Category Archives: Phenology

A Little Late, A Lot Early

Migration, Phenology, Plants & Fungi

Pennsylvania birders were treated to a surge of ducks last weekend when Friday night’s storm forced migrants to stop in our state to wait for better weather.  The migration fallout was especially large on Saturday.

A day late, I went to Moraine State Park hoping to see a few stragglers.  There weren’t as many ducks on Sunday but I found a nice variety:  ruddy ducks, buffleheads, horned grebes and five long-tailed ducks.

My own notes indicate that long-tailed ducks usually come through our area about a week earlier, approximately March 25.  This group was a little late, but I was too, so our paths crossed.

Meanwhile, the plants and insects are still early even though our weather has moderated.

A week ago, on March 25, I found this large-flowered bellwort blooming at Barking Slopes.  It usually blooms around April 25 so it was one month ahead of schedule.

A little late.  A lot early.

What will happen next?

(photo of long-tailed ducks by Steve Gosser, photo of large-flowered bellwort by Kate St. John)

 

Blooming Early: Trailing Arbutus

Phenology, Plants & Fungi

Trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) is a rare evergreen plant that usually blooms in April in our area.  This year it’s blooming early, just like everything else.

Both of the plant’s first names — trailing and epigaea — refer to its woody, hairy stems that trail on the earth in a dense mat.  The leaves are oval and leathery, smooth on top and hairy below.

The plant is unremarkable until it blooms.  The flowers are tubular, 5-lobed, pink or white, and usually in clusters at the branch tips.  They’re quite fragrant with a spicy smell.

I’ve seen trailing arbutus on Arbutus Trail at Bear Run Nature Reserve.  Dianne Machesney photographed them last week at North Park.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

Juxtaposition: Too Early Spring

Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Bloodroot, Barking Slopes, 25 March 2012 (photo by Kate St. John)

26 March 2012

Yesterday I hiked at Barking Slopes to see what was blooming after 11 days of June-like weather.

So many flowers had opened that the ground was carpeted with them. Squirrel Corn (Dicentra canadensis), Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica) and Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) were all at their peak.

So were Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis, above) that normally blooms in late March and Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum, below) that normally blooms in late April.

It was an odd juxtaposition of two flowers that never bloom at the same time.

Large-flowered Trillium in bloom, Barking Slopes, 25 March 2012 (photo by Kate St. John)

Tonight we’ll have a killing frost. The March flowers may be able to cope but I doubt the April flowers will survive.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Uh Oh! Too Early Spring

Migration, Phenology, Schenley Park, Trees
Oak flowers blooming 22 March 2012 (photo by Kate St. John)

23 March 2012

Welcome to Day 11 of June-in-March.  The heat feels nice, huh?  What could go wrong? As it turns out many things could go wrong.

Yesterday I found red oaks starting to bloom in Schenley Park a month ahead of schedule (photo above).  This should be happy but something is missing.  The rose-breasted grosbeaks aren’t here to eat them.

Long ago I learned from Chuck Tague that rose-breasted grosbeaks move north as the oaks bloom, perfectly timing their arrival to coincide with their favorite migration food — oak flowers.

Rose-breasted grosbeak (photo by Chuck Tague)

But right now the grosbeaks are in Central and South America, waiting to fly across the Gulf of Mexico to arrive in Pennsylvania in late April or early May.  They don’t know our oaks are blooming.  The flowers will be gone.

What will the rose-breasted grosbeaks do when they get here?

Uh oh!

(photo of oak flowers by Kate St. John. Photo of rose-breasted grosbeak by Chuck Tague)

The New Normal: Too Early Spring

Climate Change, Phenology, Schenley Park, Weather & Sky
Cutleaf toothwort (photo by Dianne Machesney)

21 March 2012:

One day does not a summer make but a week of June-like weather is mighty convincing.

Though I’m thrilled to be wearing summer clothes in mid-March it makes me very worried.  Our temperatures have been 20 to 30 degrees above normal.  In Minnesota the morning low in International Falls tied the previous record high on Monday!

The heat is unprecedented and the landscape is responding.  Last Sunday I found cutleaf toothwort (pictured above) blooming four weeks ahead of schedule and yellow buckeye trees leafing out in Schenley Park (below).   The weather is three months early.  The plants are one month ahead.

Yellow buckeye full leaf, 20 March 2012 (photo by Kate St. John)

Insects are responding as well.  Stink bugs are everywhere and I swear I heard a cricket last night.

Most birds can’t keep up.  Those already here are moving north a bit early but the bulk of the migrants are in Central and South America and have no idea our weather is so far ahead of schedule. When they get here they may find their peak insect food resources have passed.

Meanwhile peregrines lay their eggs so that hatching will coincide with the push of northward migrants.  Dorothy’s first egg is right on time though the heat is not.  It was sad to see her panting at the nest yesterday, trying to keep her egg cool so it won’t develop out of synch.

Dorothy gular fluttering to dissipate heat, 30 March 2012 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera)

With a warm winter here and a very cold winter in Europe, we’re on the roller coaster of climate change.  Arguing about it is pointless now.  Ready or not, we’re already experiencing the new normal.

(Cutleaf toothwort photo by Dianne Machesney.  Yellow buckeye leaves by Kate St. John.  Dorothy panting at her nest on 20 March 2012 from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Spring Last Week

Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park

Spring came fast last week, as shown by the pictures I took at Schenley Park on Wednesday and Friday, March 14 and 16.

Spring morning with dew, Wednesday March 14.

 


Coltsfoot starting to bloom (Wednesday).

 


Magnolia bud opening (Wednesday).

 


Female flowers on red maple (Wednesday).

And by Friday….


Spicebush flowers are open.

 

 

…and Wednesday’s magnolia bud is now a flower.

 

(photos by Kate St. John)

March Flowers Bring…

Phenology

If April showers bring May flowers, what do March flowers bring?

In this case, scavenging flies.

Yesterday I found a huge patch of skunk cabbage blooming at Raccoon Creek State Park.  They were so well camouflaged that I had to be careful where I stepped.  I tried for a picture of the flowers hidden inside the spathe but was unsuccessful.  Of course the pollinators don’t need to see the flower.  They’re attracted to the smell.   I stepped on one by accident and yes, it smelled awful.

Also found blooming in wet places are the long, yellow catkins of American hazelnut trees. Here are some from Marcy Cunkleman’s garden.

 

The warm weather fooled me into thinking spring had sprung, but this field at Raccoon brought me back to reality.  How brown!

Spring still has a long way to go.

(skunk cabbage and field scene photos by Kate St. John, catkins photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

Signs Of An Early Spring

Phenology, Trees
Buds bursting on flowering quince, 28 Feb 2012 (photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

3 March 2012

Yesterday on my walk to work I noticed the treetops seem to have thickened.

They have!  Through binoculars I could see that the buds are swelling and the twigs look thicker.

Spring is coming faster than usual.  Here are some of its many signs on 2 March 2012:

  • Red maples are flowering.
  • Honeysuckle bushes have tiny green leaves peeking out of their buds.
  • Pussy willows have furry catkins.
  • The seed balls on London plane trees are breaking up into fluffy achenes.
  • Celandine and garlic mustard are sprouting green leaves.

Marcy Cunkelman’s flowering quince was about to bloom last Tuesday, 28 February 2012.  Maybe it has by now, just in time for tomorrow’s snow showers.

This March would like to come in like a lion but winter’s been a lamb.

(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

What Birds At This Time Of Year?

Phenology, Schenley Park


Now that summer’s birds are gone, what can we expect to see in southwestern Pennsylvania at this time of year?

November isn’t as boring as you might think.

  • On lakes and rivers you’ll find ducks, cormorants, loons, Canada geese, and sometimes tundra swans.
  • In the woods:
    • The owls have more time to hunt and hoot during November’s longer nights.  Listen for great-horned owls and eastern screech-owls in the woods and suburbs.  I’ve heard a barred owl on my walk home through Schenley Park.  He’s unusual in the city.
    • With the leaves off the trees, the woodpeckers are visible as they hammer the ash trees infested with emerald ash borer.  Migrating yellow-bellied sapsuckers will pause to drill for sap.
    • The golden-crowned kinglets are back.
  • At the bird feeders our resident cardinals, chickadees, titmice and nuthatches are joined by a wide selection of seed eaters including white-throated sparrows, fox sparrows, American tree sparrows, and dark-eyed juncos.
  • Overhead:
    • At dusk watch for flocks of robins, starlings and crows gathering to roost.
    • Best of all, November’s the month to see V’s of migrating tundra swans on their way to the Chesapeake and eastern North Carolina.  They call “woo, woo, woo” as they fly.  You’ll even hear them at night.

Keep looking up.

(photo of a barred owl by Marge Van Tassel)