Late Friday afternoon I saw a very dark cloud outside my window that looked almost flat like a wall. The horizon obscured the bottom edge as the cloud moved away toward Highland Park.
Shortly thereafter the cloud spawned a tornado that touched down at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium. The National Weather Service rated it EF1, the strongest of four tornadoes in the Pittsburgh metro area that afternoon.
Fortunately no people or animals were injured and the most dramatic damage was a car flattened by a tree in the Zoo parking lot. The video below shows local reactions including people waiting in a car on the Highland Park Bridge for the tornado to pass. Glad I was not there!
Those of you who live in severe tornado regions probably think Pittsburghers are wimps to get excited about an EF1 tornado but in fact tornadoes are rare here.
Female red-winged blackbird scans the sky while collecting nesting material, Schenley Park, 18 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
19 May 2024
The pouring rain ended yesterday morning just in time for our walk in Schenley Park.
Outing at Schenley Park, 18 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
From midnight until 8am 1.16 inches of rain fell. All the streams were rushing and Panther Hollow Lake was muddy and full. It looked as if the lake had risen 8-12 inches since I saw it the day before.
Among the cattails we found busy red-winged blackbirds including a female gathering nesting material who scanned the sky for predators (at top). The last time I saw red-wings building nests was in mid April. Was this a second nesting? Or had high water flooded nests that now were being rebuilt?
Female red-winged blackbird collecting nesting material, Schenley Park, 18 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Why was the female blackbird scanning the sky? She probably saw a red-tailed hawk shuttling food to three youngsters in their nest on the bridge.
3 youngsters in red-tailed hawk nest, Schenley Park, 18 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
All told we saw 27 species of birds plus one doe, five bucks and an active beehive.
Blackpoll warbler, Presque Isle, 12 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
18 May 2024
Best birds this week were seen at Presque Isle State Park on Sunday 12 May while birding with Charity and Kaleem Kheshgi. At Leo’s Landing many of the birds were at eye level including this blackpoll warbler and the barn and bank swallows.
Barn and bank swallows, Presque Isle, 12 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Even the treetop birds, like this yellow-throated vireo, cooperated for photographs.
Yellow-throated vireo, Presque Isle, 12 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Was this redstart was looking askance at us? Or eyeing a bug?
American redstart, Presque Isle, 12 May 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
I had high hopes for the Bird Banding at Hays Woods on Wednesday 15 May but we were in for a surprise. No birds to band! Bummer. š This restart, banded earlier in the week, shows what we could have seen.
American redstart at Bird Lab banding (photo by Kate St. John)
After we left the banding station we had good looks at a scarlet tanager and found this Kentucky flat millipede (Apheloria virginiensis). It’s colored black and orange because it’s toxic.
It secretes cyanide compounds as a defense. Don’t touch it!
You might find one perched and dying on top of a twig. That’s because it can host the parasitic fungus Arthrophaga myriapodina which causes infected individuals to climb to an elevated spot before death (per Wikipedia). Eeeew.
Centipede Aphelosia virginiensis, Hays Woods, 15 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
This week there were flowers in the tulip trees (Liriodendron) obscured by thick leaves. This flower came into view when a squirrel bit off the twig and didn’t retrieve the branch.
Tulip tree flower and leaves, 16 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Instead of rain on Wednesday we had a beautiful sunrise.
Sunrise 14 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
To make up for no rain on Wednesday it’s pouring right now on Saturday.
In early April WildlifeKate (@katemacrae) introduced us to a pair of Eurasian nuthatches (Sitta europaea) who were remodeling a nestbox she’d provided at Gwyllt Hollow in southern Wales.
When I was a kid in the 1960s common nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) were so common that they attracted my notice and inspired my love for birds. In the late 1970s many flew above my neighborhood on summer nights, hawking moths over the Magee Field ballpark lights. In the 1990s their population began a steep decline and by the late 2000s I noticed it in my neighborhood. This year I haven’t seen a nighthawk yet. Their decline has gotten worse in the last 20 years.
Nighthawks are nightjars and they are all in trouble including whip-poor-wills and chuck-wills-widow.
Interestingly you only have to count nighthawks by the light of the moon because they call more often when the moon is shining. The next full moon is 23 May, right in the middle of the survey period.
Rainbow around the nearly full moon, North Park, Pittsburgh, 16 March 2022, 8:01pm
Rainbow just before sunset in Pittsburgh, 11 May 2024, 7:30pm (photo by Kate St. John)
15 May 2024
Last week the sky above Pittsburgh was spectacular over and over again.
Stunning storms on May 8
Beautiful sunrise on the 9th
Northern lights on the 10th
Double rainbow on the 11th.
No storm photos from me (!incredibly close lightning) but I photographed sunrise on the 8th.
Sunrise on 9 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Alas I missed the northern lights on Friday.
But was treated to the double rainbow on Saturday (with raindrops on the window).
Rainbow just before sunset in Pittsburgh, 11 May 2024, 7:29pm (photo by Kate St. John)
Photographer Dave DiCello takes dramatic photos of Pittsburgh every day from the West End overlook and captured every one of these spectacular sky events.
I donāt think Iāve ever had a more incredible week of photography in #pittsburgh than the last seven days. Epic storms. Multiple rainbows. The frigginā NORTHERN LIGHTS. So thankful I had the opportunity to capture all of them over our amazing city. pic.twitter.com/W533gj1K5H
When I visit Duck Hollow I expect to see a lot of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) but that hasn’t been the case lately. Over the winter their numbers were high — anywhere from 10 to 30 — but since late March the count has dropped to 4-7 and all but one is male. Where are the female mallards?
Mallards pair up in autumn in Pennsylvania but don’t begin nesting until mid-April or early May. The burden of nesting rests on the female. She chooses the site, makes the nest, lays the eggs, does all the incubation and is the only parent that cares for the chicks.
As she searches for a nest site she engages in Persistent Quacking. (Did you know that only females make the Quack sound?) Scientists believe she’s very vocal in order to attract nearby predators. If a predator shows up at a potential site, she knows that place is unsafe and moves on.
Birds of the World notes that “Urban Mallards use a variety of additional cover types, including evergreens, ornamental shrubs, vines, gardens, woodpiles, and artificial structures such as docks, boats and buildings.”
Having chosen a densely covered site on the ground near water, she scrapes a depression and pulls in nearby material for the nest. Then she lays one egg per day, as many as 13. She adds her own down or breast feathers to cover the eggs when she takes a break. You can see feathers surrounding her on the nest below.
The first egg laid is first to hatch and others usually follow within 6ā10 hours. Most of the eggs hatch during the day (as per Birds of the World). Ā The next morning their mother leads the chicks to water. It’s the safest place to be until they can fly.
This month the males at Duck Hollow are hanging around near the females but won’t take an active role. They look like bachelor groups but they aren’t bachelors.
Have you seen any female mallards lately?
(photos embedded from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the original)
Eastern cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) rely on the wind for both pollination and seed dispersal. In the spring the male and female trees each produce an inflorescence.
The males produce catkins which drop off the tree when the pollen is gone. The females produce flowers whose seeds are embedded in fluff to carry them away on the wind.
Eastern cottonwood inflorescences: male and female (photos from Wikimedia Commons)
By the time the cottonwoods have gone to seed warbling vireos (Vireo gilvus) have returned to the trees on the shore of Lake Erie. Though the birds look nondescript their song is the sound that fills the air in the parking lot at Magee Marsh in May.
Yesterday at Presque Isle State Park we watched a warbling vireo building a nest in a cottonwood. The nest is a cup that hangs from the fork of two small branches. Both sexes help build it.
In s. Ontario [the region of Lake Erie], nest exteriors fashioned with insect and spider silk and cocoons, paper and string, and bits of birch bark; exterior walls composed of grasses, plant fibers, bark strips, plant down, hair, leaves, fine twigs, lichens, and rootlets. Linings were fine grasses, pine needles, plant fibers, rootlets, feathers, and leaves.
p.s. Here’s a mnemonic to help you remember their song:
The mnemonic of āIf I see you, I will seize you, and Iāll squeeze you till you squirt!ā is very useful in identifying and remembering this birdās song.
While easily heard, the Warbling Vireo can be difficult to spot. They tend to perch themselves high in treetops. When they are seen, this common bird is often described as ānondescriptā.
Carla watches her chicks work on a scrap of food, 10 May 2024 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
12 May 2024
On this Mothers’ Day, Carla at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest is a first time mother who’s been learning fast.
Today her chicks are 20 days old. Most of the time they eat and sleep but as mealtime approaches they get restless. Carla babysits while Ecco hunts for food.
On Friday the chicks were mighty cute as they explored the nest under Carla’s watchful eye. This day-in-a-minute video shows their antics and Carla’s busy schedule.
(video of snapshots from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Leaf-out reveals the browseline, Schenley Park, 5 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
11 May 2024
This week I photographed a few puzzling objects for the record.
When I took a photo of Full Leaf trees in Schenley Park on 5 May I noticed something newly visible in the presence of leaves. Can you see it?
Look at the center of the photo where the path disappears in the distance. Above the path is a gap that allows you to see further under the trees. The gap flows to the right and follows the contour of the hillside. That’s the browseline, the cumulative effect of too many deer eating at the same location over and over.
I saw a native(!) honeysuckle this week. Pink with fused leaves, it’s called limber or glaucous honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica).
Limber or glaucous honeysuckle, Moraine State Park, 7 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Was this a cattle egret at Moraine State Park? If so it was a rare bird! Nope. It’s a white bag.
Cattle Egret at Moraine State Park? (photo by Kate St. John, 7 May 2024)
On 3 May a leaf-footed bug appeared to walk across the sky.
Leaf-footed bug walks across the sky, 3 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
During the Pittsburgh Marathon Dippy the dinosaur watched near the halfway mark.
Dippy wears black and gold for the Pittsburgh Marathon, 5 May 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
