Migration! Arrivals & Departures, 14 Sep

Migration
Ovenbird, Oct 2020 (photo by Steve Gosser)

14 September 2023

Pittsburgh’s bird migration forecast looks great for three days in a row. Last night through Friday night will see a huge passage of birds overhead with excellent birding opportunities today, Friday and Saturday.

Here’s what migration radar looked like at 5:00am this morning.

Birdcast Live Migration screenshot for 14 Sep 2023, 5:00am

During this massive movement some species are departing, some arriving. Let’s take a look again at Birdcast’s regional list of Species On The Move, described in detail last month, to learn what we can expect to see.

Noticable Departures: Who Just Left?

Greater and lesser yellowlegs, April 2020 (photo by Lauri Shaffer)

Lots of species left recently but most of them were shorebirds. Since Pittsburgh doesn’t have a shore we rarely see those listed below. Occasionally a lesser or greater yellowlegs is reported but don’t expect to find one now.

Here’s a quick summary of rapid departures as of 14 September 2023 in a screenshot from BirdCast. Note that cedar waxwings are here right now but will rapidly depart around 27 September. Yellow-billed cuckoos on the list because I always hope.

pared-down screenshot of BirdCast Species On The Move, noticeable Last Departures, Upper Midwest & Northeast

Peak Influx: What will we see this week? Warblers!

Nick Liadis checking the age of an ovenbird, Sept 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

For the Upper Midwest and Northeast region, 13 to 17 September is the peak of warbler migration.

I’ve featured the ovenbird because yesterday (last night!) was its peak influx point. No surprise then that Nick Liadis banded one yesterday at Hays Woods during Linda Roth’s 40 Acres a.k.a. Hays Woods Enthusiasts live stream. Check it out here.

And if you thought you’d seen a lot of magnolia warblers already, the next few days will be exceptional. They reach their regional peak influx on Sunday.

Magnolia warbler in autumn (photo by Steve Gosser)

Here’s a screenshot of the Noticeable Peak Influx as of 14 September 2023. Note the exclamation point next to magnolia warbler in the chart below!

pared-down screenshot of BirdCast Species On The Move, migration Peak by species, Upper Midwest & Northeast

With so many birds on the move, now’s the time to get outdoors. Be sure to check BirdCast for the latest forecast.

(photos from Steve Gosser, Lauri Shaffer, Kate St. John. Tables are modified screenshots from BirdCast’s Species On The Move for the Upper Midwest and Northeast. Be sure to check BirdCast for the latest data)

Spotted Lanternflies Love Height and Heat

Insects, Spotted Lanternflies
Dead spotted lanternfly at the base of a utility pole, 13 Sept 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

13 September 2023

They aren’t very smart but they know what they like: warmth and vertical objects.

If you haven’t been to Downtown or Oakland lately you’re missing an insect phenomenon. Our plague of spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) is quite attracted to tall buildings and utility poles, especially when it’s hot.

Spotted lanternflies love this utility pole when the sun heats it (photo by Kate St. John)

Like moths to a flame, spotted lanternflies are visually drawn toward and seemingly captivated by vertical objects such as utility poles …

[They] turn and land on the poles when they are less than about 10 feet away. They remain on the pole for many minutes, even hours, while crawling up toward the top to try to take flight again.

However, a large proportion of those launching themselves from the pole are drawn back to the pole, which serves as a sort of “visual magnet” from which the insects cannot escape for a while. 

— Science Daily: Lanternfly’s attraction to vertical silhouettes could help monitor, trap it, April 2021

On hot days I see thousands above me, puttering toward the buildings, tapping along the structures as they try to find a place to land.

This building is especially attractive to spotted lanternflies, Sept 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

The bugs cling and fall off, leaving drifts of lanternfly carcasses on the ground below.

Spotted lanternflies litter the base of the Rand Building, 11 Sept 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

There’s a theory that the bugs like vertical objects because they are such weak fliers that they have to climb up and relaunch on their search for their host tree, the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). According to Penn State Extension, they “land on buildings for warmth, height and other unknown reasons.” Other unknown reasons: Who can know the mind of a lanternfly?

Fortunately we can learn from Philadelphia where their spotted lanternfly plague hit in 2020 (during the pandemic). Here’s what happened at a taco shop on the ground floor of a high rise.

video from NBC10, Philadelphia, Sept 2020

Eeewwww!

Note that Philadelphia had their lanternfly plague in 2020 and now, three years later, they are wondering where all the bugs have gone. I’m sure we can expect 2-3 summers of this nonsense. Certainly by 2026 spotted lanternflies will just be a bad memory in Pittsburgh.

(credits are in the captions)

What is a -Wort?

Plants & Fungi
Purple milkwort, Sewickley Heights Park, 8 Sept 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

12 September 2023

Why do some plants have the suffix “-wort” in their names?

The suffix “-wort” simply means “plant.” In earlier centuries, plant common names often referred to physical characteristics, resemblance, or recommended medicinal uses.

— Univ of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum: Gardening with Native Plants: Worts and Weeds, pt. 1

Here are some recently blooming “-worts.”

Purple milkwort (Polygala sanguinea), above, is native to North America. “The genus name Polygala comes from the ancient Greek “much milk”, as the plant was thought to increase milk yields in cattle.” I have no idea if this works.

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), related to ragweed, is used in cooking and has been used medicinally. It has a bitter flavor. Why “mug”? I don’t know.

Mugwort leaves are white underneath (photo by Kate St. John)
Mugwort leaves are white underneath (photo by Kate St. John)
Mugwort flowers are brown in September, Schenley Park, 23 Sept 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)

Pilewort (Erechtites hieraciifolius) is a member of the Aster family that grows easily in disturbed soil. Quirky Science says the “reported uses include the treating of hemorrhage, dysentery, skin diseases, and cholera. It is a purgative and emetic. The name suggests it is good in treating piles (hemorrhoids).”

Pilewort, Pittsburgh East End, 28 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Pilewort flower heads and seeds (photo by Kate St. John)
Pilewort flower heads and seeds, Sept 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)

St. Johns wort (Hypericum perforatum), imported from Europe, is so-named because it blooms in June and was traditionally harvested on St. John’s Day, June 24, to adorn homes and ward off evil. It is an herbal treatment for depression and has been planted nearly worldwide.

St. Johns wort, South Side of Pittsburgh, July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)

The Bluest Thrush

Songbirds, Travel
Grandala near Dzongla (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

11 September 2023

While on the way to somewhere else I found … the bluest thrush.

According to Birds of the World, the grandala (Grandala coelicolor) is a gregarious thrush that makes a vertical migration in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau(*) from barren alpine breeding grounds at 3900–5500 m (12,800-18,000 ft) to rocky mountainside valleys and ridges at 3000–4300 m (9,800-14,000 ft), sometimes as low as 2000 m (6,500 ft).

To put this in perspective, if grandalas lived in the U.S they could only breed on Denali (20,000 ft) or the highest Rocky Mountains. Some of them never come down as low as the highest point in the Rockies, the peak of Mount Elder.

Range map of grandala, embedded from Birds of the World

Grandalas are the same size as wood thrushes and like the wood thrush are the only species in their genus, but there the similarity ends. For instance, grandalas are sexually dimorphic with royal blue males and brownish-gray females.

Five male and one female grandala (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Grandalas have versatile diets tuned to their cold climate lives. They eat insects in summer and fruit in fall and winter.

Like cedar waxwings grandalas travel in huge flocks in fall and winter. When they perch they flick their wings and tails.

Watch the bluest thrush in this 4:45 minute video by RoundGlass Sustain.

video from RoundGlass Sustain on YouTube

(*) Grandalas occur at high altitudes in these countries/territories: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, China, northern Myanmar.

(credits are in the captions)

Dragonflies Are Migrating

Insects, Migration
  • Common green darner, Virginia (photo from Wikimedia)

10 September 2023

On the evening of Friday 8 September, Marianne Atkinson noticed hundreds of dragonflies patrolling a field near her house in Dubois, PA. Other folks as much as 20 miles away were commenting on the same thing and posting videos online. What were these bugs up to? Marianne sent me her video …

video by Marianne Atkinson

… and this Facebook post from the McKean County Conservation District explaining the phenomenon. Dragonflies are migrating.

The green darner is the most common migratory dragonfly in Pennsylvania but is only one of 16 migratory species in North America. The five main migrants are pictured in the slideshow at top and listed below from Donna L Long’s website.

Green darners have a multi-generational migration. The individuals we see flying south right now will not return but will be the grandparents of those who journey north next spring.

Recent research has indicated that the annual life cycle of green darner (Anax junius) is likely composed of at least three different generations. The first generation emerges in the southern end of its range in early spring and migrates northwards through spring and summer. The second generation emerges in the northern end of its range in summer and migrates southwards in fall. The third generation occurs in the south during the winter and does not migrate. 

— Wikipedia: Green Darner

When dragonflies migrate during the day in Pennsylvania they follow the same flight paths and fly on the same prime migration days as the hawks. I often see dragonflies at hawk watches where I’m glad they’re eating mosquitos and flying ants on the wing.

Green darners seem to go far but for real long distance the global skimmer wins the prize, migrating from India to Africa across the Indian Ocean! It also occurs in North America.

(video from RoundGlass Sustain on YouTube)

p.s. There are 7,000 species of dragonflies on Earth. Only 25-50 species migrate, making this a very unusual feat.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons, video by Marianne Atkinson and an embed from Youtube)

Seen This Week: Turtleheads and a Lot of Deer

Deer, Insects, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park, Weather & Sky
Turtleheads blooming in Schenley Park, 3 Sept 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

9 September 2023

Seen this week:

Turtleheads and late boneset flowers at Schenley Park. Do you see the honeybee?

Honeybee flies to late boneset, Schenley Park, 4 Sept 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

A rainbow with crows over Oakland.

Rainbow over Shadyside on 7 Sept 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Fiery sunset on 7 September.

Fiery sunset on 7 Sept 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Six deer in Schenley Park — only 5 made it into the photo.

Five of six does in Schenley Park along the Bridle Trail, 4 Sept 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

But there’s a photo of deer I wish I’d been able to take: Friday morning 8 September along 5th Ave between the Cathedral of Learning and Clapp Hall I saw 3 deer — 2 does and 1 fawn — standing on the pavement at Clapp Hall. They were close to the curb of 5th Ave at Tennyson as they tried to figure out how to cross 5th Ave during rush hour.

(photos by Kate St. John)

p.s. Right now there are 2 flamingos in PA in Franklin County east of Chambersburg.

What If The Stars Stood Still?

Weather & Sky
Milky Way at Bontecou Lake, Duchess County, NY (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

8 September 2023

When we watch the sky at night, we see the stars and planets wheel above us as they rise and set.

But what if we were standing among the stars? What if the stars stood still and we could tell that the Earth was moving?

Astrophotographer Bartosz Wojczynski set up his camera on a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount that automatically canceled out the Earth’s rotation. In his video the stars stand still.

video from AmazeLab on YouTube

Are you dizzy yet?

(credits are in the captions)

Be Careful Out There! Deer in the Road

Deer
Deer sprinting across a road (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

7 September 2023

A year ago I learned that deer are really easy to find and photograph in Schenley Park in August but suddenly much harder to find in September. As their breeding season called the rut approaches its November peak, deer become secretive in the woods(*). However, the rut prompts them to move around a lot so they sprint across the road. Their behavior in the past six days has borne that out already.

On a walk in Schenley Park on 1 September I saw four bucks resting in their usual spot near the Upper Trail. One buck had just shed velvet from his 9-point antlers which were bloody from the missing velvet. With him were one 8-point and two 4-point bucks. Shedding velvet is the first obvious sign of the rut and the biggest buck was ready.

Two days later, on 3 September, only one 4-point buck remained in that resting place. The others were somewhere secret and moving around. That night I heard two reports of deer collisions in the city. These don’t end up in the deer-killed-by-cars statistics if the deer are only stunned:

  • Mary at 8:15pm posted a comment on my blog: “Off-topic but I wanted to let you know that a deer and car collided this evening around 730 pm on Schenley Drive near the library. Deer sat on the side of the road for a while. Then stood up as people gathered around.”
  • Dylan @DylPar252 tweeted from Pittsburgh on 3 Sep at 9:49pm: “I literally just watched one get hit by a car in front of my house on a busy inner city street. The deer do indeed need managed (she kept on moving btw)”

In the city, deer have to cross roads to get anywhere especially in Schenley Park. The deer pictured below are on a virtual traffic island — Flagstaff Hill — surrounded by cars. When I took this picture in April they weren’t charged up with breeding hormones so they ambled or trotted across the road instead of sprinting.

They had to cross a road to get here! 3 deer on Flagstaff Hill, April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

But now we can expect a lot more accidents in the months ahead. Collisions don’t end well for deer.

Deer deer on Circuit Road, Schenley Park, Oct 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

And they don’t end well for cars.

Deer damage to Marcy Cunkelman's car, 19 June 2017 (photo posted by Marcy Cunkelman)
Deer damage to Marcy Cunkelman’s car, 19 June 2017 (photo posted by Marcy Cunkelman)

So be careful out there! Watch out for deer in the road.

Learn more about cars and deer in this vintage article.

Cars And Deer

p.s. Yesterday City Council approved two bills that will begin deer management in the City of Pittsburgh. When the bills were introduced last week the public made comments on hunt vs no-hunt yet no matter where someone stood on that spectrum everyone agreed there are too many deer in Pittsburgh.

The first step in City Deer Management will be a pilot program bow hunt in Frick and Riverview this fall. It will not solve the deer overpopulation problem but is the first step in deer management and is required by the PA Game Commission.

Here are three of the many news articles about City Deer Management in Pittsburgh. Please don’t ask me how the hunt will be conducted. I don’t know that answer.

(credits are in the captions)

p.s. Deer are secretive in autumn in Schenley Park except … There’s a place where someone puts out food. Six were feeding there on Sunday 4 Sept.

Thousands Glide To Africa

Migration, Water and Shore
White stork in flight (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

6 September 2023

The migration spectacle at the Strait of Gibraltar is still underway as thousands of birds stretch their wings and fly to Africa. They can see their goal from the European side but sometimes the wind is a brutal wall that prevents their crossing. On 4 September the wind was right and they didn’t have to flap. Thousands glided south to Morocco.

Among the flocks were hundreds of white storks (Ciconia ciconia), seen in this tweet from Inglorious Bustards.

The storks making the crossing had nested in Western Europe and are heading for Sub-Saharan Africa for the winter.

Range map and flyways of the white stork (map from Wikimedia Commons)

Fifty years ago white storks were extinct in most of Western Europe and this spectacle at the Straits died with the absent birds. Reintroduction programs in the late 20th century brought them back to a growing population of now 224,000 to 247,000 European white storks.

For those who lived through the lean years, their tears at the Straits are tears of joy.

(credits are in the captions including links to the sources)

Invasive Beefsteak

Plants & Fungi
Beefsteak plant, Lancaster County, September 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Here’s a pretty plant, an invasive alien, that I’ve not seen in Pittsburgh but is easy to find in Lancaster County, PA where I took this picture.

Beefsteak plant (Perilla frutescens) is a member of the mint family native to Southeast Asia and the Indian highlands and is grown as a crop for Japanese, Korean and Chinese cuisine. Its common names include shiso and Korean perilla. The “beefsteak” name was coined because the darkest varieties have leaves as red as meat. The wild plants I saw in Lancaster County had green leaves and dark red stems.

Perilla frutescens is widely cultivated in Asia as an edible plant but it has downsides including contact dermatitis from touching the leaves and anaphylaxis after consuming a large amount of seeds. Those who cultivate it know what to do but the rest of us should be cautious.

Brought to the U.S. as an ornamental beefsteak plant escaped to the wild and is now invasive in six states from Pennsylvania to Tennessee. The plant is always toxic to cattle, horses and other ruminants including white-tailed deer.

States listing Perilla frutescens as invasive (map from invasiveplantatlas.org)

Since deer don’t eat it, it may have been touted as a “deer resistant” plant at the nursery but don’t buy it! This plant spreads way too easily.

(credits are in the captions with links where applicable)