All posts by Kate St. John

Some Ducks at Duck

Water and Shore

25 November 2024

Charity Kheshgi and Jon Woon joined me yesterday at Duck Hollow where we looked for birds under extremely overcast skies. Unfortunately the ducks were so far away and the light was so poor that we have no photos to show for it. Instead I’ve embedded look-alike photos from Macaulay Library.

Best birds were these very distant ducks.

1 Canvasback female (sample photo above): We pondered this bird for a long time because she was paired with a male ring-necked duck. Yes, she was a canvasback. We were witnessing future hybridization within the Aythya genus.

The Ring-necked Duck entry in Birds of the World includes eBird records with photos of hybrids between Ring-necked Ducks and Canvasback, Redhead, Tufted Duck, and Great and Lesser Scaup.

— Eastside Audubon Bird of the Month

1 Ring-necked duck, male. Easy to identify because of his head shape and white striped beak.

1 Hooded merganser, female. She kept her crest sleeked back even more than this.

12 Common mergansers flew by but were never as close to us as this group in good light on 9 November.

Common mergansers at Duck Hollow, 9 Nov 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

I’ve put our best ducks in boldface. See our checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S203488389.

Duck Hollow, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, US
Nov 24, 2024 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling, 1.2 mile(s)
22 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 55
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 30
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria) 1 Female
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) 1 Male
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) 1
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 12
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) 2
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) 1
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 3
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 2
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 2
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 4
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 50
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 125 Along the road
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 1
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 10
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 3
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) 12
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 4 This is probably a low count
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 5
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 3

p.s. Here’s how overcast it was. I took this sky photo when I got home.

Overcast sky in Pittsburgh, 24 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Dead Birds and The Price of Eggs

Doves & Chickens, Musings & News
Immature peregrine eating a bird on the beach at Westport, Washington (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

24 November 2024

You may have noticed that the price of eggs went up … or is going up again. The rise is directly related to dead birds.

It’s been only three years since the highly contagious avian influenza H5N1 arrived in North America on the wings of migratory waterfowl in autumn 2021. Though not dangerous to humans it easily kills poultry and ripples through waterfowl and raptor communities.

Among wild birds mallards are particularly susceptible and lead the infection rate in many places.

Mallards and electron microscope photo of H5N1 avian flu A (from Wikimedia Commons)

When waterfowl are sick, peregrines die after eating them (hence the peregrine photo at top). Avian flu kills so quickly that in some cases dead peregrines have been found at the nest. The peregrine population at both coasts has declined in the past two years as described in Audubon Magazine: Why Are Peregrine Falcon Numbers Falling in the United States Again? … and at…

Avian Flu is Taking a Toll on Virginia Coastal Peregrines

But by far the greatest effect is on domesticated poultry. From 2022 through 20 November, nearly 110 million farm birds have died because H5N1 is so contagious in crowded conditions.

Cage free hens (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

In the past six weeks alone, avian flu has hit five large egg farms in Washington, Oregon, California, and Utah. More than 6 million hens have been culled because of exposure to H5N1 and certain death.(*)

Fewer hens means fewer eggs. So the price of eggs goes up.

Chicken eggs (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Listen for news of large avian flu outbreaks and you’ll be able to predict the rising price of eggs.

(*)See H5N1 current status at USDA: Confirmations of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Commercial and Backyard Flocks)

p.s. Eggs are produced in massive crowded farms because it takes 382,000,000 hens to meet the U.S. demand for 110 billion eggs per year. As of March 2024, 60% of U.S. egg farms housed hens in cages.

Hens in battery cages, 2007 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Producing billions of eggs a year is an inherently messy business. Just 200 or so farmers control almost all of the nearly 300 million egg-laying hens in the United States. 

— New York Times, 2016: Eggs That Clear the Cages, but Maybe Not the Conscience

Seen This Week: Fruits and Seeds

Musings & News, Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Trees
“Monkey balls” = fruit of osage orange tree, Schenley Park, 20 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

23 November 2024

Now that the leaves have fallen fruits and seeds are prominent in the landscape.

Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) trees have prolific fruit this fall but nothing eats the “monkey balls” so they just lay on the ground to rot. If you crack one open it has sticky latex inside. Who would eat this fruit? The answer is in the video at the end!

The fruiting body of a shaggy mane mushroom (Coprinus comatus) poked up among the leaf litter near Five Points at Moraine State Park.

Fruiting body of Shaggy Mane mushroom, Moraine State Park near Five Points, 18 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Red fruits of oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) are a favorite food of migrating American robin, protected by a hard yellow-orange skin that pops off in sections. It looks like a squirrel gnawed off this branch and lost his meal.

Fruit of oriental bittersweet, 18 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Late boneset has gone to seed in Schenley Park.

Late boneset seeds surrounded by fluff, Schenley Park, 20 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Just a few trees still have leaves. I found this colorful sweetgum along a sidewalk at CMU. Someone ripped a piece off the yellow leaf.

Colorful leaves on sweetgum, 20 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

BONUS! Who eats monkey balls?

video embedded from Ghosts of Evolution on YouTube

Watching a Live Stream

Water and Shore
Stream at Acadia National Park, Sept 2013 (photo by Kate St. John)

22 November 2024

“Sorry I can’t talk right now. I’m watching a live stream.”

So said U.S. Fish and Wildlife with their video of salmon swimming upstream.

Stream watching can be very peaceful, as I found at Powdermill Run.

Powdermill Run soundscape, 19 August 2023 (video by Kate St. John)

“Sorry I can’t talk right now. I’m listening to a live stream.”

p.s. Mike Fialkovich watched a live stream, too, at Slippery Rock Creek.

McConnell's Mill State Park Video 10-24-2024 (2)

Some Plants Are Simply Female

Plants & Fungi, Trees
Female spicebush with berries, 25 Sept 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

21 November 2024

In the garden we often grow “perfect” flowers such as roses, lilies and tulips with male and female parts in every flower. However, many woody shrubs and trees have single sex flowers. Some species grow both sexes on the same tree, others have only one sex on an entire plant. And so, some plants are simply female.

Compare this “perfect” bisexual flower diagram …

Diagram of a flower with both female and male parts (image from Wikimedia Commons)

… to single sex flowers.

Diagrams of female and male flowers (altered from the perfect flower on Wikimedia Commons)

Monoecious species have both flower sexes on the same plant. Examples include hickory and pecan trees, cucumbers and pumpkins, cherries, common grape vine and corn (maize).

Dioecious plants produce only male or female flowers on individual plants and only the female plants produce fruit. Examples include gingkos (stinky fruit from female trees!) …

Fruit and fallen leaves from a female gingko tree (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

… and holly trees –> You can’t get holly berries if you have only one tree.

Holly leaves and berries (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Knowing this, you can sex dioecious plants in the fall. And here we are with spicebush.

Sexing Spicebush

Counting Crows? Crows Can Count

Bird Behavior, Crows & Ravens
Is this crow counting something? (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

20 November 2024

The number of crows in the East End increased recently after they began roosting at Pitt again. On Saturday night I saw hundreds of crows in the trees at Carnegie Library and the Cathedral of Learning so on Monday afternoon I did a walk-about to count “crow trees” that showed evidence of roosting. (A big tree holds 250 crows.)

Crows gathering at dusk in Schenley Park, 21 Jan 2017 (photo by Mike Fialkovich)

My tree count was way too high so on my way home I paused at Fifth and Craig to count the huge flock passing overhead on their way to Pitt. 8,000 to 8,500 crows.

On Tuesday evening I could see crows staging in the trees above Morewood Ave so I counted again. 8,000 crows. … And this is just the East End flock.

The crows may be wondering why I’m counting(*), but crows can count too though not so high. A study of carrion crows (Corvus corone), published in Science last May, showed that this Eurasian equivalent of the American crow can count up to 4 out loud, similar to human toddlers.

Three carrion crows were trained to vocalize with one, two, three, or four caws depending on the number they saw in front of them. They were also taught to tap the screen when they were done counting.

The birds boasted a 100 percent accuracy rate at counting to one, a roughly 60 percent success rate at counting to two and about a 50 percent accuracy rate for three.

Crows particularly “disliked” the number four (40 percent accuracy), sometimes refusing to caw at all when prompted and pecking at the screen to end the trial immediately, [according to] study co-author Diana Liao, an animal physiologist at the University of Tübingen.

Additionally, the crows paused before cawing correctly, showing longer reaction times before producing higher totals of vocalizations.  This delay is consistent with mental planning.

— SMithsonian Magazine: Crows Can ‘Count’ Up to Four Like Human Toddlers, Study Suggests

The test reminds me of a story Chuck Tague told me many years ago. He and his wife Joan visited a bird blind to see an elusive bird that would not come out if a crow was watching. Unfortunately whenever he and Joan went to the blind a crow would follow them and wait for them to leave.

They decided to fool the crow. Both of them went into the blind but only Chuck came out. Surely the crow would leave and Joan would see that elusive bird. Nope. The crow counted two people going in and only one came out. They changed it up and Joan came out but it made no difference. The crow could certainly count two people.

Maybe I’ll have a chance to try this some day. Meanwhile, read more about the study in Audubon Magazine: Crows Can Count Aloud Much Like Toddlers, New Study Finds.

(*) p.s. I’m counting crows to get in practice for the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count on 28 December 2024, the Saturday after Christmas. Last year we counted 15,000!

Wind Makes Lake Erie Slosh Like a Bathtub

Water and Shore
A shallow shore at Lake Erie (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

19 November 2024

Those who live at the eastern and western ends of Lake Erie are well aware that a strong west wind can trigger a storm surge in Buffalo and dry lake bottom at Toledo. When the storm is gone it becomes a seiche that makes the lake slosh back and forth like a bathtub. If you’ve never seen it, these videos will help.

Of all the Great Lakes, Lake Erie is the most likely to slosh because it is shallow and oriented along the storm path. The wind has a long distance (fetch) to kick up waves and amplify the effect.

Map of Great Lakes highlighting Lake Erie (from Wikimedia Commons)

What is a seiche? The name comes from the French word meaning “dry.”

video embedded from Sandusky Register News on YouTube

First there is wind, then the water becomes a standing wave as it moves to reach equilibrium.

Phenomenon of seiches (image from Wikimedia Commons)

On 10 November there was a big seiche event that exposed the lake bottom at Toledo.

video embedded from WTVG Toledo YouTube

Tomorrow and Thursday a strong cold front will sweep west to east across the region with winds gusting as high as 38mph. Perhaps there will be another seiche.

If the Weather Cooperates Duck Hollow Outing, Sun 24 Nov, 8:30a

Books & Events
Duck Hollow on a sunny day in November 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

18 Nov 2024

In the Old Days 20 years ago, freezing weather would sweep across Canada in late October bringing migratory ducks to Pennsylvania in early November. But our climate has warmed and the ducks come later now. As of yesterday, they hadn’t made it to Duck Hollow yet.

This might be the week the ducks arrive. On Thursday the temperature will drop 20°F when a strong low pressure system brings widespread precipitation, strong wind gusts and possibly wet snow north of Pittsburgh. (NWS says of the forecast: “There is still a great deal of uncertainty right now.”)

10-day forecast for Pittsburgh PA as of 18 Nov 2024 (from NWS)

By Sunday the weather may be good enough to check for ducks. So, weather permitting, join me at Duck Hollow on Sunday 24 November 2024, 8:30am to 10:30am for a bird and nature walk.

Meet at the Duck Hollow parking lot at the end of Old Browns Hill Road. Bundle up for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes.

I hope we’ll see our one exception to “no ducks yet.” For more than a month a flock of 6-7 common mergansers has been hanging out at Duck Hollow. When they arrived in early October they were all in eclipse plumage but in the past two weeks at least one of them is molting in adult male breeding plumage.

Common mergansers, Duck Hollow, 9 Nov 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

Looking forward to next Sunday. Fingers crossed about the weather.

Venus Afloat in the Sky

Musings & News
Window at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 9 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

17 November 2024

On a sunny day this month I was about to enter the back of Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) when I saw Venus rising in the sky. Not the planet, this was Venus on her scallop shell floating on translucent white waves in the sky above the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Actually she’s an optical illusion that’s In, On, and Behind the window next to the Portal Entry.

On the Window: The Venus herself is a sticker on the inside of the glass. Her shape alludes to The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, painted in 1485 (before Columbus!), in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, 1485 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Behind the Window: Venus appears to be floating on translucent white waves but they are actually the edges of two giant clam shells in the room behind the window, seen faintly because of bright outdoor light (click here to see the clamshells through the window on a cloudy day). This photo gives you an idea of the shape. (This giant clam is not at CMNH.)

Inside of giant clam shell (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

In the Window: Venus appears to be rising above the Carnegie Museum of Art but this museum wall is a reflection in the window.

Carnegie Museum of Art, rear view, Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Frankly it took me a while to stand in the right place so the three images came together. When I examined the final photo, I decided that the reflected security camera to the right of Venus’ scallop shell was a nice modern touch.

If you’d like to see the Venus for yourself, approach the Portal Entry at the back of the museum (red arrow) on a sunny day. Venus and the clam shells are in the window to the right of the entrance.

The Carnegie: Museum of Natural History, Museum of Art, Library, Music Hall, Lecture Hall as seen from the Cathedral of Learning. Red arrow at the back of the building points to the Portal Entry (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Seen This Week: Witch-Hazel, Whoosh and Brown Leaves

Birds of Prey, Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Witch hazel, Schenley Park, 15 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

16 November 2024

This week I found witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) blooming in Schenley Park and was startled by a whoosh of wings that passed right in front of me below eye level. I was so startled that I screamed even though I knew that …

The whoosh was an immature red-tailed hawk zipping by to catch a mouse near the wall. In stealth mode the hawk did not flap his wings but he flew pretty close to me. If I didn’t like birds I might have been freaked out. He caught the mouse and I took his picture when he settled down.

Immature red-tailed hawk that buzzed past me in Schenley Park, 15 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

By now most oaks have lost their leaves so the predominant color in Schenley and Frick is brown. Brown on the ground and lots of bare trees.

Brown fallen leaves, Schenley Park, 15 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

In Schenley Park you can easily see through the woods at ground level because the deer have eaten all the thickets.

In Frick Park I spotted an unusual patch of green, probably an alien plant, so I went down there to check it out.

A green patch in the distance at Frick Park. What is it? 12 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Sure enough, this is an alien — stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), native to Eurasia and Africa. Deer eat stinging nettle in spring and summer but are shunning it at this time of year.

A patch of stinging nettle in Frick Park, 12 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

By now the only place to find brilliant reds is in the sky.

Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 10 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)