Lesser purple fringed orchid, Jennings, 26 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
27 July 2024
At yesterday’s annual Wissahickon Nature Club outing at Jennings Prairie we found many familiar plants in the expected places, but some that should be at peak in late July were already past their prime, probably due to this year’s heat. We found some other surprises as well.
We usually have to search with binoculars to find a lesser purple fringed orchid (Platanthera psycodes) nestled in the distance but yesterday we saw this one near the trail.
Hairy willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) was exactly where we expected it in the valley under the footbridge, but we also found some in the woods.
Hairy willowherb, Jennings Prairie, 26 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana) flowers are usually white but these were pink as well.
Jumpseed with unusually pink flowers, Jennings, 26 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Jack-in-the-pulpit fruit is still green. It won’t turn red until next month.
Jack-in-the-pulpit fruit, Jennings, 26 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Here’s a two-step lesson on how halberd-leaf tearthumb (Persicaria arifolia) got its common name.
Halberd-shaped leaves. Jennings, 26 July 2024
These hooks could tear your thumb. Jennings, 26 July 2024
Suddenly the whale leapt out of the water to catch a mouthful of pogies and accidentally capsized a boat. No one was hurt and, amazingly, it was all captured on video.
In the Tuesday morning incident in the ocean off Rye, the whale appeared to be lunging in a classic humpback fishing tactic, said Linnea Mayfield, a natural manager at Boston City Cruises, affiliated with the New England Aquarium, after viewing the video.
The whales blow large frothy bubbles in the water to help corral fish, then they lunge up through the bubbles to scoop up the fish, Mayfield said. The incident was almost certainly accidental, she said. Humpbacks have a blind spot, and it’s “very possible the vessel was in the animal’s blind spot as it came up to lunge and feed.”
Whale experts at NOAA and elsewhere think this was probably the young whale that’s been hanging out from nearby Maine to New Hampshire since early July and they’re working to identify it using photographs.
As the video explains this was a very unusual incident. The whale was probably as surprised as everyone else. I’m sure he learned a valuable lesson from the adventure.
The question sounds foolish but … Can pigeons play Wordle?
Seven years ago a pigeon behavioral study found that the birds can recognize 4-letter English words and tell the difference between real words and mere jumbles of letters. This was the first time anyone knew that a non-primate species had this ability.
Their 4-letter prowess is described in the vintage article below. Do you think they can they deal with 5 letters? Can they play Wordle?
Yesterday Mike Fialkovich sent news that it’s a big year for boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata) where he works in New Stanton, PA.
Huge numbers of box elder bug nymphs, New Stanton, 23 July 2024 (photo by Mike Fialkovich)
There was a big gathering of Boxelder Bugs at my workplace today. Most were nymphs but a few adults were present. I noticed the adults were numerous recently on the side of the building but today the numbers of nymphs were impressive.
— email from Mike Fialkovich, 23 July 2024
I was a little surprised to see the swarms on non-native winged burning bush (Euonymus alatus).
Boxelder bug nymphs on winged burning bush, New Stanton, 23 July 2024 (photo by Mike Fialkovich)
As their name suggests, the boxelder bugs’ host plant is the box elder tree (Acer negundo), which is both native and abundant.
Large box elder tree along the trail at Duck Hollow, Pittsburgh, July 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)Box elder leaves, Sept 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Soon these nymphs will become adults that look like this … and the bug pictured at top.
The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) has been monitoring Virginia’s peregrine population every year since the late 1970s. Because they track individual adults, they know who breeds where and when they go missing. This year the news was disturbing. Peregrine adult turnover statewide more than doubled in one year to a new rate of 40%. Forty percent of the adults disappeared (died) and were replaced by a new bird.
The only good news is that the high rate is skewed by the incredibly high turnover of 63.2% on the Eastern Shore while the rest of the state was 12.5%. The bad news is that the Eastern Shore has the highest concentration of breeding peregrines in Virginia.
p.s. I have not heard of this peregrine declines occurring in Pennsylvania, which is mostly an inland state. Perhaps our turnover rate mirrors Virginia’s inland statistics.
In 2023, out of 35 breeding pairs in Virginia statewide, 26 were on the coastal plain.
Metallic green bug on spotted knapweed, July 2013 (photo by Kate St. John)
22 July 2024
Insects are singing while songbirds are quiet as they wrap up the breeding season.
Join me for a bird & nature walk in Frick Park on Sunday, July 28, 2024, 8:30a – 10:30a.
Meet me at the Nine Mile Run Trail Parking lot. We’ll check out the birds, flowers and bugs in the Nine Mile Run trailhead area before heading over to the boardwalk.
NOTE: If you park in one of the small dirt lots near a Frick Park entry gate, cross the road and walk under the arching Parkway Bridge to join us.
Park anywhere along Commercial Street but meet at the Nine Mile Run Parking area (screenshot map from Google)From Commercial Street at Frick Park follow the path to the meeting place
We’re sure to hear goldfinches — will they have fledglings? — and see plenty of insects. This walk will go past the place where we saw ebony jewelwings in early July. Will they be there?
Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring water, a sun hat and binoculars (if you have them).
Before you come, visit my Events page in case of changes or cancellations. The outing will be canceled if there’s lightning or heavy rain.
How do you restore a damaged seagrass bed? Get birds to come to the party! Biologists in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary place T-shaped PVC stakes in seagrass beds that have been scarred by boat propellers. These stakes serve as perches to attract terns, gulls, and other birds, which produce guano droppings that are rich in nutrients — which in turn help speed regrowth of seagrass in the barren area!
In Florida’s shallow waters, the seagrass meadows that host abundant wildlife are damaged when boat propellers pass through them. Propellers leave a permanent scar that cannot regrow on its own. (See scars in two embedded photos below).
When the seagrass declines, so do fish and wildlife. This problem is so important to Florida that the state imposes fines on boaters who damage it and has tasked the Office of Resilience and Coastal Protections (RCP) to restore the seagrass beds.
RCP takes a two-pronged approach to restoration. The first step is to raise awareness among boaters and post signs so that they stay away from the seagrass beds.
The second step is to restore the propeller scars so the grass can regrow within the cuts. At St. Martins Marsh Aquatic Preserve:
RCP has partnered with the UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station to stabilize and restore prop scars with sediment tubes. Sediment tubes accomplish this by returning the scarred areas to ambient elevations, preventing additional erosion and scouring by water currents, and protecting rhizomes from excessive sunlight exposure. The technique involves installing biodegradable fabric tubes filled with sediment into scarred areas that biodegrade in about 12 months.
Seagrass beds can be fertilized passively to encourage regrowth through the placement of bird roosting stakes and has been shown to be quite successful, as can be seen in Big Lagoon in Pensacola in Fort Pickens Aquatic Preserve.
In 2009, the Florida Legislature created a rule to further protect seagrass by imposing fines to boaters who damage seagrass with their boat propellers (Section 253.04(3)(a), Florida Statutes). …
RCP [The Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection] has employed a variety of seagrass restoration methods throughout the state. These projects have been conducted in Charlotte Harbor, Indian River Lagoon, Biscayne Bay, the Big Bend, the Florida Keys, St. Joseph Bay, St. Andrews Bay and Pensacola Bay. Results have been mixed, and RCP is continuing to monitor these projects and work with other researchers to find more effective ways to revegetate the bottom.
Eastern bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix) with tiny spider threads.
Pavement glowing in the sun? No, pond scum on Panther Hollow Lake.
Dead adult spotted lanternfly nose-down with legs flexed open. Shadyside, 18 July.
Oh deer … Details near their photos.
Feverfew, Schenley Park, 19 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Eastern bottlebrush grass with tiny spider webs, Schenley Park, 19 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)The surface of Panther Hollow Lake, Schenley Park 19 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Dead adult spotted lanternfly, Shadyside in Pittsburgh, 18 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Oh deer. Yesterday I saw four deer in Schenley Park; three in this family. The two spotted fawns appear to be a month younger than this year’s cohort that were born in May. If so, it was because their mother bred later than the rest of the herd, perhaps because she was a fawn herself last year.
One-year-old mother (probably) with two spotted fawns, Schenley Park, 19 July 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
In the photo above, notice how little food there is on the ground. Without much to eat, deer in Schenley Park browse on foods they don’t like, such as the Japanese knotweed below.
Japanese knotweed browsed by deer, Schenley Park, 28 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Neighborhood gardens have a lot more food, so guess where the deer go. Last month I saw two in a garden with plants up to their shoulders. Not for long, though. As I watched one of them opened its mouth to take a large bite.
Deer eating in a garden on Ellsworth Ave, Pittsburgh, 17 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Midway Atoll hosts the largest Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) nesting colony in the world where more than 600,000 pairs raise young each year. The birds are absent in September but return to court in November, lay eggs in December, and hatch in February.
After the eggs hatch the chicks begin to wander in March while their parents hunt at sea. By May the chicks start to grow adult feathers but it will take two more months before they are ready to fledge in July. During this period they are everywhere …
On the Fourth of July a rain shower prompted the chicks to flap their wings, shown in two videos below. You can hear the raindrops on the audio tracks.
Thousands of young Laysan albatross simulate flying by flapping their wings during a rain shower at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, July 4, 2024. (video by USFWS volunteer Dan Rapp)
As soon as they fly, Laysan albatross youngsters leave Midway for a life at sea. USFWS Pacific says they are “likely to move towards Japan or Alaska, but their known range extends to Mexico, too.” They won’t return to Midway Atoll until they are three years old. They don’t breed until age seven or eight.
John English saw this spotted lanternfly adult outside his window on 17 July 2024
18 July 2024
They’re back. Well, actually, they never left but they haven’t looked like this since last fall. Up until now spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) in western Pennsylvania have been present as egg masses or nymphs.
Yesterday a winged adult lanternfly landed on John English’s window feeder in Homestead. This is the first report I’ve received that adults have emerged.
Their population will follow a well known arc. A smattering in mid July, lots more in August, an invasion in September.
Have you seen an adult spotted lanternfly yet? Leave a comment and let me know when you saw the first one.
p.s. I just got back from a week in Virginia where I learned that spotted lanternflies are indeed in Virginia wine country. They are really bad for grapes. Yikes! Here’s the 2024 map from New York State Integrated Pest Management and Cornell University.
Halberd-shaped leaves. Jennings, 26 July 2024
