Kentucky warbler, Harrison Hills Park, 27 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
1 June 2024
This week was “All Peregrines All The Time” with a notable exception.
On Memorial Day Charity Kheshgi and I wanted to see a Kentucky warbler (Geothlypis formosa) so we went to Harrison Hills Park where they breed. It didn’t take long to hear one singing in an extensive thicket along the Pond Trail but we could not see him. We waited patiently for him to appear.
What an elusive bird! We never saw him fly from one end of the thicket to the other though he did it many times. He even flew, unseen, over the trail we were standing on. We must have waited half an hour before we got a glimpse of him in the shadows.
Kentucky warbler, Harrison Hills Park, 27 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
And then he perched and sang (photo at top). Ta dah! A Life Bird Photo for Charity.
We also saw an eastern wood-pewee (Contopus virens) building a nest.
Eastern wood-pewee with nesting material, Harrison Hills Park, 27 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
She had already decorated the exterior with lichen …
Eastern wood-pewee nest in progress, Harrison Hills Park, 27 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
… and was now working on the nest lining. She placed material inside the cup and used her belly to form the interior.
Eastern wood-pewee building nest, Harrison Hills Park, 27 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Her mate sang “Pee Wee” in the woods nearby.
Birds of the World says the “female often gives a plaintive, two-noted wee-ooo when nest building” but we didn’t hear that sound. She was busy.
If you can’t come to Fledge Watch at Schenley Plaza you might catch a glimpse of the juvenile Pitt peregrines on the National Aviary’s falconcam. Yesterday Bob Mulvihill positioned the camera so we can view as much of the nestrail as possible. When the youngsters are at its furthest end we can see them. (That’s the left side of the nestrail as viewed from Schenley Plaza and top center in the camera image above).
This morning at dawn they waited for a food delivery which must have been dropped off where we couldn’t see it on the near end.
Peregrine “Stammy” in Youngstown Ohio, 2008 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
30 May 2024
Fifteen days from now we will celebrate 52 years since the first big step was taken to save peregrine falcons from extinction in the U.S. Scientists had published studies showing that DDT was thinning raptor eggshells and causing all nests to fail. At that point there were no juvenile peregrines east of the Rockies to carry on the species. Thankfully, on 14 June 1972 DDT was banned in the U.S.
While the male chick, Yellow, spent most of yesterday off camera, the National Aviary adjusted the falconcam to view the female chick (Blue) on the green perch. When she wasn’t preening or snoozing she flapped a lot to exercise her wings. See and hear(!) the flapping in this 2-minute video.
Afternoon slot — 4:30pm to 5:30pm on 5/30, 6/1, 6/2, 6/4
Fledge Watch is weather dependent and will be canceled for rain or thunder. If no one shows up I might stay only 30 minutes, so come at the beginning not at the end. Before you come, check my Events Page for cancellations.
Yesterday evening the smaller of the two Pitt peregrine chicks, “Yellow”(*), jumped up to the nestrail and out of camera view. This sequence from the snapshot camera shows where he went.
Peregrine chick “Yellow” hops up out of camera view, 27 May 2024, 7:06pm
The streaming camera never saw it. Meanwhile the remaining chick, female “Blue”(*), remained on the green perch.
Sometimes she wasn’t visible on the streaming camera but you can see the entire area here on the snapshot page.
In the next couple of days the number of chicks at the nest will fluctuate until both are gone. Don’t worry. They are stepping up to the nestrail — the “runway” — where they’ll learn to fly.
Yellow’s first step happened much sooner than I expected. Fledge Watch might be too late to see him!
(*) Names: Yellow and Blue are temporarily named for the colored tape placed on their USFW bands when they were banded last week. Yellow is the smaller one, likely male. Blue is the larger and definitely female.
Pittsburghers used to have a tradition that Memorial Day was the start of outdoor tomato planting season. But if you grow tomatoes today you know that’s not the case. You probably planted them weeks ago.
Just 50 years ago Pittsburgh had an annual average minimum temperature of -10 to 0 degrees F and those numbers didn’t change ten years after this USDA map was produced in 1960.
The Pittsburgh area shifted a 1/2 zone warmer in eleven years. Notice the paler color in the river valleys in Allegheny County on the zoomed map below. Our average annual lowest temperature used to be -5° to 0°F but it jogged 5 degrees warmer. Now it’s 0° to 5° F.
Pitt peregrine chicks watch intently, 24 May 2024 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera)
26 May 2024
Though the Pitt peregrine chicks are turning brown, they still have tufts of down and white pantaloons on their legs. It’s hard to believe that by the end of the week they will ledge walk off the nest and out of camera view. One of them will make his first flight next weekend. The second will follow shortly thereafter.
Yesterday the youngsters spent a lot of time exercising their wings — “Wingercize” — flapping frequently in this snapshot video. The larger chick, female Blue, used the gravel like a runway. It won’t be long before they fly.
Pitt peregrine chicks exercise their wings, 25 May 2024 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera)
After the chicks walk out of camera view the best place to see them is from Schenley Plaza. I plan to stop by once a day to check on their progress.
Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch, Schenley Plaza, selected times May 30 to June 3, 2024.
Meet me at the tent at the dates and times below.
Schenley Plaza tent (photo by Kate St. John)
Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch is a drop-in event to see the Cathedral of Learning peregrine family and watch young birds learn to fly. I’ll have my scope on hand for a zoomed in view of the youngsters exercising their wings.
Where:Schenley Plaza near the tent, pictured above. When: Fledge Watch is weather dependent and will be canceled for rain or thunder. Check the Events page before you come in case of weather cancellation.
NOTE: If no one shows up I might stay only 30 minutes, so come at the beginning not the end.
30 May, 4:30pm to 5:30pm (Thursday)
31 May, 11:30am to 12:30pm (Friday)
1 June, 4:30pm to 5:30pm (Saturday) I’m not available on this date. John English will be there.
2 June, 4:30pm to 5:30pm (Sunday) John English and I will both be there.
3 June, 11:30am to 12:30pm (Monday)
4 June (Tuesday)CANCELED BECAUSE THEY FLEW!
If we’re lucky, here’s what we’ll see:
In 2009 Stephen Tirone filmed the chicks standing on the nest railing and flapping like crazy. Their parents encouraged them by flying back and forth overhead. Then one of the chicks made its first flight — straight out — at the 0:56 second spot.
Black rat snake crosses the path, Frick Park, 16 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
25 May 2024
Sometimes while birding we find species we aren’t looking for. This spring in Frick Park we’ve seen two slow moving snakes and two “robbers” mating.
The rope across the trail, above, is a black rat snake or eastern ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) who’s looking for lunch or a safe place to digest his meal.
Two weeks earlier a group of us encountered another black rat snake off trail in dappled shade. It came to a halt when 12 excited people stopped to take its picture.
Black rate snake, Frick Park, 16 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Black rate snake closeup, Frick Park, 16 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Black rat snakes are big but not venomous and tend to be docile (from a human point of view). They kill by constriction to eat rodents, lizards and frogs and can climb trees to eat nestlings and eggs. If you find a black rat snake in your shed it’s been performing a public service by eating mice.
Robber flies, the Asilidae family, were news to me. When Charity Kheshgi and I saw these bugs mating we didn’t know what they were.
Robber flies mating, Frick Park, 16 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)Robber flies mating, Frick Park, 16 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
They are identified as members of the robber fly family because they have bristles (called mystax) on the face, a depression between the eyes, and a stout proboscis, described below.
They are powerfully built, bristly flies with a short, stout proboscis enclosing the sharp, sucking hypopharynx. The name “robber flies” reflects their expert predatory habits; they feed mainly or exclusively on other insects and, as a rule, they wait in ambush and catch their prey in flight.
If you drink beer you’re familiar with the flavor of hops which is used as a bittering, flavoring, and stability agent in beer. Depending on the variety, hops can also add floral, fruity, or citrus flavors and aromas.
The hops plant itself, Humulus lupulus, is a perennial vine (*) that vigorously twines itself around uprights and strings in the hopfield.
To do so it uses to a motion called Circumnutation.
Circumnutation refers to the circular movements often exhibited by the tips of growing plant stems, caused by repeating cycles of differences in growth around the sides of the elongating stem.
Talk about allergies! Oak tree pollen is finally diminishing in Pittsburgh, but grass pollen allergies are ramping up. I’m allergic to lawn grass. I feel it already.
A study last year explained why we suffer more in the 21st century. Pollen season is getting worse every year because climate change is lengthening the growing season and increasing pollen production.
“Plants that are grown in pollution-stressed situations are known to release more allergens,” says Elaine Fuertes, a research fellow at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.
Depending on the plant species, air pollutants can change the chemical composition of pollen, increasing the potency of pollen allergens and triggering stronger allergic reactions in people. …
…Air pollutants like particulate matter and nitrogen oxides may also make the exine — the outer coating of pollen grains — from some plant species more fragile and, therefore, more likely to rupture into smaller fragments that can penetrate deeper into the lungs.
BONUS FACTLET: While looking for lawn grass photos I learned that Pennsylvania’s most common lawn grass, Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), is not native to Kentucky nor to North America. Poa pratensis is from Europe, North Asia and the mountains of Algeria and Morocco.
