Beaver Meadows Recreation Area, 24 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
29 June 2024
Early this week a group of us drove north to go birding at Heart’s Content, Beaver Meadows and Piney Tract in Warren, Forest and Clarion counties. For two days the weather was pleasantly cool and the sky was gorgeous. Here are a few things we saw this week.
Beaver Meadows Recreation Area near Marienville, PA
Allegheny River as seen from Rt 62 south of East Hickory
Old growth hemlocks at Heart’s Content
A fallen tree completely covered by moss. It was cut because it blocked the path when it fell long ago.
Looking through the trees at Heart’s Content
A view of Piney Tract, SGL 330
The Wall of Rocks at the Microtel parking lot in Clarion
Allegheny River south of East Hickory, PA, 24 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Old growth hemlock at Heart’s Content, 24 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Fallen tree coated in moss, Heart’s Content, 24 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Heart’s Content forest, 24 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Piney Tract, SGL 300, 25 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
The Wall of Rocks:
We stayed at the Microtel in Clarion (nice and new) where I was fascinated by the Wall of Rocks that formed one side of the parking lot. It looked impressive at dusk, lit by streetlamps.
Wall of Rocks closeup at Microtel parking lot, Clarion, 24 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
The next morning it was not so fascinating. It looks this way because the excavated hillside is too steep to mow. It is landscaped with large stones.
Rocky hillside at Microtel parking lot, Clarion, 25 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Airborne! at Westinghouse Bridge, June 2022 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
28 June 2024
If you watch peregrines you know how improbable it is that you will ever see one make its first flight. In 23 years of watching peregrines I’ve seen it once, maybe twice. I have no photographic evidence but I know of two Pittsburgh examples.
So what does it look like when a peregrine chick makes its first flight? Wakefield Cathedral, UK (@WfldPeregrines) has so many cameras on their peregrines that the moment was captured on 17 June.
Statewide, wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in Pennsylvania declined again last year. Did their status improve in the last 12 months? To answer that question, the PA Game Commission (PGC) is conducting their Annual Pennsylvania Wild Turkey Sighting Survey from July 1 through August 31 and is asking the public to help. Right now this link shows prior results. Click here to enter data after July 1.
In the survey press release PGC reported:
The Statewide reproductive success last summer, which is measured by the number of young turkeys (poults) seen per all hens seen, was 2.9 poults per hen, compared to 3.1 poults per hen in 2022 and 2021.”
Allegheny County’s predominant Wildlife Management Unit, WMU 2B below, had mixed results. Overall, there were fewer turkeys but reproductive success was higher than in 2022. However, our WMU contributed to the downward spiral as we had only 2.24 poults per hen.
Young peregrine perched at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, 24 June 2024 (photo by Adam Knoerzer)
26 June 2024
Peregrine season is wrapping up with confirmation of breeding in one location and a bunch of “pair only” sightings in the Ohio River valley.
East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh:
Adam Knoerzer confirmed one chick at the nest in early June but hadn’t seen any sign of it since the 17th. Then on Monday evening 24 June, Adam was near East Liberty Presbyterian Church and confirmed “Juvie Alive and Well.”
After hearing a lot of noise, I noticed the juvie perched on a low tower on the Penn Ave side and the male dropping some food. We later saw [the juvie] fly back up to the nest.
— email from Adam Knoerzer, 24 June 2024
Adam’s photo at top shows where the young peregrine was perched. Congratulations to the East Liberty peregrines and nest monitor Adam Knoerzer!
The Eckert Street peregrines went missing this spring but there are many nest site choices within a mile of that site. Jeff Cieslak tried to find them with no luck but on 13 June Andy Moore (author of Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit and the upcoming book Beasts in the East) photographed a pair of peregrines at the Brunot Island Railroad Bridge.
Peregrine over Brunot Island Railroad Bridge, 13 June 2024 (photo by Andy Moore)Second peregrine over Brunot Island Railroad Bridge, 13 June 2024 (photo by Andy Moore)
Jeff Cieslak started checking Brunot Island and has seen the pair as recently as Sunday 23 June. Jeff remarked “I’m pretty sure the female from Eckert is there, with a young male.” No evidence of young.
Spruce Run Bridge, Ohio River: This pair is present every time Jeff Cieslak stops by, most recently 23 June. This pair is an adult female with a 1-year-old male. No young at this site.
Monaca-East Rochester Bridge, Ohio River:
Peregrine pair at Monaca East Rochester Bridge, 24 June 2024 (photos by Jeff Cieslak)
On 16 June Tim Johnson saw a pair of peregrines near the Monaca East Rochester Bridge and on 24 June Jeff Cieslak photographed them. There is no evidence of young this year.
West End Bridge, Ohio River: Remember that banded peregrine Jeff Cieslak photographed here on 13 June? Its bands have been traced to Baltimore, Maryland, but it hasn’t been seen since. No peregrines at the West End Bridge.
PEREGRINE SUMMARY FOR SOUTHWEST PA: This is probably the final update for 2024. Many of these sites did not have successful nests.
Today I’m with a group of friends looking for a bird that sounds like a bug in Clarion County, PA.
We’re at Piney Tract, State Gamelands 330, where we expect to hear — and maybe see — grasshopper, field, Henslow’s and song sparrows.
Piney Tract, Clarion County, 1 June 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)
Many grassland sparrows sound like bugs — hence the name “grasshopper” sparrow — but the bird we’re looking for is a clay-colored sparrow (Spizella pallida) who sounds like this:
This bird is special because he’s outside his normal range.
Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars, field guides and a scope for river watching if you have them.
This event will be held rain or shine but not in a downpour or thunder. Check the Events page before you come in case this outing is canceled for thunder or heavy downpours.
Yesterday morning when the heat index was 96°F, Carla sunbathed for 20 minutes at the Pitt peregrine nest. Her fanned tail shows us why she was doing it. Not only does sunbathing kill feather lice, it eases the discomfort of molting. Carla is molting her tail feathers two at a time.
Carla began her sunbathing session after she and Ecco bowed briefly over the scrape. She might have stayed longer but her youngster “Blue” showed up. Carla and Ecco are both avoiding their “kids” in an effort to make them independent.
Carla and Ecco bow at the nest, 26 June 2024 11:26am
Sunrise on the last day of Excessive Heat Warning in Pittsburgh, 22 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
22 June 2024
Most of us didn’t see much of the outdoors this week. It was just too hot. Fortunately today is the last day of Pittsburgh’s Excessive Heat Warning. Tomorrow we’ll have rain, thunderstorms and wind, though it will reach 90°F. Certainly hot. Not “Excessive.”
Yesterday while it was 93°F, one of the Pitt peregrine youngsters (“Blue”) tried to beat the heat by resting in the shade at the front of the nest. She opened her wings and gular fluttered (like panting) to cool herself off.
Blue is “panting” at the nest, 21 June 2024, 5:15pm (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Two days earlier her father, Ecco, was sunbathing at noon! The sun’s heat kills feather lice and forces the live bugs off the bird’s back to places where it’s easier to preen them away. After roasting a bit, Ecco spent time preening in the shade.
Ecco sunbathing, 20 June 2024, 12:09pm (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Some day soon (I hope!) it will be pleasant enough to take a walk in the sun as I did on 12 June at Aspinwall Riverfront Park. Every time I go there I look for peregrines but have not found any.
Common mullein at Aspinwall Riverfront Park, 12 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Cooper’s hawk standing in running water, Pittsburgh, 18 June 2024 (photo by Alan Juffs)
21 June 2024
On Tuesday afternoon when it was 94°F, a Cooper’s hawk stepped into a stream of running water on a street in Squirrel Hill. When blue jays and robins raised the alarm, “Hawk! Hawk!” Alan Juffs took these pictures.
Birds are feeling the heat this week because they wear down coats all year long, but special circulation in their legs makes chilling their feet an excellent way to cool off. The National Zoo explains:
Wading birds, such as flamingos and ibises {and this Cooper’s hawk}, have long, thin, featherless legs that make it easy to release heat from their bodies. When the blood circulates up and down their legs, heat dissipates through their skin. This natural method of thermoregulation gets a boost when the birds’ feet are submerged in cool water.
For a quick minute the Coopers hawk cooled his heels.
Cooper’s hawk cooling his feet, Pittsburgh, 18 June 2024 (photo by Alan Juffs)
His respite was cut short when the robins and jays drove him away.
Fortunately today is the last full day of Pittsburgh’s Excessive Heat Warning. The warning ends tomorrow, Saturday 22 June, at 8:00pm. Sunday will be better. Whew!
One of many yellow poplar weevils outside my window, 19 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
20 June 2024
Do you have these odd looking bugs on your windows? On your porch furniture? On your car? I had not seen yellow poplar weevils (Odontopus calceatus) for several years when John English posted a photo of one on Facebook yesterday. There were none over here in Oakland and I could honestly say, “See no weevil.”
Hah! Six hours later my windows hosted 24 of them. Welcome to weevil mating season.
Yellow poplar weevils are harmless to humans. Up close — very close — they’re kind of cute.
Closeup of yellow poplar weevil on my window, 19 June 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Some people think they’re ticks. How can you be sure they aren’t? Weevils have three things that ticks don’t have: 6 legs, a long snout, and wings. Ticks can’t fly.
Yellow poplar weevil is not a tick (photo and markup by Kate St. John)
Learn more in this vintage article and amaze your friends.
p.s. You might hear these called “billbugs” but yellow poplar weevils (Odontopus calceatus) are not the same as billbugs (Sphenophorus genus), though both are “snout beetles” (Curculionidae family).
