Ezra the red-tailed hawk incubates three eggs in Ithaca, NY (screenshot from nestcam via Cornell Lab)
In Ithaca, NY it’s been 38 days since Big Red, the red-tailed hawk, laid her first egg on March 13. Today one of her three eggs has a pip. Watch it hatch online!
Big Red and her mate Ezra nest on a light pole about 80 feet above an athletic field at Cornell University. They’ve attracted an online crowd ever since Cornell Lab began hosting their nestcam in 2012 at Cornell Lab Birdcams.
Click here or on the screenshot above to watch Big Red, Ezra and their growing family. Check out the Twitter feed on the right of their webpage for recent close-ups and videos from @CornellHawks.
Red-tailed hawk eggs hatch every other day so if you miss this first one there are two more eggs to watch.
Great chickweed, Braddock’s Trail Park, 18 Apr 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
Flowers are blooming everywhere and trees will soon leaf out. Don’t miss your chance to get outdoors while the weather’s fine.
Join me for a bird and nature walk in Schenley Park this Sunday, April 24, 8:30am – 10:30am. Meet at the Schenley Park Visitors Center. Click here for information and updates.
Or join one of these many outings — April 23 through May 1.
Everyone is welcome to participate. Click on the links for directions, meeting places, what to bring, and phone numbers for the leaders.
p.s. The flower shown above is a member of the Pink family called star chickweed or great chickweed (Stellaria pubera). It looks unremarkable until you get close. 🙂
Mary Birdsong and Sarah Sargent hike the Gull Point Trail, 15 April 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
Last Friday I hiked the Gull Point Trail at Presque Isle State Park with Mary Birdsong, Sarah Sargent and Julie Dell. Last winter’s storms blew down trees, eroded the northern shoreline, and inundated the trail but Friday was Mary’s second shorebird monitoring trip so she’d already found the best way to get to the Point.
Before we left for the park, Mary said I’d need knee-high waterproof boots. I don’t own any, so she loaned me her extra boots shown on the left. They are really tall, nearly up to my knees with a 13.5″ shaft. Mary has true knee-high muck boots with (probably) a 16″ shaft, like those pictured on the right.
Boots: LaCrosse 13.5″ shaft compared to Original Muck 16″ shaft (photos by Kate St. John & from Original Muck Boots Company)
It took us a long time to get to Gull Point on the driest route. As Julie walked ahead of me I felt great about my borrowed boots. They were perfect!
Julie hikes ahead of me on the Gull Point Trail (photo by Kate St. John)
And then we got to this spot.
Mary and Sarah walk the Gull Point Trail (photo by Kate St. John)
As you can see, the water really is knee high.
Mary and Sarah hike the Gull Point Trail (photo by Kate St. John)
I picked my way with my hiking stick and then … uh oh! The water overtopped my boots and rushed into both of them.
On dry land I pulled off the boots and dumped them out, wrung out my socks and put everything back on. Sarah’s calf-high boots were inundated too but she changed into her hiking boots (see them over her shoulder). Mary and Julie were fine with their 16″ knee boots.
The water was just 1″ higher than 13.5″ boots could bear. I’m not sure why Lake Erie is so high right now but if it gets deeper the 16″ boots will be too short as well.
Great horned owl and owlet, Homestead Grays Bridge, 15 April 2016 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
If you haven’t been to The Waterfront to see the great horned owl nest on the Homestead Grays Bridge, go soon! The owlet is growing fast — as shown in these photos by Dana Nesiti on Friday, April 15.
Great horned owl and owlet, Homestead Grays Bridge, 15 April 2016 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
Great horned owl and owlet, Homestead Grays Bridge, 15 April 2016 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
Great horned owl and owlet, Homestead Grays Bridge, 15 April 2016 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
The best viewing area is at the Three Rivers Heritage bike Trail to the right of the Red Robin restaurant at The Waterfront (175 E Waterfront Dr, Homestead, PA 15120).
Don’t miss your chance to see the owlet before he leaves the nest.
Thanks to Dana for sharing his photos. See Dana’s great photos of the Hays bald eagles at his Eagles of Hays PA Facebook page.
Horse chestnut bud bursting, 13 April 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
Last week’s cold weather was deadly for flowering trees but good for those still in bud.
A hard freeze on April 5 — 23 o F — wiped out the early-blooming trees in Schenley Park. Most of the eastern redbuds had already flowered so Schenley’s redbud display this year is anemic.
On the other hand, buds that were closed 10 days ago are in good shape now. On Wednesday I found a horse chestnut bud about to burst (above) and one with leaves and flower stack already emerged (below).
Horse chestnut leaves and flowers stack emerged from bud, 13 April 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
Even the hickories are getting into the act.
Mockernut hickory bud opening, Schenley Park, 13 April 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
Check out your neighborhood for emerging leaves and flowers. Buds are opening fast in this weekend’s warm weather.
Eastern redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are understory trees in the Pea family that bloom in early spring. Native from southern Pennsylvania to eastern Texas, they’re cultivated for their beauty because their rose-pink flowers open on bare branches before the leaves.
Come to the Redbud Project’s Launch Event on Tuesday, April 19 at 10:00am at the Three Rivers Heritage Trail near the Mister Rogers statue. Students and volunteers will plant 60 trees along the riverfront. Attendees get a free redbud seedling. (Click here for more information, here to RSVP.)
Here’s a planting along River Avenue to give you an idea of the beautiful results.
Redbud trees along River Avenue, Pittsburgh, April 2016 (photo courtesy Western PA Conservancy)
More events and volunteer opportunities are coming in the weeks ahead. Click here for a list. Get a free tree!
Soon our Downtown and riverfronts will be transformed.
(photos: redbud flowers’ closeup by Dianne Machesney. Row of redbud trees on River Avenue, courtesy Western Pennsylvania Conservancy)
Rock pigeon hopping down a step (photo by Pimthida via Flickr, Creative Commons license)
12 April 2016
Most of us have a dominant hand that’s our favorite choice for everything that requires skill. About 90% of us use our right hand with only 10% using the left hand or having no preference at all.
Did you know that pigeons (Columba livia) have a favorite foot, but it’s not overwhelmingly the right one?
Pigeon “footedness” was discovered by Harvey I. Fisher at Southern Illinois University in the mid 1950’s while he was looking for something else. In 1954-1955 he was studying the landing force that pigeons exert on a perch, so he recorded the actions of 11 pigeons landing a total of 4,000 times.
That’s when he noticed that most of them extended one foot and landed on it first, and that they had a favorite foot for doing this. He ran more experiments, tallying 7,259 landings.
Seven of the 11 pigeons were right-footed, three were left-footed and one didn’t have a favorite. That’s about 63% right footedness. Read more here in his 1957 article: Footedness in Domestic Pigeons.
