“Monkey balls” = fruit of osage orange tree, Schenley Park, 20 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
23 November 2024
Now that the leaves have fallen fruits and seeds are prominent in the landscape.
Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) trees have prolific fruit this fall but nothing eats the “monkey balls” so they just lay on the ground to rot. If you crack one open it has sticky latex inside. Who would eat this fruit? The answer is in the video at the end!
The fruiting body of a shaggy mane mushroom (Coprinus comatus) poked up among the leaf litter near Five Points at Moraine State Park.
Fruiting body of Shaggy Mane mushroom, Moraine State Park near Five Points, 18 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Red fruits of oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) are a favorite food of migrating American robin, protected by a hard yellow-orange skin that pops off in sections. It looks like a squirrel gnawed off this branch and lost his meal.
Fruit of oriental bittersweet, 18 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Late boneset has gone to seed in Schenley Park.
Late boneset seeds surrounded by fluff, Schenley Park, 20 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Just a few trees still have leaves. I found this colorful sweetgum along a sidewalk at CMU. Someone ripped a piece off the yellow leaf.
Colorful leaves on sweetgum, 20 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Witch hazel, Schenley Park, 15 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
16 November 2024
This week I found witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) blooming in Schenley Park and was startled by a whoosh of wings that passed right in front of me below eye level. I was so startled that I screamed even though I knew that …
The whoosh was an immature red-tailed hawk zipping by to catch a mouse near the wall. In stealth mode the hawk did not flap his wings but he flew pretty close to me. If I didn’t like birds I might have been freaked out. He caught the mouse and I took his picture when he settled down.
Immature red-tailed hawk that buzzed past me in Schenley Park, 15 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
By now most oaks have lost their leaves so the predominant color in Schenley and Frick is brown. Brown on the ground and lots of bare trees.
Brown fallen leaves, Schenley Park, 15 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
In Schenley Park you can easily see through the woods at ground level because the deer have eaten all the thickets.
In Frick Park I spotted an unusual patch of green, probably an alien plant, so I went down there to check it out.
A green patch in the distance at Frick Park. What is it? 12 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Sure enough, this is an alien — stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), native to Eurasia and Africa. Deer eat stinging nettle in spring and summer but are shunning it at this time of year.
A patch of stinging nettle in Frick Park, 12 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
By now the only place to find brilliant reds is in the sky.
Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 10 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Red oak acorns rained on us at Biddle’s, 4 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
9 November 2024
It’s an abundant year for red oak acorns, also called a “big mast year.” The acorns pictured above rained on us while we sat outdoors at a coffee shop. Their parent tree shades the tables in summer but is not much fun this autumn.
In two days at Schenley Park: Sun through yellow trees on Tuesday. Overcast skies and russet oaks on Wednesday.
Sun through the trees at Schenley Park on Tuesday 5 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Overcast sky, russet oaks and leafless trees at Schenley Park on Wednesday 6 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
I took a picture of a bird! An unusual, piebald pigeon.
Piebald pigeon from the side, 5 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
The pattern extends to the back of its head.
Piebald pigeon from the back, 5 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
In an August article, Grass Carpet in the Woods, I mentioned that “After Japanese stiltgrass goes to seed in early fall it dies and becomes a brown drape over the landscape in winter.” Well, here it is draping part of Frick Park near Wilford’s Pines.
Dead Japanese stiltgrass draping the landscape at Frick Park, 7 Nove 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Ginkgo leaves beneath the trees, 6 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
8 November 2024
In Pittsburgh this week the ginkgo trees (Ginkgo biloba) began to drop their leaves. I found a cheerful yellow carpet under gray skies on Wednesday.
Ginkgo leaves coat the ground; still more to come, Schenley Park, 6 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Other trees lose their leaves gradually or in the wind, but ginkgos can drop them all at once on a single day of calm weather. I tried to capture the “snowing” leaves in this 2017 video. Not very many.
video by Kate St. John in Nov 2017
@MyDailyNature does a better job of showing them fall including slow motion.
Get out soon to watch the ginkgos before the leaves are gone.
p.s. Did you know that gingkos are living fossils? Here’s more:
Native to East Asia, Ginkgo biloba is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million years ago. Fossils very similar to the living species, belonging to the genus Ginkgo, extend back to the Middle Jurassicepoch approximately 170 million years ago. The tree was cultivated early in human history and remains commonly planted, and is widely regarded as a living fossil.
Native maple (orange) and alien plants (green) along the trail at Hays Woods, 2 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
7 November 2024
This brilliant orange maple stood out at Hays Woods last weekend but when I examined the photo I realized there’s a lesson in this picture.
The native trees are either bare or, like the maple, on their last hurrah. Meanwhile, there are leafy green plants in the understory whose seasonal cycles do not match Pittsburgh’s. The green ones are aliens.
Notice the difference in the slideshow below. Natives are outlined in white, aliens in pink. The easy-to-see aliens are bush honeysuckle and porcelainberry.
Native trees are bare or peak color
Alien plants are still leafy and green
Alien plants often leaf out early and drop leaves late. As our climate warms up they have an advantage over cautious native plants whose seasonal cycles expect frost.
In the days ahead most native plants will lose their leaves(*) and the only green left will be the aliens.
Honeysuckle still green beneath bare trees at Hays Woods, 6 Nov 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
In November, alien plants really stand out.
(*) p.s. Though oaks and beeches lose most of their leaves, they retain some leaves through the winter.
Frost in the valley at Duck Hollow, 28 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
3 November 2024
Last week began with light morning frost but rose to 80°F on Halloween.
The colors were gorgeous at Duck Hollow on Monday …
Fall color and blue sky at Duck Hollow, 28 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
… while tendrils of fog chased each other across the river.
Fog tendrils blow slowly across the Monongahela River at Duck Hollow, 28 Oct 2024 (video by Kate St. John)
These wisps were formed at the rivers edge as clear cold air passed over warm water. Sunbeams make this a poor quality video, below, but you can see the wisps starting near shore. (You might also hear a song sparrow chipping in the background.)
Fog forms at Duck Hollow, 28 Oct 2024 (video by Kate St. John)
Slanting light illuminated the trees at Schenley Park.
Fall color and slanting light in Schenley Park, 29 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
A leaf-hidden cocoon reminded me why clearing out leaves is bad for insects. This insect will overwinter on a leaf in Frick Park and emerge as — perhaps — a butterfly or month next spring. Or it may become food for a bird this winter. The insect chain is broken where don’t leave the leaves.
Insect cocoon on a leaf at Frick Park, 30 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yesterday’s outing at Duck Hollow, 27 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
28 October 2024
Six of us went birding yesterday at Duck Hollow and we didn’t just stand around. Here we are on the move to look in the thickets.
Before the rest of us arrived, Claire Staples captured this image of sky, sun and fog on the Monongahela River at 7:55am.
Sky, sun, fog at Duck Hollow, 27 Oct 2024 (photo by Claire Staples)
As 8:36am the sky cleared a bit. Two contrails make dogleg turns to the north.
Sky and fog at Duck Hollow, 27 October 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Our Best Bird skulked in a thicket, of course, but kept making noise. He soon became the most photographed bird of the day: a winter wren in shadow and then in the open.
Winter wren in shadow, Duck Hollow, 27 Oct 224 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)Winter wren in the open periodically scolding, Duck Hollow, 27 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Duck Hollow’s northern mockingbird is still present and noisy.
Northern mockingbird, Duck Hollow, 27 October 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
We found a bumper crop of honeysuckle fruit along the Lower Nine Mile Run Trail.
Bush honeysuckle fruit, Lower Nine Mile Run Trail, 27 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Unfortunately …
Invasive honeysuckle berries aren’t strictly bad for birds. They’re an easy food source when birds are in a pinch, but they’re kind of like junk food: Compared to native berries, they have less fat and nutrients that birds need to fuel their long-distance flights.
Our “rare” bird of the day was a flock of 16 fish crows vocalizing as they flew. eBird didn’t believe we could find that many but eBird’s “rare” filter doesn’t know about, or cannot pointpoint, the fish crow phenomenon in Pittsburgh’s East End.
Fall color of pawpaw leaves, Schenley, 25 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
26 October 2024
Fall color is so spectacular in Pittsburgh this week that many of us have been snapping pictures everywhere we go. Here are just a few of the colorful leaves and trees I’ve seen in town.
Pawpaw leaves are turning bright yellow in Schenley Park while Virginia creeper is red along the Three Rivers Heritage bike trail at Herrs Island.
Virginia creeper at Herrs Island back channel, 22 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Sunlight reflecting on the water made rippling lights in the trees on 22 October. It was so warm you can hear crickets.
Ripples in the trees, 22 Oct 2024 (video by Kate St. John)
Yesterday in Schenley Park the trees were yellow or red depending on species.
Scene on the Upper Trail, 25 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Scene on the Serpentine, 25 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Not to be outdone by autumn leaves, the sky turned orange at sunrise on Saturday.
Sunrise, 25 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Sunrise is after 7am now. We’ll “fix” that next weekend when we turn the clocks back.
Insect on New York aster, Toms Run, 16 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
19 October 2024
This week brought:
Fall colors and the first piles of fallen leaves
Late flowers and insects
“See Your Breath” cold mornings
The first juncos … and …
Several thousand crows in Oakland.
In photos, late asters attracted an insect at Toms Run and morning sun slanted through the trees in Schenley Park.
Fall colors and fallen leaves, Schenley Park, 18 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Many trees are changing color. The oaks aren’t there yet but they have dropped their acorns leaving empty acorn cups on the branches. It’s a big mast year for red oaks in Pittsburgh.
Red oak leaves and acorn cups, 13 October 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
A rhododendron in Shadyside is confused. Is it spring?
Confused rhododendron blooming in Pittsburgh, 13 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
This week crows were absent from Oakland during the day but arrived in huge flocks at dusk, staging on rooftops before flying to the roost. I fumbled to photograph them on the RAND Building last Sunday. This is only a fraction of the flock that flew away.
Crows make a stop on the RAND building before sunset, 13 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Obviously they’ve been roosting on Pitt’s campus. I found evidence below trees at the Pitt Panther statue. The Crows Slept Here Last Night.
Evidence at Pitt that The Crows Slept Here Last Night, 17 October 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Sun rays through the mist, Schenley Park, 4 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
12 October 2024
This week’s biggest Seen event was the aurora borealis which I wrote about yesterday (Northern Lights Last Night in Pittsburgh), but there were also subtle changes in the landscape that prompted a few photos.
Cold weather brought foggy mornings and sun rays burning through the mist in Schenley Park, at top.
It’s a big mast year for Schenley’s red oaks. These shallow, tightly scaled cups are the easiest way to identify red oak versus white oak.
Closeup of two red oak acorns with caps, 8 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
It was hard to find two acorns that still had their cups. These two are intact because a worm drilled into the nuts. I searched through lots of cup-less acorns to find them.
Big mast year for red oaks in Schenley Park, 8 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
For decades I’ve walked past these trees without thinking about their odd looking trunks. The trunks have hips because …
Grafted cherry trees, Schenley Park near Westinghouse Memorial, 8 October 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
… these ornamental cherry trees were grafted onto healthy trunks of (probably) native trees. This is usually done because the non-native tree roots are likely to fail in North America.
Grafted cherry trunk, Schenley Park, 8 October 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
