Category Archives: Books & Events

Trees Are For Birds … And People Too

Books & Events, Plants & Fungi, Trees

If you love birds, you can’t help but love trees.

Trees provide many birds with food, shelter, and a great place to perch.  In southwestern Pennsylvania most of our birds are found in trees.  We even have ducks that nest in hollow trees.  (Wood ducks)

Trees are good for people too.  Did you know …

  • Trees make the air cleaner by filtering airborne pollutants, absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen.
  • Just three strategically placed trees can decrease your utility bills by 50%.
  • Trees reduce noise pollution by absorbing sounds.
  • Hospital patients who can see a tree outside their windows have almost one full day less recovery time and need fewer painkillers.
  • Trees around your home can increase its property value by 15% or more.

Sadly many places in cities and suburbs lack trees and miss out on these benefits.  In Pennsylvania there’s a statewide program called Treevitalize that works to change that.

Treevitalize helps people plant and maintain trees along neighborhood streets, in business districts, in parks, and along degraded streams.  In my area the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Tree Pittsburgh, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, and DCNR joined together to form Treevitalize Pittsburgh and carry out the work here.  Their goal is 20,000 new trees!

The fall planting season is fast approaching so now’s the time to prepare.  You can learn how to help plant and maintain trees for your own neighborhood at Tree Pittsburgh’s Tree Tender workshops.

  • There’s a workshop this Saturday, July 28, 9:00am to 4:00pm at the Millvale Community Center, 416 Lincoln Avenue in Millvale.
  • Or attend the next one on Saturday September 15, 9:00am to 4:00pm at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s offices, 800 Waterfront Drive on Washington’s Landing.

Register online at www.TreePittsburgh.org or call 412-362-6360.

It’s a great opportunity to help neighborhood birds, and people too.

And remember the next time you complain that a tree is messy or inconvenient, look up in that tree.  I bet you’ll find a bird.  🙂

(Tree facts from TreeVitalize Pittsburgh. Photo by Kate St. John)

Favorite Wildflower Guide

Books & Events, Plants & Fungi
Cover of Newcomb’s

Early this month I received a request: “I am trying to be a naturalist and your information about plants and trees has helped me better recognize my world here in Michigan,” wrote Matt LaMore. “Can you recommend some reading for me to better identify the plants I see throughout the woods and fields?”

As I prepared my answer I realized a lot of you may have the same question.

Last winter I wrote a series about trees and recommended the Winter Tree Guide but I’ve never discussed wildflower books. Here’s my favorite.

If you want a single field guide for identifying wildflowers in northeastern North America Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide is the one for you.  First published in 1977 it covers 1,375 wildflowers, vines, and shrubs —  from southern Canada to Tennessee, from Maine and the Maritimes to Wisconsin.

Instead of grouping flowers by color, Lawrence Newcomb guides you through a unique key system to help you identify the species.  You examine the flower’s symmetry, count its repeating parts, look how the leaves are arranged on the stem, and determine whether the leaves are smooth-edged, toothed, or have multiple leaflets on one main stem.

After you’ve answered these few basic questions the key guides you to the appropriate pages.  There you find pen and ink illustrations with descriptions to narrow your selection.  Often the plant you’re seeking is right there on the first page. The black-and-white illustrations are more helpful than color photos.

With practice you’ll identify nearly every flower you see.  I am so well-trained by Newcomb’s that I now think of plants in terms of his key so I can look them up later if I don’t have the book with me.  (I’m not a botanist so my field notes include cryptic references like “5, alternate, divided” which I look up when I get home.)

This is a book you’ll want to own and carry with you.  Click on the book cover above to buy it at Amazon.

(image of book cover from Amazon.com)

Flag Waving Fawn

Books & Events, Deer, Mammals
Fawn at Allegheny Cemetery in 2012, Pittsburgh, PA (photo by Sharon Leadbitter)

Though this picture was taken around Memorial Day, the fawn looks as if he’s celebrating the Fourth of July.

This little guy and his mother are part of the large deer herd that lives at Allegheny Cemetery in the city’s Lawrenceville neighborhood.  In late May the Veterans’ section was all decked out in red, white and blue.  The deer didn’t seem to mind the waving flags.

Doe and fawn at Allegheny Cemetery in 2012, Pittsburgh, PA (photo by Sharon Leadbitter)

Sharon Leadbitter took their pictures and as the deer left the area the fawn did a little flag waving of his own.  See how his tail is up in that first photo?

According to a 1991 study published in The American Naturalist, fawns wave their tails much more than adults.  Winston Paul Smith studied the reasons why white-tailed deer wave their tails and wrote, “Tail flagging was observed in all age and sex groups, even neonates within hours after birth. The tendency to tail flag was greatest among fawns. As fawns became older, tail flagging decreased so that by 7 mo of age they tail flagged at a rate similar to that of yearlings and adults.”

Watch the Fourth of July parades today and see if you don’t think this applies to small humans, too.  Everyone waves flags but the youngest wave them more.

Happy Fourth of July!

(photos by Sharon Leadbitter)

Canada Day

Books & Events, Deer

Happy Canada Day!

Readers in Canada, Detroit and Buffalo know all about it but most Americans forget that Canada’s national holiday is July 1.

Today Canada commemorates the anniversary of the British North American Act of 1867 that merged three colonies into a single country named Canada.  Like a wedding reception that celebrates a married couple’s new status, Canada celebrates the British Parliament’s declaration of their new status as a dominion.  To carry the analogy further…  in the U.S. we celebrate our elopement on July 4, the day we publicly broke with Britain and signed the Declaration of Independence.

Beyond this difference in national origin, Canada and the U.S. share a continent and a lot of plants and animals.

Here are four things found outdoors this month in Pennsylvania that have “Canada” as their first name.


Canada lilies bloom in Pennsylvania’s woods.  They’re hard to find because deer eat the blooms so I felt lucky to see one last weekend near Seven Springs, PA.

 

Canada warblers breed in the Laurel Highlands.  Try the Quebec Run Wild Area if you want to see one.

 

Canada geese are everywhere now.  Look for them on our rivers and lakes or at your favorite golf course.

 

Canada thistle is everywhere, too, but it was misnamed.  It’s from Europe, not Canada.  Wonder how that happened.

Can you think of other “Canada” plants and animals?

(photo credits: Canada lily by Dianne Machesney, Canada warbler by Cris Hamilton, Canada goose by Chuck Tague, Canada thistle from Wikimedia Commons)

Wissahickon Nature Club: 70 Years Young

Books & Events

Here’s the cake that celebrated Wissahickon Nature Club’s 70th anniversary last weekend.

Founded in 1942 the Nature Club has been going strong for seven decades.  We celebrated at Mingo Creek County Park with bird and nature walks and lots to eat.

Wissahickon has evening meetings on Thursdays with exhibits and presentations,  September through December and late February through April. (We take the snowy months off).

From May to August, find us in the field learning about birds, butterflies, moths and plants.

Come join us.  Click here for more information.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

p.s. Thanks to Dianne, Monica, Susanne and Janet for organizing the anniversary party!

 

Midsummer

Books & Events

Today is the astronomical northern solstice. In its honor there will be some astronomical (huge) parties.

Midsummer is not a big deal here, far below the 50th parallel, but it’s big in Scandinavia where winters are long, cold and very dark.

Today is winter’s antithesis: Light and warm, the longest day, celebrated since pagan times.

When Christianity arrived in Northern Europe the Church placed the Nativity of St. John the Baptist on this date to make it a Christian celebration. There are festivals, bonfires, feasting, singing, and (in Sweden) dancing around the maypole.

Midsummer Maypole in Sölvesborg, Sweden (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Erecting the Midsummer Maypole in Sölvesborg, Sweden (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

And there are plays.  You already know about today’s name from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

So as you note the solstice today you might call it the “beginning” of summer but it’s Midsummer to those in the know.

 

(*) Today, 20 June 2012, the solstice officially occurs at 7:09pm (EDT).

(photo from Shutterstock)

In The Garden Of Your Mind

Books & Events

(in case you haven’t seen this…)

Why is Mister Rogers on the blog today?

Because his message has been remixed in a very cool video and you know what he says…?

“It’s good to be curious about many things.”

 

I love being curious.  It’s why I write this blog.

Enjoy!

(video remixed by John Boswell for PBS Digital Studios)

p.s. PBS posted this video on Friday June 8. By Sunday at 6:00am it had been viewed nearly 3 millions times! Click on their link to see more.

Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch: REVISED SCHEDULE 2012

Books & Events, Peregrines, Schenley Park


Dorothy and E2’s peregrine chicks are raring to go.  They’re going to make their first flight next week — maybe as soon as Sunday — so I’ve changed the Fledge Watch schedule.

Come join me at the Schenley Plaza tent (shown above) for Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch.

See the young peregrines walk on the ledges and exercise their wings.  Watch Dorothy and E2 show their kids how to fly with some really cool flight demonstrations.   Come learn about peregrines and swap stories about the nesting year, including news of Pitt peregrine alumni and the Downtown peregrines (!).

Here’s the revised schedule, weather permitting.   Bad weather will change this plan, so watch the blog for updates.

  • Sunday June 3, 1:00pm to 2:00pm.  Showers and gusty winds are predicted.  The chicks may lay low but I’m going to check anyway.  If it’s raining this watch will be cancelled.
  • Monday, June 4, noon to 1:30pm. Monday’s the first day of really good weather since the weekend.  We ought to see a lot of activity today at lunchtime.
  • Tuesday, June 5, 12:30pm to 1:30pm (and after work, 5:30pm to 7:00pm). The weather looks good for Tuesday.  Somebody’s going to fly today.
  • Wednesday, June 6, noon to 2:00pm.  I’m staying longer at lunch on Wednesday because I think it’ll be a good day.
  • Thursday, June 7, noon to 2:00pm (and after work, 5:30pm to 7:00pm).   Activity on the ledge might be on the wane but I’m hoping for a good burst of flapping on Thursday.  If they’ve all flown away from the nest area, this date will be a bust.  Stay tuned.
  • Friday, June 8, 1:00pm to 2:00pm (and after work, 5:30pm to 7:00pm).  Soon I’ll be chasing the “kids” around campus instead of sitting at the tent.  Today will be good to start at the tent.
  • Saturday & Sunday, June 9 & 10, no time set.  At this point the fledglings will probably be flying to other buildings.  When they do I’ll be either at the tent or on campus circling the Cathedral of Learning and Heinz Chapel.  Check the blog for news.

Plan on joining me at the tent for Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch.

See these links (May 31, June 3, June 4) for news of last year’s fun and this Peregrine FAQ that describes what you’ll see on camera as the young peregrines leave the nest.

(photo of the Schenley Plaza tent by Kate St. John)