17 August 2024

This was a week of still-nesting swallows, pretty flowers, migrating warblers, and many, many deer in the city parks.

Moraine State Park, 11 August. Charity Kheshgi and I were surprised to see cliff swallows still nesting on 11 August at the Rt 528 Boat Launch area. Parents were feeding young at four to five nests.

Late summer flowers: Best photos this week are butter-and-eggs (non-native), spreading dogbane and blue vervain.

Warblers at Frick Park: On 14 August Charity Kheshgi and I saw a good flock of warblers on Trough Trail. Blackburnians were still considered rare on the 14th (too early for them) but we found five! Here’s one eyeing a bug on Japanese angelica, a devil’s walking stick look-alike.

We recognized distinctive plumage on each of the 5 Blackburnians. As if to prove there were so many, three posed in one shot.

We also saw one immature chestnut-sided warbler hanging out in the flock.

Deer: Schenley and Frick Parks, 14 and 16 August

It was a big week for deer in the city parks. I saw 10 in Frick on Wednesday, and 9 in Schenley on Friday. Of the 9, more than half were young or spotted fawns that were born this year. If my tally is representative, the Schenley deer population has doubled itself in just one year.

I believe that the doe in this photo is shedding her summer fur (rusty color) to switch to her winter coat (gray-brown).

Why are deer so easy to see in Schenley Park? Because there is no underbrush to hide them. There are so many deer that they ate all the underbrush. So there’s nowhere to hide.

p.s. The green grass in the photo is Japanese stiltgrass, a plant that deer don’t eat.