2 September 2024
Yesterday’s cooler weather was a welcome relief after the long heat wave. Carla and Ecco took advantage of the breeze to spend time in the sun at the Pitt peregrine nest.
Carla preened and the pair bowed to cement their bond as seen in this slideshow.
2 September 2024
In the Great Lakes region fishermen complain about double-crested cormorants competing with them for fish and demand that they be killed but in other countries fishermen work with cormorants to catch the biggest fish.
Cormorants naturally hunt and catch fish underwater. Those who fish with cormorants train them to bring large fish back to the boat by placing a loose snare around their necks that allows them to swallow small fish but not large ones. When they bring a large fish back they are fed small fish as a reward.
The origins of cormorant fishing are obscure but the practice is still used today in China, Japan, Peru and Greece, though mainly for the tourist industry. Only in southwestern China is it still employed commercially.
The species of cormorant used depends on what is native to the area. In China, the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). In Japan, the Japanese cormorant (Phalacrocorax capillatus). In Peru, the neotropic cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum).
Watch cormorants at work in southwestern China.
1 September 2024
Welcome to September! Here are a few things seen last week when it was still August.
At top, a tiny ant explores for curling pistils on blooming wingstem in Schenley Park. Below, a funnel spider web awaits an unwary flying insect. I could not see the spider in the hole but I’m sure he’s there.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Upper Ohio valley is in a drought. (Click here for the drought map of 27 Aug 2024.) Plants in Schenley Park were drooping last week. Did last night’s rain perk them up? See the latest map from US Drought Monitor at UNL.
On Friday evening there was a double rainbow though I did not notice the faint second rainbow (upper left corner) until I looked at my photo.
In late August and early September, hundreds of migrating chimney swifts pour into this chimney at dusk. Our local crows find it fascinating so on Tuesday 27 August they perched around the top of the chimney and waited for the swifts to pour in. (They look like pegs on top of the chimney.) The swifts refused to go through that gauntlet. The crows had to leave before the show began.
There are certainly fewer spotted lanternflies this year than last in my city neighborhood. These two photos give a look at the many in 2023 versus few in 2024 on a South Craig Street sidewalk. Some of you missed this excitement last year and are experiencing it now. 😮
And finally, on the night of August 27-28 an unusual wind gust toppled the potted plants on our roof. No harm done. They were just sleeping.
31 August 2024
After yesterday evening’s rainbow a “triangle fly” landed on our dining room window and spun its body slowly like a top. Google Lens identified it as genus Rhagoletis, a member of the fruit fly family Tephritidae.
There are about 25 species of Rhagoletis native to North America, each with its own host fruit. Those who eat the fruits we grow commercially, such as cherries and walnuts, are considered agricultural pests.
Since my photo shows the bug’s underside, Google Lens picked up on the yellow body and identified it as the walnut husk fly, Rhagoletis completa, though it may have been a different species such as the closely related Rhagoletis suavis. There are black walnuts in Pittsburgh’s parks so these species are possibilities.
Here’s a topside view of Rhagoletis completa.
Adult female Rhagoletis inject their eggs into the host fruit so that the larvae have something to eat when they hatch. If you open an infested fruit it looks like it has maggots. Here’s a walnut husk (yes, it’s a fruit) with R. completa larvae in it.
Perhaps that’s why we occasionally see rotting black walnut husks on the ground.
Rhagoletis are preyed upon by jumping spiders!
Some species mimic jumping spiders. The wing-waving apparently deters the approach of jumping spiders, important predators of the flies. Other species have brightly-patterned bodies, and may mimic wasps.(3)
“Spider predation has been intense enough to mold the evolution of prey characteristics: predation by salticids (jumping spiders) has shaped the morphology and behavior of some tephritid flies. Their wing markings resemble the pattern of the legs of jumping spiders; the flies also wave their wings in a fashion that appears to mimic the agonistic behavior of salticids – making them ‘proverbial sheep in wolf’s clothing’.”(8)
— bugguide.net: Rhagoletis account
Could this native North American jumping spider be a predator of our Rhagoletis flies? Do you see a resemblance between its angled legs and the pattern on the fly’s wings?
The triangle fly has opened a whole new area of inquiry.
30 August 2024
Piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) are exceedingly rare, especially in the Great Lakes where there are only about 80 pairs.
Just five years ago, in 2019, the first documented piping plover pair nested in Chicago at Montrose Beach. Monty and Rose became celebrities as they raised young three years in a row before dying in 2022.
One of their sons, Imani born in 2021, returned to Montrose in 2022 and 2023 but he had no mate because there were so few females in the Great Lakes region.
In July 2023 three piping plover chicks were released at Montrose and this spring one of the females, Searocket, became Imani’s mate.
Imani has been a good father. Here he calls to his chicks in an Instagram video, urging them to shelter under him while it’s raining.
One of their four chicks survived and was banded in late July with the name Nagamo, a native Objiwe name.
Fingers crossed that this cutie returns next April.
29 August 2024
It’s been another hot week with muggy high temperatures and more to come. Birds are adapting by bathing, hanging out in the shade, and avoiding activity during the worst part of the day.
Some birds who live where it’s hot and dry have adapted their bodies to help them cool off. Read about their special air conditioner nasal passages in this 2017 article.
p.s. Yesterday morning when it was 84°F and felt like 86°, Ecco took a sun bath to heat his feathers and force out the parasites. Aaaaaaah. And then he adjourned to the shade to preen them away.
28 August 2024
I was beginning to think we were safe this year but now I’m not so sure. After surprisingly few spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) in July and August, there are suddenly more of them in the air and on buildings and trees. Uh oh!
Have you seen more spotted lanternflies, too? I think I know why.
Last year I mused on their love of height and heat. I sure hope their population doesn’t get so bad this year!
27 August 2024
I came up with today’s slightly inaccurate title when I heard WESA’s piece on Pennsylvania’s secret tropical fruit, the pawpaw or “hillbilly mango.” In fact, pawpaws are not mangoes — they just taste like it — and their range is much wider than Appalachia. However it is true that they ripen in September.
Pawpaws (Asimina triloba) are the quintessential wild fruit for browsing animals that eat the only ripe fruit on the branch and then move on. The fruit tastes like mango and has the consistency of banana. But don’t eat the seeds. They are poisonous.
Pawpaws defy commercial agriculture.
However, the neurotoxin is a benefit for zebra swallowtails (Eurytides marcellus) whose only host plant is the pawpaw tree. Zebra swallowtail caterpillars eat pawpaw leaves, become toxic themselves and are protected from predators.
If you want to eat a pawpaw and learn more about them, your best bet is at an upcoming Pawpaw Festival. The complete schedule of 12 festivals plus additional events are at Heppy.org: 2024 Pawpaw Festivals and Events. Here are a few close to Pittsburgh on the Heppy.org list in order of occurrence.
Andrew Moore wrote the book on pawpaws in 2015. Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit. If you want to know about pawpaws this is the book to read!
Gabrielle Marsden is restoring zebra swallowtail butterflies to southwestern PA by planting pawpaw trees and encouraging others to do the same. Her YouTube channel is here. She also has two upcoming events:
Still curious about pawpaws? Learn more at this vintage blog.
p.s. Thanks to John English for pointing out the WESA article.
26 August 2024
Yesterday morning 13 of us found 24 species of birds in Schenley Park plus flowering plants and insects.
Best Birds were the six+ ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) sipping nectar at orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) along Phipps Run and at Panther Hollow Lake. Between sips they chased each other everywhere.
So many hummingbirds was a happy sign after 7-8 years without big numbers in Schenley Park. Orange jewelweed is their favorite food on migration but it was eradicated 7-8 years ago by Schenley’s overabundant deer population. This year jewelweed patches thrive in inaccessible places at Phipps Run and among the cattails in Panther Hollow Lake. If you want to see hummingbirds, pause here and watch the jewelweed. Also check the wires above the lake.
Best insects were several red spotted purple butterflies flitting on the Lake Trail. Hailey Latona found one resting … but not for long. (Bug people: If I’ve misidentified this butterfly please correct me!)
We also found a Honeybee Heaven near the railroad tracks. I had never noticed Japanese hop (Humulus japonicus) growing there but yesterday I could hear the flowers humming and saw it swarming with honeybees.
By 10:30am it was getting hot but we found a chestnut-sided warbler so we paused to look harder. Alas, it was the only warbler species for the outing. Here’s our checklist.
Schenley Park, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, US Aug 25, 2024 8:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) X Maybe 40 on Flagstaff Hill; evidence at Panther Hollow lake
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 4
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) 6 — Lots of chasing
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 2
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) 3 Heard
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 5
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 6
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 4
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 1 Heard
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 2
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 4
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 3
Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) 1 Seen
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 4
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 9
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 4
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 10
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 8
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) 2
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 3
Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) 2
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 2
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S192748114
25 August 2024
At this time of year the woods in southwestern Pennsylvania often look as if gardeners have removed all the underbrush and left a thick carpet of grass on the forest floor. The “gardeners” are overabundant white-tailed deer who selectively eat their favorite foods and leave behind invasive Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum).
Japanese stiltgrass came to the U.S. in packing crates in the early 1900s as padding to protect porcelain shipped from China. Of course we threw it out when we unpacked the crates. It took root and was discovered in Tennesse in 1919. More than 100 years later it blankets much of the eastern U.S.
Japanese stiltgrass is easy to identify because it has a shiny midrib (topside) and the midrib is not in the middle of the leaf (underside).
Amazing as it seems, Japanese stiltgrass is an annual that dies every winter and grows back from seed the next spring. Its thick green carpet in summer shades out native species.
After it goes to seed in early fall it dies and becomes a brown drape over the landscape in winter. This gives it the alternate common name of “Nepalese browntop.”
Japanese stiltgrass comes back thickly every year because it drops so much seed in the soil. It’s possible to get rid of it … eventually .. through hand pulling or goats. Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is using both techniques in Hays Woods this year.
If you have Japanese stiltgrass in your yard, Penn State Extension has these practical remedies for removing it.
Watch this video for more identification clues.
