American goldfinches at the feeder, 2014 (photo by Marcy Cunkelman)
6 February 2021
February’s weather is daunting and the pandemic keeps us stuck at home but there’s a fun project coming up next weekend. For four days — Friday February 12 through Monday February 15, 2021 — you can count birds at your feeders for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), an annual citizen science project that tracks winter bird populations.
All you have to do is count birds for at least 15 minutes, note the highest number of each species, and record your count on eBird.
You can count birds anywhere, indoors or out. However …
If Pittsburgh’s 7-day forecast is correct you’ll prefer to be indoors. The weather will be super-cold, songbirds will be mobbing your feeders and you may even see a hungry hawk.
Native to Eurasia and North America, long-eared owls (Asio otus) are shy and secretive medium-sized birds that hunt open areas and roost in woodland edges and conifer stands.
In Pennsylvania they are present year-round and listed as Threatened, but are so elusive that it’s hard to keep track of them. The Game Commission plans to study Pennsylvania’s long-eared owls but needs preliminary data. They are asking birders for help.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is interested in learning more about long-eared owls in Pennsylvania, who are threatened and extremely vulnerable to disturbance [so] we’re asking birders to share their long-eared owl observations with us.
To protect the location of the birds, we are asking birders NOT to post their observations on eBird or other platforms at this time(*) but instead to send all observations–past or present–to Game Commission Wildlife Biologist, Patti Barber, at patbarber@pa.gov with “LEOW Observations” in the subject line. Include date, location, number of owls and evidence of owls in the area (seen, heard, pellets, feathers, heard etc).
Pictures are welcome, however, please maintain enough distance so as to not disturb the birds. Long-eared owls often abandon roosts when disturbed. Please do not walk on private property without owner’s consent. Thank you, in advance, for your help.
— partially paraphrased: Pennsylvania Game Commission, 19 January 2021 via Instagram
So how do you find a long-eared owl? Find is the hardest part. Long-eared owls are more strictly nocturnal than other owls so you’ll have to find them at the roost where they are masters at hiding in plain sight. Here are a few examples.
I’ve only seen a long-eared owl three times in my life with each sighting 10 years apart. My last was in Beaver County in 2015 so I’m not due to see another one until 2025. I wonder if my quest will be successful.
(photos and map from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)
(*) eBird reports: The Game Commission is working with eBird to develop a process to allow these observations to be entered while also protecting these sensitive locations.
Merlin at Homewood Cemetery, 26 Dec 2020 (photo by Michelle Kienholz)
28 December 2020
Pittsburgh’s Christmas Bird Count dawned bitter cold (13o F) and overcast on Saturday 26 December 2020. The weather was daunting, city roads were snow-covered, and birds were very hard to find. Though the official count isn’t in yet, there were notable exceptions less than three miles from my home — merlins, peregrines, 20K+ crows and a Baltimore oriole.
Morela, 12/26/2020, 7:33a (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Ecco arrives on the front perch
Morela and Ecco
Ecco calls as Morela leaves
Ecco alone
Ecco leaves
empty nest
CROWS: Counting crows is always a challenge despite our best laid plans. At dusk at the Allequippa Street Parking Garage, Claire Staples and Joe Fedor counted crows arriving from the north, west, and Allegheny Valley. At Schenley Park golf course I counted them flying in from the east. (The eastern group can’t been seen from Allequippa Street.)
It was so cold! The crows felt it too and used different flight paths than the day before. Erf! Even so, the three of us counted 20,000 to 24,000 crows.
Here’s what they looked like at Allequippa Street on 18 Dec 2020, photos by Mary Brush.
Crows near the Petersen Center, 18 Dec 2020 (photo by Mary Brush)Crows near the Petersen Center, 18 Dec 2020 (photo by Mary Brush)
BALTIMORE ORIOLE (Icterus galbula): Most likely the rarest bird of the count was the Baltimore oriole at Izaguirre’s feeder in Oakland. Frank and Adrienne have been keeping him happy since he showed up on 20 December. In Frank’s photo below he’s slurping jam from the top of the suet cake. Yay!
Baltimore oriole at Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count, 26 Dec 2020 (photo by Frank Izaguirre)
In the typical absurdity of 2020, the weather on the day after the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count was partly sunny and 47oF.
Dorothy bathing at Duck Hollow during the 2013 Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count (photo by Michelle Kienholz, 28 Dec 2013)
26 December 2020
The success of a Christmas Bird Count really depends on the weather. If the weather is good the birds are active and easy to find. In bad weather — heavy rain, snow, fog, high winds — birds are scarce.
Today is the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in the circle shown below. At 8am it’s 14 degrees F with gusty winds, overcast skies and light snow showers. It feels like 2 degrees F. What birds will I find in my city neighborhood under these conditions? Not many I fear.
Seven years ago the 2013 Pittsburgh CBC had a Falcon Sweep at a single location. In one half hour there was a peregrine falcon (Dorothy), a merlin, and an American kestrel at Duck Hollow — all the possible Falco species — described in this 2013 article: Take Me To The River.
Merlin bathing in the Mon River, 28 Dec 2013 (photo by Michelle Kienholz)
Today if I’m lucky in bad weather I’ll see a peregrine at the Cathedral of Learning and a merlin at dusk in Schenley Park. It would be a miracle if I saw a kestrel.
For old times sake, here’s a kestrel in June 2016 at an unusual city location.
American kestrel at the Gulf Tower peregrine nest on 9 June 2016 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)
More news later. Brrrr!
(photos by Michelle Kienholz and the National Aviary falconcam that used to be at Gulf Tower)
Miniature sleigh? Tiny reindeer? A human-sized Santa Claus needs a normal sleigh and full-sized reindeer to pull it. Just two reindeer take up a lot of space.
Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), called caribou in North America, range in size from 5.3 to 7 feet long. Males weigh 350 – 400 lbs, females weigh 180 – 260 lbs. Both sexes have antlers though at different times of year.
Reindeer in Norway (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
These are not small animals. Eight full-sized reindeer and a full-sized sleigh would damage any house they landed on. Santa really needs tiny reindeer. Perhaps he went to Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole, to get them.
Like other island species the reindeer on Svalbard have evolved to a smaller size. If you need small reindeer they’re the smallest on Earth, only 50-60% the size of other caribou.
Cold weather has chased us indoors and we’re stir crazy because of the pandemic but we can still have fun in the next four+ weeks. Join Audubon’s 121st annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) Monday 14 December 2020 through Tuesday 5 January 2021.(*)
During the CBC, volunteers count birds in more than 2,500 count circles in the North America. Each count has a 15-mile diameter circle, a single scheduled day, and a count coordinator who keeps track of volunteers, areas covered, and data received.
It’s easy to participate. No experience is necessary. Spend a day counting birds at your feeder or in the field.
I’ll be counting in the Pittsburgh circle on Saturday, December 26. There are so many participants that it’s divided into 12 sections. Click here for the sections and contacts.
The only thing city deer are afraid of are dogs off-leash.
Deer cross the road in Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)
Last weekend I found a target-practice deer taking refuge in the city. Poking his head out of a pink dumpster on Bigelow Boulevard, he knew he was safe near the Cathedral of Learning (at top).
Stay safe out there.
(photos by Kate St. John and from Wikimedia Commons, PA Game Commission and Amazon. Click on the captions to see the originals)
Crows flying over Soldiers and Sailors Hall, 24 Oct 2020. 13 in the circle (photo by Kate St. John)
9 November 2020
For the past three months I’ve been trying to count Pittsburgh’s crows but it’s incredibly hard to do. Last night I tried again as they flew from a staging area in Shadyside to a roost somewhere west of Bellefield Avenue. After 20 minutes I suddenly realized I’d missed a steady stream flying in from the Allegheny Valley. How many thousands had I missed? Aaarrg!
My sister-in-law suggested I use photos to count them so here are four photos with 13 crows circled in each one.
Crows roosting near Heinz Chapel, 1 Dec 2017. 13 in the circle (photo by Kate St. John)
Crows flying past Chevron Hall, 24 Oct 2020. 13 in the circle (photo by Kate St. John)
Crows flying at sunset over Wilkins Ave. 13 in the circle (photo by Joanne Tyzenhouse)
Thanks to all of you, my readers, who have kept me blogging about birds, nature and peregrine falcons. Your enthusiasm keeps me going. And a big thank you to all the great photographers who let me use their photos. See who they are here.
Well, for one thing, all these clocks are backwards.
I’m not a fan of Daylight Saving Time “spring forward and fall back.” Our bodies cue on light levels, just like everything else in nature, so our brains won’t jog an hour just because we change the clocks. Ask your dog what he thinks about Fall Back. It takes us humans as much as a week to adjust.
However, unless you live in Arizona(*) or Hawaii where they don’t participate in Daylight Saving Time, tonight’s the night to turn the clocks backward to Standard Time.
The official moment to make the change is at 2:00am on 1 November 2020 — which at that moment becomes 1:00am. Who wants to get up at 2am for the official moment? Not I!
p.s. Any recent gadget that’s on a network, including your cellphone, will make the change automatically.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons; Click on the captions to see the originals)
(*) Janet Campagna points out in the comment below that the Navajo Nation (sovereign inside Arizona) does observe Daylight Saving Time.
