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).
Yellow hawkweeds (Pilosella caespitosa) are attracting bee-like insects.
And some insects are unseen but have left evidence behind. Can you see two kinds of insect evidence on this crabapple tree?
(photos by Kate St. John)
11 July 2020
This week I found two bottlebrushes in Schenley Park.
Eastern bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix) is a native perennial bunchgrass that grows in partial shade, often at the edge of forests. This one was exactly where we should expect it, glowing in the sun by the Bridle Trail.
Meanwhile the bottlebrush buckeyes (Aesculus parviflora) by Panther Hollow Lake showed off in a last hurrah. They were spectacular from a distance on 9 July but up close the lowest flowers on each spike were faded and brown. Their show is about to end.
(photos by Kate St. John)
There was plenty to see this week in Schenley Park even though the weather was hot.
My best visit was on Thursday morning when my friend Andrea convinced me to come out at 7:30a. I’ve been missing a lot by sitting at my computer until 9am. Best Bird: Louisiana waterthrush! Waterthrushes don’t breed in the park but they stop by in transit before and after breeding.
Best flowers this week include the bright yellow flower (above) near the Westinghouse fountain, a cultivated variety of St. Johnswort (Hypericum).
Teasel (Dipsacus), an invasive alien, has not bloomed yet but the flower buds are visible between the spikes.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is in full bloom.
And finally the bottlebrush buckeyes (Aesculus parviflora) bloomed this week. On 30 June they were starting from the bottom.
By 3 July they had nearly made it to the top.
Stop by Panther Hollow Lake or the area across the road from the Westinghouse fountain to see the bottlebrush buckeyes.
(photos by Kate St. John)
p.s. Happy Fourth of July!
This week I found buds and bugs in Schenley Park.
Spotted joe pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum), above, has buds in the leaf axils but when it blooms the showy flowers at the top attract all our attention. This year I’ll have to watch for the side flowers as well.
Enchanters nightshade (Circaea canadensis), below, blooms from the bottom up and has plenty of buds yet to open. The lower buds in the photo are on a different branch.
Bugs are quite evident now but they are difficult to photograph because they move(!). Below, this silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) appeared to be rubbing its abdomen on the bird dropping. Was it ovipositing?
Aphids are not plentiful this year — yet — but it’s only a matter of time. There’s only one winged adult in this photo but the juveniles will grow up, sprout wings, and fly to other Helianthus plants to reproduce. It won’t be long before I think there are too many.
And finally, some bugs are never seen but we know they were there … as this leaf attests.
(photos by Kate St. John)
(photos by Kate St. John)
21 June 2020
Plants are getting interesting as the next flower season begins in Pittsburgh.
Last week I found chickory (Cichorium intybus) and thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana) blooming in the city and a variety of flowers north of town.
On 17 June six friends and I gathered at Wolf Creek Narrows to bird watch and botanize.
I was hoping to find ramps (Allium tricoccum) in full bloom but we were too early to see the balls of flowers that become these unusual starburst seed pods. Note that the leaves in the background are a different plant. Ramps don’t have leaves when they bloom.
However, partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) and Indian cucumber root (Medeola virginiana) were in full bloom.
Meanwhile, as you examine the flowers, keep your eyes open for bugs. I found this one on golden alexanders in Schenley Park. Is he piercing that flower to suck the juice?
(photos by Kate St. John)
There are white foam patches on plant stems now in western Pennsylvania that indicate it’s spittlebug season.
Spittlebugs are nymphal froghoppers that suck the juice out of plants and excrete it as a sticky foam to protect themselves from temperature extremes, dessication and predators.
I’ve never seen a spittlebug but I haven’t looked closely. Fortunately Rod Innes’ 2011 video shows what these insects are up to. Way cool!
There are also some coming attractions outdoors.
Mulberries are bearing fruit in western Pennsylvania, attracting birds and smashing on the sidewalk. Read more about them in this vintage article: Mulberries Underfoot.
Schenley Park’s bottlebrush buckeyes are almost ready to bloom as shown below on 11 June. Stop by the park in early July to see the flowers in full glory at two locations: South side of Panther Hollow Lake (left side of lake as seen from Panther Hollow Bridge) and across West Circuit Road from the Westinghouse Fountain.
When bottlebrush buckeyes bloom they look like this.
(photos by Kate St. John)
13 June 2020
In the past week I’ve found flowers and insects in Schenley Park, on Laurel Mountain, and at McConnell’s Mill State Park. Here are the best of the lot.
At McConnell’s Mill, white baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) bloomed in May and is already forming berries that become dolls eyes in October. I used two photographic techniques on the same plant. The slideshow shows what a difference that makes.
The mosquitoes are out on Laurel Mountain, especially at dusk, but so are the caterpillars. This oak-eating caterpillar took a chunk out of a leaf but will become a tasty snack for a baby bird if the parents find it.
Leaves are also food for tiny gall-making insects as seen on this leaf in Schenley Park.
As I said it’s bug season, so be prepared when you visit the woods.
(photos by Kate St. John)
Every night gardeners roam Pennsylvania’s forests and trim the vegetation. We see their footprints in the morning and the landscape they’ve left behind. Our nighttime gardeners are white-tailed deer.
Unlike human gardeners, deer cut back the plants they like instead of removing weeds. It’s easy to notice what they over-browse (see arborvitae above), but the mix of plants they leave behind tell a story of poison and preference. Last weekend I decided to read that story in Schenley Park.
In early June the forest floor is green with native plants that deer won’t eat and invasive aliens that deer don’t like.
Native plants that thrive in Schenley Park are those that are toxic to deer.
These alien plants are unpalatable to deer and some are toxic.
Interestingly some aliens can only out-compete native plants with the help of too many deer. Garlic mustard is one such plant. Fewer deer, less garlic mustard.
Check out the mix of plants in your local forest or woodlot. If you find only toxic natives and unpalatable aliens it’s the cumulative effect of too many “gardeners” every night.
(photos by Kate St. John)
Looking back to a month ago…
Back in April, five little foxes lived with their mother in a den under the old log cabin in Schenley Park.
During the day, while mom was asleep, they came out to play inside the chain link fence that surrounds the cabin. Frank Izaguirre photographed them on 25 April 2020 and tweeted about them here.
Inevitably the fox kits attracted a crowd.
As soon as they were old enough to move, their mother got them out of there.
The kits have grown up and haven’t been seen in a long time.
(photos by Frank Izaguirre @BirdIzLife)
Greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) is a Eurasian perennial in the poppy family that’s blooming now in Schenley Park. Though it resembles our native celandine-poppy it’s not as particular about habitat. It can be invasive.
To be sure it’s in the poppy family, break a leaf. Greater celandine has orange latex sap.
Don’t put the evidence in your pocket. The “orange juice” can leave a stain.
Some sources say that greater celandine’s orange sap glows in the dark.
(photos by Kate St. John)
