Yearly Archives: 2019

Eagle-Sized Roaming Charges

Birds of Prey, Migration
Steppe eagle (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

In case you missed it …

Steppe eagles (Aquila nipalensis), pictured above, breed on the steppes of Eurasia and spend the winter in Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan, India or Southeast Asia, passing through Central Asia on their way south.

Range of steppe eagle (map from Wikimedia Commons)

Steppe eagles are endangered in Russia and Central Asia, threatened by persecution and power lines which they encounter on migration so the Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network has fitted 13 of them with cell-enabled backpacks to track their paths. They plan to mitigate the most dangerous locations frequented by eagles.

The tracking backpacks send four text messages a day with date, time and the eagles’ GPS coordinates. If the bird is far from the cell network, the tracker stores the data until the eagle gets near a tower.

Steppe eagle in flight (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

This method worked well in 2018 because most of the eagles traveled near the Russian cell network. This year, however, an eagle named Min spent the summer far from the network in a remote part of Kazakhstan. Her backpack stored months of data that it couldn’t transmit until she flew near a cell tower in Iran (map below).

Approximate route of Min in Fall 2019, inexpertly drawn by Kate St. John on a map from Pinterest

In October the researchers were stunned to receive a cellphone invoice with eagle-sized roaming charges. They’d budgeted 15 roubles/message but roaming in Iran is 49 roubles/message. In just one texting session Min used up the entire year’s budget for all the eagles!

What to do? They set up a crowd-funding appeal that raised more than enough to cover this year’s charges (100,000 roubles) and Russia’s Megafon network offered to cover the cost, too. So the project is saved.

Learn more about the steppe eagles’ migration and roaming charges here on the BBC. Follow the steppe eagles’ saga at the Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network.

Click on the map below to see where the eagles have migrated in the past two years.

Steppe eagles’ tracked migration routes, 2018 and 2019 (screenshot from interactive map at Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network)

p.s. What is 100,000 worth in U.S. dollars? About $1,560.

(photos and range map from Wikimedia Commons, Min’s hand-drawn route on map from Pinterest, steppe eagles’ migration map from Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network. Click on the captions to see the originals)

NOTES: Steppes are prairies or scrubland similar to the Great Plains and Great Basin of North America. Steppe eagles face an additional threat: Because they eat carrion they are dying of diclofenac, just as vultures are.

Space Weather Coming Up

Weather & Sky
Aurora 3-day forecast, northern hemisphere, 11/21/2019 10pm EST to 11/22/2019, 1am EST (screenshot from NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center)

20 Nov 2019

There’s a storm warning for Thursday and Friday and it’s coming from outer space. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center reports:

G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storms are expected on 21-22 November 2019 due to positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream influence.

SWPC NOAA Space Weather Advisory, 19 Nov 2019

In other words, there’s a potential for mild auroras and minor electrical and magnetic disruptions this week because the solar wind (“high speed stream influence”) is going to blow hard past the Earth — but not so hard that it breaks things.

The solar wind originates from the Sun’s corona, the glowing atmosphere you see behind the moon during solar eclipses. Because the corona is fluid, it develops thin spots called coronal holes that emit the Sun’s magnetic field and charged particles. Usually the particles loop out and back into the Sun (animation below) but those that don’t return come roaring off the Sun in a solar wind that travels as fast as 500 miles/second.

Conceptual animation (not to scale) showing the Sun’s corona and solar wind. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Lisa Poje (from NASA’s SpacePlace)

The Earth’s magnetic field shields us from the solar wind but its force distorts the shield (shown in blue below). Sometimes electromagnetic particles seep into our atmosphere and cause geomagnetic storms known as space weather.

Strong solar wind distorts Earth’s magnetic field (image from NASA Spaceplace)

Space weather messes with electronics on our satellites and increases their orbital drag. Really bad space weather — from solar flares and coronal mass ejections — disrupts our electric grid, our high frequency radio communications, and the accuracy of GPS navigation.

None of this is good so NOAA teamed up with USGS to issue a weekly Space Weather Advisory and a real time map that shows space weather’s effect in the continental U.S. and Canada. Electric power grid operators use the mapping tool to prepare their infrastructure.

Map of Geoelectric field disruption from NOAA-USGS Space Weather Prediction Center

Space weather causes trouble but it has one very beautiful effect. When the particles follow Earth’s magnetic field lines down to the poles they create auroras that are visible during winter darkness. Here’s a stunning one at Bear Lake, Alaska in 2005.

Aurora borealis over Bear Lake, Alaska (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Fortunately this week’s space weather will be very minor, but so will the accompanying aurora. The northern lights won’t be intense nor will they be visible in the Lower 48 states.

Check NOAA’s weekly space weather forecast on Monday afternoons to see what’s coming up. See their 2-day aurora forecast or 30-minute forecast that includes Antarctica for predictions of beauty in the sky.

(images from NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, NASA’s SpacePlace and Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)

Western Woodpecker Tableau

Songbirds
  • Williamson's sapsuckers, immature and adult, Bend, OR (photo by Pati Rouzer)

If you’re from Pennsylvania you may not realize we have few woodpecker species compared to the western states of California, Oregon and Washington.

Sixteen of North America’s 22 woodpecker species regularly occur in the Pacific states while only seven occur in Pennsylvania. Five of our species are also found out west though the yellow-bellied sapsucker is rare.

Let’s take a look at western woodpeckers compared to Pennsylvania’s.

Western Woodpeckers (Pacific states)Pennsylvania Woodpeckers
1Williamson’s sapsucker
(Yellow-bellied sapsucker is rare)Yellow-bellied sapsucker
2Red-naped sapsucker
3Red-breasted sapsucker
4Lewis’ woodpecker
Red-headed woodpecker
5Acorn woodpecker
6Gila woodpecker (California & southwest)
Red-bellied woodpecker
7American three-toed woodpecker (not in California)
8Black-backed woodpecker
9Downy woodpeckerDowny woodpecker
10Nuttall’s woodpecker (California only)
11Ladder-backed woodpecker (California & southwest)
12Hairy woodpecker Hairy woodpecker
13White-headed woodpecker
14Pileated woodpecker Pileated woodpecker
15Northern flicker (red-shafted)Northern flicker (yellow-shafted)
16Gilded flicker (California & Arizona)

With the most habitat diversity and a lot of trees, California wins the prize in the western woodpecker tableau.

(photos by Pati Rouzer, Patty McGann, Andy Reago & Chrissy McLaren, Mick Thompson (Creative Commons licenses on Flickr), and by Steve Valasek)

Get Your Winter Finch Fix

Songbirds
Evening grosbeaks at Ontario FeederWatch, 28 Oct 2019 (screenshot from Cornell Lab’s Ontario FeederWatch cam)

Where are the purple finches, pine siskins, and red-breasted nuthatches this winter? Where are the evening grosbeaks?

If you’ve noticed a lack of winter finches in the eastern U.S. this autumn you’re not mistaken. They’re staying up north.

In his 2019-2020 Winter Finch Forecast Ron Pittaway explained that seed and fruit crops in northern Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland are exceptionally abundant this year. The winter finches have enough to eat so they’re staying home. Here’s who’s not coming to visit, not even to southern Ontario:

  • Pine grosbeaks
  • Purple finches: They usually come south, but not this year.
  • Red and white-winged crossbills
  • Common and hoary redpolls
  • Pine siskins
  • Evening grosbeaks
  • Red-breasted nuthatches
  • Bohemian waxwings
  • Even blue jays will be less abundant because many are staying north.

If you want to see these species you’ll have to go to Algonquin Provincial Park or watch them online at Ontario FeederWatch, a backyard camera in the Thunder Bay region.

The evening grosbeaks pictured above came to the Ontario FeederWatch platform feeder on 28 October 2019. (Click here for the video.)

Get your winter finch fix at Cornell Lab’s Ontario Feederwatch.

(screenshot from Ontario Feederwatch)

Not Afraid to be Seen

Peregrines
Wind-blown Morela on Halloween 2019 (photo by Dr. Alan Juffs)

If your office is high in the Cathedral of Learning you may have seen a peregrine outside your window.

Since early autumn the new female peregrine, Morela, has made herself at home at Pitt, choosing her favorite vantage points even if they have windows nearby.

Above, she perches in the wind outside Dr. Alan Juffs’ window on Halloween.

Below, she dines on pigeon in early November on the south face of the building, photo by Anonymous.

Morela at the southwest dining ledge, week of 4 Nov 2019 (photo contributed by Anonymous)

Morela’s acceptance of human faces in the windows reminds me of her predecessor, Dorothy, who didn’t mind seeing people indoors. I’m sure that quite a few people became peregrine falcon fans when they saw Dorothy outside the window.

Here’s a montage of Dorothy near the windows from 2009 to 2011.

  • Peregrine falcon, Dorothy, at the Cathedral of Learning, Feb 2011 (photo by Patricia Szczepanski)
    Peregrine falcon, Dorothy, at the Cathedral of Learning, Feb 2011 (photo by Patricia Szczepanski)
  • Dorothy, March 2009 (photo by Patricia Szczepanski)
  • Dorothy at dusk at the Cathedral of Learning, June 2010 (photo by Steve Valasek)

Like Dorothy, Morela is not afraid to be seen.

(photos by Dr. Alan Juffs and Anonymous)

Nacreous Clouds

Weather & Sky
Nacreous clouds at Lake Mjosa, Norway (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Near the poles in winter there are sometimes pearly-looking clouds glowing high above the Earth.

Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), also called nacreous clouds for their pearly appearance, form in the lower stratosphere at 49,000 to 82,000 feet — 1.5 to 2.6 times higher than a jet. They’re a winter phenomenon because they only form in the presence of super low temperatures, minus 108oF and colder.

Here you can see that they’re high above our usual clouds.

Polar Stratospheric cloud type 2 in Tromso, Norway (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Nacreous clouds can cause trouble. Those made of water are benign but some are made of nitric acid + water that reacts with ozone in the stratosphere and creates a hole in the ozone layer. Stratospheric ozone protects Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. It’s bad to have a hole in it!

Though we’ll never see these pearly clouds in Pittsburgh, we can appreciate their beauty from afar.

Polar Stratospheric Clouds over Scotland (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

p.s. The irony of ozone: Ground level ozone is bad; it burns plants and our lungs. Stratospheric ozone is good; it protects us from ultraviolet light. Ozone’s value depends on where it is.

Expanding Their Winter Range?

Peregrines
Peregrine at the Freeport Bridge, 9 Nov 2019 (photo by Dave Brooke)

13 Nov 2019:

Since last August when Sean Brady reported peregrines at the Freeport Bridge, Dave Brooke has spent time at the Treadway Trail parking lot beneath the bridge hoping to take their pictures.

Here are two of Dave’s photos: 9 Nov 2019 (above) and 10 Oct 2019 (below).

Peregrine with dots on breast, Freeport Bridge, 28 Oct 2019 (photo by Dave Brooke)

As I examined the October photo I noticed that the peregrine’s dotted breast and darkly lined chest look familiar. Few other peregrines look like this, but the female from the Tarentum Bridge does.

For comparison here are two photos of her from last February.

Female at Tarentum Bridge, Feb 2019, two photos by Steve Gosser

Female peregrine (dots on breast) at the Tarentum Bridge, 19 Feb 2019 (photo by Steve Gosser)

Meanwhile Dave’s November 9 photo is not a dotted-breast bird. It is possible though, that it’s the Tarentum male. The female would readily tolerate the presence of her mate but probably not another peregrine.

Compare the top November 9 photo to this one.

Male peregrine at Tarentum Bridge, 25 March 2019

Male peregrine at Tarentum Bridge after mating, 25 March 2019 (photo by Dave Brooke)

Peregrines expand their hunting territory as soon as their youngsters are able to hunt. They expand even further in winter when their primary prey — birds — have left on migration.

It would not be unusual for the Tarentum peregrines to be five miles from their nest site, only minutes away by air. The area has an additional attraction. Ducks gather at the Allegheny River Lock & Dam #5 just upstream from Freeport.

(photos by Dave Brooke and Steve Gosser)

Interesting eBird note: The Freeport Bridge crosses the line where four PA counties meet: Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler and Westmoreland. The peregrines could be in any one of 4 counties depending on where they perch.

Trees Remember Their Lives As Seedlings

Trees
New red oak leaves, April 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

Just as our own experiences shape our response to the future, trees remember their lives as seedlings and it shapes their responses to environmental stress.

Arborists had long suspected a “nursery effect” in which transplanted trees of the same species seemed to respond differently to the same environment depending on the nursery where they were grown. A 2011 study by the University of Toronto at Scarborough used poplar tree nursery stock to examine this theory.

Poplar trees (Populus sp) are propaganted clonally so a cutting grown from a parent tree is genetically identical to the parent. The study obtained stem cuttings from the same parent poplar tree regrown in widely separated nurseries in Alberta and Saskatchewan. They then regrew the trees in Toronto under identical conditions with half exposed to drought, the other half well watered.

Putting down roots: an acorn puts out a shoot, April 2017, Ohiopyle (photo by Kate St. John)

Amazingly the clones from Alberta responded differently than those from Saskatchewan. They even used different genes in their response.

“The findings were really quite stunning,” said Malcolm Campbell, lead author of the study. “Our results show that there is a form of molecular ‘memory’ in trees where a tree’s previous personal experience influences how it responds to the environment.”

Red oak seedling, April 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)

That’s why it’s unwise to transplant a tree grown in Somerset County, PA to a backyard in Pittsburgh. The origin and destination climates are too different. The tree’s triggers are incorrectly set for its new life. (Somerset is zone 5b, Pittsburgh is 6b, on the Plant Hardiness Map).

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map for Pennsylvania as of May 2018 (map from USDA.gov)
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map for Pennsylvania as of May 2018 (map from USDA.gov)

This applies to forest trees too, even though they aren’t transplanted. Their previous experience could help their survival in the face of climate change, diseases and pests.

As winter arrives this week, watch the trees respond with their own history as a guide.

Resources: Lab Girl by Hope Jahren and Forest trees remember their roots from Science Daily

(photos by Kate St. John, map from USDA)