Wrapping Up 2022: Seen In 2 Weeks

Phenology, Weather & Sky
Pastel sunrise on 14 December 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

31 December 2022

The end of the year was a weather yo-yo from warm-ish winter to bone chilling cold to 60 degrees yesterday. Photos from the last two weeks span Pittsburgh and Virginia.

Above, a pastel sunrise on 14 December in Pittsburgh was followed by above freezing weather. It was so warm that by the 17th I found a bench gnome in Schenley Park and blooming trees at Carnegie Museum.

Whimisical gnome beneath a stone bench in Schenley Park, 17 December 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Flowering cherry in bloom at Carnegie Museum, 17 December 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

That evening it dipped below freezing and stayed cold through sunrise on the 21st. The blossoms did not survive.

Frosty sunrise on 21 December 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

And then it got Nasty cold.

To avoid the coming winter storm we drove to Virginia on Wednesday the 21st. On Thursday in Virginia it poured, on Friday it turned sharply cold.

Finally on Saturday in Virginia Beach the temperature reached the mid 20s in the afternoon so I took a walk and found a young male common yellowthroat with bright yellow throat, olive back and shadow mask (sample photo at left). A warbler(!) had survived the coldest night of 13 degrees F and was gleaning dead insects from the sunlit grass. He was on the path in the photo at right, but of course we cannot see him.

There was a common yellowthroat warbler here in the grass! Lynnhaven Park, Virginia Beach, 24 December 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

On 26 December when I visited Back Bay NWR there were thousands of waterfowl including tundra swans, gadwall, wigeons, black ducks, ring-necked ducks, scaup, ruddy ducks, and coots (see checklist here).

The freezing weather had created odd ice formations above the water.

Ice on the reeds at Back Bay NWR, 26 December 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
A closer look at ice on the reeds at Back Bay NWR, 26 December 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

At sunset in Smithfield, VA on 27 December it was comfortably above freezing. I put away my parka.

Sunset in Smithfield, Virginia, 27 December 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

No coat necessary while we drove home on 28 December. And there was a beautiful sunset in western PA.

Sunset along the PA Turnpike, New Stanton Rest Stop, 28 December 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

The week ahead promises warm temperatures with rain all day for the Christmas Bird Count. Erf! Will I find the crows?

(common yellowthroat photo from Wikimedia Commons, all other photos by Kate St. John)

Wild Turkeys Introduced

Doves & Chickens, Musings & News
Two tom turkeys introduce themselves to the ladies (photo by Cris Hamilton)

30 December 2022

Wild turkeys introduce themselves to each other on a personal basis but when it comes to where they live humans get involved.

Last summer eBird revised their species maps to show “introduced” versus “native” ranges of all the birds. For North American species that have been introduced elsewhere in the U.S. the results were bi-colored orange and purple maps. See maps for introduced house finches and bobwhites at Common Birds, Exotic Ranges.

Apparently wild turkeys were introduced, too. So how do the native turkeys stay neatly on their own side of the Washington-Idaho border? Don’t they introduce themselves to the other guys?

(photo by Cris Hamilton)

Tundra Swans at Their Winter Home

Water and Shore
Tundra swans at Mattamuskeet Refuge, NC, Sept 2015 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

29 December 2022

Tundra swans pass over Pittsburgh in mid November but rarely stop on their way to the Chesapeake and Tidewater North Carolina. I missed seeing them overhead in Pennsylvania so while in Virginia this week I went to visit them at their winter home.

Tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus) breed in the arctic wetlands of Russia, Alaska and Canada and spend the winter in temperate marshes and grasslands, often near the coast.

Tundra swan range map from Wikimedia Commons (orange = breeding, blue – wintering)

Banding and radio-tag studies in the 1980s revealed that North America’s tundra swan population is split east and west with separate breeding and wintering grounds. In 2015 US Fish and Wildlife estimated approximately 117,100 in the eastern population and 56,300 in the west.

Western and Eastern populations of tundra swans (maps from US Fish & Wildlife)

The largest winter concentration of tundra swans is in northeastern North Carolina, deep purple on this eBird map (Dec-Jan occurrences in the past 10 years).

eBird map of tundra swan distribution in the Lower 48, Dec-Jan in the past 10 years (2012-2022)

Virginia’s Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge is close to the North Carolina border and attracts a portion of that large population. On the day after Christmas I stopped by to see them.

The bay view from the boardwalk is vast (see below) and the swans were quite distant. Through my scope I counted only 65 at first.

The bay at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge (photo by WarriorMare via Flickr Creative Commons license)

But I could hear a lot more swans than I could see. Over the next few hours more than 200 moved out to open water. The loudest ones shouted at each other and leaned in to emphasize their point.

Tundra swans vocalizing (illustration of European subspecies (Bewick’s swan) by Jos Zwarts from Wikimedia Commons

Listen to distant tundra swans at Back Bay NWR, humming, whistling and shouting. Don’t be fooled when they sound like sandhill cranes. These are tundra swans at their winter home.

Tundra swans vocalizing at Back Bay NWR, Virginia, 26 Dec 2022 (recorded by Kate St. John)

(credits are in the photo and map captions; click on the captions to see the originals. Sound converted from .wav to .mp3 using online-audio-converter.com)

Drunk On Fermented Fruit

Bird Behavior, Mammals, Plants & Fungi
Cedar waxwing in Ohio (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

28 December 2022

After five days of extremely cold weather the temperature is rising into the 40s today and will stay above freezing in the week ahead. Hard fruits that were softened by the freeze are now poised to ferment in warmer weather. Soon we may see drunken birds.

Birds leave crabapples and Callery pears on the trees in November because they’re too hard to eat. Freezing breaks down the starches into sugars and when the fruit thaws it is soft and yummy. However yeast gets into the fruit and ferments it. Birds gobble up the soft tasty fruit. If they eat too much they get drunk.

Callery pear fruit, before and after freezing (photos by Kate St. John)

When abundant rowan berries fermented in Gilbert, Minnesota in October 2018, waxwings gorged on them and became quite drunk.

video from Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul on YouTube

This black-billed magpie didn’t care that he was eating fermented apples until he could barely walk. He staggers among the apples and is only slightly more agile by the end of the video.

video from @ViralSnareRightsManagement on YouTube

Pumpkins are a fruit and, yes, they can ferment. When they do, squirrels get drunk.

Discarded pumpkins in Bloomfield, Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

video from @ShadiPetosky on YouTube

In 2015 a study reported that fermented fruit is becoming more common because of climate change. There’s more news in this vintage article.

Drunk On Climate Change

(photos by Kate St. John and from Wikimedia Commons, videos embedded from YouTube; click on the captions to see the originals)

Hand Feeding The Birds

Bird Behavior, Songbirds
Screenshot of female northern cardinal feeding from her hand, Jocelyn Anderson Photography @JocAPhotography

27 December 2022

When Michigan photographer Jocelyn Anderson (@JocAPhotography) takes a walk in the park she brings her camera and a pocketful of shelled peanuts, sunflower seeds and suet nuggets. While balancing her camera she films the birds eating out of her hand in beautiful closeups.

Before last week’s cold snap the birds were very hungry and very active as seen in the screenshot above and her video below. (Videos are in slow motion.)

A male red-bellied woodpecker arrived alone. As he lands you can see the pale red patch on his belly that gives him his name.

Days later it was too cold for bare hands so she offered the food on her mitten.

See more of Jocelyn Anderson’s photos and videos @JocAPhotography on Twitter. Visit her photo website where you can learn “How to Hand Feed Birds.”

(screenshot and videos by Jocelyn Anderson (@JocAPhotography)

Walking On Ice

Bird Anatomy
Canada geese walking on ice (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

26 December 2022

Three days ago the temperature in Pittsburgh fell from 40oF to -1oF in just 25 hours. Standing water froze rock hard. Everyone was walking on ice.

We humans have to wear insulated boots when the temperature is below freezing but birds walk on ice with their bare feet. They don’t they get frostbite because …

Birds are specially adapted to stay comfortable when it’s cold. They have fewer nerves and blood vessels in their feet and the veins and arteries in their legs are intertwined so that cold blood leaving their feet is warmed by incoming arterial blood. 

Dr. Heather Hinam (@SecondNatureMB) of Manitoba, Canada explains in this tweet.

Mourning doves are a slight exception to the rule and occasionally get frostbite. Read about their cold feet in this vintage article.

Cold Feet

For more information on animals’ adaptations for cold weather see Dr. Heather Hinam’s tweet: https://twitter.com/SecondNatureMB/status/1606305716288905216

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

Holiday Lights and Colors

Books & Events
Phipps Winter Garden lights, 20 Dec 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

24 December 2022

Brrrrr! It’s -1oF this morning in Pittsburgh, too cold to enjoy the outdoors.

Last Tuesday the temperature was a balmy 33oF when I visited Phipps Conservatory’s Holiday Magic at dusk. The Winter Garden glowed.

Phipps Winter Garden lights, 20 Dec 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Phipps Winter Garden lights with “Falcon Home” in the background, 20 Dec 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

As daylight faded a few white-throated sparrows made contact calls before they fell asleep. The garden is their winter home.

Sunset glowed through the trees, 20 Dec 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

And then the garden was brighter than the sky.

Phipps Winter Garden in the dark, 20 Dec 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Phipps Holiday Magic continues through Sunday 8 January 2023. By Wednesday 28 December Pittsburgh’s high will be 42oF! Click here for a timed ticket.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Best Feedercam!

Songbirds, Travel
Pine grosbeak in winter (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

23 December 2022

Severe cold weather has people huddling indoors and birds flocking to feeders across North America. If you don’t have a feeder you can still watch birds online at Ontario Feederwatch, one of the best around.

Tune in to see the usual suspects — cardinals, chickadees, blue jays — and some boreal specialities including common redpolls, pine siskins, pine grosbeaks (above), evening grosbeaks, and crossbills.

Click here or on the screenshot below (with 5 pine grosbeaks!) to visit Ontario Feederwatch at All About Birds. It’s my favorite feedercam.

Ontario Feederwatch with Pine Grosbeaks! 20 Dec 2022 (All About Birds)

By the way, if you don’t see a bird when you tune in, just wait. If you hear them chirping in the background they’re about to arrive.

(photo of common redpoll from Wikimedia Commons; screenshot from Ontario Feederwatch; click on the captions to see the originals)

How Do You Pronounce …?

Musings & News
Poinsettia (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

22 December 2022

How do you pronounce the name of this plant? Do you say the second “i”?

What? There are two “i”s ?

screenshot of Google search for poinsetta

Being from Pittsburgh, home of the vowel poor dialect called “Pittsburghese,” it’s no surprise that I’m missing a vowel here.

I learned about the second “i” 10 years ago but I haven’t changed my ways. Nor has Pittsburgh. So tell me, How do you say…?

How Do You Say?

(photo from Wikimedia Commons, screenshot from Google; click on the captions to see the originals)