groundhogs out of hibernation and ask them what they think of the weather.  If the groundhogs see their shadows they’ll scurry back to their burrows and we’ll have six more weeks of winter.  If dawn is overcast the groundhogs will be happy and predict an early spring.

If you presented me with a sunny or cloudy day and asked me the same question my prediction would be the opposite but I am not Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.

You may be wondering… Why does this festivity happen on February 2nd?  Groundhog Day, which is also Candlemas, is an old celebration of the date that falls exactly halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.  For winter-weary humans it’s just about the only thing we can celebrate at this time of year and it happens to be six weeks away from spring.  Funny how that works into Phil’s prediction.

So don’t delay!  It’s a huge celebration.  The trek to Gobblers Knob begins at 3:00am.  The fireworks start before 7:00am and Phil makes his prediction at daybreak (approximately 7:25am).

If you can’t make it to Punxsy, watch it live online on the VisitPA website.

(photo of Groundhog Day 2005 by Aaron Silvers, from Wikipedia via Creative Commons license)