Fall leaves, Schenley Park, 12 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
15 October 2022
Fall colors were looking good in the City of Pittsburgh this week. A maple in Schenley Park turned shades of orange and red while the sunrise worked to match it.
Sunrise on 12 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
This acorn in Schenley Park is a squirrel’s dream come true, the largest acorn native to North America. Bur oaks (Quercus macrocarpa also spelled burr oak) were planted in several places in the park more than 100 years ago, most notably at the main trail entrance near Bartlett Playground. This species withstands harsh conditions and is one of the most drought resistant oaks.
Bur oak acorn, Schenley Park, 9 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Goldenrods are blooming in the small meadow near Bartlett Playground.
Goldenrod in meadow, Schenley Park, 12 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
During my walk to Schenley Plaza on 11 October I saw a peregrine fly toward Heinz Chapel’s scaffolding and disappear among the dense rods.
Heinz Chapel scaffolding, 11 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
If he hadn’t moved I would not have found him. Ta dah! (See inside red circle.)
Peregrine falcon perched (circled) on Heinz Chapel scaffolding, 11 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Amazingly he was easier to see through binoculars from Schenley Plaza tent. Too far for a photo.
Songbirds are attracted to water — to streams, puddles, marshes, ponds — especially on migration.
Watch a soothing video of birds enjoying the water in Richard Hall’s backyard in Athens, Georgia.
I was shocked/thrilled at how many folks over the world enjoyed the #WarblerPartyPond video, so here’s another 90 seconds of heaven, highlighting the migrant and resident birds flocking to bathe in my small in-town yard this weekend. How many can you ID? Species list in comments. pic.twitter.com/AOeeSyWLak
Today is Thursday, Thor’s Day, or Jove’s Day. We’ll celebrate with some quick facts about Jupiter.
The Romans named the fifth day of the week dies Jovis (“Jove‘s Day”) after the planet Jupiter. In Germanic mythology, Jupiter is equated to Thor, whence the English name Thursday for the Roman dies Jovis.
Modern day space probes and telescopes can see the Galilean moons in full color. The image caption on the photo below explains: From left to right in order of increasing distance from Jupiter, Io is closest, followed by Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
Jupiter doesn’t have rings like Saturn, but it ought to. Why not?
Because it’s bigger, Jupiter ought to have larger, more spectacular rings than Saturn has. But new UC Riverside research (21 July 2022) shows Jupiter’s massive moons prevent that vision from lighting up the night sky.
And finally, Thursday is a good day to feel jovial. According to Wikipedia, the older adjectival form jovial, employed by astrologers in the Middle Ages, has come to mean “happy” or “merry”, moods ascribed to Jupiter’s astrological influence.
Happy Thursday!
(images from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)
Eastern North America has only one hummingbird, the ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), but in late fall after the ruby-throats have left for the tropics a few western hummingbirds come east.
Rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) breed in the Pacific Northwest to Alaska and spend the winter along the Gulf Coast and in Mexico. Their range map says they don’t occur in the eastern U.S., not even on migration.
However, beginning in late October, a few show up in Pennsylvania. Some even reach the Atlantic Coast. An eBird map of rufous hummingbird reports from October to February, 2019-2022, shows them dotted across the eastern U.S.
As the September wave of migrating warblers disappears to our south the next wave of birds has arrived from the north, among them ruby-crowned kinglets (Corthylio calendula). These tiny dynamos resemble the plainest warblers and vireos but are so unique that it’s worth taking a closer look at them.
For starters, though ruby-crowns are called kinglets they are no longer in the same genus as golden-crowned kinglets (Regulus satrapa). In 2021, thanks to DNA and some very unique traits, the AOS placed them in a genus all their own: Corthylio.
Smaller than any warbler, ruby-crowned kinglets are olive-green with somewhat whitish bellies. Their most reliable trait is their constant wing-flicking, punctuated by rapid darting to and fro. They also have:
Two white wingbars,
Big white eyerings broken above and below,
A tiny beak
No neck
A proportionally larger head compared to the look of a warbler
Thin black legs with golden feet
A dry call note and a rousing song
Males have red or orange feathers hidden atop their heads which they raise when agitated.
On any particular bird you may never see a ruby crown. The females don’t have them and the males are not always agitated. However if you keep watching, a bird may come close to watch you, then raise his crown when he figures out who you are. Maybe this curious ruby-crown is female.
Ruby-crowned kinglet, golden slippers (photo by Steve Gosser)
Ruby-crowned kinglets are short-distance migrants that breed in spruce-fir forests in Canada and the northern/mountainous U.S. They spend the winter in southeastern Pennsylvania but are rare in western PA outside of migration. October is the time to see them in Pittsburgh.
Colorful leaves, Schenley Park, 9 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
10 October 2022
The season has changed and the woods in Schenley Park look different than they did a month ago. The trees are putting on fall color and deer are providing more evidence of their overpopulation in the park.
Doe browsing in Schenley Park, 21 Aug 2022. NOTE: A buck-rubbed sapling is in the foreground (photo by Kate St. John)
With the growing season over there is less greenery for deer to eat and there are fewer places to browse because they have already denuded many areas.
Nothing growing on the ground in the presence of too many deer, Schenley Park, 9 October 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
What is left has been eaten down to nubs, just visible above the unpalatable invasive plants. Below, goutweed nearly hides the tops of what used to be jewelweed while pokeweed was browsed to tiny leaves and bare stems.
Favored plants are browsed to the tops of unappetizing plants (goutweed), Schenley Park 9 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)Pokeweed overbrowsed by deer, Schenley Park, 9 October 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
As the greenery disappears deer eat tree saplings and small branches. In cases of deer overpopulation, such as Schenley Park, the young trees are foraged down to bonsai.
Ash tree sapling overbrowsed by deer, like bonsai, Schenley Park, 9 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Schenley no longer has enough food for deer so at night they walk into neighborhoods and browse in backyards. This is happening across the city and has prompted some residents to consider a Deer Management Plan for Pittsburgh. KDKA’s Andy Sheen reports: Some Pittsburgh residents say it’s time to get deer population under control. Click on the link or the screenshot below.
There was much excitement in British birding this week when two yellow-rumped warblers (Setophaga coronata) and a first-ever least bittern (Ixobrychus exilis) were sighted in the Shetland Islands, the northern tip of Scotland.
Both species are found only in the Americas but all three birds crossed more than 2,200 miles of the North Atlantic non-stop, likely forced offshore from the Canadian Maritimes or Newfoundland to escape Hurricane Fiona, the strongest hurricane ever recorded in Canada.
The birds were found more than 10 days later in the Shetlands on 5-7 October. It is hard to imagine their ordeal. The yellow-rumped warblers seem fine but the least bittern was exhausted and underweight and was taken to rehab where it died overnight.
Catch the excitement of seeing birds far from home in these tweets from British birders.
Oh my God!!! I’ve found a MYRTLE WARBLER on #Shetland today. All those days of resisting chasing other people’s birds and trying to find my own really paid off today #Megapic.twitter.com/euPCYv9mme
I am impressed that the warblers gravitated to the only trees in the landscape. This is similar to warbler behavior at Magee Marsh in May when they are found in small patches of trees — the only trees among miles of marsh and farmland.
The least bittern was found hunched on the shore, not in good shape. It died that night in rehab.
9 October 2022. There’s more: A first-ever Empidonax flycatcher in Ireland and a Baltimore Oriole in Devon, UK. Unfortunately the Baltimore oriole was eaten by a sparrowhawk (an Accipiter).
Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 6 October 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
8 October 2022
Sunrise and sunset have been very colorful in Pittsburgh lately.
On 6 October the sky was clear with some thin clouds and airplane contrails. The rising sun lit the contrails a hot pink-red. Detail photo above, wide-angle below.
Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 6 October 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
On 30 September the sunset was fiery.
Sunset in Pittsburgh, 30 September 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Every day is shorter as sunrise and sunset get closer to each other. By 18 October we will have an hour less of daylight than at the Equinox.
p.s. Unfortunately the sunrise on 6 October many have been colorful because the air was so bad. Everyone in the Mon Valley could smell it. Hydrogen sulfide exceeded the 1-hour limit at the Liberty-Clairton monitor, an exceedance which “can be attributed entirely to emissions from US Steel’s Clairton coking facility.” Read more at GASP-pgh.org
Giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) are related to sloths and are native to Central and South America. True to their name they eat ants and insects and their bodies are formed for that lifestyle, including a long snout and tongue and powerful claws for digging out insects.
Variegated leaves add interest to the garden so horticulturalists breed plants with that in mind. Some examples of their success include goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria a.k.a. bishop’s weed or ground elder) and varieties of holly (Ilex sp.).
When these plants escape to the wild they revert to their normal non-variegated form. Goutweed is excellent example. Now invasive in Schenley Park it always has plain green leaves.
Goutweed that escaped to the wild, Schenley Park, June 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Some plants however, adopt variegation on their own. Learn why in this vintage article.
