Prothonotary warbler “stuck in a mirror” (screenshot from video by waterwarbler on Flickr)
I’ve seen robins, cardinals and mockingbirds attack car mirrors but never this!
Last Thursday waterwarbler captured video and photos of a prothonotary warbler fighting with his own reflection in DuPage County, Illinois. Click on the screenshot above to see the video. (Note: When another vehicle drives by the warbler is fine. He moves to the hood of the car.)
Bear scat, Sugar Run Trail, Ohiopyle State Park, 19 May 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
4 June 2016
Last month I hiked the well traveled Sugar Run Trail at Ohiopyle State Park. At the top of the trail I saw footprints of people and dogs … and I encountered this. I put my boot next to it for scale.
I didn’t see paw prints near it but the size of this scat pile indicates it was deposited by a large mammal. There’s not a lot of fur in it and it’s blue (fruit!) so this animal eats more than just meat.
The scat had been deposited so recently that I could smell it as I took the photograph. I found another, older pile further down the trail. This large omnivorous mammal left his mark over and over again. A black bear.
The bear lives here. I was just visiting. Though he wasn’t in sight he was probably in earshot so I made human noise (speaking, whistling) so he’d know I was traveling through.
I’m sure he didn’t want to be surprised any more than I did!
Periodical 17-year cicada, Washington Cemetery, Washington, PA, 30 May 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
3 June 2016
I had to see them for myself.
Thousands and thousands of very loud bugs the size of my thumb with bright red eyes. They’ve spent 17 years of their youth underground to emerge as adults, en masse, for only 4-8 weeks. I didn’t want to miss the spectacle so I drove down to Washington, PA last Monday to see …
17-year cicadas (Magicicada sp.), unique to eastern North America, are so tasty to birds and mammals that they survive by emerging in overwhelming numbers on a prime-number cycle. There are 13 regional Broods with different cycles. This one, Brood V (i.e. Brood 5), lives in parts of West Virginia, Ohio and the bottom left corner of Pennsylvania. Click here for the list of all Broods and regions. Here’s the US map.
In the spring of their 17th year the nymphs dig tunnels that stop just below the surface … and then they wait. The moment of their emergence depends on soil temperature and perhaps on their ability to hear each other making sounds that mean “I’m ready.” (read more here)
They emerge at night and crawl up on trees, plants and walls to shed their exoskeletons and dry their wings. At this point they are very soft and tasty to predators.
Adults and cast-off shells of Periodical 17-year cicadas, Brood V, Washington, PA, 30 May 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
Periodical 17-year cicada – wings did not unfurl properly. Washington, PA, 30 May 2016. Its . (photo by Kate St. John)
There are so many of them that later arrivals knock the old shells off to the ground.
Periodical 17-year cicada shells, Washington Cemetery, Washington, PA, 30 May 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
It takes about a week for their bodies to stiffen enough to make their distinctive call. When they’re ready the males congregate in trees and vibrate their tymbals to attract the females. Each bug is individually loud. Thousands of them are overwhelming. Here’s the sound from a cicada-filled tree. The audio sounds like a hiss but it’s actually bugs.
After they mate the females rip a long slit in the bark of a twig and lay up to 600 eggs. Weeks later, the eggs hatch and the nymphs fall to the dirt where they burrow underground to live for 17 years.
Later this summer you’ll know cicadas were here when you see brown leaves on branch tips.
Brown tips on tree branches because of cicada egg-laying (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Two peregrine chicks at Third Avenue nest, 1 June 2016 (photo by Lori Maggio)
All Peregrines All The Time …
Yesterday was a good day for peregrine watching in Downtown Pittsburgh as you can see from Lori Maggio’s photos.
Two of the four peregrine chicks were often perched at the Third Avenue ledge. When I stopped by for half an hour at 10:30am I saw 5 out of the 6 family members — three chicks and both parents.
Two peregrine chicks at Third Avenue nest, 1 June 2016 (photo by Lori Maggio)
In the photo above, the bird on the right is whining (or “screeching”) for attention. If you listen carefully you can hear these youngsters above the roar of nearby construction.
On Friday and Saturday I’ll be Downtown at the Third Avenue watch site (see map here) at the times listed below. Stop by to chat or for information on what to do in case of a rescue.
Friday June 3, 12:15pm to 1:00pm
Saturday June 4, 11:00am to 11:45am
Keep the PA Game Commission “rescue” number handy: 724-238-9523
Peregrine chick at the Third Avenue nest, 31 May 2016 (photo by Peter Bell)
Thanks to everyone who stopped by Third Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh to check on the peregrine nest site. Keep up the good work. We’ve learned there are four chicks in the nest and at least two will fly this week.
Downtown Fledge Watch has begun!
Yesterday afternoon John English and Peter Bell captured photos of the first chick whining at the nest opening and exercising his wings.
Wing exercise — a peregrine chick flaps at the Third Avenue nest (photo by Peter Bell)
This morning Doug Cunzolo and Lori Maggio saw two youngsters perched there.
Because this nest is only 12 stories high, these birds will need our help.
In the first 24 hours of flight, young peregrines lack the wing strength to take off from the ground. If they land on the street they just stand there and may be hit by vehicles. If you see a peregrine on the ground call the PA Game Commission (PGC) at 724-238-9523. If you can safely do so, carefully corral and guard the bird until PGC arrives.
Rather than a formal schedule, just stop by Third Avenue whenever you can (see map). This photo by John English shows you where to look once you get there (yellow arrow). The red arrow shows an adult on a small windowsill above the nest.
Peregrine nest site at Third Avenue (yellow arrow). Adult in small window above the nest (red arrow). [photo by John English]On your way to Third Avenue keep this number handy: 724-238-9523. The youngsters may land a few blocks away and you might get a very close look at a peregrine!
After the first chick flies, the process lasts about a week … so keep coming back.
Thanks to Point Park University for providing this year’s “rescue porch” on a balcony of Lawrence Hall. Special thanks to Amanda McGuire, Maria and Caleb for the rescue porch arrangements.
Peregrine chick at entrance to the nest, Downtown Pittsburgh, May 2012 (photo by Kate St. John)
Can you spare five minutes to look at the back of a building in Downtown Pittsburgh?
This year’s peregrine nest is 12 stories high so it’s likely that a few of the chicks will land on the street on their first flight just as they did last year. I’d like to schedule a Fledge Watch but I don’t know the age and number of chicks because no one’s ever seen them. That’s where you come in.
A couple of days before young peregrines fly they appear at the nest opening, as shown with a red arrow above.
It only takes five minutes to stop by the Third Avenue sidewalk at the edge of the Carlyle parking lot and look up at the nest opening. Is there a juvenile there? If so, leave a comment on this blog. And take a picture.
Look for brown-and-cream-colored birds at the opening like those in this closeup from last year’s nest. (The one on the left is old enough to fly immediately.)
Two of 2015’s Downtown peregrine chicks, 11 June 2015 (photo by Matt Digiacomo)
If they’ve already flown, check the area nearby. They might need your help.
In the first 24 hours of flight, young peregrines lack the wing strength to take off from the ground. If they land on the street they just stand there and may be hit by vehicles. If you see a peregrine on the ground call the PA Game Commission (PGC) at 724-238-9523. If you can safely do so, carefully corral and guard the bird until PGC arrives.
There’s no need to linger. All it takes is five minutes.
(photo of Third Avenue site by Kate St. John. photo of peregrine chicks by Matt Digiacomo)
This Watch is 98% fun and only 2% rescue. The nest site is so high that only one fledgling out of 43 has ever been rescued from the ground.(*)
Stop by the tent and join the fun. Watch C1 walk on the ledges and exercise her wings. See her parents, Hope and Terzo, show off with some really cool flight demonstrations. Learn about peregrines and swap stories including news of Pitt peregrine alumni and the Downtown peregrines.
Here’s the schedule, weather permitting. The Watch will be cancelled for bad weather, so check my Events page for updates. NOTE THE CHANGES MADE BELOW!
Tuesday, June 7, Noon to 2:00pm.Tuesday CANCELLED. I’ll be at Downtown Fledge Watch because those youngsters are fledging now and need observers in case of rescue.
Wednesday, June 8, Noon to 2:00pm.Wednesday CANCELLED. Again, I’ll be at Downtown Fledge Watch because those youngsters need observers in case of rescue.
Thursday, June 9, 8:30 to 9:30am +Noon to 2:00pm. Only a midday watch today. Will C1 be ledge walking today? If so she’ll be easy to see from Schenley Plaza.
Friday, June 10, 8:30 to 9:30am + Noon to 2:00pm. Only a midday watch today.
Saturday, June 11, 9:00 to 11:00am + Noon to 3:00pm. I’ll be covering the morning Watch. John English will cover noon to 3:00pm.
Sunday, June 12, 11:00am to 1:00pm. Perhaps C1 will fledge today … or tomorrow.
Monday, June 13, noon to 2:00pm. Check the Events page for updates to this schedule.
Plan on joining me at the Schenley Plaza tent for Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch.
Red poppies (photo from Lest We Forget via Wikimedia Commons)
It’s Poppy Day.
When I was a child, we wore a red paper flower on a wire stem on Memorial Day. They were offered by Veterans of Foreign Wars to passersby for a donation to help veterans. The paper flowers symbolize the Remembrance Poppy from World War I.
Poppies became a veterans’ symbol thanks to the tireless efforts of Moina Michael, “The Poppy Lady,” who was inspired by the poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae. McCrae wrote the poem for a friend who died at the Second Battle of Ypres in Flanders (Belgium) in 1915. After the battles, poppies bloomed among the graves.
At first her idea did not catch on, but in 1922 the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) adopted the poppy as their official memorial flower. That year they distributed paper poppies made in France but in 1924 they brought the program stateside to the first Buddy Poppy factory, located in Pittsburgh and manned by disabled veterans.
Ninety years later the Buddy Poppies are still assembled by disabled and needy veterans at VA Hospitals across the country and Buddy Poppy fund drives focus on Memorial and Veterans Days. (Watch a video about the VFW Buddy Poppy program here.)
That’s why I think of poppies today.
(photo from Lest We Forget via Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original)
