Seed Swap & Celebration at the Library, 8 March

Books & Events
Milkweed gone to seed, 17 Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)

28 February 2025

Spring planting season is coming soon so now’s the time to make plans for your garden and gather materials to make it a success. It’s the perfect time for a Seed Swap!

On Saturday 8 March, 10:00a to 2:00p, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh will hold their annual Seed Swap and celebration at the Main branch in Oakland.

Celebration: Held in collaboration with Grow Pittsburgh and Phipps Conservatory, the 13th annual Seed Swap at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is a social and learning event featuring seed stories, conversations with gardening experts, hands-on activities for children and teens, and a selection of free seeds for the public.

Seed Swap: Gardeners are encouraged to bring their own untreated, non-GMO seeds to share, or pick up seeds donated by local gardeners, farmers and seed companies. A new batch of seeds will be released every half hour, and guests who bring seeds will be eligible to enter a raffle of fun items from Phipps Conservatory, Grow Pittsburgh and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

— Celebration of Seeds description, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Did you collect milkweed seeds last autumn? Bring them along to swap for something else.

Click here and scroll down to REGISTER for the free Seed Swap!

Quiz! Like milkweed, this plant’s seeds are attached to silky floss that bears them on the wind. What plant is this?

Quiz: What seeds are these? (photo by Kate St. John in January 2023)

Remembering When I Climbed Lake Superior

Travel, Water and Shore, Weather & Sky
The mountain of ice on Lake Superior was glacial blue in the distance, 16 Feb 2014. People provide some scale (photo by Kate St. John)

27 February 2025

This morning I am in Duluth, Minnesota where today’s temperature will range from 30°F to 39°F, far warmer than my last visit in February 2014 when it was –16°F to 0°F.

That was the winter of the Polar Vortex when it was so cold for so long that Lake Superior froze solid — a rare occurrence because it is so deep. When our birding group reached the shore we saw big hills of ice and very few birds. So we got out of the van and climbed the lake.

Standing on Lake Superior’s ice while I take this photo of the mountain of ice in the distance, 16 Feb 2014 (photo by Kate St. John)

This week I won’t be climbing the lake because nearly all of it is open water (shades of blue on the map). In fact, as of last Saturday, total ice cover for all five lakes is only 38.5% (gray and black on the map).

Great Lakes ice cover 22 Feb 2025 from Great Lakes Environment Research Laboratory

Note that Lake Erie was more than 90% frozen because it’s so shallow.

Minnesota Birds Not Seen in Pittsburgh

Travel

26 February 2025

When I was in Minnesota in February 2014 I saw Life Birds that can’t be seen in Pittsburgh. Six are shown above plus a potential Life Bird — the boreal owl. Four of the seven occur across northern North America and Eurasia. The other three are found only in North America.

Looking For Another Owl

Birds of Prey, Travel
Great gray owl at Sax-Zim Bog, Dec 2015 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

25 February 2025

After a month of excitement over Schenley Park’s great horned owls nest, I’m switching gears this week to find the owls I missed in Minnesota eleven years ago.

Back in 2014 I attended the Sax-Zim Bog birding festival during one of the coldest winters of the century. I had a wonderful time full of new experiences and Life Birds but I never saw my target bird, the great gray owl, so I’m going back this week with Frank Nicoletti as my guide to find one.

From the top of their heads to the tip of their tails great gray owls (Strix nebulosa) are the world’s largest owl by length with a wingspan up to 5 feet long.

Although it appears to be more massive than other owls of the northern forest, its actual body mass is at least 15% smaller than the more common Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), with which it shares habitat. Thus its plumage makes up much of the bulk of the bird, allowing it to withstand the bitter cold of northern winters.

— Birds of the World: Great Gray Owl — emphasis added

This cross section of a taxidermied model at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen shows how small the bird’s body really is.

Cross sectioned taxidermied Great Grey Owl, Strix nebulosa, showing the extent of the body plumage, Zoological Museum, Copenhagen (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

To give you an idea of their size, here’s a video from the Owl Research Institute of banding an adult male great gray owl and his chicks in (probably) northern Montana in 2020. Note that the male is smaller than his mate.

video from May 2020, embedded from Daniel J Cox on YouTube

Perhaps I’ll only see one from a distance but you can tell by its shape that this is a great gray!

Great grey owl in Ontario (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

p.s. I checked my Life List again and discovered I’ve never seen a boreal owl (Aegolius funereus). Fingers crossed for both.

Courtship and Nest Building: Peregrine Style

Nesting & Courtship, Peregrines
Ecco and Carla court at the nest, 23 Feb 2025, 11:12m (photo from National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

24 February 2025

If you watch courtship among bald eagles or red-tailed hawks you’ve seen that it includes flying together, perching together, and bringing sticks to the nest. Peregrine falcons also fly together but they have different traditions when it comes to close courtship and nest building. Yesterday the Pitt peregrines engaged in these activities as seen on the National Aviary streaming falconcam.

After a 12 day hiatus, Carla reappeared on camera yesterday and engaged in two courtship bouts with Ecco. Their ledge displays included bowing together, vocalizing and touching beaks (see Familiarities on the Cliff). This bowing session lasts about 90 seconds.

video from the National Aviary streaming falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh

Following this encounter, Carla stayed at the nest to do some “nest building.” I’ve put those words in quote marks because it doesn’t look like building at all. Instead she scrapes the gravel with her feet, then putters and rearranges the stones and bones. There are lots of tiny bird bones on the gravel left over from last year’s successful nesting season.

Carla doesn’t add anything to the nest. No sticks, no grass. She will lay her eggs in the bowl she and Ecco scrape in the gravel. Her puttering takes twice as long as the bowing session — 3 minutes.

video from the National Aviary streaming falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh

Carla hardly needed to do any scraping yesterday because Ecco has made the scrape deeper every day while she was off camera. You can see the scrape (bowl) under the roof in this photo.

The Scrape at the Pitt peregrines’ nest, 23 Feb 2025 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

And here he is, digging the scrape on 18 February.

Ecco digs the scrape, 18 Feb 2025 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot cam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

For more information about peregrine “nest building” see this Peregrine FAQ:

They Nest On Gravel

Schenley Park Outing to See the Owls, Sun 2 March, 9:30

Birds of Prey, Books & Events, Schenley Park
Mother owl with two owlets at Schenley Park nest, 19 Feb 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)

1 March UPDATE: Yes this outing is happening as planned and yes it will be COLD. Dress warmly. Here’s some news:

  • One of the owlets fell from the nest on Thursday 27 Feb and was rescued by Sarah Mateskovich & taken by WIN to Tamarack Wildlife Center where they determined it has only a minor beak injury. The rescued owlet may be fostered at another nest since this bridge nest is inaccessible for her return.
  • As of 28 February there were still 2 owlets in the nest, apparently there were 3 to begin with!

23 February 2025

You’ve been hearing about them. Now come see them!

Join me on a daytime great horned “owl prowl” in Schenley Park on Sunday 2 March 2025. Meet at 9:30am in front of the Schenley Park Visitor Center (40.438514, -79.946479). We’ll walk from there to the viewing area.

NOTE the time! 1 HOUR LATER THAN USUAL!     9:30AM

Dana Nesiti photographed two owlets in the nest on 19 February, above. Since this outing is 11 days after his photo I expect the owlets to be halfway to adult size.

Dress warmly in layers and wear comfortable WARM socks and boots. Bring binoculars, field guides and a scope if you have them. We probably will be standing still on frozen ground while we wait for the owls to move. This is a very cold activity so be prepared!

The outing will last 60+ minutes, depending on the weather.

And just to tantalize you, here’s what they looked like this morning

Great horned owls in Schenley Park: Mother and two owlets, Sunday 23 Feb 2025, 9:15am (photos by Kate St. John)

Catching Up on Bad Weather

Weather & Sky
Plowing snow in southeast Virginia (photo from Jan 2014 by VADOT via Flickr Creative Commons License)

22 February 2025

This week was cold in Pittsburgh but no snow after Monday so I was surprised on Friday when my mother said she had 12″ of snow at her home in Virginia Beach.

Early this week I was relieved to see that a severe winter storm was going to pass south of Pennsylvania and so I ignored it.

But it couldn’t be ignored south of here. The colored dots on this map are 4-12 inches of snow falling between noon on Tuesday 18 Feb and noon Friday 21 Feb. The time span doesn’t even include the start of the storm!

Snowfall map — noon 18 Feb to noon 21 Feb 2025 — from weather.gov

It wreaked havoc across Virginia and made national news on the CBS Morning Show (which I never see because I’m busy blogging).

20 Feb 2025 video from CBS Mornings on YouTube

Wasn’t that fun … not! Click here if you’re curious about snowfall totals in Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina.

p.s. Interestingly the heaviest snowfall on that screenshot map was in the snow belt at Oneida Lake in upstate New York — more than 54 inches!

Aurora, Moon and Clouds at Glacier Bay Alaska

Alaska, Weather & Sky
Early morning at Glacier Bay National Park (by Betty Wills (Atsme), Wikimedia Commons, License CC-BY-SA 4.0)

21 February 2025

Our National Parks are beautiful on the ground and also in the sky.

Today Wikimedia features this timelapse video of the sky at Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska on 18 November 2021.

Bright moon, stars, and the northern lights (aurora borealis) dance in the sky on a somewhat clear night in Glacier Bay’s frontcountry. Clouds eventually roll in to obscure the beautiful sky.

Here’s is the park’s location.

Ravens Hate A Cheater

Bird Behavior, Crows & Ravens
Raven shouting, Feb 2017 (photo by J.Maughn via Flickr Creative Commons license)

20 February 2025

Ravens have moral standards, they understand fair play, and when someone breaks their trust they refuse to deal with them again. Ravens hate a cheater.

We know this because researchers conducted a trading experiment in 2017 in which they built trust with ravens (Corvus corax). When a raven offered bread, the human gave him his favorite food, cheese.

Then one of the researchers accepted the bread but ate the cheese she was supposed to give to the raven, in effect saying, “Hah Hah Hah! Fooled you!”

The ravens were outraged! Find out what happened next in this vintage article.

Fool Me Once …

p.s. Are we humans as smart as ravens when it comes to trust? Alas, some are not and the cheaters become bold.

Then and Now: Comparing Spring This Week

Climate Change, Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Honeysuckle leaves in a Too Early Spring, 20 Feb 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)

20 February 2025

Yesterday I looked back seven years and found photos of honeysuckle leafing out! Obviously we’re having a very different February than we did in 2018 when it was hotter than normal.

How does this year’s Spring status compare to years past? Here are a few photos for comparison.

Maple tree flowers: 2023 vs 2025

Only two years ago the maple trees had started blooming by now. This week the buds are still slammed shut.

Maple flowers blooming on 17 Feb 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Maple buds slammed shut on 18 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
The Tulip Garden: 2024 vs 2025

Last year the tulip leaves were standing tall. This year they emerged and stopped.

Tulip leaves standing tall a year ago, 7 Feb 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Tulip leaves emerged and paused, 18 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
The Crocus Lawn: 2023 vs 2025

Two years ago this lawn on Neville Street was carpeted in blooming crocuses. This week it’s covered in snow.

The crocus lawn on 21 Feb 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Yesterday that lawn looked like this.

The crocus lawn on 18 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

And here’s an interesting juxtaposition …

High water comes and goes: 2018 vs 2025

The Monongahela River at Duck Hollow flooded the parking lot seven years ago. This month the highest reach was well below the parking lot.

Monongahela River flood at Duck Hollow, 17 Feb 2018 (photo by John English)
Monongahela River highest water in February 2025 (so far), 3 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

I was surprised to learn that January 2025 was Earth’s hottest January on record considering that it snowed in New Orleans and Pittsburgh had -8°F.

This map shows why we’re confused by this news. While most of the world and everything north of us was extra hot, the Continental US was unusually cold in January 2025.

January 2025 global land and ocean temperature departure from average base period 1990-2020 (map from NOAA)