Tomorrow at a huge celebration a famous groundhog in western Pennsylvania will predict the weather for the next six weeks.
Who is this groundhog?
And, an even harder question, how do you spell the name of town where he makes his prediction?
On Throw Back Thursday, learn all the answers at Tomorrow Is A Really Big Day.
(photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)
Winter is a great time to see raptors. Bald eagles are nesting, northern hawks and falcons are visiting for the winter, and they’re all easy to see against the snow!
Lauri Shaffer found these birds near her home in Montour County, but Pittsburghers don’t have to go that far.
Come see western Pennsylvania’s winter raptors in the comfort of a tour bus with the National Aviary’s Bob Mulvihill. All ages and experience levels are welcome.
National Aviary Bus Tour: Winter Raptor Survey
When: Two tours: Wednesday, January 31 + Saturday, February 3. 9am-4pm.
Cost: $95 nonmembers; $85 members (includes lunch and pocket Raptor field guide)
To register: Audrey.Beichner@aviary.org or 412-258-9463
Join National Aviary Ornithologist, Bob Mulvihill, for a brand new winter adventure: the Hawk Migration Association’s annual raptor census. You’ll see up to ten different raptors including winter-only species like the Rough-legged Hawk and Northern Shrike. We’ll also visit Goddard State Park to see a Bald Eagle Nest!
I’m planning to join the tour on Wednesday January 31. In addition to the bald eagle nest at Goddard State Park, here’s what we hope to see:
Rough-legged hawks, below, only visit Pennsylvania in winter. They nest in the arctic.
Northern harriers are hawks of open country with owl-like faces, the better to hear mice on the ground. This one might have dinner beneath his feet.
And did you know that one of our target birds, the northern shrike, is a predatory songbird? Here’s a photo.
Sign up soon for the Raptor bus tour. There’s a lot to see in winter!
(photos by Lauri Shaffer)
p.s. I’m not promising a snowy owl but you never know — we might get really lucky. Becky Shott found this one last week.
If you keep a list of the birds you see each year, yesterday gave you a First Bird of 2018.
Mine was a blue jay.
He received this honor because I decided not to count the birds I heard but did not see. This ruled out the crows flying over my house before dawn and the house sparrows cheeping in my neighbor’s evergreen. I didn’t even look for them.
Perhaps this was cheating. If I’d heard an owl I would have counted it. However, I don’t have to stretch the rules to pick a First Best Bird of 2018.
Yesterday afternoon I joined the Botanical Society of Western PA’s annual New Year’s Day Hike. Twelve of us braved the 10o F weather at Irwin Road in North Park, led by Richard Nugent. (He’s the tall man in the brown coat. I’m in the photo, too, but which one?)
We walked to the old homestead to see the Ozark witch hazel that we visit every year. At the top of the hill was a small flock of birds eating wild grapes, multiflora rose hips and oriental bittersweet. Among them was my First Best Bird of 2018 — a hermit thrush.
What was your First Bird of 2018? Do you have a Best one?
(photo credits: blue jay by Cris Hamilton, hike photo from June Bernard, hermit thrush by Chuck Tague)
2017 was a crazy upside down year for birds and nature in the U.S. including hurricanes, fires, a solar eclipse, climate change and more. Outside My Window had some crazy moments, too. Here’s the blog year in review.
On 7 November Outside My Window celebrated its 10th anniversary. I’ve now written more than 3,700 posts and you’ve commented more than 17,100 times (not including comments on Facebook & Twitter). And we’re using different hardware to read the blog than we did back then. 10 years ago most of us used desktop computers. Now we use Desk 46%, Mobile 40%, Tablet 14%.
The most popular posts of 2017 were prompted by peregrine and bald eagle drama. Our tastes are a bit upside down: Bad news is the most popular.
Other favorite articles (most Googled) answered the questions: What? How? Why?
Thank you again, dear readers, for another great year at Outside My Window.
You keep me going every day!
p.s. Don’t miss Google’s 2017 Year in Review. Inspiring.
(parrot photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original. Peregrine and hawk photos from National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh, Katie Cunningham, and Kim Steininger)
Inside Phipps Conservatory the holiday display is warm and colorful.
Meanwhile Pittsburgh’s weather changed overnight. This morning there’s a white Christmas outside my window.
(photos by Kate St. John)
Christmas is coming. Let’s count birds!
Every year Christmas Bird Counts are conducted in the Americas from December 14 through January 5. The counts take place in 15-mile diameter circles where birders count every bird they see during the 24-hour period. (We count owls at night.)
It’s easy to participate. Choose a location and date that suits you on this map at audubon.org. Then get in touch with the Count coordinator ahead of time to make sure you aren’t double-counting someone else’s territory. If you live within a count circle you can count birds at your feeder — but contact the coordinator in advance.
In southwestern Pennsylvania, there are 13 Count circles as shown on this screen shot from the audubon.org map.
The Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count, code PAPI above, includes Downtown Pittsburgh and parts of our three rivers. It’s always held on the 1st Saturday after Christmas — December 30 this year (2017) — and has so many participants that compiler Brian Shema coordinates the coordinators. Click here on the ASWP website for information on who to call.
Visit National Audubon’s Join the Christmas Bird Count for counts outside our area or consult the table below for the 13 circles nearby.
As you can see there are still some gaps in the data as of today (11/26/2017). I’ll update the table as information becomes available so check back later if your favorite location has no date yet.
| Count Name | Code | County (general area) | Date | Coordinator | Contact Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaver | PABV | Beaver | Sat Dec 16 | Rick Mason | richarddmason AT gmail.com (724)847-0909 |
| Buffalo Creek | PABK | Washington | Sun Dec 17 | Larry Helgerman | bobolink1989 AT gmail.com |
| Buffalo Creek Valley | PABC | Butler, Armstrong | Sat Dec 16 | George Reese | g.reese@gaiconsultants.com, 724-353-9649 |
| Bushy Run | PABR | Westmoreland | Sun Dec 31 | Dick Byers | otusasio AT lhtot.com 724-593-3543 |
| Butler | PABU | Butler, Lawrence, Mercer | Sat Dec 16 | Glenn Koppel Mary A Koeneke | kestrel22 AT hotmail.com 703-203-3362 macatilly AT icloud.com 703-203-6337 |
| Clarksville | PACL | Greene | Sat Dec 23 | Terry Dayton | tdayton AT windstream.net 724-998-7099 |
| Imperial | PAIM | Allegheny, Washington | ? | Bob Mulvihill | robert.mulvihill AT aviary.org |
| Indiana | PAIN | Indiana | Tue Dec 26 | Roger & Marg Higbee | 724-354-3493 412-309-3538 bcoriole AT windstream.net rvhigbee AT windstream.net |
| Pittsburgh | PAPI | Allegheny | Sat Dec 30 | Brian Shema, ASWP | http://www.aswp.org/pages/christmas-bird-count bshema AT aswp.org |
| Pittsburgh South Hills | PASH | Allegheny | Sat Dec 16 | Gigi Gerben | birdersx5 AT gmail.com |
| Rector | PART | Westmoreland | Sun Dec 17 | Matt Webb | webbm AT carnegiemnh.org 412-622-5591 |
| Ryerson | PARY | Greene | Sat Dec 16 | Marjorie Howard | birdwatcher108 AT comcast.net 724-852-3155 |
| South Butler | PAST | Butler | Sat Jan 6, 2018 (1 day after the official Count ends) | Chris Kubiak | ckubiak@aswp.org 412-963-6100 |
| Washington | PAWS | Washington | Sat Dec 16 | Thomas Contreras | tcontreras AT washjeff.edu 724-223-6118 (or 724-413-2310) |
(photo by George Gentry/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; click on the image to see the original; map of Western PA Christmas Bird Count circles posted by Bob Mulvihill of the National Aviary; map of the Pittsburgh Christmas Count circle from audubon.org)
Early this month I was surprised and delighted to receive a letter from Jim Bonner at the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania that said,
“It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been selected as the 2017 Audubon Society of Western PA W. E. Clyde Todd Award winner. This award was established in 1971 and is presented to an individual in recognition of outstanding effort to further the cause of conservation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
What an honor. Wow!
Awards will be presented on Members’ Night, Thursday Dec. 7, 2017 at 6:30pm at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, 614 Dorseyville Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15238-1618.
The evening will begin with cocktails and light hors d’oeuvres. After the awards presentation, Patty DeMarco will give a talk about her new book, Pathways to our Sustainable Future: A Global Perspective from Pittsburgh.
Click here for more information or download the ASWP Winter 2017 Bulletin here.
(photo: cover of the ASWP Winter 2017 Bulletin)
If you’re as passionate about birds as I am you might be thinking bird mania is already here but this month we’ll get the chance to learn of others enthralled by birds.
Bernd Brunner, author of Birdmania, will speak at Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures on November 18 at 2pm.
His new book shows how our view of birds has changed over time — from objects of worship, food sources, ornamentation, sport, and status symbols to beautiful creatures we watch in the wild. His stories of collectors, breeders, watchers, scientists and conservationists are illustrated with rare and stunning artwork inspired by (our!) obsession.
Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk says of the book, “An exquisitely beautiful book … These stories about birds are ultimately reflections on the curious nature of humanity itself.”
For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit New & Noted: Bernd Brunner at Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures.
What: Bernd Brunner, author of Birdmania, at Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures. A book signing will follow the lecture. Tickets $5.
Where: Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15213.
When: Saturday November 18, 2017 at 2pm.
(book cover, cropped, from Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures)
Just a reminder that the University of Pittsburgh’s annual Audubon Day is coming next Friday, November 17 to Hillman Library. It’s a day full of bird activities, highlighted by displays of John James Audubon’s folio prints.
At 10:00am I’ll be presenting “The Story of Peregrine Falcons at Pitt: The Dynasty Continues.”
Click on the event flyer above for more information.
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7 November 2017
Put on Your Party Hats, this blog is 10 Years Old!
Usually a crow provides bird-thday entertainment, but this year two Venezuelan troupials won the honor of singing “Happy Birthday To You.” This is definitely competitive singing!
Thanks to all of you, my readers, who have kept me blogging about birds, nature and peregrine falcons since November 2007. I couldn’t have done it without your enthusiasm.
And thank you to all the great photographers who let me use their photos. See who they are here.
Woo Hoo! Happy Bird-thday!
p.s. Venezuelan troupials are the national bird of Venezuela and are in the Blackbird family (Icterid).
(photo credit: Click here to see the original photo of the crow on a spire by Ian Shane via Wikimedia Commons; party hat was added by Kate St. John)