Tomorrow is International Owl Awareness Day

Birds of Prey, Books & Events
Great horned owl, Frick Park, April 2019 (photo by Steve Gosser)

3 August 2023

Every year August 4 is International Owl Awareness Day. Here are some owls to get you ready for tomorrow.

The three owls pictured here live in Pittsburgh’s city parks but are hard to find in August. The best time of year to see a great-horned owl, above, is in late winter or early spring. Steve Gosser photographed this one in Frick Park in April 2019.

Though barred owls have nested successfully in Frick Park, I didn’t see any this year. In July 2022 two youngsters ventured further from their parents at dusk, photographed by Charity Kheshgi.

Young barred owls, Frick Park, July 2022 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

This roost on the main trail in Schenley Park was the best place to find an eastern screech-owl in winter, but it has not been used for several years. Nowadays listen for angry songbirds to tell you about the owls. They told me where to find a young eastern screech-owl in early June.

Eastern screech-owl, Schenley Park (photo by Benjamin Haake)
Eastern screech-owl, Schenley Park, March 2016 (photo by Benjamin Haake)

Last week I mentioned the Eurasian eagle-owl, Flaco, who lives in Central Park, NYC.

This video history describes Flaco’s early days after he escaped from his enclosure last winter. He’s been thriving ever since.

video by BrutAmerica embedded from YouTube

p.s. If you’re in Houston, Minnesota visit the International Owl Center for special programs tomorrow.

(photos by Steve Gosser, Charity Kheshgi and Benjamin Haake)

What Makes a Tiger Successful? Personality Helps

Mammals
Siberian tiger at Zürich Zoo (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

2 August 2023

The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is the largest tiger subspecies and one of the most endangered animals on the planet. It nearly went extinct in the 1940s due to habitat loss and poaching, but conservation efforts in Russia allowed the population to increase to 400-500 in the wild. This map shows how their range contracted from the 1800s to the 2010s.

Range of the Siberian tiger in the 1800s (pink) and the 2010s (red) – map from Wikimedia Commons

Saving the tigers requires knowing more about them but there are so few in the wild and they are so spread out that studying them would be too intrusive.

Instead a recent study of the dispositions of tigers interviewed the caretakers of 248 semi-wild tigers living in two large wildlife sanctuaries in northeastern China. The goal was to learn the the tigers’ personality traits, the traits that work well and those that don’t.

The research team invited more than 50 feeders and veterinarians to fill out questionnaires with lists of 67 to 70 adjectives that described tiger personality traits for each cat in their care. These words ranged from “savage” and “imposing” to “dignified” and “friendly.” The researchers designed the questionnaires to mimic human personality tests.

… Two distinct personality types emerged that accounted for nearly 40% of the tigers’ behaviors. Tigers that scored higher on words such as confident, competitive, and ambitious fell under what the researchers labeled as the “majesty” mindset. Those that exhibited traits such as obedience, tolerance, and gentleness were grouped together under the “steadiness” mindset. Together, these two personalities explained 38% of the behavioral differences displayed by the tigers in the study.

— Science Magazine: Tigers have distinct personalities according to big cat questionnaire

The study then matched the personality ratings of the individual cats to their success in life. “Based on their weights and eating habits, the tigers with majesty mindsets were generally healthier than those with steadiness personalities. They hunted more, mated more often, had more breeding success and appeared to have a higher social status than the steadiness tigers.” — Science Magazine

So for most of the tigers it comes down to Majesty …

Siberian tiger at (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

or Steadiness.

Siberian tiger at Duisberg Zoo (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Understanding their personalities will ease tiger-human interactions in the wild.

BONUS! When I researched this article I learned there are more tigers in captivity in Texas than in the wild. According to some estimates, there are 2,000 to 5,000 tigers in Texas compared to 3,900 in the wild (total of all tiger subspecies).

Compared to most other states Texas has generous (some say “lax”) wildlife-as-pets laws. Pet tigers are supposed to be registered in Texas and the owner must carry $100,000 in liability insurance but the number of registered tigers is lower than the actual number that live in the state.

For instance, take the Bengal tiger who roamed the streets of West Houston in May 2021. Houston is one of the few places in Texas where pet tigers are illegal so of course the 9-month-old tiger, named India, was not registered. The tiger caused a stir after he jumped out of his enclosure and walked around the neighborhood. The owner bundled him into an SUV and drove away, evading police (mistake! The owner was out on bond in a murder case). Eventually the wife turned over the tiger to police and it was given safe haven at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch where there are other tigers. Read all about it in the Houston Chronicle: Everything we know about the tiger seen roaming a west Houston neighborhood.

p.s. What was it about escaped wild animals 2021? Three months later 3 zebras escaped in Maryland.

(photos and maps from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)

Hummingbirds Know How to Stay Sober

Bird Behavior, Songbirds
Anna’s hummingbird at a feeder (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

1 August 2023

Fermentation happens in the wild when sugars in fruit are exposed to yeast and bacteria on the skin. A crack in the skin starts the process, then animals consume it with sometimes hilarious results. Groundhogs and squirrels fall over. Waxwings get so loopy they cannot fly.

Nectar ferments, too, which prompted UC Berkeley biologist Robert Dudley to wonder how hummingbirds react to it. Do they like it or avoid it? Do hummingbirds get drunk?

Dudley’s study, published this June in Royal Society Open Science, concludes that hummingbirds indeed drink fermented sugar-water but they drink responsibly. Hummingbirds know how to stay sober.

Anna’s hummingbird at feeder, Vancouver Island (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Dudley tasked several undergraduate students with experimenting on the hummers visiting the feeder outside his office window to find out whether alcohol in sugar water was a turn-off or a turn-on. All three of the test subjects were male Anna’s hummingbirds (Calypte anna), year-round residents of the Bay Area.

They found that hummingbirds happily sip from sugar water with up to 1% alcohol by volume, finding it just as attractive as plain sugar water, but they sip only half as much when the sugar water contains 2% alcohol. …

“They burn the alcohol and metabolize it so quickly. Likewise with the sugars. So they’re probably not seeing any real effect. They’re not getting drunk,” he added.

— UC Berkeley press release, Hummingbirds drink alcohol more often than you think

Hummingbirds regulate their alcoholic intake. This stupefied Bohemian waxwing, reeling from too much fermented fruit, needs to have a conversation with them.

Bohemian waxwing drunk on fermented fruit at Novosibirsk (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

p.s. Want to learn more about hummingbirds and see them being banded and in the hand? Come to Hummingbird Day on Saturday 19 August 2023, 9a-noon at

Powdermill Nature Reserve
1795 Route 381
Rector, PA 15677

Click here for event information and free registration. I’ll be there. More news later.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)

Horsenettle and Cuckoos: Yesterday at Frick Park

Books & Events, Plants & Fungi, Songbirds
Horse nettle at Frick Park, 30 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

31 July 2023

Yesterday morning’s walk at Frick Park had great weather, lots of participants and good birds.

Members of the Frick Park outing on 30 July 2023 (photo by Joe Fedor who held my phone-camera)

Early in the walk we encountered horsenettle (Solanum carolinense), pictured above, whose flowers are similar to those of its relatives in the Solanaceae or Nightshade family including tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant (called aubergine in the UK). Though it’s not a nettle, its common name refers to the thorns on its leaves. Did you know the leaves smell like potatoes when crushed? Thorns prevent me from trying this.(*)

Best Birds were a very cooperative yellow billed cuckoo and an elusive green heron. The cuckoo posed for us, the green heron zoomed away. Later the heron zoomed in and landed above us near a second green heron. Two!

In the Nine Mile Run valley I marveled at this confluence of a muddy tributary with the main stem of Nine Mile Run. This, in microcosm, is like the confluence of the clear-running Allegheny with the muddy Monongahela River at The Point.

Main stem of Nine Mile Run (clear) is joined by a tributary, 30 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Our eBird checklist is here and shown below.

Frick Park–Nine Mile Run, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Jul 30, 2023 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM
1.75 miles, 24 species, 17 participants

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) 2 Good looks at one of them
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) 1
Green Heron (Butorides virescens) 2
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 3
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 5
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 3
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 5
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 3
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 2 Youngster chasing an adult for food
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 3
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 5
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 5
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 12
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 3
Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) 1
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 7
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) 4
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 2
Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) 1 Female seen briefly
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 7
Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) 3

(photos by/for Kate St. John)

(*)NOTE: This just in! An article about edible Nightshades in The Guardian includes potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jul/31/the-truth-about-nightshades-four-online-myths-about-potatoes-tomatoes-and-aubergines.)

On Cape Cod It’s Always Shark Week

Fish, Frogs, Water and Shore
Great white shark, South Africa (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

30 July 2023

This may be the last day of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel but on Cape Cod it runs all year. A new study published this week in Marine Ecology Progress Series tagged and counted great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts and found that 800 individuals visited the area from 2015 to 2018. That means Cape Cod may have the highest density of white sharks in the world.

Fortunately all the sharks weren’t there at the same time. As lead author Megan Winton of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC) explains, great white sharks are highly migratory. Their population peaks on the Cape from July to November when the water is warm, as shown in this screenshot from AWSC’s logbook for 2022. Individual sharks spend a few hours or a few weeks in the area. (Click here to see AWSC’s shark data and download their shark app.)

AWSC white shark logbook by month for 2022 (screenshot from AWSC)

The sharks are attracted to the Cape by the abundance seals, one of their favorite foods. A Google Haul Out survey of southeastern Massachusetts estimated maximum counts of gray seals at 30,000 to 50,000 animals in 2012 to 2015. Harbor seals arrive in the fall and add to the seal population. No wonder sharks show up. Gray seals provide a lot of meat, weighing as much as 800 pounds.

Gray seals at Nantucket NWR (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Gray seals at a haul out in Nantucket NWR (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

During our recent trip to Cape Cod I saw lots of seals at Chatham Fish Pier. Several swam by the fishing boats but the vast majority were hauled out on a sand bar across the harbor. See that lumpy line of gray blobs? Those are gray seals.

Gray seals line the edge of the sand bar across from Chatham Fish Pier on Cape Cod, 12 July 2023 (photo by Richard St. John)
Gray seals line the edge of the sand bar across from Chatham Fish Pier on Cape Cod, 12 July 2023 (photo by Richard St. John)

While on the Cape I didn’t see any sharks but I did see a No Swimming shark sign at Race Point. I was looking for birds and, as it turns out, diving seabirds give the hint that a shark may be nearby. Both feed on schools of fish, the birds from above, the sharks from below.

The abundance of sharks and seals in Cape Cod’s waters is an environmental success story. Gray seals were almost extinct in U.S. waters by the mid 20th century because of bounty hunting in Maine and Massachusetts from the late 1800s to 1962. The seal population began to recover, slowly, when the bounties ended. Sharks made a comeback because of the seals.

Learn more in this ABC News interview with lead author Megan Winton of Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

video embedded from ABC News on YouTube

p.s. Well, technically, it’s only Shark Week for 5 months on Cape Cod — mostly from July to November.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons and by Richard St. John, graph is a screenshot of AWSC’ logbook website; click on the links to see the originals)

Seen at Jennings Last Week

Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Shrubby St. Johnswort at Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

29 July 2023

Just over a week ago the Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania and Wissahickon Nature Club made their annual visit to Jennings Prairie for late July wildflowers. All of these species and more were seen on Friday 21 July. Shown here are:

This thimbleweed still has petals, Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Dense blazing star, Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yarrow, Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

This photo of rattlesnake plantain shows the flower buds. Click here or on the photo to see the entire plant with basal leaves.

Rattlesnake plantain in bud, Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Culver’s root was in bloom at Jennings but too far from the trail for a cellphone photo. I found this one blooming on Thursday in a garden near Dippy the Dinosaur at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Do you see the bumblebee?

Culver’s root near Dippy statue, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 27 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

See more photos at the Wissahickon Trip Report and click here for the complete list of species.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Bird News Lately

Migration, Musings & News
Celebrity in Central Park, Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl, February 2023 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

28 July 2023

A selection of photos and videos this month around the web:

In February a Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco escaped from the Central Park Zoo and became a celebrity. He’s still hanging out in July.

In Florida, swallow-tailed kites are preparing to migrate.

In Europe, migration has already begun across the Strait of Gibraltar.

(embedded from Twitter)

Who’s Singing Now?

Phenology, Vocalizations
Song sparrow singing in August (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

27 July 2023

In late July, who’s singing now?

Almost no one.

Birds sing during the breeding season to claim territory and attract mates but most songbirds wrap up the breeding season by mid-July. When breeding’s over they stop singing.

You’ll hear a handful of exceptions, though, among songbirds who nest many times each year. Song sparrows and northern cardinals raise multiple broods and have active nests in late July. Both are still singing though not as vigorously.

You won’t hear songs from birds who have finished breeding but you will hear their contact calls. Common grackles raise only one brood per year and by July they are already in flocks, sweeping through the woods and foraging on the ground.

Common grackle in flight (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

You might not see them on the shady forest floor but you’ll hear them making “chucking” sounds like this. (Note: There are additional birds making noise in the background of this recording.)

Birdsong will drop off completely next month. Take note of the few singers now.

(photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the link to see the original)

The Heat Loop

Climate Change, Weather & Sky
Hot weather sunset (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

26 July 2023

The weather is hot and getting hotter. Excessive heat plagued the West, Texas and Florida and now, in the next 6-10 days, the heat will move southeast with soaring temperatures at 100°F+.

U.S. 6-10 day temperature outlook, 31 July – 4 August as of 7/25/2023 (map from NWS)

It’s not just the air that’s hot, the ocean is too. This timelapse video from Colin McCarthy @US_stormwatch shows ocean temperature anomalies from 22 February to 21 July. The hottest colors — the highest above normal — are off the Pacific coast of South America and in the North Atlantic near Newfoundland.

Warming water off the coast of South America is the developing El Niño, part of the cyclical El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) that affects weather and climate around the world.

The real surprise is off the coast of Newfoundland where Colin McCarthy says “The North Atlantic is in uncharted territory. The entire ocean basin is a record-smashing 1.5°C (2.7°F) above normal.”

Both are easier to see in this static map from NOAA.

NOAA sea surface temperature anomaly (partial map) as of 24 July 2023, 0600 EDT

Hot water makes the air hot as Newfoundlanders can tell you. Summers are usually so cool there that only 1 in 5 households in St John’s, NL have air conditioning, at least as of 2019. That is probably changing this summer as temperatures soar into the 90s.

Hot water makes hotter air makes hotter water in an endless feedback loop.

With El Niño on top of climate change I don’t think it will end well.

p.s. Today’s news Florida ocean records ‘unprecedented’ temperatures similar to a hot tub!

(photo and map credits are in the caption; click the links to see the originals. The Heat Loop diagram is by Kate St. John)

Who’s Smarter? Raven or Crow?

Bird Behavior, Crows & Ravens
  • Common raven (photo from Wikimedia)

25 July 2023

Scientists say that the smartest animals have large brains and have become so intelligent because their lifestyles force them to solve complex ecological (ex: food, habitat) and social problems (ex: long-term social bonds that may include absences).

Ravens and crows both have large brains relative to their body size and both are good at problem solving. The Raven Diaries (@theravendiaries) takes a look at which species acts smarter and why.

video embedded from @theravendiaries on YouTube

So which one is smarter? It’s a hard call between crows and ravens.

Crows understand the concept of zero and know that 0 precedes 1, a feat that beats small humans.

Ravens were tested against chimps and came up equally intelligent: Young Ravens Rival Adult Chimps in a Big Test of General Intelligence. They were also equal if not better at “theory of mind,” the ability to imagine what others are thinking: Ravens have paranoid, abstract thoughts about other minds.

For example, this video shows two ravens guessing what the other is thinking and act accordingly.

video embedded from BBC Earth on YouTube

Kaeli Swift of Corvid Research is often asked if ravens are smarter than [you-name-it] animal. Here’s the long answer.

Are ravens smarter than a___?

(credits are in the captions)