26 February 2022
Despite Pittsburgh’s overcast skies, winter can be beautiful along the Monongahela River. Jim McCollum often stops by Duck Hollow to capture its many moods.
Ring-billed gulls visit Pittsburgh in winter and on migration to their nesting grounds at the Great Lakes and Canada. In February adult ring-bills look sharp in breeding plumage.
This month Pittsburgh had more than 5 inches of rain with several big rain events: 1.02″ on 3 Feb, 1.60″ on 17 Feb, and 1.07″ on the night of 24-25 Feb. When the flood waters receded on 24 Feb they left behind an unusable gift on the remnant mud bank which had never had a picnic table. Soon the water rose again.
In addition to gulls Duck Hollow has visiting ducks in winter, including common mergansers (Mergus merganser).
And there are always mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) that give the place its name.
p.s. Duck Hollow is at the end of Old Browns Hill Road and across the river from Homestead, near the Homestead Gray’s Bridge (previously called the Homestead High Level Bridge). Click on this link to see it on the map.
(photos by Jim McCollum)
If you don’t mind — exactly where is Duck Hollow? I was born and raised in the Burgh, (I currently live in Ohio) but somehow I don’t recognize the name.
Lydia, Duck Hollow is at the bottom of Old Browns Hill Road across the river from Homestead. Click here for the location on Google maps. I’ve added a note to the bottom of the article that has a link to