This week the New York Times described A Feathered Murder Mystery at 10,000 Feet which I cannot resist retelling because peregrines are involved. My story will be in photos none of which are from the real episode. See actual photos and the full story at the link above.
In early 2023 scientists from the University of Amsterdam attached satellite trackers to eight black-bellied plovers that were wintering in the Netherlands (a.k.a. grey plovers, Pluvialis squatarola). The goal was to find out where they breed in the Arctic. Here’s what one looks like in spring.
In late May 2023 the birds were migrating northwest over Sweden at almost 10,000 feet when one of them abruptly changed direction 180 degrees, descended to near sea level and completely stopped moving. When a tracking device sends that kind of news, the bird is dead.
650 feet away from the abandoned tracker was a peregrine nest. (Chances are very good that the scientists did NOT visit during nesting season but the whitewash left on a cliff is a clear indication of who was there in late May.)
The plover died during peregrine breeding season when there were probably young peregrines in the nest so the father bird went hunting up where the food was flying.
It’s not a surprise that plovers fly so high — some species fly even higher on migration — but it is a surprise that peregrines hunt at 10,000 feet. The plover’s tracker provided the first documented evidence.
Just when we think we know everything about peregrines, they surprise us again.
p.s. Please keep in mind that none of these photos are from the actual event!
Fall color of pawpaw leaves, Schenley, 25 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
26 October 2024
Fall color is so spectacular in Pittsburgh this week that many of us have been snapping pictures everywhere we go. Here are just a few of the colorful leaves and trees I’ve seen in town.
Pawpaw leaves are turning bright yellow in Schenley Park while Virginia creeper is red along the Three Rivers Heritage bike trail at Herrs Island.
Virginia creeper at Herrs Island back channel, 22 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Sunlight reflecting on the water made rippling lights in the trees on 22 October. It was so warm you can hear crickets.
Ripples in the trees, 22 Oct 2024 (video by Kate St. John)
Yesterday in Schenley Park the trees were yellow or red depending on species.
Scene on the Upper Trail, 25 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Scene on the Serpentine, 25 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Not to be outdone by autumn leaves, the sky turned orange at sunrise on Saturday.
Sunrise, 25 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Sunrise is after 7am now. We’ll “fix” that next weekend when we turn the clocks back.
Though the current distribution of spotted lanternflies overlaps part of the blue headed vireo’s breeding range, an individual vireo might never have seen a lanternfly before he reached Central Park. This particular bird might be taking his first taste.
Spotted lanternflies at Herrs Island, Pittsburgh, 3 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
How can a blue-headed vireo be naive about spotted lanternflies? It’s easy if he hatched this year. Let’s compare three maps.
1. This map of spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) distribution shows there are no lanternflies in the Adirondacks, Vermont, New Hampshire. Nor are they in Canada yet.
2. Blue-headed vireos (Vireo solitarius) breeding north of NYC nest in Canada, New England and New York state. The vast majority of hatch year blue-headed vireos were born north or outside of the lanternfly’s distribution.
3. Were these naive birds in Central Park this week? This eBird slideshow of blue-headed vireo abundance for the weeks of 18 and 25 October shows that most vireos have left Canada and are moving rapidly out of New York and New England. The bird in Central Park on 22 October was probably born outside the spotted lanternfly zone.
Blue-headed vireo, Weekly abundance, Week of 25 October (from eBird)
Blue-headed vireo, Weekly abundance, Week of 25 October (from eBird)
By now blue-headed vireos have already left southwestern PA and this week they’ll depart from eastern Pennsylvania. Their help with spotted lanternflies will have to wait until next year.
The speaker is one of 44 climate scientists who released an open letter this week warning that by 2050 a tipping point will likely cause the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) to fail, making northeastern Europe much colder and ushering in a host of other adverse effects. He is from Britain and 2050 is just 26 years away.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is the main ocean current system in the Atlantic Ocean and a major component of Earth’s ocean circulation. It transports heat and salinity northward and returns cold water to the south. —- paraphrased from Wikipedia
Climate scientists have been studying AMOC for decades because they realize that as Greenland melts, it dumps freshwater into the North Atlantic. The freshwater influx slows the northern end of the AMOC and that messes up the whole system.
We (Americans) haven’t paid much attention to this because we think it will only affect Europe but “messing up the whole system” will change the planet completely. Adverse effects include:
Northeastern Europe will get much colder
A new Ice Age will begin so the entire Northern Hemisphere, ourselves included, will get colder. See Warming Up to the Next Ice Age.
The Gulf Stream won’t transport water away from North America (the far end is chopped off) so, within a matter of years, sea level will rise one-to-three feet on the East Coast.
The tropical rain belt will move south, disrupting wet and dry seasons in the Amazon and Africa.
This 13-minute video from PBS describes what AMOC is, how it affects us, and what will go wrong when it fails.
Nashville warbler, Frick Park, 20 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
23 October 2024
During fall migration birds are coming and going all the time. Some shorebirds pass through in August, September is warbler season, October is sparrow season, and November should be ducks. When we saw a Nashville warbler in Frick Park last Sunday, eBird squawked “That species has left already. Your bird is Rare! You have to justify it.”
In autumn Nashville warblers arrive in southwestern PA during the first week of September and are completely gone by 18 October. Charity Kheshgi’s photo on 20 October is proof that one still lingered.
Swainson’s thrushes have already come and gone, 13 September to 11 October
Remember when we saw a lot of Swainson’s thrushes a couple of weeks ago? Well, they breed in Canada and only visit the Pittsburgh area briefly on migration, approximately 13 September to 11 October (see the map animation).
Leaving soon: ruby-crowns, chipping and yellow-rumps will be (mostly) gone by 8 November.
This month we’re enjoying ruby-crowned kinglets, chipping sparrows and yellow-rumped warblers but eBird’s weekly abundance maps show that, except for stragglers, these three will leave southwestern Pennsylvania by 8 November. That’s why I was amazed the first time I saw ruby-crowned kinglets overwintering in eastern PA.
Ruby-crowned kinglet, Frick Park, 20 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)Chipping sparrow, Oct 2012 (photo by Steve Gosser)Yellow-rumped warbler eating poison ivy berries in 2013 (photo by Cris Hamilton)
Here until 29 November:
Except for a few stragglers, most red-winged blackbirds will leave southwestern PA by the end of November. If you’re desperate to see one in the winter, visit northeastern Ohio near Akron.
The Monongahela River at Duck Hollow, 19 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
22 October 2024
Last month’s outing was rained out by the remnants of Hurricane Helene so I’m going to try again …
Join me at Duck Hollow on Sunday 27 October 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. Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars, field guides and a birding scope if you have them.
When I stopped by there yesterday I saw only two mallards(!) but there were three golden-crowned kinglets similar to this one, photographed by Charity Kheshgi last year.
Golden-crowned kinglet, Frick Park, 26 Oct 2023 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
As always, remember to check the Events page before you come in case of changes or cancellations!
What Best Bird will show up next Sunday? Come to Duck Hollow and see.
Thornless roses are the rose fancier’s dream but are difficult to breed, are usually infertile, and require a genetic mutation to block the prickles from emerging on the skin. Because the underlying trigger is still present, new growth on a “thornless” rose can produce prickles at the drop of a hat — injury, root suckers, etc.
What we call “thorns” on roses are technically prickles because they grow out of the skin. Roses, wineberry and devil’s walking stick have the same gene coding for prickles.
Wineberry prickles, Schenley Park, Nov 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)Devil’s walking stick (or maybe Japanese angelica), Jan 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
What are the genes underlying prickle development? Two studies published in August 2024 investigated Solanum prickle plants (eggplants, tomatoes) and found that they share the same LOG family genes. When scientists disrupted those genes it resulted in prickle loss in multiple species and did not adversely affect other parts of the plant.
Because roses have prickles and may share the same gene coding, there is new hope for creating a truly smooth stemmed rose.
This week the Good News Network reported on a study published in ScienceDirect that shows fungi perceive shapes in the world around them, have memories, make decisions and solve problems. All without a brain!
A Japanese study of fungal networks set up an experiment with wood cubes pre-colonized with a wood decaying fungus, Phanerochaete velutina. The fruiting body and mycelia are shown below.
The scientists laid the cubes on a bed of clean soil in two patterns, a circle and an X, then observed and photographed what happened over a period of months.
By Day 13 the fungi had grown filaments (hypha) that made the cubes look fuzzy, particularly in the X shape. (hypha are collectively called mycelia)
By Day 34 some filaments from each cube had joined with the mycelia of neighboring cubes, but the rest of the hyphae were still seeking so the shapes were super fuzzy.
By Day 116, almost four months later, the “chatter” had subsided and the fuzzies were mostly gone in favor of strong, efficient networks.
Over time it became obvious that the fungi were not acting randomly. They remembered shapes and were making decisions.
If the fungi didn’t display decision-making skills, they would simply spread out from a central point without consideration for the position of the blocks.
For the X arrangement, the degree of mycelial colonization was greater in the outermost four blocks. It was hypothesized that this was because the outermost blocks can serve as “outposts” for the mycelial network to embark on foraging expeditions, therefore more dense connections were required compared to the five blocks inside the X.
In the circle arrangement, the degree of mycelial colonization was the same at any given block. However, all the empty space inside the circle remained clear. It was proposed that the mycelial network did not see a benefit in overextending itself in an already well-populated area.
In order to optimize their patterns the fungi must be communicating through the network. That’s where the beautiful split gill mushroom (Schizophyllum commune), shown at top, comes in.
Two years ago a study of electrical signals in the filaments (hypha) of enoki, split gill, ghost and caterpillar fungi discovered that their signals pulse when there’s something important to say such as “Found a new source of food.” Sometimes the pulses were similar to words and it appeared that the fungi knew 50 “words.”(*)
(*)NOTE: Some skepticism was reported at the end of the Good News Network “words” article:
Some scientists are skeptical that the research was done looking for ‘language’, suggesting that this puts a shroud of exaggeration and overexcitement about the findings.
To his credit, Adamatzky explained to the Guardian that it could be simply that the electrically-charged tips of hyphae were just creating electromagnetic reactions as they explore the forest underground.
Insect on New York aster, Toms Run, 16 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
19 October 2024
This week brought:
Fall colors and the first piles of fallen leaves
Late flowers and insects
“See Your Breath” cold mornings
The first juncos … and …
Several thousand crows in Oakland.
In photos, late asters attracted an insect at Toms Run and morning sun slanted through the trees in Schenley Park.
Fall colors and fallen leaves, Schenley Park, 18 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Many trees are changing color. The oaks aren’t there yet but they have dropped their acorns leaving empty acorn cups on the branches. It’s a big mast year for red oaks in Pittsburgh.
Red oak leaves and acorn cups, 13 October 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
A rhododendron in Shadyside is confused. Is it spring?
Confused rhododendron blooming in Pittsburgh, 13 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
This week crows were absent from Oakland during the day but arrived in huge flocks at dusk, staging on rooftops before flying to the roost. I fumbled to photograph them on the RAND Building last Sunday. This is only a fraction of the flock that flew away.
Crows make a stop on the RAND building before sunset, 13 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Obviously they’ve been roosting on Pitt’s campus. I found evidence below trees at the Pitt Panther statue. The Crows Slept Here Last Night.
Evidence at Pitt that The Crows Slept Here Last Night, 17 October 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
I have heard that mangroves protect coastlines during hurricanes and tsunamis but I could not imagine how they did it until I saw this video from Licypriya Kangujam (@LicypriyaK), Special Envoy for the President of the Republic of Timor-Leste and 13 year old climate activist.
Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, is the eastern half of Timor island, located north of Australia. The other half of the island is part of Indonesia.
Timor island is located in the region with the highest diversity of mangroves in the world — 26-47 species in one place. Compare this to just one or two species in Louisiana.
When a hurricane hits Louisiana we often hear that the damage would not have been so great if they had more mangroves. Louisiana is now trying to restore their mangrove forest but it is slow going.
Learn more about mangroves in this award-winning video from The Marine Diaries.
