Yearly Archives: 2012

Tick Warning

Insects
Relative size of black-legged tick phases (image from CDC.gov)

6 April 2012

Word on the street is:  It’s going to be way too easy to catch Lyme disease this year.  That’s because it’s a boom year for black-legged ticks (also called deer ticks) and a bust year for their preferred blood host, white-footed mice.  Since mice are scarce the ticks will look for other hosts including us and our pets.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi) transmitted by the bite of a black-legged tick.  Black-legged ticks must have a blood meal in order to transition to their next life stage.  Any tick that’s acquired the bacteria from a prior host will give the bacteria to its next host.

The nymph stage is the most dangerous to humans because it is so hard to see.  It’s a critter the size of a poppy seed that has all the time in the world to walk up your body in search of a sneaky place to latch on and suck your blood.  If it bites you for more than 24 hours you have a higher chance of getting Lyme disease.

You never, ever want to get Lyme disease.  As my friend Dick Martin says:  “About a week after the infection, you will be hit by instant old-age.  Aches, flu-like symptoms, etc. are bad.  I speak from experience.”   The disease is debilitating with life-long effects if you don’t catch it early.

It’s way too easy to pick up ticks during any one of these activities:

  • Unwittingly visit infested areas (notice red X’s at this link).  Interestingly, the infection zones for Pennsylvania are more widespread than the tick infestation map.
  • Sit down outdoors on anything other than pavement or furniture.
  • Walk off trail near a stream, seep or wet zone.
  • Step into leaf litter.
  • Allow grass or plants to brush against you.

So you shouldn’t go outdoors?  Wrong!   Your best defense is vigilance:

  • Wear light-colored clothing that covers your skin — long pants and a long-sleeved shirt with collar.  Pull your socks over your pant cuffs.  I can tell you this outfit is eccentric and stifling in hot weather but it’s worth it.
  • Spray your clothing with bug repellent, especially your boots, socks, pants. Read about what to use here: Today Is Spray Your Clothes Day.
  • Check for ticks.  Check your clothing while you’re in the woods.  (That’s why you wear light colors.)  Check before you get in your car.  Check your body and scalp (take a shower).
  • Remove ticks with precision tweezers. 
  • Know Lyme disease symptoms and get treatment early.  Dick Martin says,  “Don’t count on the bull’s-eye red rash; I skipped that indicator.  If you pick off a blood-filled tick, ask your doctor for a prophylactic dose of an approved medication.  If you hesitate for the week, you have a tougher regimen of medication.  If you somehow ignore that, you have more serious, long-lasting effects.”

Read here for more information on black-legged ticks and Lyme disease.

Hawaii is the only state where Lyme disease has never been reported.  Plan accordingly.

(image from CDC.gov.  Click on the image to read more about black-legged ticks and Lyme disease)

Now Blooming: Squawroot

Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park

Squawroot (Conopholis americana) is a plant in the Broomrape family that produces no chlorophyll and has no leaves.  Instead it’s parasitic on the roots of trees, especially oaks.

The only time I notice squawroot is when it blooms in the spring.

I found these flowers on Monday in Schenley Park.

 

p.s. The green leaves on the left are an invasive plant unrelated to squawroot.  Anyone know its name?  (See the comments for the plant’s identity.  It is not invasive.)

(photo by Kate St. John)

New Digs?

Birds of Prey

On Monday, Steve Valasek sent me this picture of a burrowing owl near his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Talk about cute!

Burrowing owls (Athene cuniculari) are relatively small.  From beak to tail they’re only as long as an American robin but they’re more than twice as heavy and have double the wingspan.  When you see them you don’t think “size of a robin” but they’re small enough to fall prey to raptors, dogs and cats.

Burrowing owls live in open habitats from western Canada to the tip of South America.  They often nest colonially using burrows made by other animals (prairie dogs, ground squirrels, armadillos).  The burrows are also their safe zones.

The first time I ever saw a burrowing owl was in Boca Raton, Florida in December 1998.  After Christmas we were sitting around the table talking about birds and my sister-in-law said, “We have burrowing owls.”   Yow! A Life Bird!  We drove at dusk to a soccer field at Florida Atlantic University (FAU).  On the edge of the field were orange traffic cones to protect the burrows.  Perched on the fence above the cones were several burrowing owls!

Burrowing owls lived on the land before the University was established and FAU is proud to have them there.  Not only does the University protect the birds but they named their sports team The Owls and their sports arena The Burrow.

Burrowing owls are endangered or threatened in much of the West because of changes in habitat and the eradication of prairie dogs.  To help restore their population, biologists have developed ways to construct safe burrows and carefully place safe perches.  If all goes well, the owls return from migration and discover a beautifully improved home for their families.

Sometimes these methods are used to successfully relocate owls whose land is threatened.  When the owls are settled in their new home I wonder if they put up a sign at the old place.   “We’ve moved to new digs.”

😉

(photo by Steve Valasek)

Fire Season

Phenology, Weather & Sky

Spring is fire season in Pennsylvania.

85% of Pennsylvania’s wildfires occur in March, April and May, not because it hasn’t rained but because it’s windy and the old leaf litter provides a lot of fuel before the new leaves are out.

In Pennsylvania almost all wildfires are caused by people, so from March 1 to May 25 DCNR prohibits open fires in the State Forests.  This burn ban is instituted every year.  Even so, wildfires burn 10,000 acres annually in Pennsylvania.

Spring is also the time for controlled burns to clear the fields for planting.  If you fly across the U.S. on a clear, windless day this month you’ll see the smoke of controlled burns across the country.

Fire is the “natural” solution for clearing large fields when it’s impractical to till the old plants into the soil. But fire is not welcome near residential areas because of the smoke.  In western Pennsylvania I can tell that farmers often use herbicide because I find stark brown fields in April, surrounded by bright straight lines of green plants along the edges.

I’m not wild about herbicides.  If it weren’t for the smoke I’d prefer fire except …

Sometimes controlled burns go out of control as one did last week in Colorado.

Be careful.  It’s fire season.

(photo by Richard Chambers of a controlled burn in Statesboro, Georgia via Wikimedia Commons.  Click on the photo to see the original)

A Little Late, A Lot Early

Migration, Phenology, Plants & Fungi

Pennsylvania birders were treated to a surge of ducks last weekend when Friday night’s storm forced migrants to stop in our state to wait for better weather.  The migration fallout was especially large on Saturday.

A day late, I went to Moraine State Park hoping to see a few stragglers.  There weren’t as many ducks on Sunday but I found a nice variety:  ruddy ducks, buffleheads, horned grebes and five long-tailed ducks.

My own notes indicate that long-tailed ducks usually come through our area about a week earlier, approximately March 25.  This group was a little late, but I was too, so our paths crossed.

Meanwhile, the plants and insects are still early even though our weather has moderated.

A week ago, on March 25, I found this large-flowered bellwort blooming at Barking Slopes.  It usually blooms around April 25 so it was one month ahead of schedule.

A little late.  A lot early.

What will happen next?

(photo of long-tailed ducks by Steve Gosser, photo of large-flowered bellwort by Kate St. John)

 

April Fool

Musings & News, Songbirds

My goodness there are a lot of birds in the yard today!  I can hear the songs and calls of …

  • Northern cardinal
  • American robin
  • Eastern phoebe
  • Carolina wren
  • Blue jay
  • Tufted titmouse
  • White-breasted nuthatch
  • Killdeer (that’s odd!)
  • Eastern bluebird
  • Eastern towhee
  • Common grackle
  • Northern flicker
  • Mallard (quacking in my dry backyard?)
  • And what’s that back-up whistle?

April Fool!  It’s a northern mockingbird.

Did you know that both male and female mockingbirds sing?  And that the males can mimic over 150 songs?  No fooling!

Click here to listen.

(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

Downtown Pittsburgh Falcon Watch

Peregrines

Sharon Leadbitter is organizing a peregrine falcon watch Downtown on Sunday, April 1 at noon.  Meet her on the top level of the First Avenue T Station parking garage.

She writes:  “Tomorrow (Sunday) I will be at the First Avenue garage on the top floor in case anyone would care to join me.  Cons – you have to pay to park.  Pros – great view of river, jail and most of the other buildings in the siting area, there’s a bathroom on the 3rd floor as well.  So come on down and join me.  Bring sunscreen, a chair, something to drink and good conversation.  I’ll be waiting for you …… (with homemade cookies as well)”

Blooming Early: Trailing Arbutus

Phenology, Plants & Fungi

Trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) is a rare evergreen plant that usually blooms in April in our area.  This year it’s blooming early, just like everything else.

Both of the plant’s first names — trailing and epigaea — refer to its woody, hairy stems that trail on the earth in a dense mat.  The leaves are oval and leathery, smooth on top and hairy below.

The plant is unremarkable until it blooms.  The flowers are tubular, 5-lobed, pink or white, and usually in clusters at the branch tips.  They’re quite fragrant with a spicy smell.

I’ve seen trailing arbutus on Arbutus Trail at Bear Run Nature Reserve.  Dianne Machesney photographed them last week at North Park.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

Webcam Round-up, March 2012

Peregrines

Dorothy and E2 have been incubating their eggs since March 25. Except for moments like this when they trade incubation duty, watching the falconcam can be pretty boring so you might want to keep several nestcams open at the same time to keep the action fresh.

Many of you have sent links to the other webcams you’re watching.  Here are just a few of the webcams viewing active nests right now.  Some are in different time zones so you’ll get to watch the sun rise and set across the continent.

 

This is just the tip of the iceberg!  There are more webcams than I can ever list and new ones announced every day as nesting season begins for more species.

Do you have a favorite webcam I didn’t list here?  Share it by posting a comment with the link.

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh)

Sycamore Snow

Trees

Here in the city of Pittsburgh we dodged the frost bullet on Tuesday morning.  The temperature fell to 28o but the air was so dry that no frost formed.

Our flowering trees were untouched and by yesterday morning the petals were falling and the seed balls on the London plane trees were on the verge of disintegrating (shown above).

As I walked to work a gust of wind sent the petals and seeds into the air.  The petals fell fast and drifted into the gutters but the plane tree (“sycamore”) seeds on their tiny parachutes floated like snowflakes.  It was beautiful … and impossible to photograph.

On a warm sunny morning we had sycamore snow.

(photo by Jebulon on Wikimedia Commons.  Click on the image to see the original)