Yearly Archives: 2019

Deer Damage in The City

Deer, Mammals, Plants & Fungi
Arborvitae showing deer damage, Greenfield neighborhood, Pittsburgh PA, 17 July 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)

29 July 2019

Yesterday in Schenley Park, as we saw several white-tailed deer quite close to us, I remarked that the number of deer in Schenley is too high for the park’s habitat. How can you tell if there are too many deer in your neighborhood? Take a look at the arborvitae.

Many species of arborvitae (Thuja spp.) are planted as privacy hedges including our native Thuja occidentalis or northern whitecedar.

In the wild and in our yards Thuja trees are a favorite food of white-tailed deer. They browse it from the ground up to the height of their outstretched necks.

When the number of deer is in balance with the landscape, arborvitae have a normal tapered shape. You’d never notice that the deer are eating them.

Normal tapered shape of arborvitae tree (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

When there are more deer than the landscape can handle, their browsing is intense. The trees are cropped close to the trunk — even down to the bark — because the plants can’t replace their branches fast enough.

If your arborvitae trees look like the row shown at top, there are too many deer in your neighborhood, the landscape is out of balance. “Too many” can happen fast. Deer can double their population in just two to three years.

I photographed that row of damaged trees just six blocks from my house. Yes, my city neighborhood has too many deer now. We could protect our trees with netting as described in this video. Or we could give up and never plant arborvitae again.

p.s. There are too many deer everywhere in the eastern U.S., even in the forest. Read more here.

(photo by Kate St. John)

Today in Schenley Park, July 28

Books & Events
Schenley Park outing, 28 July 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)

This morning 11 of us met at the start of the Bridle Trail in Schenley Park. Though it wasn’t a very bird-y day we did see a scarlet tanager before we started down the trail. We also saw cup plant, oxeye or false sunflowers, and wild bergamot along the way.

Best Bird was a chipping sparrow, energetically gathering bugs to feed his fledgling. We watched him knock planthoppers out of a maple tree, then flutter down as they fell and chase them on the ground. The planthoppers hopped to escape but he was faster than they were, stacking them in his beak. As soon as he’d delivered them to the youngster he was off again to find more.

Best mammals were a 5-point white-tailed buck in velvet and twin fawns (with spots) nearby. They didn’t care that 11 people were watching them. Here’s a photo of (probably) the same buck two months ago. He has the same odd antler configuration.

5-point buck in Schenley Park, 28 May 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)

As I said, it wasn’t very bird-y; we saw only 17 species. Our list is at this link on eBird https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S58523369 and below:

BIRDS SEEN, 28 JULY 2019, SCHENLEY PARK BRIDLE TRAIL
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)
Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea)
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

p.s. I can’t remember. Did we see a turkey vulture? If so the count was 18.

(photo by Kate St. John)

Sleepy Day In The Rain

Peregrines

What does an urban peregrine falcon do on a rainy day?

Between flash-flood downpours on July 22, Pittsburgh’s weather was dreary and wet. The old Gulf Tower snapshot camera found Dori snoozing on a pillar for half an hour that morning.

Based on the photos I can tell this is Dori by her size, plumage, and the fact that she’s banded. When her eyes look white she’s closing her third eyelid (nictitating membrane) to take a nap.

Dori was having a sleepy day in the rain.

p.s. Since Dori obviously likes the Gulf Tower will she nest there next year? Unfortunately, repairs to the Gulf Tower roof are more extensive than originally estimated so the nestbox won’t be in place for the 2020 nesting season. Dori will have to nest elsewhere. She will probably choose Third Ave again.

(snapshots from the old Gulf Tower falconcam)

Schenley Park Bridle Trail, July 28, 8:30a

Books & Events, Schenley Park
American hophornbeam fruit at Schenley Park Bridle Trail (photo by Kate St. John)

Join me on Sunday, July 28 at 8:30am for a bird and nature walk in Schenley Park.

On this month’s outing we’ll visit a trail I’ve never shown you before. Meet me at the start of the Bridle Trail, so named because it was built in the late 1880s as a riding path for horses. We’ll make a clockwise circle for 1.6 miles.

Bridle Trail loop in Schenley Park (map saved at GMap Pedometer)

The gravel trail is a gentle downhill with rock outcrops, a view of the Monongahela River, two stone bridges, and some cool birds and plants. American hophornbeam winged fruits, shown above, are seen along the way.

Dress for the weather (probably hot!). Wear comfortable walking shoes and bring water, a sunhat, binoculars and field guides if you have them.

p.s. What goes downhill must come up the woodland staircase to the Oval.

(photo by Kate St. John, map created using Gmap Pedometer)

Preparing to Track a Young Peregrine

Peregrines

On June 10, 2019 the PA Game Commission (PGC) rescued, banded and MOTUS nano-tagged one of Downtown Pittsburgh’s five peregrine fledglings. As of June 27 our bird was one of eight Pennsylvania peregrines fitted with a tracking device for a PGC study that will learn where urban-born peregrines go and how many survive their challenging first year of life.

The video above, narrated by PGC’s Patti Barber, shows what the tagging process was like. She fit a young peregrine with a MOTUS tag and released it near its rooftop nest. The peregrine wore a falconry hood during the fitting to keep him calm.

Tagged birds rejoin their families immediately. On June 20 Lori Maggio photographed our Downtown MOTUS peregrine hanging out with a sibling more than week after he was released.

Two juvenile peregrines in Downtown Pittsburgh, one has a MOTUS nanotag, 20 June 2019 (photo by Lori Maggio)

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is assisting PGC with the study as described here.

p.s. The video was not filmed in Pittsburgh. It’s in Harrisburg. (Thanks to John English for telling me the location.)

(video by PA Game Commission, photo by Lori Maggio)

Who Am I?

Insects, Plants & Fungi

Last week I saw two caterpillars and a butterfly that teased me: Who am I?

1. While taking closeups of Japanese snowball fruit (Viburnum plicatum) I saw the tiny green insect above looking at me from the corner of a leaf.

Fruit of Japanese snowball viburnum, a favorite of American robins (photo by Kate St. John)

iNaturalist suggests he’s a moth in the genus Isa, a slug moth. However none of the photos show a caterpillar with a tiny black eye. He seems to be saying, “Who am I?” UPDATE, 24 July 2019: Monica Miller says he’s a planthopper, one of many confusing species.

2. On Lower Riverview Trail I paused where lots of tiny caterpillars were dropping to the ground on thin silk filaments. Were they a type of tussock moth? “Who am I?” UPDATE, 24 July 2019: Monica Miller confirmed my guess that these are hickory tussock moth caterpillars.

And in Schenley Park on the Greenfield Bridge I found an emperor. A hackberry emperor? A tawny emperor (Asterocampa clyton clyton). Thanks to Bob Machesney for the ID!

Tawny Emperor on the Greenfield Bridge , 16 July 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)