One week from today — February 15-18 — the Great Backyard Bird Count will take a real-time snapshot of birds around the world. You can help.
Since 1998 the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) has enlisted volunteers like us to count the birds we see for four days in mid-February. Last year our worldwide effort counted 6,459 species and nearly 29 million birds!
Register for an eBird or GBBC account if you don’t already have one. (GBBC uses eBird so you don’t need both.)
Count birds for at least 15 minutes during the four-day period. You can count in more than one place and longer than 15 mins if you wish. Keep track of the highest number of each species you see with a separate checklist for each new day, for each new location, or for the same location if you counted at a different time of day.
You can count birds anywhere — in your backyard, in a park, at the shore, or on a hike. If the weather’s bad, stay indoors and count birds at your feeders.
Baby Eurasian eagle owl at the National Aviary, 18 Jan 2019 (photo courtesy National Aviary)
Super Bowl Sunday is “Superb Owl Sunday”
Hatched at the National Aviary on 12 January 2019, this Eurasian eagle owl chick is growing up fast. In the photo above he’s six days old.
His parents are education birds at the National Aviary and he(*) will be, too. To prepare him for this role he’s being hand-raised with lots of love and attention and began close encounters with a few Aviary visitors at the tender age of 17 days.
By the time he’s four weeks old he’ll look like this owlet — one of his siblings from 2013.
Baby Eurasian Eagle Owl at the National Aviary, April 2013 (photo courtesy of the National Aviary)
When he grows up he’ll look like his parents. By then he’ll be a very big bird.
Eurasian eagle owls (Bubo bubo) are virtually the world’s largest owl. Native to Europe and Asia, they can weigh up to 10 pounds with a wingspan more than six feet long. That’s 1.5 times larger than North America’s great horned owl. You can tell the difference between the two species — even in photographs — when they open their eyes. Adult Eurasian eagle owls have orange eyes. Great horned owls have yellow eyes.
Watch the owlet grow up at the National Aviary‘s Avian Care Center window or schedule a close encounter to meet him in person. Participants can touch the chick’s downy feathers, take photos, and interact with him under the supervision of National Aviary animal care experts. The number of encounters is limited and available for only a few weeks. Click here to sign up for an owlet encounter.
Tomorrow is the mid-point of winter, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s also Candelmas in the Christian church and Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
A very special groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, will make his prediction just after dawn tomorrow morning, 2 February around 7:20am. I don’t know if he’ll see his shadow and predict six more weeks of winter, but I do know it won’t feel so wintry tomorrow. We’ll be out of the deep freeze at last! A high of 41oF in Pittsburgh and 37oF in Punxsutawney.
Seed Swap at Carnegie Library in 2018 (photo by Nick Shapiro, courtesy Grow Pittsburgh)
Free! Seeds, seedlings and perennials donated by local gardeners, farmers, and seed companies. Workshops on seed saving, seed starting and organic gardening.
Swap! Bring your own untreated, non-GMO seeds and plants to share and you’ll gain early entry to the swap (11a) and be eligible to win raffle prizes. The swap opens to everyone at 11:30a.
Workshops and Activities:
Hands-on activities for children and teens
Seed stories
Gardening experts available to answer your questions
The word pileated comes from the name of a brimless felt hat, the conically shaped pileus of Ancient Greece and Rome. Those who wore the hat were pileated just as those who wear caps are capped.
In Ancient Rome the pileus was a sign of one’s place in society since it was normally worn only by freed slaves. However, that practice was turned on its head during Saturnalia celebrations.
Entrance to the Holiday Magic Winter Garden at Phipps, 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)
If you’re in Pittsburgh between now and Sunday January 6, don’t miss the beautiful lights and flowers at Phipps Conservatory’s Holiday Magic display. I was there in late November.
For the full effect, visit after dark.
More beauty awaits indoors.
To enhance your experience Phipps is issuing timed tickets so it will never be too crowded. Be sure to call ahead (412-622-6914) or go online to schedule your visit.
For directions, hours, and more information visit “Holiday Magic” on the Phipps Conservatory website. (Note: Phipps closes at 5pm on Mon Dec 24 and reopens at 9:30am on Wed Dec 26. )
(photos by Kate St. John, video from Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden on YouTube)
The southern (or winter) solstice will occur in Pittsburgh this evening at 5:23pm. By then we’ll have lived through a very short day, 9 hours and 17 minutes of rainy gloomy overcast daylight.
If we were in Manchester, UK there would be even less daylight. Today they have rainy overcast skies too, but they also have fewer hours daylight, 7 hours 28 minutes. The flip side is that Manchester has more sunlight in June.
Scott Richards decided to compare both solstices in Manchester side by side. He filmed the entire day — sunrise to sunset — on June 21 and December 21, then sped up the film so we don’t have to watch for 20 hours. Instead it lasts six minutes.
I’ve started his video, above, near sunset on the winter solstice (right) side. If you watch for a minute you’ll see the moon rise in winter while the summer sun is still so high that it leaves the video frame.
There’s a dramatic difference in the amount of daylight from solstice to solstice. No wonder I feel sleepy in December.
The 119th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) begins today (Fri 14 Dec 2018) and runs through Saturday 5 Jan 2019. As I write this post some Christmas Bird Counts are already underway.
Counting birds at Christmastime is an annual international tradition, coordinated in the U.S. by the National Audubon Society. Each “Count” is a 15-mile diameter circle manned by volunteers who count the birds they see in a single 24-hour period. Each circle has a Compiler who makes sure there’s no birding overlap.
In the Pittsburgh area there are 14+ circles shown in the map and table below. Some are as early as tomorrow, Sat Dec 15.
It’s easy to participate. Volunteer to count at your own feeders or out in the field. But first, be sure to call or email the compiler to confirm your assignment.
I’ll be counting in the Pittsburgh circle on Sat. 29 Dec 2018. Coordinated by Brian Shema at AWSP, the Pittsburgh CBC has so many participants that it’s divided into sections with compilers for each one.
Peregrine Fans, our favorite bird is coming to PBS NOVA on Wednesday evening November 21.
The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on earth, reaching speeds of up to 200 miles per hour when diving to capture prey. PBS NOVA will show us how peregrines are designed to reach these speeds and will follow a falconer that believes his bird can go even faster. We’ll also see the family life of peregrines at a nest in Chicago.
Click here or on the caption above to watch the preview.
Don’t miss the World’s Fastest Animal, premiering on Wednesday November 21 at 9pm ET on PBS. Check your local listings for re-broadcast times in case you’re busy Wednesday night. In Pittsburgh, watch it on WQED.
