Bad Air Returns

Weather & Sky
  • Cathedral of Learning from CMU, 29 June 2023 (photo by Kaleem Kheshgi)

17 July 2023

When Canadian wildfire smoke swept into Pittsburgh in late June it gave us two and a half days of terrible air quality, then dissipated suddenly on 30 June. Kaleem Kheshgi captured the stark contrast from smoke to clear in photos on 29 and 30 June. Even as the smoke dispersed meteorologists warned that it could and would return because the fires are still burning.

Today their prediction comes true. Wildfire smoke from Alberta and British Columbia has blown into the U.S. and caused Code Red air quality alerts yesterday from Montana to Michigan and Kentucky.

AirNow interactive air quality map on Sunday 17 July 2023 as of 4pm EDT (screenshot from AirNow.gov)

Pittsburgh was in the clear at the time but not anymore. At 5am today Pittsburgh was already in Code Orange and the red zone was approaching. Cleveland and Buffalo are among the many locations in red. (Pittsburgh is marked with a * on these maps.)

Regional air quality on 17 July 2023 at 5am from AirNow.gov (Wisconsin to Kentucky, Missouri to Cape Cod)

Code Orange will force some of my friends indoors today. Code Red is bad for everyone.

A code ORANGE air quality alert means that air pollution concentrations within the region may become unhealthy for sensitive groups. Sensitive groups include children, the elderly, and people suffering from asthma, heart disease, or other lung diseases. The effects of air pollution can be minimized by avoiding outdoor exercise or strenuous activity.

A code RED air quality alert means that air pollution concentrations are unhealthy for the general population.
— National Weather Service Alert

A look at some individual monitors on the AirMatters app tells the story at 6:30am. I’ve set my app to look at Pittsburgh, plus local monitors near Frick Park (“Forest Glen”), Carlow University and one of several monitors in Homestead.

screenshot from AirMatters app, 17 July 6:30am (my data focus is on Pittsburgh)

Today’s forecast says we’ll be in Code Orange but the Red Zone is so close that we will probably see Red spikes before rain and thunderstorms clear it out late this afternoon/evening.

Check your own air quality at AirNow https://www.airnow.gov/. Download the AirMatters app at the Apple Store or Google Play.

(photos by Kaleem Kheshgi, maps from AirNow.gov)

The Essence of Iridescence

Bird Anatomy, Insects, Musings & News
Anna’s hummingbird (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

16 July 2023

What causes iridescence? What makes a hummingbird glow red in one position, then dull green when he moves his head?

video from NDTV on YouTube

Other dazzlers, including beetles, shells, and rocks, have similar physical iridescent characteristics.

Six-spotted tiger beetle in Maryland (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Nautilus shell sliced in half (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Nautilus shell cut in half (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Iridescence on anthracite, a.k.a. peacock coal (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Sun dog — an iridescent cloud (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Find out what causes iridescence in this 16 minute video from PBS @BeSmart. If you don’t have much time, watch the first 4+ minutes about hummingbirds.

video embedded from PBS @BeSmart

p.s. This article was inspired by All About Birds: What Is the Essence of Iridescence? Ask a Hummingbird.

(credits are in the captions, click the links to see the originals)

At The Cape Last Week

Travel
Clouds over Cape Cod Bay near Mayflower Beach, 11 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

15 July 2023

Last week at Cape Cod I came away with many impressions and a few photos of things-that-stand-still. The clouds above Cape Cod Bay and the shallow waves at low tide made a pretty picture on 11 July.

Bird photos are beyond my cellphone’s capability so I’ve borrowed from Wikimedia Commons to illustrate. The Best Birds without a doubt were piping plovers and their chicks at Sea Gull Beach. So cute!

Piping plover chick, Rachel Carson NWR, Maine (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

The most common songbird on the Cape is the gray catbird — as common as robins are in Pittsburgh.

Gray catbird in Massachusetts (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Ospreys were always overhead. Most of them had nestlings getting ready to fledge.

Osprey bringing food to its nest, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Best Insect was an ebony damselfly seen at Stony Brook Mill Site with Bob Kroeger who took this photo.

Ebony damselfly, Stony Brook Mill Site, 8 July 2023 (photo by Bob Kroeger)

Cape Cod has *lots* of rabbits everywhere. I didn’t think to take a photo when a rabbit was nearby. Can you see it in dappled shade in the middle of this photo?

One of the many rabbits on Cape Cod: on the trail at Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary, 11 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

The flowers on this spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) had not yet opened on 6 July.

Spotted wintergreen, South Dennis, MA, 6 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

A Life Flower: American cow-wheat (Melampyrum lineare) in the dry upland pine forest at Wellfleet Bay. Amazingly it is semi-parasitic with leaves for photosynthesis and roots for pulling nutrients from pines, poplars, sugar maples, red oaks and low-bush blueberries.

American cow-wheat, Wellfleet Bay Audubon Sanctuary, 8 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Greenery we never see in Pittsburgh –> seaweed.

Seaweed at Sea Gull Beach, Yarmouth, MA, 7 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Our family prefers the beaches on Cape Code Bay where there’s lots of space to spread out at low tide. At high tide all but the far edge is underwater.

Overcast morning at Corporation Beach, Dennis, MA, 9 July 2023 (photo by Richard St. John)

And the waves are shallow like those at Lake Erie.

Sunny afternoon near Mayflower Beach, Dennis, MA, 11 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

At the end of our stay it was 90 degrees for a couple of days. Not so much fun in the sun. Though it’s nice to travel I’m glad to be home.

(photos by Kate St. John, Bob Kroeger and from Wikimedia Commons)

It Won’t Be Long Now

Insects, Spotted Lanternflies
Red nymph stage of the spotted lanternfly, Pittsburgh, 13 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

14 July 2023

Back in the ‘Burgh from our trip to Cape Cod, the first thing I noticed in my neighborhood was a troop of red nymph spotted lanternflies crawling on walls and sidewalks near an ailanthus tree — their host tree, a.k.a Tree of Heaven.

Red nymphs are the fourth and final instar in spotted lanternfly development.

Spotted lanternfly life cycle (image from Wikimedia Commons)

When the adult is ready to emerge, the red nymph stands motionless while the adult body pokes its head out and molts the red nymph exoskeleton. Penn State Extension describes lanternfly stages and has a photo of the adult emerging here.

I don’t know how long the red nymph stage lasts but I’m sure we’ll soon see large flying(!) spotted lanternflies.

It won’t be long now. 🙁

For tips on how to control them, see my June article, Outsmart Spotted Lanternflies, and Penn State’s Extension educators explain spotted lanternfly life cycle, offer management tips

(photos by Kate St. John and from Wikimedia Commons)

Most Feared at a Picnic?

Mammals
Black Bear (photo by Chuck Tague)
Black bear (photo by Chuck Tague)

13 July 2023

What animal is most feared at a picnic? If a bear shows up it’s very frightening but if everyone shouts he’ll leave.

When it comes to fear this slow-moving docile animal makes everyone freeze in place. Oh no!

Don’t move! Don’t. Move.

Striped skunk, Cokeville Meadows NWR, Wyoming, Sept 2015 (photo by K. Theule/ USFWS)

Read more about skunks in this vintage article:

Unscented

(photo credits in the captions)

Drought: The Long and Short of It

Climate Change, Weather & Sky
View of South Mountain from Queen Creek, AZ (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

12 July 2023

Short term:

Last Friday, 7 July, Pennsylvania was placed under a statewide drought watch by the PA Department of Environmental Protection. They evaluated four factors to make the decision: precipitation, surface water flow, groundwater level, and soil moisture. The most worrisome was low groundwater in 16 counties and a 90-day rain deficit in Elk and Warren.

And then it rained in central and eastern PA and the Drought Condition map changed. Most of the state is now in the green (good) or yellow zone. Except for low groundwater in 14 of our 67 counties, the drought appears to be short term because a good rain can clear it up. See the Before and After, July 9 and 11, in this slideshow.

USGS Pennsylvania Drought Condition monitoring as of July 9 and 11, 2023

Long term:

Meanwhile, Arizona is not in a drought right now but it’s a desert, its water supply is limited, and it suffered a long term drought for many years. Water allocation has to be planned in Arizona so they won’t run out. This prompted Phoenix put the brakes on development last month in places that rely on ground water.

Arizona will not approve new housing construction on the fast-growing edges of metro Phoenix that rely on groundwater thanks to years of overuse and a multi-decade drought that is sapping its water supply. …

Officials said developers could still build in the affected areas but would need to find alternative water sources to do so — such as surface or recycled water.

Driving the state’s decision was a projection that showed that over the next 100 years, demand in metro Phoenix for almost 4.9 million acre-feet of groundwater would be unmet without further action, Hobbs said. An acre-foot of water is roughly enough for two to three U.S. households per year. …

Hobbs added that there are 80,000 unbuilt homes that will be able to move forward because they already have assured water supply certificates within the Phoenix Active Management Area, a designation used for regulating groundwater.

— TribLive: Drought, water overuse prompt Arizona to limit construction in some fast-growing parts of Phoenix

I’ve marked up this Google map of Phoenix to show the fastest growing areas circled in red.

Map of Phoenix, AZ metro with circles added: 5 fastest growing suburbs (screenshot from Google Maps)

Back in the 1990s I had a friend in the City of Phoenix’s economic development department who was proud to predict that, based on the city’s projected level of development, they had 75 years of water. In other words, they were OK until approximately 2070. My thought at the time was “Only 75 years?? Then what??”

Now we know. It took only 30 years to put the brakes on.

p.s. Phoenix, in Maricopa County, is one of the fastest growing areas of the U.S.; Maricopa grew 20.55% since 2010. Being from Pittsburgh, where Allegheny County grew 2.89% in the same time period, I marveled at the notion of 80,000 unbuilt homes.

(photo and map credits are in the captions, click on the links to see the originals)

Bug Bait, Bug Bite

Insects
A child’s feet in sandals on grass (photo by wyldanthem via Flickr Creative Commons license)

11 July 2023

If you attend a summer outdoor wedding and they supply bug repellent at the door, take the hint! The bugs will be bad and you’ll wish you’d used that bug spray.

At home in western Pennsylvania I know how our mosquitoes behave. A dab of bug repellent cream on each hotspot is enough to keep them at bay, even in dress up clothes at a wedding. We don’t have no-see-ums so I was totally unprepared for what happened at dusk on Cape Cod.

In dress up clothes and sandals I enjoyed the party and didn’t notice that I was bug bait until it was too late. I had never experienced biting gnats so when they flew around my head I just shooed them away. Hah! They bit my scalp, my arms and legs, my neck. I didn’t feel them biting me.

Biting gnat (image from Wikimedia Commons)

About an hour later the bites started itching. Aaarrg!

Evidence of biting gnats, July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Biting gnats? Lesson learned. At last night’s family picnic — with no bug repellent available — I wore hiking clothes and my rain jacket with the hood over my head. Yes, I looked odd but I was only bitten once — on my hand.

I can hardly wait for the itching to stop.

(credits are in the photo captions, click on the links to see the originals)

These Biting Flies Love Blue

Insects
Greenhead horse-fly (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

10 July 2023

This week at Cape Cod I learned how to avoid a biting fly I never see in Pittsburgh.

Greenhead horse-flies(Tabanus sp.) inhabit the salt marshes of North America’s Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to Florida. For most of their lives they ignore humans, but during egg-laying season the females need a blood meal to produce their second sets of eggs. When they fly off the marsh in search of something to bite, human skin is very tempting. Ouch! It hurts immediately and raises a welt.

Greenheads are so annoying in July and August that the Cape Cod Greenhead Control Program sets up traps to reduce their numbers. Before I went birding at Water Street Marsh one of the gatekeepers at Seagull Beach told me “Don’t go near the blue boxes.”

Greenhead fly trap at Water Street Marsh, Yarmouth, MA, 7 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

The blue boxes trap only the female greenheads that are looking for a blood meal. Since the females search for mammals by smelling their breath, the traps are baited with artificial ox-breath, octenol, and are painted blue because it’s the bugs’ favorite color. According to Cape Cod Greenhead Control, up to 30,000 flies are found in each trap at the end of the summer.

In places without greenhead traps, such as Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Essex County, Massachusetts, there are sometimes signs to warn visitors.

Greenhead warning sign, Parker River NWR, July 2014 (photo by Colleen Prieto via Flicker Creative Commons license)
Greenhead warning sign, Parker River NWR, July 2014 (photo by Colleen Prieto via Flicker Creative Commons license)

At Water Street Marsh I stayed on the gravel and left my blue backpack in the car.

Read about the Cape Cod Greenhead Control program in their Greenhead fly pamphlet.

(photos credits in the captions)

Climate Change Will Move Bald Eagles Away From Home

Birds of Prey, Climate Change
Pair of bald eagles at Chincoteague NWR, Virginia, 2010 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

9 July 2023

A decade ago we thought climate change was a slow moving train but now it’s heating up so fast that new calculations predict we will hit the +1.5°C (2.7°C) global temperature mark in the next five years. The National Audubon Society’s Climate Initiative predicts that most bird species will shift northward. Unfortunately our national symbol, the bald eagle, will leave much of its favorite range in the U.S.

… The Audubon Society predicts that three-quarters of the bald eagles’ current summer range will become unsuitable for the birds in about 60 years.

“A lot of their breeding is going to shift completely into Canada and Alaska. So the lower 48 is looking less ideal for breeding conditions for the species,” said Brooke Bateman, senior scientist at the National Audubon Society.

— Yale Climate Connections: How climate change could hurt bald eagles

At +1.5°C — in the next five+ years — the biggest decrease will be in a swath of the Southeast and Lower Mississippi Valley. This screenshot map of bald eagle climate vulnerability is tiny on purpose so that you’ll view it on the Audubon website. Click here, then scroll down to see the maps for winter/summer.

Bald eagle predicted summer range change when climate change heats +1.5 degrees C (screenshot from Audubon.org field guide bald eagle account)

A global temperature rise of +3.0°C will reduce bald eagle nests in a huge swath of the U.S. from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina westward to Nebraska and Arkansas. This is unhappy news for Pittsburgh where red indicates a 15% loss of bald eagle nests under the +3.0°C scenario. [Again, view this map on the Audubon website. Click here, then scroll down to see the maps for winter/summer.]

Bald eagle predicted summer range change when climate change heats +3.0 degrees C (screenshot from zoomed Audubon.org field guide bald eagle account)

Sadly, climate change will prompt our national bird to move away from home.

Read more about the Audubon climate change report at Yale Climate Connections. See the affect of climate change on the bald eagle’s range in the Audubon Field Guide:

(photo from Wikimedia Commons, screenshot from Audubon.org field guide bald eagle account)

On a Morning in July

Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Beaded water on a bug-eaten leaf, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

8 July 2023

This week on Fourth of July morning, the birds were pretty good at Frick Park but the flowers, insects and an amazing mushroom were even better.

Humidity beaded the edge of a leaf while a great spangled fritillary* (Speyeria cybele) fed on butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). (* see the comments. This might be a different fritillary than what I wrote.)

Great spangled fritillary, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

A spider hid among the wingstem leaves.

Spider hiding on wingstem, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

A Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) had woven itself through a chainlink fence. Despite its invasive nature, American goldfinches love its seeds.

Canada thistle weaves through a chainlink fence, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

This mushroom certainly caught our attention along the Nine Mile Run Trail. I think it’s a wood ear mushroom, Auricularia species, whose “ears” look like they are made of jelly.

Wood ear fungi, Auricularia species, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

If you know what mushroom this is — or if I’ve misidentified anything — please leave a comment with the answer.

(photos by Kate St. John)