All posts by Kate St. John

Tick Season Returns — On Birds

Insects, Migration
Connecticut warbler banded at Hays Woods with engorged tick above eyering, 8 October 2024 (photo by Nick Liadis, Bird Lab)

9 October 2024

Yesterday while Bird Lab was at Hays Woods, Nick Liadis captured and banded a Connecticut warbler! I was not there to see this rare bird (alas) but Nick sent me a photo. Notice that the warbler has an engorged tick at top right of his eye-ring.

Tick season has returned with a vengeance after a low period during August and September’s drought. Because they cannot live without moisture ticks hang out in humid vegetation, but there was very little available during the drought. All that has changed with the recent rains and black-legged ticks are now active for their mating season which they conduct on the bodies of deer. I was reminded of this yesterday when I saw a deer in Schenley Park with three engorged ticks on its face. (Ewwww!)

Birds that forage on the ground are likely to encounter ticks so its no surprise that the Connecticut warbler and this song sparrow acquired them.

Song sparrow with engorged tick below its eye
(photo from Scott, & Clark, Kerry & Coble, & Ballantyne,. (2019). Detection and Transstadial Passage of Babesia Species and Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato in Ticks Collected from Avian and Mammalian Hosts in Canada. Healthcare. 7. 155. 10.3390/healthcare7040155)

Birds, in fact, are an integral part of the tick’s life cycle. Notice the robin in the Summer section of the CDC diagram below.

Black-legged tick life cycle (diagram from CDC enhanced with lifeform names)

I used to say that deer were the black-legged ticks’ long distance transport system but I’ve changed my mind. It’s birds. A 2015 study found that 3.56% of the songbirds migrating north into Texas in the spring are carrying tick(s), most of which are native to Central and South America.

The bird-tick transport system works both ways. A 2019 tick-host-pathogen study in Canada found that some birds carry ticks with pathogens on fall migration.

Poor birds! They need all the strength they can get to complete their migration. It doesn’t help when ticks are sucking their blood.

Meanwhile, be careful about ticks out there! Lyme disease, transmitted by ticks, is terrible. Check your clothing while you’re in the field and thoroughly check your body for ticks when you return home. Click here for ways to prevent infection by keeping ticks off your clothes and body.

p.s. Support Nick Liadis’ efforts with a donation at Bird Lab’s GoFundMe site.

Visiting Birds Find New Insect Snacks

Bird Behavior, Migration
Immature yellow-bellied sapsucker near spotted lanternflies, Frick Park, 6 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

8 October 2024

Bird migration was intense over Pittsburgh on Friday night, 4 October, when more than 20,000 songbirds flew south overhead. We saw the results on Saturday morning in Frick Park where a new cohort of species had arrived with good news: Some of them were eating spotted lanternflies!

The new species included ruby-crowned kinglets, white-throated sparrows, yellow-bellied sapsuckers and yellow-rumped (myrtle) warblers. The mix was quite a change from September’s warblers.

Most of the new arrivals were feeding on tiny insects but the juvenile sapsucker, pictured above, was attracted to sweet lanternfly honeydew on ailanthus trees. He was too young to have ever seen a spotted lanternfly but he was curious. “Are these edible?”

Immature yellow-bellied sapsucker looking at spotted lanternflies, Frick Park, 6 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

Yes.

Perhaps the sapsucker got the idea from a northern cardinal that ate a lanternfly further down the trail. (I don’t have a photo of that incident; this one is from iNaturalist, New York.)

Northern cardinal eating spotted lanternfly, NYC (Creative Commons photo by
matthew_wills via iNaturalist)

Olive-sided flycatchers eat spotted lanternflies, too, though they don’t contribute much in Pittsburgh because they are rare here.

Olive-sided flycatcher (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

However, when an olive-sided flycatcher was passing through Howard County, Maryland in early September Mei Shyong photographed it eating a spotted lanternfly. The thumbnail below is just a hint. Click here or on the image to see her photo at Howard County Concervancy on Facebook.

Snails On All The Posts and Plants

Fish, Frogs, Southern Spain
White garden snails encrust a fencepost near Tarifa, Spain, 11 Sep 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

7 October 2024

One of the strangest things we saw on the WINGS Spain in Autumn tour last month were many snail encrusted fenceposts and plants along the road. The snails were everywhere in the dry hot areas of southern Spain. Why?

Snails as far as the eye can see near Tarifa, Spain, 11 Sep 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

White garden snails or Mediterranean snails (Theba pisana) are an edible land snail native to the Mediterranean. We saw them up on posts and plants because we were visiting during the hot dry season when the snails are aestivating to escape the heat.

Discovering Doñana describes their life cycle:

Our land snails are mainly nocturnal, since at night the presence of predators decreases and the environmental conditions are more conducive to them by significantly increasing the humidity of the environment. During the favorable time of the year, with mild temperatures and adequate environmental humidity, land snails feed in the herbaceous layer closest to the ground, being able to remain active for a good part of the day as well.

But when spring gives way to summer, temperature increases and the humidity decreases, producing a truly hostile environment to them. …. To overcome these unfavorable conditions, which usually begin in June, land snails enter a state of dormancy … [called] aestivation.

— Discovering Doñana: The long nap of the snails

The snails climb up where the temperature is cooler above ground. Then they close their shells with a sticky secretion that adheres to their chosen plant or post, leaving a tiny hole for breathing. The snails go to sleep.

Theba pisana on a reed at the shore near Tarifa, Spain, 12 Sep 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Their high perch keeps them safe from ground predators but not from birds that stop by for a snack. Discovering Doñana shows photos of a kestrel and a lark eating snails on fenceposts.

Theba pisana on dried weeds near Brazo del Este, Spain, 7 Sep 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Every white dot is a snail! Near Tahivilla, Spain, 11 Sep 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

The snails’ proclivity for climbing and latching on is how they’ve accidentally traveled on international freight. Outside the Mediterranean they become an invasive agricultural pest. In Florida they are considered “the worst potential agricultural pest of the helicid snails.”

When the season changes and the weather becomes cooler and more humid, the snails come down. If you visit southern Spain in the winter you won’t see them.

Read more about white garden snails in their native habitat at Discovering Doñana: The long nap of the snails.

Busy Bees in Early October

Insects, Phenology
Bumblebee at grape leaf anemone; honey bee arriving, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

6 October 2024

With fewer flowers, nectar and pollen available, bees are quickly eating what they can in early October. Though it looks like the honey bees and bumblebees are doing the same thing they have different strategies for dealing with winter.

Honey bee workers are still busy gathering nectar and pollen to support their hive and queen through the winter. We see them foraging when the temperature is at or above 55°F (13°C).

Honey bee and bumblebee at grape leaf anemone, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Bumblebees, on the other hand, are very busy but their lives are short. Only their queen will survive the winter. After she mates with the available males she will retreat underground to wait for spring.

Bumblebee alone at grape leaf anemone, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

The flowers they love are grape leaf anemone in a garden near Carnegie Library and Museum.

Bumblebees coming and going at grape leaf anemone, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Bumblebees at grape leaf anemone, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Bonding at the Pitt Peregrine Nest

Bird Behavior, Peregrines
Carla and Ecco pair pond at the nest, 4 October 2024 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

5 October 2024

Though October is far from courtship season the Pitt peregrines sometimes meet at the nest to maintain their pair bond.

Yesterday Ecco initiated a bowing session and Carla kept it going for eleven minutes. This is a long session for the off season!

Pitt peregrine nest, 4 October 2024 (photos from the snapshot camera)

Sometimes it’s hard to find them perched at the Cathedral of Learning. It makes me happy to see them on camera.

The Power of Mussels

Fish, Frogs
Wavyrayed lampmussel in hand (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

4 October 2024

Freshwater mussels are the unsung heroes of our waterways. They keep the water clean for fish and the aquatic insects they feed on and, because they filter water through their bodies, they are the first to die when the water becomes polluted.

Look how fast they clean the water!

embedded from PA Fish and Boat Commission on YouTube

If a freshwater stream doesn’t have mussels it’s hard for native fish to survive. That’s why the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission converted the fish hatchery at Union City into a mussel propagation center and are restocking mussels in our creeks.

Let Your Garden Sleep In

Insects, Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Monarch butterfly on salvia (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

3 October 2024

On Tuesday I saw a monarch butterfly fly past my 6th floor window on its journey south. Every night that butterfly it will rest in sheltering vegetation and feed on flowers the next day. But what if those amenities aren’t available?

On Wednesday I noticed landscaping staff clearing a garden in front of an Oakland office building. Monthly gardening schedules, sometimes based on pre-climate change temperatures, call for clearing the garden or changing the plants in October. Salvia looks “leggy” now. Perhaps they were going to plant chrysanthemums.

Fortunately Saving Monarchs sends this helpful Facebook reminder for all gardeners. Take a break and let your garden sleep in!

This is a tiny screenshot. Click here to see the full Saving Monarchs post on Facebook!(*)

About the sign, Saving Monarchs says:

Some have messaged me asking if they can buy the sign, yes, they’re available for purchase. The large aluminum signs measure 18”x 12” are 50 plus shipping. I also make them in pvc size 9” x 11.5” and are 25 plus shipping. No extra shipping if you purchase more than 1. Obviously, due to shipping costs no posts are included, just the signs. Message [Saving Monarchs on Facebook] if you’re interested.

Read more about the benefits of leaving the leaves for insects, pollinators, birds, and even salamanders.

Leave The Leaves

(*) p.s. I used a screenshot of the Saving Monarchs sign because Facebook’s embedded posts do not display on mobile devices.

Birds Have Same Bones But Different Arms

Bird Anatomy, Mammals
Human, Bird, and Bat Bone Comparison (diagram from askabiologist.asu.edu Coloring pages CC BY-SA)

2 October 2024

The diagram above, from Arizona State University’s Ask A Biologist, shows that beneath our skin humans, birds and bats all have the same bones in our arms/wings but the bones have evolved to match our lifestyles.

We humans use our arms to reach and our hands to grab and manipulate. Birds and bats use their “arms” for flying. You can see it in our bones.

Each bone has changed compared to humans.

Big changes start at the wrist with huge changes in the “hands” and fingers.

Birds have only two “fingers” and their “thumbs” (the alula) are used only for slow flight maneuvers.

See more in the original article at Ask A Biologist: Human, Bird, and Bat Bone Comparison

(diagram from asu.edu Ask A Biologist coloring pages for kids, CC BY-SA)

New T-Rex Relative Found in Mexico

Bird Anatomy, Musings & News
Illustration on Tyrannosaurus rex from Wikimedia Commons

1 October 2024

Did you know that Tyrannosaurus rex was exclusively(*) a North American dinosaur?

He lived during the Campanian–Maastrichtian ages of the late Cretaceous period, 72.7 to 66 million years ago, on the former island continent of Laramidia which is now the western part of North America extending from Canada to Mexico.

North America with the Western Interior Seaway during the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) from Wikimedia Commons

Fifty years ago paleontologists found fossils of a T-Rex relative in Baja California, Mexico: Labocania anomala.

Labocania anomala. Image credit: Karkemish / CC BY-SA 3.0

This year they analyzed bones in a drawer at the Museo del Desierto that had been found in the Chihuahuan desert in northern Mexico in 2000. The bones were from a new-to-science relative of T-Rex!

Named Labocania aguillonae, the ancient predator was at least 6.3 m (21 feet) in length — relatively small by tyrannosaur standards [and] closely related to Labocania anomala, Bistahieversor sealeyi, and Teratophoneus curriei.

— Sci News: New Tyrannosaur Species Unearthed in Mexico: Labocania aguillonae

Unlike its heavily built cousin [T-Rex], this animal was long-legged and lightly built, with big eyes that may have helped it hunt in low light and a heavy snout for dispatching helpless prey.

… The species has been named Labocania aguillonae after Martha Carolina Aguillón, the local paleontologist who discovered it [in 2000]. 

— New York Times: A Leggy Tyrannosaur Emerges From a Mexican Desert

Meet Labocania aguillonae in this short video.

video embedded from LGNews on YouTube

Here’s how the new dino fits in the Tyrannosauridae tree of life.

Tyrannosauridae phylogenetic tree from Wikipedia

Read more in the New York Times: A Leggy Tyrannosaur Emerges From a Mexican Desert and in Sci News: New Tyrannosaur Species Unearthed in Mexico: Labocania aguillonae.

(*) Note” Relatives of T-Rex have been found in China but not T-Rex himself.

Black Terns Here and There

Migration, Southern Spain, Water and Shore
Black tern in flight, Missouri, May 2017 (photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren via Wikimedia Commons)

30 September 2024

Yesterday afternoon a black tern (Chlidonias niger) made Allegheny County’s Rare Bird Alert when it was spotted at the main pond at Imperial. Immediately I thought of the black terns I’ve seen during spring migration at the Great Lakes with gorgeous black heads and bellies.

But black terns are not black at this time of year. I didn’t know this until we saw them from the beach at Chipiona, Spain on the WINGS Spain in Autumn tour.

In early September their bellies and faces turn white, like this one in Chipiona in early September 2024.

As time passes they become even paler. If you happened to see the black tern at Imperial yesterday it would look more like this.

Black tern in Ohio, Sept 2014 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Black terns live in both the New and Old Worlds. The North American subspecies (C. n. surinamensis) spends the winter on the coasts of Central and South America. The Eurasian subspecies (C. n. niger) migrates across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast to Africa.

Black tern range map from Wikimedia Commons

They don’t look like “black” terns in non-breeding plumage. This group was filmed in January 2018, probably in Africa.

embedded video by Michael Autumn on YouTube