Bumblebee at grape leaf anemone; honey bee arriving, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
6 October 2024
With fewer flowers, nectar and pollen available, bees are quickly eating what they can in early October. Though it looks like the honey bees and bumblebees are doing the same thing they have different strategies for dealing with winter.
Honey bee and bumblebee at grape leaf anemone, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Bumblebees, on the other hand, are very busy but their lives are short. Only their queen will survive the winter. After she mates with the available males she will retreat underground to wait for spring.
Bumblebee alone at grape leaf anemone, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
The flowers they love are grape leaf anemone in a garden near Carnegie Library and Museum.
Bumblebees coming and going at grape leaf anemone, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Bumblebees at grape leaf anemone, 1 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
On Tuesday I saw a monarch butterfly fly past my 6th floor window on its journey south. Every night that butterfly it will rest in sheltering vegetation and feed on flowers the next day. But what if those amenities aren’t available?
On Wednesday I noticed landscaping staff clearing a garden in front of an Oakland office building. Monthly gardening schedules, sometimes based on pre-climate change temperatures, call for clearing the garden or changing the plants in October. Salvia looks “leggy” now. Perhaps they were going to plant chrysanthemums.
Fortunately Saving Monarchs sends this helpful Facebook reminder for all gardeners. Take a break and let your garden sleep in!
Some have messaged me asking if they can buy the sign, yes, they’re available for purchase. The large aluminum signs measure 18”x 12” are 50 plus shipping. I also make them in pvc size 9” x 11.5” and are 25 plus shipping. No extra shipping if you purchase more than 1. Obviously, due to shipping costs no posts are included, just the signs. Message [Saving Monarchs on Facebook] if you’re interested.
Read more about the benefits of leaving the leaves for insects, pollinators, birds, and even salamanders.
Wingstem in bloom, curled pistils and a tiny ant, 30 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
1 September 2024
Welcome to September! Here are a few things seen last week when it was still August.
At top, a tiny ant explores for curling pistils on blooming wingstem in Schenley Park. Below, a funnel spider web awaits an unwary flying insect. I could not see the spider in the hole but I’m sure he’s there.
Funnel spider web on a shrub, 29 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Wilted leaves in the drought, Schenley Park, 30 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
On Friday evening there was a double rainbow though I did not notice the faint second rainbow (upper left corner) until I looked at my photo.
Faint double rainbow in Pittsburgh, 30 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
In late August and early September, hundreds of migrating chimney swifts pour into this chimney at dusk. Our local crows find it fascinating so on Tuesday 27 August they perched around the top of the chimney and waited for the swifts to pour in. (They look like pegs on top of the chimney.) The swifts refused to go through that gauntlet. The crows had to leave before the show began.
American crows staking out the chimney swift chimney , waiting for the swifts to drop in, 27 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
There are certainly fewer spotted lanternflies this year than last in my city neighborhood. These two photos give a look at the many in 2023 versus few in 2024 on a South Craig Street sidewalk. Some of you missed this excitement last year and are experiencing it now. 😮
Spotted lanternflies at RAND Bldg, 11 Sep 2023
Spotted lanternflies at RAND Bldg, 29 Aug 2024
And finally, on the night of August 27-28 an unusual wind gust toppled the potted plants on our roof. No harm done. They were just sleeping.
A strong gust of wind on the night of August 27-28 knocked over the potted plants, 28 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Pawpaws (Asimina triloba) are the quintessential wild fruit for browsing animals that eat the only ripe fruit on the branch and then move on. The fruit tastes like mango and has the consistency of banana. But don’t eat the seeds. They are poisonous.
The skin is thin and bruises easily so they cannot be shipped.
Pawpaws don’t ripen all at once. You must come back later for the next batch because …
If you pull a hard, unripe fruit from the tree it will never ripen.
Pawpaw fruits lose their flavor if you heat them.
The bark, leaves, fruit and seeds of pawpaw trees contain the disabling and potentially lethal neurotoxin annonacin so …
Do not dry or cook down the fruit because that concentrates the compound that — fortunately — makes you vomit. (see more in the WESA article).
However, the neurotoxin is a benefit for zebra swallowtails (Eurytides marcellus) whose only host plant is the pawpaw tree. Zebra swallowtail caterpillars eat pawpaw leaves, become toxic themselves and are protected from predators.
If you want to eat a pawpaw and learn more about them, your best bet is at an upcoming Pawpaw Festival. The complete schedule of 12 festivals plus additional events are at Heppy.org: 2024 Pawpaw Festivals and Events. Here are a few close to Pittsburgh on the Heppy.org list in order of occurrence.
Ohio Pawpaw Festival in Albany, Ohio, 13-15 Sept
Paw Paw Festival in Duncansville, PA, 22 Sept, 9a-4p
West Virginia Pawpaw Festival, Core Arboretum, Morgantown, WV, 28 September
Gabrielle Marsden is restoring zebra swallowtail butterflies to southwestern PA by planting pawpaw trees and encouraging others to do the same. Her YouTube channel is here. She also has two upcoming events:
Stiltgrass carpeting the ground in Schenley Park, 16 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
25 August 2024
At this time of year the woods in southwestern Pennsylvania often look as if gardeners have removed all the underbrush and left a thick carpet of grass on the forest floor. The “gardeners” are overabundant white-tailed deer who selectively eat their favorite foods and leave behind invasive Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum).
Japanese stiltgrass came to the U.S. in packing crates in the early 1900s as padding to protect porcelain shipped from China. Of course we threw it out when we unpacked the crates. It took root and was discovered in Tennesse in 1919. More than 100 years later it blankets much of the eastern U.S.
Range map of invasive Japanese stiltgrass in North America (EDDMapS. 2024. Early Detection & Distribution Mapping System. The University of Georgia – Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. Available online at http://www.eddmaps.org/; last accessed August 25, 2024.)
Japanese stiltgrass is easy to identify because it has a shiny midrib (topside) and the midrib is not in the middle of the leaf (underside).
Shiny midrib on topside of Japanese stiltgrass leaf (photo by Kate St. John)
Japanese stiltgrass mid rib is not in the middle. Back of the leaf: (photo by Kate St.John)
Amazing as it seems, Japanese stiltgrass is an annual that dies every winter and grows back from seed the next spring. Its thick green carpet in summer shades out native species.
Japanese stiltgrass carpet, Butler-Freeport Trail, July 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)
After it goes to seed in early fall it dies and becomes a brown drape over the landscape in winter. This gives it the alternate common name of “Nepalese browntop.”
Japanese stiltgrass comes back thickly every year because it drops so much seed in the soil. It’s possible to get rid of it … eventually .. through hand pulling or goats. Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is using both techniques in Hays Woods this year.
Giant ragweed in bloom, Hays Woods, 20 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
24 August 2024
This week I encountered giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) along the trail at Hays Woods. Though the plant I photographed was still shorter than me it typically reaches six feet tall. The flower spikes are loaded with male pollen flowers, facing downward to dangle in the wind and spread the pollen that makes many people sneeze.
Giant ragweed in bloom, Hays Woods, 20 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
If you suffer from ragweed allergies your nose knows when it started blooming but you might not know what common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) looks like. What is making you miserable? Check out this vintage article.
Biennial gaura, Hays Woods, 20 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
21 August 2024
When I took this photo at Hays Woods yesterday, I knew the plant’s name — biennial gaura — but just for fun I asked PictureThis to identify it. It said “Biennial Gaura, a species of Evening Primrose.” Evening Primrose was a surprise. I didn’t think they were related.
Common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) has four evenly spaced petals with stamens and pistil in the middle. Though the flower appears to be open here, it actually opens more widely in the evening.
Evening primrose, September 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Biennial gaura (Oenothera gaura) also has four petals but they are all on one side of the stem with stamens and pistil drooping below. The shape of the flower looks “irregular” to me and “evening” doesn’t seem to apply either. The flower looks like it stays open all day.
Biennial gaura (photo by Kate St. John)
However, studies of the former genus Gaura caused all of it to be absorbed into Oenothera (Evening Primrose ) in 2007. The reason I was surprised 17 years later is that my hardback copy of Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide was published in 1997. I should rely more on apps these days.
Here are additional photos of both flowers for further comparison.
Biennial gaura, Hays Woods, 7 Sep 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)Common evening primrose near Herrs Island, 18 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Both plants are “weedy” species so they’re pretty easy to find in the field. Look for common evening primrose in sunny or mostly sunny places, often along trails. Biennial gaura wants full sun and dry, rocky soil. At Hays Woods it grows at the powerline cut.
Note that biennial gaura flowers are much smaller than evening primrose. Tiny but beautiful.
Black-throated green warbler, Frick Park, 14 Aug 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
17 August 2024
This was a week of still-nesting swallows, pretty flowers, migrating warblers, and many, many deer in the city parks.
Moraine State Park, 11 August. Charity Kheshgi and I were surprised to see cliff swallows still nesting on 11 August at the Rt 528 Boat Launch area. Parents were feeding young at four to five nests.
Cliff swallows with young in nest, Moraine State Park, 11 Aug 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Late summer flowers: Best photos this week are butter-and-eggs (non-native), spreading dogbane and blue vervain.
Butter and eggs, in the snapdragon family, Southside Riverfront Park, 12 August (photo by Kate St. John)Spreading dogbane, Moraine State Park, 11 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Blue vervain, Southside Riverfront Park, 12 August (photo by Kate St. John)
Warblers at Frick Park: On 14 August Charity Kheshgi and I saw a good flock of warblers on Trough Trail. Blackburnians were still considered rare on the 14th (too early for them) but we found five! Here’s one eyeing a bug on Japanese angelica, a devil’s walking stick look-alike.
Blackburnian warbler, Frick Park, 14 Aug 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
We recognized distinctive plumage on each of the 5 Blackburnians. As if to prove there were so many, three posed in one shot.
3 Blackburnian warblers in one shot, Frick Park, 14 Aug 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
We also saw one immature chestnut-sided warbler hanging out in the flock.
Immature chestnut-sided warbler, Frick Park, 14 Aug 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Deer: Schenley and Frick Parks, 14 and 16 August
It was a big week for deer in the city parks. I saw 10 in Frick on Wednesday, and 9 in Schenley on Friday. Of the 9, more than half were young or spotted fawns that were born this year. If my tally is representative, the Schenley deer population has doubled itself in just one year.
3 deer in Frick Park, 14 Aug 12024 (photo by Kate St. John)
I believe that the doe in this photo is shedding her summer fur (rusty color) to switch to her winter coat (gray-brown).
Spotted fawn with doe in Schenley, 16 Aug 12024 (photo by Kate St. John)2 of the 9 deer seen in Schenley on 16 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Why are deer so easy to see in Schenley Park? Because there is no underbrush to hide them. There are so many deer that they ate all the underbrush. So there’s nowhere to hide.
Cosmos in bloom, Shadyside, 5 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
10 August 2024
This week a flower garden caught my attention with bright yellow-orange cosmos flowers. The plants were in three stages: flowering, going to seed, and seeds formed.
Cosmos suphureus petals are quite showy to attract pollinators to the central disk. When the small flowers inside the disk are fertilized the petals fall off and the disk begins to develop into long thin seedpods.
Cosmos: A single flower going to seed, 5 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
When complete the seed pods resemble the hitchhiking seeds of beggar ticks (Bidens frondosa). Both are in the Coreopsideae tribe along with coreoposis, dahlias and many others.
Cosmos: Seeds maturing, 5 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Also seen …
It’s August and, as expected, deer are more visible in Schenley Park. Two does and two fawns approached Panther Hollow Lake on Friday. We can expect to see lots of deer lounging in the city parks in the days ahead. It is The Calm Before The Rut.
Four deer in Schenley Park, 9 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
On the cloudy morning of 6 August, daisy fleabane (Erigeron annuus) was still opening its flowers in Frick Park. Fleabane petals respond to light levels. It’s part of Fleabane’s daily exercise program.
Daisy fleabane, still opening flowers, Frick Park, 6 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
After all these years I’ve just discovered that horseweed (Erigeron canadensis) is a fleabane. (That’s what comes of learning plants on the fly.)
Horseweed in bloom, near Aspinwall Riverfront Park, 8 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Pokeweed flowers at the tip and fruit forming at the bottom, Duck Hollow, 2 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)Small teasel completely in bloom, Herrs Island backchannel, 3 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Insects are busy in the heat. On 28 July sycamore tussock moths (Halysidota harrisii) dangled by silk threads as they lowered themselves from the sycamore trees. The only way to photograph one was to wait until he landed.
Sycamore tussock moth at Frick, 28 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Zabulon skippers (Lon zabulon) have been easy to find. Some of them look ragged.
Zabulon skipper, Frick Park, 31 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
We found a pair of greenhouse millipedes (Oxidus gracilis) who kept walking as they mated. Two million legs in one photo?
Greenhouse millipedes mating, 31 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
And on 29 July I was surprised to see seven common mergansers (Mergus merganser) at Duck Hollow. They made arrow shapes on the river’s reflection as they swam. (The seventh one is underwater.) All but one of them looked female — in eclipse or molting.
Common mergansers make arrowheads on the surface of the Monongahela River, 29 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
