Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars, field guides and a scope for river watching if you have them.
This event will be held rain or shine but not in a downpour or thunder. Check the Events page before you come in case this outing is canceled for thunder or heavy downpours.
On a woodcock walk at Hillman State Park on the night of 13 April, we paused to look at a beaver pond when someone pointed to a strange row of lights moving silently across the sky. There were more than 20 of them, obviously man-made and kind of creepy. None of us knew what they were. The next morning I figured out they were Starlink satellites.
This week Pittsburghers will have five opportunities to see this eerie phenomenon. Here’s what they look like, even without binoculars.
Starlink Satellites train seen in the sky Elon Musk SpaceX 2024 (embedded from ViralVideoLab on YouTube)
Note: This group contains about 60 satellites. Nowadays SpaceX launches about 20 per batch.
A Starlink satellite string can be seen only in the few days following a Starlink Falcon rocket launch. You must be in the right location (under the flight path), with a clear sky and within two hours of sunset or sunrise.
This 5-minute video “explainer” by meteorologist Brad Panovich in Charlotte, NC, recorded in September 2023, explains the network of Starlink satellites, how the string is deployed and why you only see them for a couple of days if you’re lucky.
The SpaceX Starlink Satellites Tracker website predicts when a Starlink train will pass overhead for your selected location. The website cannot predict very far in advance because the calculations must be made after a payload rocket has launched. Though the launches are scheduled, the actual time of liftoff can change.
Will the sky be clear for viewing the transit this week? So far so good according to the Pittsburgh Clear Sky Chart. Check the Starlink schedule above or on the web, then find a patch of dark sky and look up at the right moment in the direction indicated.
Creepy, eh?
And according to Wikipedia, “Astronomers have raised concerns about the effect the constellation may have on ground-based astronomy, and how the satellites will contribute to an already congested orbital environment.”
More information: Starlink is a satellite internet constellation whose purpose is to provide worldwide internet coverage and global mobile broadband [for a fee]. Starlink Services LLC is a subsidiary of SpaceX which is owned by Elon Musk. Since 2019 SpaceX has launched over 6,000 mass-produced small satellites into low Earth orbit. Nearly 12,000 satellites are planned to be deployed, with a possible later extension to 34,400.
First Pitt fledgling (probably Yellow) perches on stone peak at 40th floor, 3 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
3 June 2024, 7:00pm
By 3 June at 11:00am both Pitt peregrine chicks had made their first flight. Here’s how I know …
On Monday morning I walked around the Cathedral of Learning looking for any peregrine anywhere on the building. Youngsters tend to perch in locations the adults don’t use and an adult perched in an unusual place is watching a youngster.
When I saw a peregrine on a favorite perch at 40th floor Northwest, I assumed it was an adult because the location, pictured above, is too challenging for an amateur to land on. Through my scope I confirmed it was a juvenile, probably the male nicknamed Yellow who fledged a day or two ago.
I could not find the second chick, Blue, but I found an adult intently watching the 38 East “patio” roof so it’s a good bet that youngster was over there. My hunch was supported by two “kakking” episodes in which an adult circled the building and shouted at a potential threat at that level. The adults are highly aggressive at this stage.
Around that time Ecco visited the nest for a while, apparently taking a break from babysitting.
The parents chill at the nest because the “kids” won’t return to it unless there’s food. At this point the parents are delivering food to the fledgling wherever he is. Soon the youngsters will gain flight confidence and chase their parents to get the prey. Eventually they will learn to hunt.
The last Fledge Watch is cancelled (would have been 6/4) because the youngsters have left the nestrail. The only way to see them now is to walk around the building looking for them. I know from experience that it’s hard to catch up to a peregrine who can fly.
Peregrine chicks at Cathedral of Learning nest, 28 days old, 20 May 2024 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
21 May 2024
Yesterday was a big day for the Pitt peregrine chicks. The smaller chick made two new moves: He jumped up on the green perch and he snatched prey from his mother. Today will be even bigger. It’s Banding Day! The event is closed to the public (the room has a very strict occupancy limit!) but you’ll see the start and end on the falconcam.
Big Moves Yesterday: Green perch & Food snatch
Both big moves are shown in this video of snapshots.
video from the National Aviary snaphot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh
Here’s a closer look at the snatching episode as seen on the streaming cam: Carla was about to kill and pluck a chimney swift when the male chick snatched it. Chaos ensued! When Carla couldn’t retrieve it she shouted to Ecco while the other chick begged loudly.
Male peregrine steals incoming prey from Carla. Everyone shouts, 20 May 2024, 17:21 (video from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Banding Day Today:
You’ll know when Lead Bander Patti Barber of the Pennsylvania Game Commission goes out on the ledge to retrieve the chicks because you’ll hear Carla and Ecco shouting and the youngsters will huddle at the back of the box.
When the chicks are brought indoors they will receive health checks and leg bands and be returned to the nest in less than half an hour.
Stay tuned later today for banding photos and an update on the event.
Female red-winged blackbird scans the sky while collecting nesting material, Schenley Park, 18 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
19 May 2024
The pouring rain ended yesterday morning just in time for our walk in Schenley Park.
Outing at Schenley Park, 18 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
From midnight until 8am 1.16 inches of rain fell. All the streams were rushing and Panther Hollow Lake was muddy and full. It looked as if the lake had risen 8-12 inches since I saw it the day before.
Among the cattails we found busy red-winged blackbirds including a female gathering nesting material who scanned the sky for predators (at top). The last time I saw red-wings building nests was in mid April. Was this a second nesting? Or had high water flooded nests that now were being rebuilt?
Female red-winged blackbird collecting nesting material, Schenley Park, 18 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Why was the female blackbird scanning the sky? She probably saw a red-tailed hawk shuttling food to three youngsters in their nest on the bridge.
3 youngsters in red-tailed hawk nest, Schenley Park, 18 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
All told we saw 27 species of birds plus one doe, five bucks and an active beehive.
When I was a kid in the 1960s common nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) were so common that they attracted my notice and inspired my love for birds. In the late 1970s many flew above my neighborhood on summer nights, hawking moths over the Magee Field ballpark lights. In the 1990s their population began a steep decline and by the late 2000s I noticed it in my neighborhood. This year I haven’t seen a nighthawk yet. Their decline has gotten worse in the last 20 years.
Nighthawks are nightjars and they are all in trouble including whip-poor-wills and chuck-wills-widow.
Interestingly you only have to count nighthawks by the light of the moon because they call more often when the moon is shining. The next full moon is 23 May, right in the middle of the survey period.
Rainbow around the nearly full moon, North Park, Pittsburgh, 16 March 2022, 8:01pm
Ovenbird in Nick Liadis’ hand at banding in Hays Woods, 7 Sept 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
6 May 2024
May Is The Month For Birds! Join me on two outings in the next two weeks.
Wed. 15 May, 8:00 to 10:30am: Hays Woods Bird Banding
Next week be one of only 5 visitors to Nick Liadis’ BirdLab banding station in Hays Woods. We may be very lucky. Last year Nick banded a Conneticutt warbler at Hays in May!
Here’s everything you need to know to join me on Wed 15 May at 8:00 am.
First come first served! Reserve your place by leaving a comment on the blog form below. I’ll confirm via email.
Normally I would be one of those 80,000 people but this year I didn’t have time for a trip next week so I’m here at Magee Marsh right now, 30 April to 3 May. As your advance scout I can tell you that the situation is different in the week before the Biggest one.
There were surprisingly few people here on Tuesday and Wednesday, 30 Apr and 1 May. There were few on the boardwalk, even fewer at Maumee Bay Lodge. That changed on Thursday 2 May when there were five times more people on the boardwalk. (The crowd began.)
Vendors for the festival started arriving on Wednesday.
Other than yellow-rumped and palm, there aren’t many warblers. Though the weather has been quite warm, overnight winds have been from the north, blowing off the lake. I’ve seen a small variety of warblers but only single birds and it takes effort to find them.
I miss the benefits of birding in a crowd. To find really good birds, I look for a crowd with their binoculars up and they help find the bird.
With so few birds (relative to the Biggest Week), a ruby-crowned kinglet drew a lot of attention.
This year: Only a short loop of the Maumee Bay Lodge Nature Center boardwalk is open. The majority is closed due to storm damage in June 2023 (shown here).
So the best time to see warblers in northwestern Ohio really is during the Biggest Week.
Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh migration is ahead of schedule and has been quite good. I haven’t seen any of the birds shown in the logo above in Ohio this week, but I’ve already seen the orange ones in southwestern PA — an American redstart and a Blackburnian warbler.
If I want to see the other two species — the Kirtland’s and mourning warblers — the best place will be northwestern Ohio during the Biggest Week.
In mid-April I had the opportunity to guide KDKA’s Talk Pittsburgh hosts Heather Abraham and Boaz Frankel on a birding trip to Frick Park. We had a great time watching birds and talking about their behavior.
It’s Spray Your Clothes Day (photo by Kate St. John)
11 April 2024
There’s a danger outdoors in Pennsylvania’s suburbs, parks and woods. The first step to protect yourself is to spray your clothes in early spring.
The Danger:
When a black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) sucks your blood it can transmit a parasite that causes Lyme disease, an illness that can ruin your life for a very long time. Black-legged ticks are especially dangerous in May and June when the tiny nymphs, only as big as a poppy seed, are questing for a blood meal.
If you don’t think you’ll see a tick in Pittsburgh’s suburbs, city parks and your own garden, think again. Deer don’t carry Lyme disease but they do carry ticks — a lot of ticks — and deer are everywhere.
Deer on Forbes Ave, Squirrel Hill, 7 Nov 2023 (photo courtesy Mardi Isler)
Are there deer in your backyard? There are also ticks.
The Prevention:
By spraying your clothes with permethrin you repel ticks and lower your likelihood of a tick bite. Spray your clothes outdoors in early April on a dry windless day so the spray doesn’t touch your skin. (Read the directions on the bottle.)
Here’s all you need to know about Spray Your Clothes Day activities and how to prevent Lyme disease.
