Just a reminder that I’m leading a bird and nature walk on Sunday April 26, 8:30am in Schenley Park. Meet at Schenley Park Cafe and Visitor Center where Panther Hollow Road meets Schenley Drive.
Dress for the weather (cold). Bring binoculars if you have them.
Click here for more information and for updates if the walk is canceled for bad weather.
We will certainly see purple deadnettle.
(photo of purple deadnettle by Kate St. John)
18 April 2015:
It’s Spring and there’s a lot to see. Every day new songbirds arrive and new wildflowers bloom. There are plenty of opportunities to join others and see the sights in western Pennsylvania (see the outings table below). Here’s what I found last Wednesday …
At the Allegheny Land Trust’s Wingfield Pines I didn’t expect to see wildflowers because the site has been plowed so many times, but on the hillside I found a patch of bloodroot in full bloom! Above, a closeup of the flowers. Below, just a section of the huge patch. Notice how the leaves curl around the stems. The sunshine encouraged the flowers to open but made them hard to see and photograph on the forest floor.
Spring wildflowers are ephemeral so don’t wait or you’ll miss them entirely. Several of the bloodroot flowers had already lost their petals and gone to seed.
Here’s a list of April 19-30 outings for three of the many bird and nature clubs in western Pennsylvania: Wissahickon Nature Club (Wissahickon), Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania (BotSocWPa), and Three Rivers Birding Club (3RBC) … and my own outing on April 26.
Everyone is welcome to join these outings. Click on the links for directions, meeting places, what to bring, and phone numbers for the leaders.
| Date/Time | Focus | Location | Leader & Link to more info |
| Sunday, April 19, 1:00pm & 2:00pm | Birds | Frick Park, Pittsburgh | Jack & Sue Solomon, 3RBC |
| Sunday, April 19, 1:00pm | Wildflowers | Linn Run State Park, Rector, Westmoreland County | Loree Speedy, Wissahickon / BotSocWPA |
| Saturday, April 25, 9:00am | Birds | Woodcock Lake & Pymatuning, Crawford County | Shawn Collins, 3RBC |
| Saturday, April 25, 9:00am or 10am?(*) | Flowers | Indian Creek Wildflower Walk, Fayette County | Lisa Smith, Wissahickon/BotSocWPA NOTE(*): Wissa & BotSoc sites disagree on start time. |
| Saturday, April 25, 9:30am | Everything! | Raccoon Creek State Park, Beaver County | Ryan Tomazin, Brooks Bird Club & 3RBC |
| Sunday, April 26, 8:00am, 10am, All Day | Everything! | Enlow Fork Extravaganza at the Enlow Fork of Wheeling Creek, border of Washington & Greene Counties | Wheeling Creek Watershed Conservancy, Wissa/BotSoc/3RBC |
| Sunday, April 26, 8:30am | Everything! | Schenley Park, Pittsburgh | Kate St. John, Outside My Window |
| Wednesday, April 29, 8:00am | Birds | Knob Hill Community Park, Wexford, Allegheny County | Karyn Delaney, 3RBC |
| Thursday April 30, 10:00am | Everything! | Raccoon Creek State Park Wildflower Reserve, Beaver County | Dianne and Bob Machesney, Wissahickon / BotSocWPA |
Let’s get outdoors!
(photos by Kate St. John)
p.s. Please excuse typos in the table. Make sure to consult the website links for up-to-date information! Call/email the leaders to make sure.
Are cities a purely human invention? In the final episode of PBS NATURE‘s Animal Homes we’ll discover we’re not alone. Some birds, spiders, lizards, and fish build cities, too. Tune in on April 22 to learn:
Watch Animal Homes: Animal Cities on PBS NATURE, April 22 at 8:00pm EDT. In Pittsburgh it’s on WQED.
(photo Courtesy of © THIRTEEN Productions LLC)
9 April 2015
Last night we learned about nests on PBS NATURE‘s Animal Homes. Next Wednesday Episode 2 will take us inside bird and mammal homes chosen for their prime locations. Tune in at 8:00pm EDT to learn:
Watch Animal Homes: Location, Location, Location on PBS NATURE, April 15 at 8:00pm EDT. In Pittsburgh it’s on WQED.
(video from PBS Nature, Animal Homes Episode 2, Location, Location, Location)
2 April 2015
Just in time for nesting season PBS NATURE premieres their three-part series Animal Homes. Episode 1 on April 8th is devoted to Nests.
Using time lapse photography, infrared light and tiny HD cameras, the producers got up close and personal during all the stages of nest building. The Anna’s hummingbird above is just a taste of the beautiful footage and intimate looks at the birds.
Each nest is custom made. The wonder is that strong, resilient, and intricate nests are woven out of grass and twigs using only a beak. And some build with mud, sticks or merely leaves:
And if you bird by ear, don’t just “watch” the show. Listen, too! There’s a message in the soundtrack, the song of a familiar North American bird whose name is a nod to the name of the program. I thought its voice was misplaced in the South American footage until I read on Wikipedia that “It occurs from Canada to southernmost South America and is thus the most widely distributed bird in the Americas.”
Very cool, PBS NATURE! I learn something new every day.
Watch Animal Homes: Nests on PBS NATURE, April 8 at 8:00pm EDT. In Pittsburgh it’s on WQED.
(video from PBS NATURE)
Nine of us braved the cold this morning at the Bartlett Shelter in Schenley Park. We didn’t see anything blooming in 20F degrees but it was sunny and the birds were active.
We saw three Best Birds: a fox sparrow sunning himself by the stream, a golden-crowned kinglet flitting in the treetops, and a male pileated woodpecker hammering a dead branch (unusual for Schenley). I checked my records for the fox sparrow. He’s the earliest I’ve seen in Schenley Park. They always arrive alone — usually April 4 to 9.
Here are the birds we saw and heard:
* Red-bellied Woodpeckers
* Downy Woodpeckers
* Northern Flicker (heard, not seen)
* Pileated Woodpecker, unusual in Schenley Park
* Blue Jays, abundant and loud
* American Crow, flyover
* Carolina Chickadees
* Tufted Titmice
* White-breasted Nuthatches
* Golden-crowned Kinglet, 1
* European Starlings
* Fox Sparrow, 1 by the stream
* Song Sparrows, singing
* Dark-eyed Juncoes, singing
* Northern Cardinals, singing
* Common Grackles
* House Finches
I’m so glad we went out this morning! If I hadn’t promised to be there I would have missed that fox sparrow. 🙂
The next outing will be Sunday April 26, 8:30am. Meet at the Schenley Park Visitors Center (near Phipps). Check here for details as the date approaches.
(photo of the outing group, 29 March 2015 !If I misspelled your name, please let me know in a Comment)
Just a reminder that I’m leading a bird and nature walk on Sunday March 29, 8:30am in Schenley Park. Meet at Bartlett Shelter.
(Note that Schenley Drive is closed until 9:00am for CMU Buggy Race practice.)
Click here for more information and for updates if the walk is canceled for bad weather.
Maybe we’ll see coltsfoot.
(photo of coltsfoot from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original)
They’ve done it again! The Downtown peregrines have been absent from the Gulf Tower since March 10 … yet they have been seen Downtown.
Apparently they are planning to nest somewhere else … but where? Let’s find out.
Join Pittsburgh Falconuts on our quest to find the Downtown peregrines. We’ll meet on Sunday March 22 at 1:00pm at the Dunkin’ Donuts at 28 Market Square and fan out from there.
If you can’t make it, wish us luck. We’ll need it!
Thanks to John English of the Pittsburgh Falconuts Facebook page for organizing this quest.
(photo of the empty Gulf Tower nest from the National Avairy falconcam)
If you’ve been following the Allegheny Front on WESA radio, you’ve heard their Bird Files series twice a month.
This week I joined as a contributor with a piece about Nature’s clean-up crew — turkey vultures!
Tune in to the Allegheny Front on WESA 90.5 FM tomorrow morning, Saturday March 14, at 7:30am.
Or read and listen here –> Turkey Vulture Has Cast Iron Stomach
(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)
Spring is coming next month and when it does, let’s go outdoors!
From March through June I’m leading bird and nature walks once a month in Schenley Park. Come out with me to see birds and blooms, trees and bees.
On each walk we’ll travel at the speed of botany (slowly!) keeping our eyes and ears open for the latest flora and fauna. Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes that aren’t afraid of mud. Bring binoculars and field guides if you have them. The walks will last two hours, but you can bow out early.
Here’s the schedule:
As each date approaches I’ll post a reminder on the blog — or visit my Events page any time for directions and up-to-date information including cancellations and rain dates.
Hope to see you in Schenley Park. I can hardly wait for Spring!
(photo of a northern magnolia blooming in Schenley Park by Kate St.John)