Join me next Sunday for an outing at Duck Hollow by the Monongahela River. We’ll look for waterfowl and walk the nearby Lower Nine Mile Run Trail. Every week is colder now so this is my last scheduled outing for 2021.
Participants in this morning’s outing in Schenley Park, 26 Sep 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
26 Sep 2021
This morning was sunny and chilly with heavy dew when fifteen of us gathered for a walk in Schenley Park. All of us are in this photo though I am just a long shadow of my usual self.
Last night’s weather sucked most of the migrating birds out of Schenley Park and did not add any new ones. I expected to see 20 species; we saw only 10. I expected 100 individual birds; we saw 63. Of those 55% were blue jays.
Plants, however, filled the gap especially this broken osage orange (Maclura pomifera) or “monkey ball.”
Monkey ball a.k.a. osage orange, Schenley Park 26 Sep 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Its insides are damp with latex, its seeds enveloped in plant flesh. Few animals eat this fruit so why does the tree produce so much? It’s making fruit for giants. Learn more and see a video at Food For The Extinct.
Inside a monkey ball a.k.a. osage orange (photo by Kate St. John)
Schenley Park path in the dew, 30 Sept 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)
20 September 2021
Though it hasn’t felt like it lately, fall will arrive on the equinox this Wednesday at 3:21pm ET. With it will come cooler temperatures, morning dew and migrating thrushes. It’s a good time to be outdoors.
Join me for a bird & nature walk in Schenley Park on Sunday, 26 September 2021, 8:30a – 10:30a(*). We’ll meet at Bartlett Shelter on Bartlett Street. Note that Forbes and Fifth Avenues will be closed for the Pittsburgh Great Race so plan your route accordingly. See road closures times below.
Porcelain berry fruits, some eaten (photo by Kate St. John)
We’re sure to see blue jays, chipmunks, autumn flowers and fruits. I hope for at least one Swainson’s thrush, rose-breasted grosbeak or ruby-crowned kinglet, passing through the park on their way south.
Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars and field guides if you have them. NOTE that storm damage from Hurricane Ida is still present in the park though not as prevalent at the Bartlett end. Be prepared for some rough spots. A walking stick may be useful.
Visit my Events page before you come in case of changes or cancellations.
(*) If the birding is suddenly good at 10:30am we’ll have the option to continue to 11a.
(photos by Kate St. John)
Information on Great Race road closures — Squirrel Hill to Downtown — from OTMA
Congestion and Closures
Barricades will be set up throughout the city to clear the race route which stretches from Frick Park in Squirrel Hill along Forbes Avenue to Morewoood Avenue at Carnegie Mellon University’s campus, then onto Fifth Avenue through Oakland, and onto the Boulevard of the Allies and into downtown before finishing at Point State Park.
Approximate closure times are as follows:
Zone A: Beechwood Blvd to intersection of Forbes & Morewood Closed from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Zone B: Forbes & Morewood to intersection of Fifth & Bigelow Blvd Closed from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Zone C: Fifth & Bigelow to Fifth & the ramp to the Blvd of the Allies Closed from approximately 6:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Zone D: Fifth & Blvd of the Allies to Commonwealth Place & Liberty Ave Closed from approximately 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
In Oakland specifically, travelers and residents can expect to see barricades on Fifth Ave, Oakland Ave, Atwood St, and DeSoto St and crowds gathered near mile marker 3 and the 5K starting line. See map for detail.
In Squirrel Hill, travel will be restricted around the starting line on Beechwood Blvd with barricades prohibiting vehicle access at Beechwood & S Dallas, Beechwood & the Forbes connector, Beechwood & Darlington, and Beacon & Shaw.
Nowadays women falconers work at raptor centers, aviaries and bird abatement services that use falcons and hawks to move nuisance birds.
At top, a woman falconer works with a gyrfalcon at the Salzburg Regional Falconry Centre at Hohenwerfen Castle, Austria where they hold daily flight demonstrations with various birds of prey. The falconers live at the castle so they can better take care of the birds.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons, screenshot from OPB video, Jitze Couperus via Flickr Creative Commons license, Sharon Leadbitter; click on the captions to see the originals)
Schenley Park outing, 29 August 2021 (photos by Kate St. John)
29 August 2021
This morning’s outing in Schenley Park was very well attended — 28 people! — so I had to paste two photos together to get (almost) everyone in.
The weather was clammy-hot and the birds were not active but bugs were easy to find. Can you see the green stink bug (Chinavia hilaris) in this picture?
Green stink bug, Schenley Park, 29 Aug 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yellow nutsedge, Schenley Park at Panther Hollow Lake, 29 Aug 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Our Best Bird was a lucky find. As we stood next to Panther Hollow Lake a peregrine falcon zoomed overhead, went into a stoop, and disappeared beyond Phipps Conservatory on his way to the Cathedral of Learning.
Common cocklebur, Schenley Park, 20 Aug 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
23 August 2021
In late August summer flowers are blooming, bugs are singing, and warblers are on the move.
Join me for a bird & nature walk in Schenley Park on Sunday, August 29, 2021, 8:30a – 10:30a. (If the birding is great we may linger until 11a.)
Meet at the Schenley Park Cafe and Visitor Center where Panther Hollow Road joins Schenley Drive (40.4383304,-79.9464765). I hope to see migrating songbirds and at least one confusing fall warbler.
I know we’ll see this native weed, common cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium), growing in a disturbed area next to Panther Hollow Lake. Notice the big leaves and spotted stem. Did you know it has separate male & female flowers on the same plant? This location used to be overrun with mugwort but since it was torn up last spring it now has cocklebur. At least it’s native.
Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars and field guides if you have them.
Before you come, visit my Events page in case of changes or cancellations. The outing will be canceled if there’s lightning.
Outing in Frick Park, 25 July 2021 (photp by Kate St. John)
25 July 2021
Nine of us gathered this morning at the Nine Mile Trail parking lot to walk Frick Park’s Boardwalk and the upper Nine Mile Run valley. At the beginning it was very cloudy but it didn’t rain.
The birds were quiet. Many have stopped singing for the year and gray skies made the rest of them subdued. Nonetheless we saw northern rough-winged swallows feeding young in flight and heard the warning calls of wood thrushes, robins and tufted titmice in a spot where a barred owl often roosts. Alas, we never found the owl.
It’s hard to pick a Best Bird but easy to pick the worst smell. We had to walk (as far away as possible!) past a decomposing deer near Commercial Street. Where are the turkey vultures when you need them? We didn’t see any today. Our list has 24 species.
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 2 Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 4 Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 3 Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) 1 Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens) 1 Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) 1 Heard Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 7 Pair chasing and harassing a blue jay Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 1 Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 2 Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 10 Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) 10 Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 7 European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 5 Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 1 Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) 4 American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 20 Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 2 American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 4 Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 5 Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 2 Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) 2 Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 10 Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) 1
Chicory at Frick Park, 20 July 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
20 July 2021
Schenley Park is closed 23-25 July for the Vintage Grand Prix. This outing will be at Frick Park at Commercial Street. Park at Nine Mile Run Trail parking.
Summer flowers are blooming and songbirds are wrapping up the breeding season.
Join me for a bird & nature walk in Frick Park on Sunday, July 25, 2021, 8:30a – 10:30a.
Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars and field guides if you have them.
Before you come, visit my Events page in case of changes or cancellations. The outing will be canceled if there’s lightning or heavy rain.
Hope to see you there!
p.s. If you read this blog on Tuesday you saw me promise that we would see moth mullein (Verbascum blattaria). That was before I walked the planned route and found out that moth mullien has gone to seed. Here’s what it looks like right now at Frick Park’s Commercial Street entrance. Interesting, but not pretty.
Duck Hollow outing, 27 June 2021(photo by Kate St. John)
Eighteen+ people turned out this morning for a walk at Duck Hollow and Lower Nine Mile Run.
Since the weather was getting hot we walked the sunny part first on the Lower Nine Mile Run Trail. Highlights were many red-winged blackbirds and common grackles, a pair of nesting northern mockingbirds, a female orchard oriole carrying food to her nest, and two male indigo buntings. Near the river we found a family of red-bellied woodpeckers feeding young.
At the river we looked for a belted kingfisher (no luck) and found four killdeer. Molting Canada geese cruised the river because they’re in their flightless period. Mallards were molting, too, in eclipse plumage.
As I was getting into my car an osprey hovered over the mouth of Nine Mile Run. Alas, I was the only participant to see it. This photo is not the same osprey but it gives you an idea why I picked him as my own Best Bird of the day.
