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.
Last Sunday while Bob Donnan was at the Pirates’ game, two young birds nestled in the windshield wiper well of his car.
Yesterday [13 August] when our Chevy Bolt was parked at the South Hills Village – Public Rapid Transit garage, two young [Mourning] Doves nestled into the lower windshield area. We didn’t even notice them until exiting the garage into brighter light!
The car is so quiet that their short ride didn’t alarm them. After I stopped the car and waited for all traffic to pass, I waved my hand toward them and they flew off, back toward the parking garage.
— email from Bob Donnan, 14 August 2023
Immature mourning doves are surprised to take a ride (video by Bob Donnan)
I could tell by the birds’ appearance that they are juvenile mourning doves because they look spotty rather than smooth. Juvenile body feathers are so new that each one has a pale tip, giving the bird a scalloped look. Compare the top photo of a juvenile with this one of an adult.
Mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) nest multiple times per season and at each nesting the female lays two eggs that hatch in 14 days and fledge 12-15 days later. Just before they fledge the father completely takes over feeding duty so his mate can cycle and lay a new clutch.
The siblings are dependent on their father for 12-15 days after they fledge (26-30 days old). During this period they stay together in the same area during the day, never straying far, waiting for dad to show up. In the nest they learned to associate his voice with a feeding so if he calls they come.
Interestingly they have good homing skills even at this young age. If juveniles are forced from their “reference area” before they are 21 days old — i.e. while still dependent on their father — they always return within 24 hours.
Why at the parking garage?
Mourning doves nest in trees, shrubs and even on the ground but they have no problem nesting near humans and, according to Birds of the World, “may use unusual human-made substrates for nest sites, e.g. rain spouts, mops hanging on walls, immobile car accessories.”
Hmmm. “Immobile car accessories.” These two are probably not the only baby doves who’ve been taken for a ride.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons, video by Bob Donnan)
A lot of us think that fall migration doesn’t start until the end of August, but guess what? BirdCast resumed migration predictions on 1 August and their regional lists of Species On The Move show an influx of 10 noticeable species this week while five have already left, or are about to. Don’t wait to go birding. Check BirdCast tools to find out why.
Species On The Move uses two decades of eBird data to calculate movement from start to finish within four regions: Upper Midwest & Northeast, Gulf Coast & Southeast, Great Plains, and West. Of course they list First Arrival, Peak, and Last Departure but my favorite markers are:
Noticeability: *** Three asterisks mean we’re really likely to notice this species.
Rapid Migrant Influx: A few may be here already but numbers increase rapidly on this date.
Rapid Departure: Numbers drop quickly on this date though a few will linger.
The tables are grouped by region with Pittsburgh in the heart of BirdCast’s Upper Midwest & Northeast region. These dates are estimates but they’re good ones. Let’s take a look at who left and who’s coming soon.
Noticable Departures: Who Just Left?
Orchard oriole singing at Frick Park, 26 April 2023 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Have you noticed that orchard orioles, northern rough-winged swallows and willow flycatchers are basically gone? They started leaving in July, then rapidly departed in the first week of August. Yellow warblers and purple martins are not far behind. They’ll leave this week.
The screenshot below is a quick summary of rapid departures as of 13 August 2023. It shows:
Upper Midwest and Northeast region
Pared down to Noticeable birds (*** or **)
Sorted by Rapid Migrant Departure date
Not including some goodies such as Louisiana waterthrush, alder flycatcher and least bittern. (They’re on the website but not “Noticeable” for my pared-down screenshot.)
The tables change every day, dropping past dates and picking up new species in the future, so check out BirdCast’s Species on the Move to find out what’s happening near you.
p.s. How will you know if it’s worth going birding? Check BirdCast Migration Tools for forecast maps, live maps and alerts.
6-point buck in Schenley Park, 4 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
13 August 2023
In the city of Pittsburgh there are so many white-tailed deer that it’s easy to see them in August. The bucks are eating, eating, eating to bulk up. The does are hanging out with their adolescent fawns in this brief period between birthing and mating. It’s the calm before the rut.
Last Friday morning I found eight deer resting in dappled shade in Schenley Park. My cellphone photos don’t do them justice except for this: The photos show how hard it is to notice deer that are lying down and not moving.
Four bucks resting in Schenley Park, 11 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
A few of them moved, however, grooming to shed their chestnut brown summer coats for gray-brown winter pelage. The photo above shows four bucks with antlers in velvet, each with a different point count: 4-point, 6-point, 7-point and 8-point.
Two does and two fawns rested a short distance from the males. The fawns gave the group away. They did not hold still for long. (The second doe is not in the photo.)
Doe and two fawns resting in Schenley Park, 11 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
One week earlier it was impossible not to see this six-point buck browsing the hillside right next to the Lower Trail.
Deer eating in Schenley Park, 4 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
He’s leaving a lot of greenery behind but the leaves he’s not eating are unpalatable invasive aliens called goutweed. The buck is nosing through them to re-browse the deer-food plants hidden below the goutweed. Those food plants won’t recover this late in the season. All the food will be gone and he won’t be back to this spot.
Buck browsing in Schenley Park, 4 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
In August the days are still longer than the nights and deer hormones are not surging yet but it’s only a matter of time and the Equinox before their sedate demeanor ends. According to the PA Game Commission, after 12 weeks of rut excitement from mid October through early January:
98% of the mature does will have bred
40% of the fawns will have bred at only 6-7 months old (city/suburb phenomenon)
85% of the pregnancies will result in twins or triplets, some with different fathers.
A NOTE TO COMMENTERS: Some interesting threads have developed in the comments with new readers weighing. Please note that comments on this blog are moderated and may be edited for clarity. Comments that could inflame others will be edited or deleted.
Butterfly weed, Schenley, 9 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
13 August 2023
The birds are quiet now but the bugs are busy.
After I photographed this butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) I zoomed in to look at the yellow spec on the back edge of the flower cluster and found a tiny yellow crab spider clinging to the flowers. My guess is that he’s a member of the Thomisidae family, lying in wait for something. But what?
Tiny yellow crab spider on butterfly weed, Schenley, 9 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
On Monday, while walking the Three Rivers Heritage Trail River opposite Herrs Island, I noticed a caterpillar on the wide aluminum railing. It reminded me of the hickory tussock moth except that this one was blonde.
Sycamore tussock moth caterpillar near Herrs Island, 7 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
iNaturalist identified it as a sycamore tussock moth (Halysidota harrisii). The railing was directly beneath his host plant, a sycamore tree (Platanus occidentalis).
Sycamore leaves and stems, Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
The caterpillar walked rapidly down the railing in a straight line until Whoa! a spotted lanternfly red nymph walked rapidly toward him. The caterpillar made a detour.
Sycamore tussock moth detours to avoid a spotted lanternfly, 7 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
At Frick Park on 6 August we found a lot of millipedes on the paved Nine Mile Run Trail. iNaturalist says they are greenhouse millipedes (Oxidus gracilis), thought to be native to Japan but introduced around the world. They get their name from being a pest in greenhouses.
Greenhouse millipede, Frick Park, 6 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
And finally I was fooled yesterday by these mating orange and black bugs, as fooled as they intended me to be. They looked like milkweed bugs, but why were they on a false sunflower?
False milkweed bugs mating on a false sunflower, 11 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
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