Because the Pitt peregrines had no eggs this year I miss seeing their young on camera. To fill that gap I’ve been following the Fulham and Barnes Peregrines at Charing Cross Hospital in London, UK whose daily lives are chronicled by @FaBPeregrines.
Azina, Tom and their son P6T (named for his band number) are frequently seen on camera, even in late August. P6T’s dispersal from his natal site is on a later schedule than we’re used to in Pittsburgh.
Juvenile peregrines in Pittsburgh fledge in early June and leave in July. At Fulham and Barnes, P6T fledged in the fourth week of May and is still hanging around in late August. His persistence gives us an opportunity to watch a peregrine family in late summer when the youngster hunts on his own.
The whole family on the ledge for a very brief moment when Tom comes and snatches P6T's prey while P6T is busy annoying his mum 😉 (P6T had brought in that pigeon not long before that and eaten only part of it) pic.twitter.com/Srvl55fNIb
Spotted lanternflies land to roost just before sunset, Pittsburgh, 22 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
24 August 2023
Spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) are everywhere in the East End of Pittsburgh and along our rivers and railroads. One even triggered a snapshot on the motion detection camera at the Pitt peregrine nest. Aaarrg!
Spotted lanternfly perched on the National Aviary snapshot falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh
Right now, while the invasion is getting worse by the day, it is hard to imagine a time without them but that day will come. The bugs have daily, seasonal and annual cycles and their population trend goes down, based on what happened in eastern PA where they were first detected. Let’s take a look.
Daily dispersal, nightly roost. During the day adult lanternflies disperse to the sky but at dusk they land on buildings and trees to “roost” overnight. Dusk is an unpleasant time of day as they aggregate near us but it’s a good opportunity to catch them with a water bottle (video shows how). [Put a lid on the bottle and the bottle in the freezer. They die in the cold.]
Seasonal disappearance of adults in late fall. Spotted lanternfly adults mate and lay eggs in late summer and fall. Winged adults started to appear in July in Pittsburgh but they did not reach a crescendo until mid-August. They’ll be present in September and October and completely die off at the first frost. I expect their presence to taper before they disappear.
I have not been able to find out if the individuals die shortly after mating and laying eggs but if so the population would taper quickly. I’ll know more in November.
Invasion lasts two to three years based on experience in Eastern PA.
Lanternflies were a plague in Berks County(*) in 2018 and 2019 but by 2021 they were hard to find. That year the Reading Eagle wrote “Where have all the spotted lanternflies gone?“
Notice that Philadelphia is saying “IF you see spotted lanternflies,” not “WHEN you see spotted lanternflies!”
Based on these reports I’d say the infestation lasts two to three years and then drops to an unremarkable level. It seems to be a bell curve.
Spotted lanternfly invasion appears to be a bell curve with maximum at 2-3 years (guesstimate by Kate St. John)
The Pittsburgh area has had spotted lanternflies since 2020. This summer we are in the first plague year (Year label 5). Next summer will be bad, too, but by 2025 or 2026 they’ll be virtually gone.
This, too, shall pass.
p.s. Great News! Two naturally occurring native fungi infect and kill spotted lanternflies in great numbers. Batkoa major and Beauveria bassiana decimated the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) populations near Reading, Pennsylvania in 2019. Fingers crossed!
(*) Berks County in 2014 is the location where spotted lanternflies were first identified in the U.S.
(photo by Kate St. John and from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ. of Pittsburgh, graph by Kate St. John)
Browse line in Schenley Park — gap below the trees — at the entrance to the Upper Trail, 18 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
23 August 2023
The white-tailed deer population in the City of Pittsburgh has been so high for so long that most people think the browse line in our parks is normal, but the light-gap you see under the trees above is not normal in a balanced forest. It’s a sign of deer overpopulation. Here’s what a browse line is and how deer maintain it.
Browse line: A phenomenon that occurs when herbivores consume all of the vegetation in the woods between the ground and the level of their highest reach. A clearly visible line is formed between the leafed and the leafless areas.
An individual deer browsing the ground and lower branches of trees does not create the browse line. It’s the cumulative effect of too many deer eating at the same location over and over.
Last Friday I watched two 8-point bucks, antlers in velvet, maintain the browse line next to the Upper Trail at Schenley Park. The current browse line, seen in the video, is that clear view straight through the woods to the cars passing on the road beyond.
In the video the bucks eat herbaceous stems and leaves on the ground, then switch to twigs, leaves and stems of trees. About halfway in, the buck on the right stands on his hind legs to reach the lowest branches. The buck on the left wrestles with a tree to yank off the branches. Deer only have lower teeth so they can’t sharply bite off a branch like a beaver would.
Two bucks reinforce the browse line in Schenley Park, 18 Aug 2023 (video by Kate St. John, taken with my cellphone. These deer are close!)
In late August, when forage should be quite plentiful, these bucks are forced to eat their own cover and what little remains of the edible plants.
Buck in velvet has no cover to hide him, Schenley Park, Aug 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
p.s. Here’s what the forest would look like if there was no browse line.
No browse line here, August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
(photos by Kate St. John, taken with my cellphone)
Invasive spotted lanternflies are swarming over Pittsburgh right now, especially near the railroad tracks. Everyone wants to kill them but the first solution that comes up on any Google search is a very, very bad one. NEVER EVER use sticky tape to capture insects. Glue tape kills birds!
Raven Ridge Wildlife Center in Lancaster County, PA has years of experience with the harm caused by glue tape. This Facebook report from 17 August 2023 is just one of them. Three of the four trapped woodpeckers died and the fourth is in trouble.
Spotted lanternfly and insect vinegar trap (photo by John English)
Straight white vinegar plus dish liquid — maybe a 1/2 tsp — to break the surface tension. (Insect by-catch in this photo: a cicada.) Thanks to John English for this suggestion.
For personal combat there are lots of solutions: Electric “Tennis Racket” bug zappers, the Bug a Salt Gun, etc. found via Amazon searches.
In addition to birds and flowers, this walk it will take a look at two huge effects humans have had on the landscape, both direct and indirect. Heavy equipment and deer.
Dress for the weather — including sun hat + water — and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars and field guides if you have them.
Before you come, visit the Events page in case of changes or cancellations. The outing will be canceled if there’s lightning.
Common sunflower closeup, 14 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
20 August 2023
Someone in my neighborhood planted common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) on the strip of land between the sidewalk and the street. This month it droops over the sidewalk, so tall that I barely have to duck to take this closeup of yellow with a golden cast. Did you know this food plant is native to the Americas?
This woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus), in a sunnier shade of yellow, was identified on the Botanical Society walk last Sunday at the Nine Mile Run Trail. The side of the flower is displayed because the bracts on the back and the bud are important. Click on the image to see a front view of the flower.
Woodland sunflower, Nine Mile Run Trail, 14 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
This very yellow “pale jewelweed” (Impatiens pallida) is a rarity in Schenley Park. Deer have eaten all the other jewelweed yet this patch thrives. Why? The clue is in middle of this ugly photo.
Do you see the prickly branch of wineberry draped over the jewelweed plant? The entire patch is protected by this invasive thorny plant. The deer cannot approach. (Wineberry stems are circled in purple below.)
Wineberry (circled) drapes over yellow jewelweed in Schenley Park, protecting it from deer, Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
And a Purple Host:
I don’t remember the exact species of tick trefoil seen on the Botanical Society walk but a butterfly confirmed the plant is thriving.
Tick trefoil is the host plant for the silver spotted skipper. This one was sipping on an wet abandoned shirt nearby its host.
Silver spotted skipper sipping on a wet cloth, NMR Trail, 14 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Fall migration is underway across the Northern Hemisphere. Some birds migrate alone or in small flocks that don’t attract much attention. Others gather in such massive flocks that they are hard to miss.
At pinch points along their migration routes from Europe to Africa, white storks (Ciconia ciconia) travel in very large flocks like the kettles of broad-winged hawks in North America. Two such pinch points are in the airspace over Israel, above, and at the Strait of Gibraltar.
In this short video white storks are about to cross the Straits from Spain to Morocco but hit a wall in the air — the levant wind blowing from the east — so they wheel back. They did not leave Spain that day.
In North America semipalmated sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) migrate in massive numbers from their breeding grounds in the Arctic to the shores of South America.
One highlight on our @EagleEyeTours trip to New Brunswick is a visit to Johnson Mills Shorebird Reserve. Besides the incredible Bay of Fundy tides, we witnessed the spectacle of 65+ THOUSAND Semipalmated Sandpipers roosting, flocking and doing synchronized aerial acrobatics. pic.twitter.com/6aqAJUtt9p
On summer nights male crickets chirp to attract a mate. Each species has a distinctive call meant to lure the proper females. If you know bug sounds you can identify the chirping species.
One of the most common is the snowy tree cricket (Oecanthus fultoni) which occurs in most of the U.S. Unless you live outside their range you’ve probably heard this nighttime sound.
Because they are ectotherms, crickets chirp faster in heat and slower in cool weather. You can even use Dolbear’s law(*) to calculate the ambient temperature based on the snowy tree crickets’ chirp rate.
So the sound changes. But does this heat-related change in tune mean the females no longer recognize the males? Nope. The heat changes the sound and it changes the crickets’ ears so that they hear the same old tune. Read more in this vintage article:
(*) p.s. The name of Dolbear’s law has an interesting backstory. Amos Dolbear published The Cricket as a Thermometer in 1897 in which he described how to calculate the temperature based on the snowy tree crickets’ chirp rate. However, according to Wikipedia, Margarette W Brooks had already published the formula in 1881. She did not get the fame and it took some sleuthing to discover her. He got the fame and the name because, at the time, Science listened only to men. 140 years later women have a greater voice but the playing field is still uneven.
Limpkin at Moraine State Park, 16 July 2023 (photo by Steve Gosser)
17 August 2023
After a limpkin was discovered yesterday afternoon in a small cove at Moraine State Park (first ever in Butler County!) western PA’s birding world spun on its axis and quickly went to find it. Many saw the bird yesterday including Steve Gosser who shared his photo above.
Limpkins (Aramus guarauna) are very, very rare this far north. Primarily from South America, these mussel and snail-eating wading birds have extended their range only to Florida where they live year round.
So what is a limpkin doing here? And not just “here.” A limpkin showed up at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area last month and was still there last weekend. Two limpkins were in opposite corners of Ohio.
In fact, limpkins have been doing this crazy Northern Summer Visit thing for a long time but it appears they’ve ramped up since 2016. On 8 July 2023Tim Healy posted a map of Limpkin Firsts in North America at the ABA Rare Bird Alert on Facebook. (The color descriptors are for the map.) “Hot Limpkin Summer forever! Keep it going! Who’s next? Green: home base Blue: historical first records Orange: 2016-2022 first records Red: 2023 first records”
Is this an irruption of limpkins similar to the winter irruption of snowy owls? Maybe…
Young night-herons often do an out-of-range dispersal at the end of the breeding season when first-year birds explore to the north, then head home or die during their adventure. Perhaps limpkins are doing it, too. Perhaps they’ve had so much breeding success that there are extra limpkins to try it. (This family of 5 was photographed in Florida in 2014.)
The mosaic is made of cells in the woody stem of a one year old tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera), sliced thin and magnified 100 times. The colors and shapes are specific to the species and its age. The description indicates that things change at lot in a one year old tulip tree.
The mosaic slice was photographed in 2014 at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, MA from a sapling that probably grew in Western Massachusetts.
When a tulip tree grows up it has leaves and flowers like this.
Tulip tree leafout, Schenley Park, 28 April 2014 (photo by Kate St. John)Tulip tree flower, 4 May 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)
Still beautiful and intricate even when not magnified.
For more information on the mosaic image see the description of the image here. It is so technical that I need a glossary to figure out what it means.
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