Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 18 October 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
24 October 2020
Last week there was frost in the suburbs on 17 October. This week 23 October was unusually hot at 78-80 degrees F (26C) in Schenley Park. I had to wear summer clothes yesterday but will wear warm clothes tomorrow when it’s 38F. Join me at 8:30am at Bartlett Shelter in Schenley Park. Wear a mask.
Though it felt like July this week I found some beautiful autumn scenes in Pittsburgh.
Above, the sun rose red at 7:34am on 18 October for 11 hours of daylight. Today we’ll have only 10 hours 45 minutes of cloudy light.
Frick Park was golden yellow on 21 October.
Frick Park, 21 October 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
The Panther Hollow Bridge cast a shadow on Schenley Park’s trees yesterday morning, 23 Oct.
Schenley Park, Panther Hollow Lake, 23 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
p.s. You can tell it was a hot week in Schenley by the presence of algae on the water’s surface.
Sassafras leaves, Schenley Park, 10 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
This week was a spectacular time for fall color in the Pittsburgh area. Schenley Park was especially beautiful as brilliant red sugar maples gave way to subtler sassafras, ash, buckeye and sweet gum.
Ash leaves, Schenley Park, 12 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Subtle violet tinge of ash leaves, Schenley Park, 12 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Buckeye leaves, Schenley Park, 10 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)Sweet gum leaves, Schenley Park, 10 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
By Tuesday the brightest red leaves had fallen to the ground. The forest shifted to yellow.
Fallen maple leaves, Schenley Park, 13 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Bridle Trail, Schenley Park, 13 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)Falloon Trail near Westinghouse Shelter, Schenley Park, 10 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Lower Panther Hollow Trail, Schenley Park, 12 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Rose hips, Frick Park, 3 October 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
This October there are plentiful fruits and seeds for migrating birds in Pittsburgh. Virginia creeper, porcelain berry, and rose hips (above) provide food for cedar waxwings and robins.
Pine siskins invaded southwestern Pennsylvania this week! Many of you are reporting them at your backyard feeders while natural food sources, such as arborvitae, have created pine siskin hotspots. Siskins force open the cones with their sharp beaks and pick out the seeds.
These arborvitae cones were on the ground at a pine siskin hotspot. Three stages are pictured: Top = Spent cones as much as one year old, Middle = Opened cones that were emptied by pine siskins, Bottom = a mix of closed, opened and spent cones.
Arborvitae cones that fell on N Dithridge Street thanks to pine siskins, 9 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
The huge acorn crop in Schenley Park is attracting many blue jays, squirrels and chipmunks. Here’s what the ground looks like below the oaks at Bartlett Shelter.
Many, many acorns, Bartlett Shelter Schenley Park, 7 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
In other delights October trees, sky and shadows are spectacular.
Fall colors, Schenley Park, 7 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Long shadows, Schenley Park, 7 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Fall color in Frick Park, 6 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Dead hickory points to the moon, 8 Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Fallen leaves at the Botany Hall fountain, Phipps Conservatory, 30 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Signs of fall increased this week as late September gave way to October.
Fallen leaves floated on the bubbling fountain at Botany Hall, Phipps Conservatory. Leaves on Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum) began turning yellow.
Joe-Pye weed, Lower Nine Mile Run, Frick Park, 2 October 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Poison ivy, Ferncliff Peninsula, Ohiopyle, 28 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Queen Anne’s lace (Darcus carota) now holds its seed capsules in a bundle, each one with tiny spines that cling to passing animals, including humans.
Queen Anne’s lace seed head, 30 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
And finally, parasites take advantage of late season leaves. The red oak leaf below has two kinds of parasites: tiny galls and (I think) a fungus.
Oak leaf with galls and fungus, 29 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
The weather is beautiful … after today’s fog burns off. Don’t forget to get outdoors!
(photos by Kate St. John)
(*) The fountain in front of Botany Hall is my very favorite because it invites me to lay my hands flat on the water’s surface. It bubbles up gently from a central pump and drips over the edge.
Acorns litter a sidewalk on Tennyson Ave, Pittsburgh, 27 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
1 October 2020
When Rob Protz mentioned last week that a pin oak near his home is producing more acorns than he’d ever seen before I started paying attention in my neighborhood. Yes, there are lots of acorns in Oakland. It looks like a masting year for red oaks in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Acorns litter the grass in Oakland, Pittsburgh PA, 27 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Oaks are one of many trees that irregularly cycle their fruit production to insure that predators don’t eat everything. They boom or bust by synchronizing seed production. White oaks have a bumper crop in 3 years, red oaks on a 4 year basis. The bumper crops are called masting years.
Acorns in the red oak group take two years to mature so those falling now were formed in the spring and summer of 2019, influenced by spring precipitation, summer temperatures, the last killing frost, and each other.
North Oakland has a lot of oaks (duh! it’s the neighborhood name) so of course we have acorns on the streets. They make a hollow “ponk” sound when they fall on parked cars.
Check out the acorn crop in your own neighborhood. Is it a masting year where you live?
Woolly aphids that didn’t move, Frick Park, 25 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
26 September 2020
Yesterday at Frick Park I found woolly aphids that wouldn’t move. This was a disappointment because I expected them to boogie woogie (like this!). They had all the right characteristics. They were:
White and fluffy,
Clinging to narrow branches, in this case shrub-like tree trunks,
There was a black substance on the trunk below their colony, sooty mold that grows on their accumulated honeydew.
Bees and yellowjackets were feeding on the honeydew seep.
Here are two more photos showing them individually and collectively.
Woolly aphids that didn’t move, Frick Park, 25 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)Woolly aphids that didn’t move, Frick Park, 25 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
I tried to get them to dance but they refused. I believe they were on alders so that would make them woolly alder aphids.
If you’d like to see them for yourself, look below eye level on slender trunks of shrubs next to Nine Mile Run about 20 steps to the left of the park bench that views the creek. Approximately here: 40.427685, -79.901373.
Porcelain berry, Three Rivers Heritage Trail, 7 Sep 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
In September porcelain berry’s (Ampelopsis glandulosa) beautiful porcelain-like fruits show why the plant was imported as an ornamental.
Porcelainberry, 3 Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh, 7 Sep 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Unfortunately this Asian vine is terribly invasive, engulfing small trees and draping itself over large ones.
Porcelain berry drapes a hillside in Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)
Some people call it “wild grape” but you’ll never see grapes on it. Just porcelain berries.
This month you’ll find common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) blooming in meadows, along roads and bike trails. The name implies that it opens only in the evening but I photographed these at midday. The flowers are 1-2 inches wide. The plants are hard to miss at six feet tall.
Common evening primrose, Eliza Furnace Trail, 7 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Common evening primrose buds, Eliza Furnace Trail, 7 Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Meanwhile, bug love continues. This pair of goldenrod soldier beetles (also called Pennsylvania leatherwing (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus)) are perched on a flower in the Aster family while working to continue their species.
Spend time outdoors this week while the weather is good. Autumn is beautiful and all too short.
p.s. Thank you to Monica Miller and John English for correcting my bug identification mistake!
p.p.s. Did you notice that Pennsylvania is misspelled in the bug’s scientific name (only 1 ‘n’). This is not the only species with this misspelling. Can you name another?
Spicebush hints at autumn, Schenley Park, 26 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
29 August 2020
It’s beginning to look like fall is coming though it hasn’t felt that way. This past week was hot and muggy yet spicebush leaves are starting to turn yellow and many flowers have gone to seed.
Meanwhile at Frick Park the goats and their guard donkey are back in the large enclosure at Clayton East, munching away at invasive plants. The black goat at the fence is eating mile-a-minute weed on the fencing. Yay!
The goats are back! Frick Park, 28 Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
American bellflower, Duck Hollow, 13 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
This week brought lavender flowers, green fruit and an overabundance of frogs.
I found American bellflower (Campanula americana) blooming along the Duck Hollow trail with some plants reaching six feet tall. My close-up, above, shows how the pistils avoid being fertilized by their own pollen.
American bellflower, Duck Hollow, 13 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) always has a bad hair day. At Schenley Park a long-legged insect stopped by for a sip (top right of flower).
Wild bergamot, Schenley Park, 12 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
In July the unripe fruits of white fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus) are green. This fall they’ll turn dark blue.
Fringetree fruits, Schenley Park, 12 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
At Panther Hollow Lake and the Westinghouse Memorial pond, pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) is blooming …
Pickerelweed, Schenley Park, 16 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
… and there’s a serious overabundance of bullfrogs. Here are just a few examples.
Young bullfrogs, Schenley Park, Panther Hollow lake, 17 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)Young bullfrog with tail, Panther Hollow lake, 17 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)Young bullfrog in a wavelet, Panther Hollow lake, 17 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)How many bullfrogs can you count? Panther Hollow Lake, 17 July 2020
Herons don’t nest at Schenley Park but may visit for some easy prey. Where’s a great blue heron when you need one?
Aphids on Helianthus, Schenley Park, 9 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
12 July 2020
It’s easy to find insects in July.
Aphids in Schenley Park are expanding from plant to plant along the gravel trails, sucking the juice out of Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus).
