Category Archives: Books & Events

Don’t Miss The Swifts!

Books & Events, Migration

Vaux's Swifts go to roost in Chapman Elementary School chimney in Portland, OR (photo by Dan Viens)
If you’re in WQED’s viewing area at 10:30pm on Thursday September 3 don’t miss On The Wing, a half-hour video about the swifts who roost in Chapman Elementary School’s chimney in Portland, Oregon during fall migration.

Not your typical nature movie, On The Wing is as much about Portland and the people who watch the swifts as it is about the tens of thousands of Vaux’s swifts who come to roost.  The swifts circle and swirl around the chimney, a few hawks and peregrines come in for an easy meal, and hundreds of people show up to watch.  It’s a huge event.

The phenomenon became so famous and well-loved that it changed Chapman School.  The swifts huddle in Chapman’s chimney to stay warm on cold September nights and the kids were huddling in the school by day to avoid killing the swifts by turning on the boiler.  Eventually Chapman replaced its heating system so that the chimney is now used only by the swifts.

As soon as you see this movie you’ll wish you were in Portland, Oregon to watch the birds but you don’t have to travel that far.  Eastern cities have chimney swifts, very similar to Vaux’s swift, and we have chimneys.  We can’t offer the community event that happens at Chapman (you will have to go to Portland for that) but you can watch our swifts go to roost.

In Pittsburgh there are many chimneys to choose from.  Look for tall stand-alone chimneys, usually made of brick, and you may find a roost near home.  Here are some of the roosts I’ve seen:

  • At South St. Clair Street, across the street from 5802 Baum Boulevard, look at the chimney across the parking lot.  Three Rivers Birding Club usually visits this chimney at least one evening during migration… and then we go to The Sharp Edge for beer.
  • In Oakland on Clyde Street near Central Catholic High School, watch the tall chimney on an apartment building on the left.
  • In Dormont, start at the corner of West Liberty Ave and Edgehill Ave.  Walk up the right side of Edgehill Ave to the second telephone pole that has a sign on it saying Weight Limit 9 Tons.  Stop and look across the street & you’ll see the chimney.
  • In Squirrel Hill at the corner of Murray and Forward Avenues there are lots of chimneys.  I’m not sure they’re used by swifts but it’s worth a look. Stand on Pocusset.
  • Check out the closed public schools: the former Schenley High School, former Gladstone Middle School, etc.  I bet you’ll find swifts.

Meanwhile, watch a preview of the movie!

(photo from Dan Viens, creator of On the Wing)

Right Beside The River

Books & Events

Rachel Carson with her brother and sister (photo courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University)

Today I have an excuse to write about the little girl in this picture.  She’s Rachel Carson, one of my heroes, pictured here with her brother and sister beside the Allegheny River, circa 1915.

Rachel Carson was born in Springdale and grew up with the Allegheny River as her playground.  She eventually studied marine biology and zoology and worked for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  She also wrote many books, including The Sea Around Us, but her most famous book was Silent Spring in which she described the dangers of the indiscriminate use of pesticides and herbicides.  Birds prompted her to write the book, sparked by a letter from a friend who described birds dying on the spot after aerial pesticide spraying. 

When the book was published in 1962 Rachel Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and labeled as an emotional person who didn’t know what she was talking about.  Neither was true.  Silent Spring took the country by storm.  Ten years later Congress outlawed DDT making it possible for birds of prey – including the peregrine falcon – to make a comeback.  Thank you, Rachel Carson!

Besides the chance to talk about peregrines, my real excuse for writing about Rachel Carson is that she’s one of the many people featured in Rick Sebak’s new show — Right Beside The River – premiering this Thursday August 20 at 8:00pm on WQED.  It’s a whimsical look at the people, communities and activities that have sprung up along the rivers in our area.  You’ll like it.  Thursday, 8:00pm.

(photo courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University)

Do you know of a nest in an odd location?

Books & Events, Nesting & Courtship

In case you haven’t heard, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is collecting photos and stories of unusual nest locations – and there are prizes!

The contest is called Funky Nests in Funky Places.  Here’s one of them from their contest entry page.  Imagine nesting on a tire.

When I heard about the contest I couldn’t resist signing up the Don’t Walk Robin from last April.  Remember her?  She was the one who nested on a Don’t Walk traffic signal.  Not only did I make her famous here on the blog but she’s now Entry #107 in the contest.

Last night I looked at the contest entries online and some of them made me laugh out loud.  The Don’t Walk Robin is a serious bird compared to Entry #5 who is nesting next to the words “Slam It.”  Check out Entries #38 and #50 while you’re at it on the Funky Nest Entries Directory.

(photo linked from Cornell University, Funky Nests in Funky Places)

Meet Me At The Tent

Books & Events, Peregrines, Schenley Park

Schenley Plaza tent (photo by Kate St. John)Meet me at the Schenley Plaza tent for the Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch June 2 to 6, weather permitting.  Peregrines usually don’t fledge when the weather is bad so I won’t be there if it’s raining.

I have to be at work Tuesday to Friday, June 2-5, so I’ll be at the tent at these times:

  • Before work:  approximately 7:30-ish to 8:20am
  • Lunch (a late lunch hour, and I have to walk to/from WQED):  1:40pm to 2:20pm
  • After work:  5:20pm until I run out of steam which can be as late as 7:00pm.

June 6th is a Saturday so I’ll be there most of the morning 7:45am to 10:00am – and later than that if I’m having fun.  As is usual with peregrine watching there are hours of boredom punctuated by moments of great excitement.  We’ll be there for the excitement and the comraderie.  So stop by.

Schenley Plaza is on Forbes Avenue between Hillman Library and Carnegie Library and across the street from the Cathedral of Learning.  When you’re driving down Forbes Avenue you’ve just passed Schenley Plaza when you see Dippy the Dinosaur.

If you want to let me know you’re coming, please post a comment.  Comments are moderated (by me) so I will see it before the rest of the world.

And don’t forget to bring binoculars if you have them!

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

Higher Intelligence

Bird Behavior, Books & Events

I’ve been hooked on books about parrots ever since I read The Parrot Who Owns Me, so as soon as I could I read Alex & Me by Irene M. Pepperberg.  I highly recommend it.

Alex & Me is the story of Dr. Pepperberg’s relationship with Alex a “brainy” African grey parrot, how she acquired him, how she taught him and how he taught her. 

In her lab Dr. Pepperberg used a model/rival training technique to teach Alex.  In it, two trainers take turns asking each other about an object, “What is this?”  “Paper.”  “What color is this?” “Blue.”  Then they would ask Alex.

Alex was indeed brainy.  He learned quickly and adapted what he learned to fit new situations. As his lessons progressed he showed everyone that he had a commanding personality.  I laughed to read how he broke in new students by demanding everything he could think of, “Want nut.  Want corn.  Wanna go shoulder.”  The students had to run around and provide what he wanted because it was part of the training.

Eventually Dr. Pepperberg acquired other African grey parrots for the study and used the same training techniques.  She also tried to have Alex teach them.  This was OK with Alex but he always had to be top parrot so he was as bossy with the other birds as he was with the students.  When a younger parrot named Griffin faltered during training, Alex would answer for him or tell him to pronounce the answer more clearly, “Say better!”  Sometimes Alex would butt in and quickly give the wrong answer just to throw Griffin off.

African greys can live 70 years so it was surprising and very sad when Alex died suddenly at only 31 years old.  Who knows what heights he could have reached had he lived.

In his short life Alex changed the way we think about bird intelligence and our ability to communicate with other species.  Humans aren’t as separate as we thought.  As Dr. Pepperberg says, “Alex taught us that we are a part of nature, not apart from nature.” 

(Click on the photo of the book cover to read excerpts or buy it at Amazon.com)

Go Birding Where It’s Warm

Books & Events

Baby Flamingo at the National Aviary (photo from The National Aviary)This afternoon’s weather was sunny and warm but it’s not going to last.  Thursday will be windy and much colder and Sunday will be freezing.  

Aaarg! 

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of winter.  Just for once I’d like to observe birds without having to wear a coat, hat and gloves.  And while I’m wishing, I’d like to see young birds for a change. 

OnQ’s Tonia Caruso did just that when she visited the National Aviary’s Wetland Room last month.  Not only was it delightfully warm but she got to see three young American flamingos who just graduated from “day care” to the Wetlands Room. 

Sweetums, Piggy and Beaker hatched in late June and early July from eggs provided by other zoos.  Though there are five adult flamingos at the Aviary the babies are not theirs because flamingos won’t breed unless they are living in a large group.  The Aviary’s Erin Estell tells me that some zoos put mirrors around their flamingos.  This makes them think they’re in a larger group and prompts the couples to mate and nest.

These baby flamingos were incubated and raised by hand.  Cute and fluffy back in August, they’re now tall and partially pink.  (Click on the baby picture to see them now.)  If all goes well some day they’ll have roles in the indoor bird show theater, breaking ground in April. 

To see them from the comfort of your living room, don’t miss WQED’s OnQ on Thursday February 12 at 7:30pm. 

Or visit the National Aviary and go birding where it’s warm – without leaving town! 

(photo of young American flamingo from the National Aviary)

Have You Seen Me?

Books & Events, Songbirds

Rusty Blackbird - standing behind a mourning dove (photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

They’re the poster child for bird decline.  So many have gone missing their pictures should be on milk cartons. 

Have you seen me?  I’m talking about the dark bird in this picture.  The rusty blackbird.

Rusty blackbirds have declined 85-99% in the past 40 years.  No one is sure how this happened or even how many are left but for the next nine days you can help find out.

From February 7 to 15, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, the PA Game Commission and the Rusty Blackbird Technical Working Group have teamed up to sponsor a Rusty Blackbird Blitz to find and document the location and concentration of rusty blackbirds on their wintering grounds. 

Rusty’s are a wetland species that breeds in the boreal forest of Canada and winters in wooded wetlands from the Rust Belt to the Gulf Coast, from Oklahoma to the Atlantic.  Pennsylvania is on the northern edge of the rusty blackbirds’ winter range so we can play a part. 

All you have to do is look for rusty blackbirds and submit your observations online at e-Bird.  There are no complicated time or location restrictions.  Look for rusty’s in wooded wetlands, swamps and pond edges wherever, whenever and as often as you like.  Then let e-Bird know where you found them.

For clues on how to identify them, click here or on the picture.

And good luck!

(A lone rusty blackbird has visited Marcy Cunkelman’s yard in Indiana County for two winters in a row.  He’s being coy in this picture, partially hidden behind a mourning dove.  Photo by Marcy Cunkelman.)

February is Bird Feeding Month

Books & Events

European Goldfinches (photo from Wikimedia Commons)This month is jam-packed with bird feeding events. 

Did you know that February was declared National Bird Feeding Month more than 10 years ago?  I didn’t know until I heard …

Sunday Baroque will honor National Bird Feeding Month on February 8 by featuring classical music which imitates European cuckoos, nightingales, European goldfinches (shown here) and swans.  

Why so many European birds?  Because most classical music composers lived in Europe; those are the birds they knew.

Next Sunday you can hear the program from 8:00am until noon on WQED-FM 89.3 in Pittsburgh, or WQEJ-FM 89.7 in Johnstown.  Or click here for our live online stream. 

And finally, February 13 to 16 will be the 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count, an annual four-day bird counting extravaganza across North America!  From the warmth of your home you can count birds in your backyard for as little or as long as you like, then add your information to the website.  It’s really easy to do and your data helps bird science.  Sign up here and fill your bird feeders!

p.s. It would be lovely – but impossible – to have two European goldfinches at my feeder.  Aren’t they beautiful?

(photo of European goldfinches (not in North America!) from Wikimedia Commons via the Attribution 2.0 License)

Happy Thanksgiving

Books & Events, Doves & Chickens, Schenley Park
Wild turkey, displaying (from the PA Game Commission photo gallery)
Wild turkey, displaying (from the PA Game Commission photo gallery)

27 November 2008

This wild turkey is glad to be strutting his stuff while you’re eating domestically raised turkey today.  But even if you’re eating a wild bird he’s grateful that people like to hunt turkeys.

Grateful??  It’s a complicated story.

When Europeans came to America, hunting was unregulated and turkeys were very popular food.  By the late 1800s, hunting and deforestation had taken its toll.  Only a few thousand turkeys remained in all of Pennsylvania.

At that point the newly formed PA Game Commission began studying the turkey population and regulating the hunting season.  There were so few turkeys that hunting was banned for a few years.  The Game Commission even stocked wild turkeys from Mexico.  Then in 1929 they acquired land and began to raise turkeys for release into the wild.

Propagation programs, habitat restoration and hunting regulations turned the tide.  Today Pennsylvania’s wild turkey population is thriving.  They are easy to find just about everywhere, even in Pittsburgh’s big city parks: Frick, Schenley, Riverview and Highland.  My favorite flock of turkeys used to hang out at the “French fry sculpture” on Bigelow Boulevard.

So on Thanksgiving Day, Tom Turkey is grateful to the PA Game Commission for making his comeback possible.  He is also thankful that Americans prefer to eat domestic turkeys.

 

(PGC photo of a male Wild Turkey in full display, courtesy of the PA Game Commission’s Photo Gallery)