While Eurasian lilies-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) are blooming in my garden, these “false lilies of the valley” are blooming in the Laurel Highlands.
Maianthemum canadense are woodland plants that range from the Yukon to Newfoundland to northern Pennsylvania and in the Appalachian Mountains to Georgia. Their preference for cooler temperatures makes them abundant in Canada and they bloom in late May, hence their common name: Canada mayflower.
When you find a patch of Canada mayflowers you’ve found a single organism that spread through its rhizomes. The flowers do produce a few berries but the plant’s most successful propagation is underground.
Lilies-of-the-valley spread underground, too, and have taken over half my garden. The difference between the two is that lilies-of-the-valley are poisonous to wildlife while Canada mayflowers are not.
Watch for them blooming this month in southwestern Pennsylvania. It’s Mayflower time.
One of the peregrine chicks banded at Pitt today, 11 May 2018 (photo by Peter Bell)
This morning two peregrine chicks, ages 23 and 24 days old, were banded at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning. Lead Bander Dan Brauning, PA Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Chief, was assisted by PGC Biologist Tammy Colt.
This is the third year that Hope and Terzo have nested at the Cathedral of Learning so they knew something was up this morning and were especially vigilant.
Hope is vigilant before the banding, 11 May 2018 (photo by John English)
When Dan and Tammy came out on the ledge, Terzo zoomed just above them and Hope jumped into the nest and started to shout. She was so loud that she distorted the audio on the falconcam and could be heard 20 floors below! See the video below.
After Dan removed one chick, Hope guarded the second one so closely that he had to nudge her gently aside with a broom. She bit the broom!
Indoors, the chicks were given health checkups (both healthy!) and — based on their weight — were given female bands. They were returned to the nest in less than half an hour.
Peregrine chick gets a health checkup, 11 May 2018 (photo by John English)Peregrine chick is banded at Cathedral of Learning, 11 May 2018 (photo by John English)
Hope yelled again as the chicks were returned to the nest. See video below.
Pitt peregrine chicks, 10 May 2018, 4:10pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Today, 11 May 2018, is banding day for the peregrine falcon chicks at the Cathedral of Learning. The event is closed to the public (the room has a strict occupancy limit!) but you’ll see some of the action on camera.
The first hint will be the sound of “kakking” as Hope and Terzo react when Pennsylvania Game Commission‘s Dan Brauning goes out on the ledge to retrieve the chicks.
The chicks will receive health checks and leg bands and be returned to the nest in less than half an hour.
Fawn inside the anti-deer fence (photo by Jennie Barker)
May is the month when fawns are born but it’s rare that you ever see them.
Fawns hide from predators by not moving as they sleep in dappled sunlight that matches their fur. Their mothers move away from them so the adults don’t attract attention to their fawns’ location. At night the family reunites.
Sometimes the family picks a “hiding” place that’s visible. In 2011 Jennie Barker found a fawn in her suburban Pittsburgh backyard.
Hours later, Lori Maggio visited Third Avenue at lunchtime and found Dori and Louie perched on Lawrence Hall across the street from their former nest.
Louie (top left) and Dori (lower right) perched on Lawrence Hall hours after their chicks were removed from the Third Avenue nest (photo by Lori Maggio)
They watched calmly because there were no people on the roof. Eventually the peregrines will be less vigilant, especially if people stay away from the nest-roof area for a while.
At top, Dori watches from across the street. Below, Louie watches from the top parapet of Lawrence Hall.
Louie watching from the roof of Lawrence Hall, 8 May 2018 (photo by Lori Maggio)
Their chicks were taken to Humane Animal Rescue where Pittsburgh’s injured peregrines go for rehab and recovery — especially Dori’s chicks who land on the street, hit buildings, break bones and sustain concussions from Downtown’s many hazards. Humane Animal Rescue will make sure the chicks don’t become habituated to humans and will work with the Game Commission to release them at a wild cliff. Human Animal Rescue does an excellent job. (See KDKA video)
The silver lining for the chicks is this: These four won’t face death at fledging time. I have seen too many die gruesome deaths because the Third Avenue nest is too low. Half die within two weeks, sometimes slowly and painfully before they are discovered.
These four chicks will do well.
(photos of Downtown peregrines by Lori Maggio, 8 May 2018)
p.s. A Caution to Commenters: During this emotional time … if you post a comment that could inflame others, I may edit or delete it.
Today the Pitt peregrine chicks are three weeks old with feathered faces and feather tips showing on their wings and tails. When they aren’t sleeping they are very active, motoring all over the nest.
Yesterday afternoon the chicks disappeared when they laid down flat at the front left corner of the nestbox. They were in this camera’s blind spot, but you can see them on the snapshot camera when that happens. Click here to see the current snapshot.
Pitt peregrine nest, 7 May 2018, 4:00pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ. of Pittsburgh)
The video above compresses their day into a minute — May 7, 2018 from 8a to 8p. You won’t see them for a bit in the afternoon but they looked like this (above) from a different angle.
This is the Biggest Week in American Birding in northwestern Ohio and I’m not going to miss it. I expect to see my favorite warbler, the Blackburnian (Setophaga fusca) above, and up to five warblers whose names are out of place in Ohio.
The birds listed below were named for the location where a scientist first described them though they were on migration at the time. The name tells you more about the ornithologist’s travel schedule than it does about the bird.
“Described by Alexander Wilson in 1811 from a migrant specimen on the banks of Tennessee’s Cumberland River, its common name belies the fact that its breeding range is restricted almost entirely to the boreal forest zone of Canada, southeastern Alaska and the extreme northern fringe of the U.S.”
Tennessee warbler (photo by Donna Foyle)
Nashville warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla): Found by Alexander Wilson in Nashville in 1811, and so named.
Nashville Warbler at Magee Marsh (photo by Brian Herman)
Kentucky warbler (Geothlypis formosa). Named by Alexander Wilson in 1811 while he was in Kentucky.
Kentucky warbler (photo by Tony Bruno)
The elusive Connecticut warbler (Oporornis agilis) is so hard to find in the spring that Steve Gosser’s photo below is from September 2013. Alexander Wilson first saw one in autumn, too. From Birds of North America Online:
Alexander Wilson first described this species in 1812 and named it after the state of Connecticut, where he collected the first specimen, a fall migrant. The common name is something of a misnomer, however, because the species does not breed in Connecticut, nor is it a common migrant there.
Connecticut warbler in western PA, September 2013 (photo by Steve Gosser)
“Its English name refers to the locality from which Alexander Wilson first described the species— Cape May, New Jersey—where it was not recorded again for more than 100 years .”
Cape May warbler (photo by Bobby Greene)
If I’d named the warblers for my first sightings they’d be Ohio warbler, Magee Marsh warbler, Maumee Bay warbler, and Ottawa (county) warbler.
Central Great Lakes weather radar, 6 May 2018, 3:58 EDT (screenshot from weather.gov)
6 May 2018:
How to predict a great birding day in early May? Find out last night’s weather.
At this time of year migrating songbirds spend the day eating and resting, then fly north overnight. Their decision to move depends on the weather. Here’s what they like best:
New leaves on the trees at their destination. (The Leaves! article explains why.)
A south wind, preferably a light one.
No rain, no storms. If they’re flying north and encounter bad weather, they land right there!
Pent up desire: If they’ve had to wait for good weather, the first favorable night will see huge movements of birds — thousands and thousands.
Weather radar is sensitive enough to show rain and snow. Did you know it also shows migrating birds?
The screenshot above shows the central Great Lakes weather radar at 4am, 6 May 2018. Yellow, orange and red indicate rain of increasing intensity. Green and blue are either light precipitation or birds. Green circles with blue edges are birds. Birds show up as circles because the detection limit of each radar installation is circular.
So what does this radar plot mean for Pittsburgh? Here’s a marked up version.
Annotated Great Lakes weather radar, 6 May 2018, 3:58 EDT (screenshot from weather.gov)
The red circle shows an area of bad weather. (Heavier rain is yellow and a hint of orange.) The red line marks the northern limit of the bad weather. Notice that there are no green circles north of the red areas. The birds stopped south of there.
Bad weather stopped the birds last night. Will we see the same birds in Pittsburgh today as we did yesterday? And in the same places?
Let me know what you find out.
p.s. Click on the radar images above to see the current Central Great Lakes radar map at weather.gov.
(screenshots of Central Great Lakes weather radar, 6 May 2018, 3:58 EDT from weather.gov)
As soon as the buds burst, the insects responded. Most are too small to notice but the tentworms stand out. When I see these tents I know there are lots of bugs in the trees.
Tentworms on a small cherry tree, Schenley Park, 3 May 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)
And with the bugs came migrating birds. Here are the new arrivals in Schenley Park, Wednesday May 2 to Friday May 4:
Spotted Sandpiper
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Yellow-throated vireo
House wren
Eastern bluebird (bluebirds don’t overwinter in Schenley)
Swainson’s thrush
Wood thrush
Gray catbird (I hoped for him last Sunday; he arrived on Friday)
Ovenbird
Black-and-white warbler
Tennessee warbler
Nashville warbler
Hooded warbler
Chestnut-sided warbler
Palm warbler
Scarlet tanager
Rose-breasted grosbeak
Baltimore oriole
UPDATE: additional species on Saturday May 5:
Golden-winged warbler (!)
American redstart
Northern parula
Magnolia warbler
Black-throated blue warbler
Black-throated green warbler
Orchard oriole
I can hardly wait for an indigo bunting. I’ll be out there again today.
screenshot from KDKA News, John Shumway, 3 May 2018, afternoon
Though their scheduled removal date was supposed to be Thursday May 3, the Downtown peregrine chicks remained with their parents yesterday.
John Shumway explains why in his afternoon update, above. The full story was on KDKA’s evening news, 3 May 2018 (below). Click on the screenshots to watch the videos.
