Sleepy Eyes, Thick Knees

June 28, 2017Travel, Water and ShoreKate St. John

Eurasian stone curlew in France (photo by Pascal Aleixandre via Wikimedia Commons)

There’s a page in the Birds of Europe that shows a “curlew” unlike any found in the United States. In fact he’s not related to them.

The Eurasian stone curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus) and his Burhinidae relatives have been hard to classify. They somewhat resemble bustards so were placed in the crane family, Gruiformes, but now they’re with the shorebirds in Charadriiformes. Even so, stone-curlews are far away in the family tree from our curlews, the true sandpipers Scolopacidae.

Eurasian stone-curlews breed in dry open places in Europe and spend the winter in Africa. They’re nocturnal birds the size of whimbrels with thick knees and large eyes that look perpetually sleepy. At night the stone curlew sings a loud wailing song.

“Eurasian Stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus)” from xeno-canto by Stanislas Wroza. Genre: Burhinidae.

We have no stone-curlews or thick-knees in the U.S. but they are in our hemisphere. The nearest species lives in Central and South America, the double-striped thick-knee (Burhinus bistriatus).

Double-striped thick-knee in Costa Rica (photo by Steve Garvie via Wikimedia Commons)

Photographed northwestern Costa Rica, this bird is showing off his thick knees.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals)

Spoonbills Here and There

June 27, 2017Beyond Bounds, Travel, Water and ShoreKate St. John

Eurasian spoonbill (photo by Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.net, via Wikimedia Commons) — Eurasian spoonbill in the Netherlands (photo by Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.net, via Wikimedia Commons)

A bird this unusual must surely be from the tropics, but not this one.

The Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) is a large white wading bird with black legs and a spatulate bill that’s black with a yellow tip. In breeding plumage they have feather crests and yellow chins. Click here for another view.

Spoonbills live in fresh and saltwater wetlands where they hunt for prey by sweeping their long bills side to side below the surface, snapping them shut when they feel prey close by.

Amazingly this spoonbill nests in both temperate and tropical zones. Though they’re sparse in Europe, their range extends to Africa and wide swaths of Asia (see map). Four hundred years ago Eurasian spoonbills disappeared from the British Isles. Happily, they returned to breed in the marshes of Norfolk County in 2010.

Range of Eurasian spoonbill, 2023 (map from Wikimedia Commons)

Of the six spoonbill species on Earth, all but one are white. The pink one lives in our hemisphere, the roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja).

Roseate Spoonbill (photo by Steve Gosser)

Click here to see the six species of spoonbills, Platalea. Ours is the one with “A ha ha!” in his name: Platalea ajaja!

(photo credits:
Eurasian spoonbill by Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.net, via Wikimedia Commons
map of European breeding range from Wikimedia Commons; click on the map to see the original
Roseate spoonbill by Steve Gosser)

Crow, Crow, Jay, Jay, Raven

June 26, 2017SongbirdsKate St. John

Carrion crow in London, UK (photo by http://www.sharpphotography.co.uk/ via Wikimedia Commons) — Carrion crow in London, UK (photo by SharpPhotography via Wikimedia Commons)

I recently acquired a field guide to European birds and was surprised at the similarities between their birds and ours. For the next two weeks I’ll explore some of the intriguing discoveries I made in Birds of Europe by Svensson, Mullarney and Zetterström.

Book cover: Birds of Europe (image linked from amazon.com)

The common English names of European birds are often similar to those in North America but you can’t assume that the species are actually the same. Here’s why there’s name confusion. We sometimes have …

The same common name for the same species found on both continents. Example: peregrine falcon.
Same-name birds with different adjectives. They’re not the same species but in the same family. Example: crows and jays discussed below.
Same-name species that are not at all related. Example: European and American robins.
Birds in Europe unlike any North America bird. Example: hoopoe.

Crows, jays and ravens illustrate two of these points.

Crow, Crow:

The crow pictured at the top of this article looks like an American crow, but he’s not. You’d have to know he lives in London to know he’s a carrion crow (Corvus corone). Carrion crows are the same size as American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and have the same habits. Both are in the Corvus family, though not the same species. Here’s an American crow.

American crow in Wisconsin (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Jay, Jay:

Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) and blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) have the same common name with different adjectives. Though they look different they are both in the Corvus family and have similar habits. It’s not a stretch to call them both jays. Here’s what they look like.

Eurasian jay (photo by Pierre Dalous via Wikimedia Commons)

Blue jay at Algonquin Park, Canada (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Raven:

A raven is a raven is a raven. The common raven has the same name and is the same species on both continents: Corvus corax. Whew! No confusion with this one.

Watch for more European birds in the days ahead.

(photo credits: Book cover linked from Amazon.com, all other photos from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the images to see the originals)

We’ll Stop Singing Soon

June 25, 2017Bird Behavior, Songbirds, VocalizationsKate St. John

Gray catbird singing in Madison, Wisconsin (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

This week I noticed that the birds aren’t singing as much as they did a month ago. Song sparrows and American robins are vocal but Baltimore orioles and rose-breasted grosbeaks have fallen silent.

Gray catbirds have been on and off. They sang all spring but were quiet in mid-June. This week they began singing again. Birds of North America online told me why.

Gray catbirds sing from the moment they return in the spring until late in incubation, then become quiet when the eggs hatch and young are in the nest. Their first brood fledged in mid June and now, in late June, they’re nest-building and incubating their second brood. That’s why they’re singing again, though not as often.

Other birds have never stopped. Northern mockingbird “lonely bachelors” are still singing all night. John Bauman heard this one outside his window at 1:30am Friday morning!

By mid-July most birds will stop singing.

Maybe the midnight mockingbird will take the hint but it’s possible he’ll continue into August. Yikes!

(photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)

Heal-All in Bloom

June 24, 2017Plants & FungiKate St. John

Mid to late June is not a good time for wildflowers. The woodland flowers have gone to seed and most field flowers haven’t opened yet so it’s hard to find anything blooming. Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris) obliges. It blooms from June to September.

Heal-all or Self-heal is a member of the mint (Lamiaceae) family native to Europe, Asia and North America. It’s not picky about sun and soil and it survives mowing so you’ll find it in waste places, lawns and along woodland edges. This photo from the Netherlands shows a typical setting.

Heal-all plants in bloom, Netherlands (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Though it’s mixed in with other plants heal-all’s flower head stands up like a knob studded with small tubular flowers that range in color from deep purple to pale lavender-white.

If heal-all is annoying in your lawn consider this: You can eat it or apply it as a poultice on wounds or irritated skin.

For another look at the flower and some musing about its presence in North America, see this vintage article from 2010: Heal All

(photo credits, Creative Commons licenses: top photo from Flora Pittsburghensis, second photo from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the images to see the originals)

Osprey Family of Four

June 23, 2017Birds of PreyKate St. John

Ospreys at their nest near Duquesne (photo by Dana Nesiti) — Ospreys at their nest near Duquesne, 19 June 2017 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

The young Hays bald eagle (H7) has flown but another fish-eating bird still has chicks in a nest near the Monongahela River.

Early this week Dana Nesiti (Eagles of Hays PA) visited the Three Rivers Heritage bike trail in Duquesne to check on a long-time osprey nest. The ospreys return from migration every March to set up housekeeping on an old power pole in a railyard. During the nesting season the adults are easy to see but the chicks aren’t visible until they’re almost ready to fledge.

On 19 Jun 2017 Dana wrote, I “stopped at the Osprey nest this evening and when the male flew past two little ones poked [their heads up] and when he brought a fish back only saw two again. I think we can confirm two this year.”

Osprey nest with two young near Duquesne (photo by Dana Nesiti) — Osprey nest with two young near Duquesne, 19 Jun 2017 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

It’s always cool to see a fish delivery. “Incoming!”

Incoming! An adult osprey brings fish to the nest near Duquesne, 19 June 2017 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

Thanks to our cleaner rivers, there are plenty of fish for this family of four.

See photos of the Hays Bald Eagles and other local birds of prey on Dana Nesiti’s Facebook page: Eagles of Hays PA.

(photos by Dana Nesiti, Eagles of Hays PA)

Poison Hemlock

June 22, 2017Plants & FungiKate St. John

Speaking of poisons as I did yesterday, here’s a poisonous plant that’s probably growing in your neighborhood. In late June it’s five to eight feet tall.

Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is an invasive weed made famous for killing Socrates. Arrested and condemned to death, Socrates had to drink hemlock infusion as the capital punishment of ancient Greece. If you’re curious about what happened next, click here.

How do you know if it’s in your neighborhood? Look for a member of the carrot/parsley family that has purple splotches on its stems, as shown below.

Purple-splotched poison hemlock stem (photo from Wikimedia Commons) — Poison hemlock stem (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Find out more in this vintage article from June 2011: It’s Best To Know What You’re Dealing With

(photos from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the images to see the originals)

Surprisingly Poisonous

June 21, 2017Books & Events, The Collection at CMNHKate St. John

Hooded pitohui (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Did you know that your fingers will go numb or burn if you handle this bird? You’ll be lucky if that’s all that happens. This bird is poisonous!

Though it superficially resembles our orchard oriole the hooded pitohui (Pitohui dichrous) is an Old World oriole that lives on the islands of New Guinea. Its skin and feathers are poisonous to touch though not as deadly as the golden poison frog of South America shown below. Both animals exude batrachotoxin, a deadly neurotoxin that kills by paralysis and cardiac arrest. The frog is 50 times more poisonous than the bird. He contains enough poison to kill 10 men!

Golden poison frog, Colombia (photo from Wikimdeia Commons)

These animals are poisonous because they eat poisonous insects and yet they don’t die!

Fascinated?

I learned this and more at The Power of Poison exhibit at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Power of Poison in the Natural World (exhibit banner from Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

The exhibit explores our relationships with poison in nature including how we avoid it, work around it, use it to kill or use it to cure. Throughout it all we are fascinated by its power. Here are a few of the cool things you’ll see:

A terrarium with live golden poison frogs! (Find out why these particular frogs are harmless.)
Foods we eat that are/were partly poisonous. How about cashews?
The real poisons behind famous literary scenes in Macbeth‘s witches’ brew, Alice in Wonderland‘s Mad Hatter, Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie.
What killed the Borgias’ enemies? Cleopatra? Ponce de Leon?
Poisons that cure cancer and treat high blood pressure.

In the end you’ll get to test your skills with solve-it-yourself poison mysteries.

Visit the Carnegie Museum’s The Power of Poison exhibit, now through September 4, and find out what’s surprisingly poisonous.

Make plans for your visit here.

p.s. By the way, poisons in nature aren’t that unusual. We have poisonous blister beetles, jimsonweed and poison ivy in Pennsylvania, just to name a few.

(photo credits: bird and frog photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals.
‘Poisons in Nature’ banner from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

My Heavens! We Have Fish

June 20, 2017Insects, Schenley ParkKate St. John

Panther Hollow Lake at Schenley Park, April 2017 (photo by Kate St. John) — Panther Hollow Lake in Schenley Park, April 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

During Phipps Conservatory’s Schenley Park BioBlitz on 11 June 2017, scientists tallied as many species of plants and animals as they could find in only a few hours. One place they looked was in the concrete-edged pond called Panther Hollow Lake. And they found fish!

I’m excited by this discovery because Panther Hollow Lake has a host of challenges including low stream flow, storm water inundation and deep sediment (13 feet of sediment under 2 feet of water!). In hot weather mucky algae floats on the surface and the lake stinks. This will all be corrected as part of the Four Mile Run Watershed Restoration Project but in the meantime, yuk!

Despite these problems, four species of fish were found during the BioBlitz. They are:

* Blue gill (Lepomis macrochirus), a game fish native to eastern North America but introduced around the world.

* Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus), a small fish native to eastern North America.

Pumpkinseed fish (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

* Yellow bullhead (Ameiurus natalis), a native catfish that tolerates pollution.

Yellow bullhead catfish (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

* Goldfish (Carassius auratus), native to east Asia and commonly kept as a pet.

Truth be told, participants at my last Schenley Park outing pointed out a goldfish in the pond. It was orange and white and huge! I can guess where it came from. Years ago someone said, “We can’t keep this fish at home anymore. Let’s release it in the lake.”

Click the link to check out all the species found in Schenley Park during the Phipps 2017 BioBlitz.

(photo of Panther Hollow Lake by Kate St. John. All fish photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals)

Fool Me Once …

June 19, 2017Crows & RavensKate St. John

Common raven (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

17 June 2017

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

A recent study has found that ravens understand this principle as much as we do. When a human cheats a raven, the bird remembers the experience and refuses to deal with that person in the future.

Common ravens (Corvus corax) are one of the smartest birds on earth. Not only can they solve puzzles, find long cached food, and remember their own complex social structures, but they recognize our faces and understand reciprocity with humans.

To test the ravens’ memory of fair play, researchers worked with ravens in an aviary in Austria. The goal was two-fold: (1) Can ravens remember who acted cooperatively or defectively in a single session? and (2) Can ravens who observe an interaction but have no first-hand experience remember who’s who and act accordingly?

Before the experiment began the ravens learned to offer bread to a human and receive cheese in return. They love cheese.

The experiment involved one-on-one interactions with women the birds had never met before. A woman faced the raven and held out an empty hand to receive bread while displaying a piece of cheese in her other hand. A “fair” experimenter received the bread, then gave the cheese to the raven. A “deceiver” received the bread but ate the cheese herself.

Cheated ravens were outraged! Every one of them vocalized and hopped around, then ate or hid his remaining bread so the cheater couldn’t get to it.

A month later the same experimenters tried the exchange again. The ravens remembered the people who cheated them and refused to deal with them.

Did ravens who observed the cheating behavior avoid the deceivers? Not really, but this doesn’t mean they were stupid. We humans do it, too. “She cheated him but she won’t cheat me.” Hah!

So it comes down to personal experience: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

For a quick summary of the study see this article in Science Magazine, or read the complete study at Science Direct.