Yes, It’s a Drought

Climate Change, Weather & Sky
White snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) wilting in Schenley Park, 7 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

9 June 2023

Plants are drooping, water levels are low, and clouds of dust engulf dirt roads in western Pennsylvania. It hasn’t rained for almost three weeks at a time of year that’s usually wet. Yesterday it became official. We’re in a drought.

Every week the U.S. Drought Monitor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln issues a nationwide drought assessment. Pennsylvania is labeled “SL” on this week’s map for evidence in both Short term and Long term indicators. (Click here for the latest Drought Map.)

Pennsylvania is in Short-and-Long Term Drought, 6 June 2023 (map from US Drought Monitor at UNL)

Most of Pennsylvania, including Allegheny County, is in Moderate Drought.

Much of PA is in Moderate Drought, 6 June 2023 (map from US Drought Monitor at UNL)

The drought seems sudden but it’s been building for a while. Precipitation was above normal last year through January 2023 but starting in February it fell off. April and May were seriously below normal. June has been bone dry so far. As of today Pittsburgh has a year-to-date precipitation deficit of 4.55 inches.

Monthly precipitation in Pittsburgh: Normal 1991-2020 (green) and 2023 actual (red) (graph from Climate for PBZ at weather.gov )

Even the hardiest invasive plants are wilting in the city parks …

Mugwort drooping from lack of water, Hays Woods, 3 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

… small tributaries are completely dry …

High water and no water at waterfall, Schenley Park, 7 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

… and the cascade pools in Schenley Parks’ Phipps Run are stagnant. Unfortunately stagnant water is a breeding ground for mosquitos, an unexpected consequence of drought.

Low water in cascade pool, Phipps Run, Schenley Park, 7 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

The forecast calls for rain on Monday 12 June, but one day’s rain can’t overcome the 4.5+ inch deficit.

Hoping for more rain soon. Meanwhile check out these drought tips for lawns and camping at TribLive: Dry conditions expected to continue in Western Pennsylvania.

(photos by Kate St. John, maps from U.S. Drought Monitor)

Bear Trashes Truck

Mammals, Musings & News
A bear wanted to get in this vehicle, California, 2016 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

8 June 2023

Just because black bears don’t have thumbs doesn’t mean they can’t get into cars and trucks. If there’s food inside a vehicle they have a big incentive to open it, even if it means breaking the glass and bending metal, as shown above in California.

This week in Evergreen, Colorado a bear smelled dog food inside a truck in a driveway. Since the truck was unlocked he didn’t have to break the windows and doors to get in.

See what happened next in this tweet from Colorado Parks and Wildlife — Northeast Region (@CPW_NE).

(photo from Wikimedia Commons, tweet embedded from @CPW_NE)

Take Me To The Rescue Porch

Bird Behavior, Nesting & Courtship, Peregrines
Fledgling peregrine on the dog park windowsill (only 2 feet up), 5 June 2023 (photo by Leslie Mcilroy via Mark Catalano)

7 June 2023

At 6:30pm on Monday 6 June, Mark Catalano of Wildlife In Need Emergency Response was working dispatch in Central PA, making phone calls and sending texts and emails on behalf of a juvenile peregrine in a tiny dog park in Downtown Pittsburgh. The juvie needed assistance to be placed up high to start over on his first flight. Meanwhile Leslie McIlroy was in the dog park, protecting the bird from the visiting dogs.

Fledgling peregrine at the dog park on Third Avenue, 5 June 2023 (photo by Leslie Mcilroy via Mark Catalano)

Mark called the PA Game Commission but he knew it would be a long wait for a Game Warden. Since Mark is from Northumberland, PA he didn’t know any local peregrine contacts so he asked his wife to search the Internet for “Pittsburgh peregrine.” She found me, Mark sent me photos, and I told him about the Rescue Porch.

The Rescue Porch is a high balcony across the street at Point Park University’s Lawrence Hall. Another juvie had already tried it out this week, as seen by Diane Walkowski and Lori Maggio at 1:30pm on Sunday 4 June. (White arrow points to the bird.)

Juvenile peregrine calls from the Rescue Porch at Third Avenue, 4 June 2023, 1:50pm (photo by Lori Maggio)

Every year one or more fledglings ends up on the Rescue Porch. The Third Avenue ledge is so low and tucked away that fledglings land on the ground on their first flight when they don’t yet have the upper body strength to fly up and away.

Monday’s bird was stuck in a place I’d never heard of. It turns out that this narrow space under construction in 2021 became a tiny dog park with a tiny patch of grass. The yellow arrow points to a 2021 juvie who eventually landed in here. This year’s juvie hopped up to the low windowsill on the righthand wall, only two feet off the ground (photo at top).

Future dog park under construction on Third Ave, June 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)

Many thanks to Mark Catalano for starting the rescue and to Leslie McIlroy for guarding the bird until the Game Warden arrived three hours later.

Meanwhile, no news is good news. Sunday’s bird is out and about. Monday’s bird probably flew on Tuesday. Will the third youngster need a rescue too? Time will tell.

Click here for photos of the nest site and all three youngsters about to fly on 3 June.

(photos by Leslie Mcilroy via Mark Catalano of Wildlife In Need Emergency Response, Lori Maggio and Kate St John)

Bad Air Today, Fewer Warblers This Fall?

Climate Change, Weather & Sky
Sunset in Pittsburgh 3 June 2023. Pink sun due to Canada’s wildfire smoke (photo by Jonathan Nadle)

6 June 2023

On Saturday evening Jonathan Nadle took a photo of the setting sun glowing pink with threads of smoke across its face. The color was the result of wildfire smoke drifting in from western Canada.

Today Pittsburgh and much of the northeastern U.S. are under an air quality alert because the smoke is now at ground level. We don’t see it as smoke — it looks like haze — but the particles have put our air quality forecast into Code Orange = “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.” Young children, seniors, and those with respiratory problems should limit outdoor activities.

AirNow forecast for Pittsburgh PA on 6 June 2023

NBC News explains:

Millions of people across the Midwest are under dangerous air quality conditions Monday, as smoke from wildfires in eastern Canada wafts over the region.

Hazy skies have blanketed a wide swath of the country from the Ohio Valley to as far south as the Carolinas. Air quality advisories are in effect Monday in southeastern Minnesota and parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as well as in more than 60 counties in Wisconsin.

The spike in air pollution comes from wildfires that have been raging in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia.

… Canada is experiencing one of the worst starts to its wildfire season ever recorded.

— NBC News: Air quality levels in parts of the U.S. plunge as Canada wildfires rage, 5 June 2023

There are wildfires across much of Canada right now — west and east — but the fires affecting Pittsburgh today are mostly in Quebec and nearly all are out of control, displayed as red dots on Canada’s interactive wildfire map. Click here or on the screenshot below to see the interactive map.

Active wildfires in Canada, Quebec wildfires circled in pink, 6 June 2023 (map from Canadian Wildland Fire Information System)

For Pittsburgh the smoke is mostly an inconvenience but for Canadians it is dangerous and for the birds that nest in these forests it is deadly. The fires are happening where northern warblers breed including bay-breasted, blackpoll, palm, Cape May and Tennessee.

When we see fewer of these migrating warblers in the fall, the fires will be partly to blame.

Tennessee warbler (photo by Donna Foyle)

Unfortunately as climate change heats up the Earth and reduces rainfall, we can also expect more fires in North America’s forests.

Click here to see AirNow’s interactive air quality map centered on Pittsburgh, PA

(see photo and map credits in the captions)

Air Quality UPDATES

28-30 June 2032:

Wildfire smoke is back again, worse than before.

6-7 June 2023:

7 June 2023, 5:00am: The winds have changed. Pittsburgh air is still Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups this morning but it is much worse elsewhere. It is Very Unhealthy from Harrisburg to Philadelphia (purple), and Hazardous to breathe in a wide swath of Ontario including Ottawa (brown).

6 June satellite map:

AirNow interactive map as of 7 June 2023, 5:00am

This Tiny Bug is a Spotted Lanternfly

Insects, Spotted Lanternflies
First instar spotted lanternfly on a metal chair, Phipps patio, 4 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

5 June 2023

If you noticed spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) in Pittsburgh last summer you remember seeing this one-inch long insect.

Spotted lanternfly adult, 23 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

But they don’t start out this big.

Right now they are tiny black nymphs with white spots. I saw one perched on the edge of a metal chair yesterday at the Phipps BioBlitz and moved closer to confirm its identity. As I approached it jumped so far I couldn’t find it.

I tracked it down and smashed it with my shoe … and immediately wished I’d taken its picture. I found another one (there are lots of them) and learned how to get close enough for a cellphone photograph without making it jump. Not a sharp photo but you get the idea.

First instar spotted lanternfly on a metal chair, Phipps front patio, 4 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

The first instar(*) nymphs are tiny — just 1/4 inch long — and well camouflaged, even on a silver chair.

Ruler showing size of spotted lanternfly first instar (photo by Kate St. John)

Walking and hopping, they look for something to suck on, primarily Tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) but they are generalists so they’ll eat anything that appeals to them. Fortunately they are only deadly to Ailanthus and grapevines.

As they feed on plants the insects grow and change through various stages of development. The first, second and third instars continue to be black nymphs with white spots, just progressively larger [B]. The fourth instar is a red nymph with white spots at 3/4 inch long [C].

Spotted lanternfly: What To Look For (image from Penn State Extension)

Right now they’re so small they are easy to overlook. When the one-inch-long flying adults emerge in July-to-September this invasive insect will be hard to ignore.

Read more about them at Cornell University’s Spotted Lanternfly Biology and Lifecycle.

(*) Definition of instar. noun, ZOOLOGY. A phase between two periods of molting in the development of an insect larva or other invertebrate animal. — from Oxford Languages via Google

(photos by Kate St. John, life phases photos from Penn State Extension)

About To Fly At Third Avenue

Nesting & Courtship, Peregrines

4 June 2023

Peregrine falcons have nested in Downtown Pittsburgh since 1991 and though the players have changed they are very loyal to the territory. From 1991-2011 they nested at the Gulf Tower but since 2012, with three exceptions, they have nested at the back of a building facing Third Avenue. 2023 is their ninth nesting season at this site.

Yesterday morning I stopped by Third Avenue to see if any peregrines were visible and was lucky to see the entire family. Three youngsters perched at the ledge opening (photos at top) while their parents watched from above on the crossbars. The brown youngsters are exercising their wings and will fledge this week.

Downtown peregrine nest area as seen from Third Ave. Locations of birds noted in white. 3 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

The adults have been a mystery. On 3 March Jeff Cieslak photographed an adult-plumaged pair: an unbanded female (not 16-year-old Dori who was banded) and a male who did not show his legs. When Jeff returned on 14 April he saw a nest exchange that appeared to be a male (unbanded in dark brown immature plumage) bringing prey to a female (banded & in adult plumage). The behavior told us who was who. Or did it?

Here are photos of the adults.

Adult-plumage bird on 18 May and 3 June 2023. Jeff re-checked his photos and saw that this bird has black/red bands and several viewers have remarked that the bird’s face is like Terzo’s. This is the male, Terzo.

Adult plumage peregrine at Third Avenue, 18 May 2023 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Adult plumage peregrine at Third Ave, 3 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Photos of the dark brown bird on 28 May and 3 June 2023 are more of a mystery. The flank stripes are horizontal so this is adult plumage. This dark brown unbanded bird is the female. More on her color in a future article.

Dark plumaged peregrine at Third Avenue Downtown, 28 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Dark plumaged peregrine at Third Avenue Downtown, 3 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Stop by Third Avenue in the next few days to see the youngsters fledge.

(photos by Kate St. John and Jeff Cieslak)

A Few Insects Seen This Week

Insects
Golden-backed snipe flies mating at Frick Park, 1 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

3 June 2023

The flurry of birds in May has given way to a flurry of insects in June.

On Thursday I heard the first daytime droning/whirring bugs of the year and saw big-eyed bugs mating at Frick Park (at top). Glenn Koppel identified these as golden-backed snipe flies (Chrysopilus thoracicus). Click here for a nearly identical photo of a pair mating in West Virginia.

The bug shown below is a ladybug nymph, seen at Betty Rowland’s in Squirrel Hill. (Thank you, Lisa Ann Simpson, for identifying this nymph. Click here to read about them.)

A ladybug nymph, Squirrel Hill, 1 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Many insects were in a flurry of mating, swirling in stacks over Nine Mile Run.

A swirl of insects in the sun over Nine Mile Run, Frick Park, 1 June 2023 (video by Kate St. John)

Thanks to readers’ helpful comments I now have IDs for the insect photos!

And on a bird note: I’ve noticed low numbers of swallows this spring compared to years past. Who will eat the flying insects? Are you missing swallows, too?

(photos and video by Kate St. John)

Ten More Years To Go

Insects
Periodical 17-year cicada, Washington Cemetery, Washington, PA, 30 May 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
Periodical 17-year cicada, Washington Cemetery, Washington, PA, 30 May 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)

It’s been seven years since the 17-year cicadas (Magicicada sp.) emerged in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Back in May and June 2016 Brood V blanketed parts of West Virginia, Ohio and the bottom left corner of Pennsylvania. This video shows what their emergence was like in Ohio at Cuyahoga National Park.

(video by Marty Calabrese on YouTube)

I went to see them at Washington Cemetery in Washington, PA. Here’s what I found:

Magic Cicadas

There are 10 more years to go until the magicicadas return. Plenty of time to forget what they’re like.

(photo by Kate St. John, video embedded from Marty Calabrese on YouTube)

What’s He Say?

Vocalizations
Northern mockingbird on a wire (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

1 June 2023

Northern mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) are famous for mimicking the voices of other birds. Often they’re so good at it that the only way to recognize they’re mockingbirds is to notice that the phrases are repeated three times, then a pause.

On Tuesday 30 May I encountered a mockingbird singing his heart out atop a light post at CMU’s Morewood parking lot. He was so excited that he jumped up and down with his wings open. “Look at me!”

Just for yuks I turned on Merlin sound ID to see how the app would process his song. Sometimes Merlin said “northern mockingbird,” sometimes it said the bird he was mimicking.

In the following 2:49 minutes he’s the only bird singing.

What’s he say? Who is he mimicking? Leave a comment with your answer.

UPDATE: Check the comments for my list of songs that I *think* he sang.

(photo from Wikimedia Commons, audio by Kate St. John embedded from xeno canto)

About To Fly

Birds of Prey, Nesting & Courtship, Peregrines
3 chicks in red-tailed hawks’ nest, Schenley Park, 28 May 2023 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

31 May 2023

Spring nesting season is continuing apace. The first batch of baby robins is learning to fly and some are old enough to forage on their own. Raptor fledglings are not far behind.

On Sunday 28 May we watched three red-tailed hawk chicks in a nest under the Panther Hollow Bridge in Schenley Park. This species hatches in the order the eggs are laid, each one two days younger than the last. The chicks clearly show their age difference in Charity Kheshgi’s video. One chick is getting ready to fly, one is still fluffy, and the middle one is halfway between.

Red-tailed hawks’ nest, Schenley Park, 28 May 2023 (video by Charity Kheshgi)

At the Tarentum Bridge on Sunday afternoon, John English and I watched three peregrine chicks lounging on top of the nestbox while an adult “babysat” nearby.

Adult female peregrine watches her ledge-walking chicks at the Tarentum Bridge, 28 May 2023 (photo by John English)

At first we saw only three chicks but after we moved to a better viewing location the fourth was on the top of the box as well, exercising his wings.

Four peregrine chicks at Tarentum Bridge, 28 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Four peregrine chicks at Tarentum Bridge, 28 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
One chick concentrates on exercising his wings (photo by Kate St. John)

And suddenly I saw him fly the length of the pier to the other end and back again to the top of the box! I have no photos of this feat but you get the idea. By today he may have fledged from the bridge.

All these birds are about to fly.

(photos by Charity Kheshgi, John English and Kate St. John)