Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) flower buds, 19 March 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
20 March 2021
Last Wednesday was gorgeous, Thursday was miserable with rain and wind, Friday was sunny but cold.
The Cornelian cherry tree (Cornus mas) next to Panther Hollow Lake in Schenley Park was close to blooming yesterday but the flowers remained cautious, above. Take a good look at this tree this spring. When the lake is re-done it will be gone.
Cornelian cherry in March 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Meanwhile Thursday’s rain had turned to ice by Friday morning. Notice the straight-edge and wavy lines.
Ice near Panther Hollow Lake, 19 March 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
The weather will be warmer this weekend so get outdoors when you can.
Grackle Day is coming this week. For some it’s already here.
The arrival of migrating blackbirds and grackles is one of the earliest signs of spring. Common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) leave the East End of Pittsburgh during fall migration and don’t return until early March, usually around the 5th. I haven’t seen a grackle yet but I found a red-winged blackbird — just one — in Schenley Park on Friday 26 Feb, my First of Year.
Friends in Beaver County reported small flocks of grackles at their feeders on Saturday 27 February. I’m disappointed the birds bypassed Pittsburgh but am keeping my eyes open for their arrival here.
Sometimes I hear their “chucking” sound before I see them. Listen for …
Then they point their bills up, strut and puff and “skriiNNNK.”
I can hardly wait!
Will this be Grackle Day?
(photo from Wikimedia Commons, audio from Xeno Canto, video from YouTube. click on the captions to see the originals)
Through the garden gate at Phipps Conservatory, 17 Jan 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
On overcast days it’s too easy to convince myself not to go outdoors but last week, when five of seven days were overcast, I forced myself to walk to Phipps to take photos of dawn redwoods. While there I looked through the garden gate — like a large keyhole.
On the 20th I promised myself to be at Schenley Park Overlook at noon for a big view of the sky, the city and the Cathedral of Learning (falcon home). On the way there I snapped a photo of Panther Hollow Lake, surprisingly shaped like a giant keyhole.
Panther Hollow Lake, normal water level, 20 Jan 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
The day ended with a Gleam At Sunset, 10 minutes of happy sunshine before darkness. Below you can see the source of the gleam, a patch of clear sky in the lowest notch between the buildings.
The Gleam at Sunset, Pittsburgh PA, 20 Jan 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Working backwards in time, 19 January provided a welcome respite with a panoply of blue sky and clouds. One cloud broke away from the pack.
One cloud above the hill, Pittsburgh PA, 19 Jan 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
January 16th was gloomy with freezing fog, light snow and mist but two merlins and The Gleam At Sunset made my late-day walk to Schenley Park worthwhile.
The Gleam at Sunset, Schenley Park, 16 Jan 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
This morning is overcast with a 10oF wind chill. I plan to go outdoors … later.
Base of a dawn redwood in front of Phipps Conservatory, Jan 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
This month Tree Pittsburgh is featuring the dawn redwood as their Tree of the Month so I walked to Phipps Conservatory to see four of the living fossils. On the way I found a fifth near the Cathedral of Learning.
Dawn redwood on Pitt’s campus next to the Cathedral of Learning, Heinz Chapel in the background (photo by Kate St. John)
Endangered in the wild, the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is the only survivor of the genus Metasequoia from the age of the dinosaurs. It was thought to be extinct until a single living tree was discovered in 1941 in the village of Moudao in Hubei province, China.
The discovery happened in the nick of time. The tree would have gone extinct by now were it not for local protection and a seed-collecting expedition in 1947 that distributed seeds to ornamental gardens and arboretums around the world. Joe Stavish tells the story in Tree Pittsburgh’s video.
Panther Hollow Lake: Normal level (left) 29 Dec 2017, Flooded (right) 4 Dec 2020 (photos by Kate St. John)
16 January 2021
This winter Panther Hollow Lake in Schenley Park rose to flood level in late November, remained flooded for almost two months, and fell suddenly last week. Here’s the story of the rise and fall of Panther Hollow Lake.
Panther Hollow Lake, which is actually the size of a pond, was built around 1904 by damming the fresh water of Panther Hollow Run and piping its outflow into the buried combined sewer of Four Mile Run, the creek that used to receive it. Underneath Junction Hollow, the big pipe passes beneath a neighborhood called The Run on its way to the Monongahela River.
Normally the water level is low enough that the concrete-step edge is visible as shown at top left and on 19 Nov 2020 below.
But the valve malfunctioned or clogged in late November. By 25 November water was climbing the edge and by 4 December the lake was obviously flooded (top photo at right). An alternate channel kept the water from rising further but you couldn’t walk around the lake until someone beat a path above the water line.
On Wednesday 13 January I circumnavigated the still-flooded lake. The next day someone fixed the valve and the lake began to fall rapidly, cracking and levering ice around the edge.
Here’s what it looked like on Friday 15 January 2021, back to normal water level.
Sheets of ice lever up as Panther Hollow Lake level falls, 15 January 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)Ice thickness revealed, 15 January 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)Ice stranded above water at Panther Hollow Lake, 15 January 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
The ice was still settling and cracking when I stopped to record the sound last Friday. Listen to it pop and groan. You can also hear a Carolina chickadee and a song sparrow at the end.
And, yes, a stream is called a “Run” in Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio and western Maryland. See how many names people use for the same thing: at: Another Name for a Run in a Hollow.
(photos by Kate St. John)
Note: Derek Watkins has a map of Generic Terms for Streams in the Contiguous U.S., generated from GNIS data, that shows the places where people use different words for Creek including: Branch, fork, run, brook, kill, stream, bayou, swamp, slough, wash, cañada, arroyo, rio. (map here) Watkins did not include regional pronunciations such as “crick” because the data he used from GNIS spells it “creek.”
Icicles lean inward, deformed by the wind, 18 December 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
27 December 2020, Pittsburgh
Nestled between two bouts of winter on Dec 16 and 25 the snow melted and the birds fed frantically before snow and bitter cold returned.
The melting began right after heavy snow stopped on Dec 17. The wind that day was so steady that dripping icicles leaned away from it. Then the wind dropped and new icicles formed straight down. (photo above)
While the deep snow lasted I found many tracks in Schenley Park including evidence of humans and …
Evidence of humans in the snow, Schenley Park, 19 December 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
… evidence of white-tailed deer, below. With the rut still in progress it looks as if the deer are leaving “calling cards” on the snow. (Can you tell me more about this brownish (maybe) urine? I found it in several locations.)
Evidence of deer, footprints and dark urine, Schenley Park, 19 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
On 22 December the snow was mostly gone when I found a pumpkin graveyard on Aloe Street in Bloomfield.
Pumpkin graveyard, Aloe St. Bloomfield, 22 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
The next day’s “red sky at morn” presaged Christmas Eve’s all-day rain.
Red skies forewarn a winter storm, 23 December 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
On 24 December cherry trees started to bloom on Craig Street. It was 57oF.
Cherry trees start to bloom in Oakland, 57 degrees F and rain on 24 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
And then it turned cold.
A white Christmas, overcast sky, 25 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
City lights glow on the snow and clouds, Pittsburgh at dawn 17 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
18 December 2020
It began snowing here in Pittsburgh on Wednesday morning, 16 December 2020, and didn’t stop for 17.5 hours. By 7:30 the next morning there were 9.25 inches of snow in Oakland. City lights glowed against the snow and clouds.
9.25″ of snow in Oakland, 17 Dec 2020, 7:30am (photo by Kate St. John)
Yesterday I took a long walk to Pitt’s campus, Carnegie Library and Schenley Park to appreciate the beauty. Here are a few of the scenes I encountered.
Red Euonymus leaves peek out of the snow, Univ of Pittsburgh, 17 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)White trees frame the Cathedral of Learning, 17 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Bach, Shakespeare, and Dippy wear snowy blankets at Carnegie Museum, 17 Dec 2020 (photo by Richard St. John)
This meadow near Schenley’s Westinghouse Fountain offers seeds for sparrows and juncos, 17 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)Sweetgum seed balls wear snowy caps, 17 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
On my way home I found one of Santa’s elves near the Library!
Santa’s elf or fire hydrant? 17 Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Though the snow didn’t melt it did compress in 24 hours. Here are two snapshots of the Pitt peregrine nestbox at 7:30am on Thurs 17 Dec and Fri 18 Dec. Though there is still a lot of snow it is not as daunting, even if it hasn’t been shoveled.
No peregrines visited the nest yesterday but I know they are present. I saw Morela perched on a gargoyle.
UPDATE 18 Dec 2020, 4:08pm: Morela examines the snow.
(photos by Kate St. John; statues photo by Richard St. John)
Now that it’s mid December Pittsburgh’s winter crow flock has chosen favorite roosts but continues to adjust the location in subtle ways, especially when it’s cold.
In October they switched sites abruptly — here today, gone tomorrow. In November they focused in Oakland and tried for Schenley Farms. On the 18th I watched the flock hover from four blocks away, then heard a distant BANG! a single banger firework. The crows made a U turn in the sky and didn’t come back.
This month the flock has split into several roosts including rooftops and trees at Bouquet and Sennott, at Fifth and Thackeray, and perhaps at University Prep in the Hill District. On 11 December I followed them to the Hill where I found them staging at Rampart Street, Herron near Milwaukee, and University Prep.
But I don’t know where they sleep. I plan to count them on 26 December for the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count so if you see them sleeping somewhere let me know!
Meanwhile, the flock’s incursion into Oakland prompted this tongue-in-check tourism video by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy interns, posted on 20 November.
The crows and I recognize a lot of places in the video. 😉
Merlin eating a junco at sunset, 7 Dec 2020, Schenley Park golf course (photo by Kate St. John)
12 December 2020
If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you’ve seen my best photo of the week, perhaps for the whole year, with only a brief description: Merlin eating a junco at sunset, Schenley Park golf course, 7 December 2020. Here’s the back story.
This week Pittsburgh suffered through six days in a row of unrelenting overcast “Pittsburgh Gray” skies. During that period there was only one moment when the sun made an appearance and I was determined to be outdoors with a big view of the sky when it happened: The Gleam At Sunset on Monday December 7.
During winter Pittsburgh often has overcast skies all day and clear skies at night. When the transition happens at sunset you can see clear sky approaching from Ohio but it will arrive too late to enjoy the sun. We have 10 minutes of happy sunshine and then it’s dark. The Gleam At Sunset.
The Gleam at Sunset, 30 Jan 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
A gleam was predicted for Monday so I walked to Schenley Park golf course to reach high open ground. The sky started to clear. The sunset was going to be beautiful.
Passing through Fezziwig Grove, I began to think about the merlin(s) that visit the golf course in winter. As I scanned the dead snags a merlin flew in with prey, a dark-eyed junco. My cellphone is not a robust camera so I positioned myself for the merlin silhouette.
I was lucky to photograph both: a merlin and The Gleam at Sunset.
