29 July 2022
The sunbittern (Eurypyga helias) looks rather boring when its wings are closed but when it flies you see a gorgeous pattern on its wings. Why is that?
And then it dances …
Sunbittern (Eurypyga helias)????????? pic.twitter.com/cUSOJmkyGZ
— World birds (@worldbirds32) July 27, 2022
If you want to see a sunbittern in the wild, here’s where they live.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)
28 July 2022
Is there a bright yellow bird with black wings in your vegetable garden poking among the salad greens? Or perhaps a drab female or juvenile bird (shown below)?
American goldfinches (Spinus tristis) nest in July so they are very busy bringing food to their young.
Their favorite choice is thistle seed, above, but they will occasionally taste reddish salad greens like Swiss chard, below.
Don’t worry for your garden. Goldfinches only take a nibble.
Find out more about the “Salad Birds” in this vintage article:
(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)
27 July 2022
This spring a pair of barred owls (Strix varia) nested in Frick Park. The two nestlings fledged in June but won’t become independent until fall so Charity Kheshgi found all four family members when she looked for them last Friday. Here are the two youngsters at dusk.
On Saturday she saw one juvenile, photo below and at top.
And on Sunday both youngsters, one shown below.
I went to see for myself and learned a helpful tip. If you’re looking for young owls at dusk, find the upset and shouting wood thrushes and robins. They will be dive-bombing the owl.
See more of Charity’s photos on Instagram.
(photos by Charity Kheshgi)
26 July 2022
In late July, songbirds are wrapping up the breeding season and it’s summer flower time.
Join me for a bird & nature walk in Schenley Park on Sunday, July 31, 8:30a – 10:30a.
Meet at the Westinghouse Memorial to walk Circuit Drive near the Falloon Trail. We’ll see pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata) at the fountain and goldfinches and chipping sparrows at the golf course.
Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring water, a sun hat, binoculars and field guides if you have them.
Before you come, visit my Events page in case of changes or cancellations. The outing will be canceled if there’s lightning.
Hope to see you there!
(photo by Kate St. John)
25 July 2022
This April Charity Kheshgi and I noticed Cooper’s hawks nesting in Frick Park and wondered when their young would fledge. In “Cooper’s Hawk Nesting Questions” I concluded the young would fly by June 22-26 at the latest. They were even later than that because…
This month we checked on their progress every few days. On 3 July the pair had four thriving youngsters who were walking on branches and making short hops. (Not fledged yet?) By 8 July the young could fly but they refused to leave the vicinity of the nest.
All four were still there on 14 July, flying well and begging near the nest. “Feed me!” Their father baby-sat, above, while their mother was out hunting. The young were very alert, especially when they saw “mom” coming home.
July 14th was the last time we saw all six family members together. Five days later they had dispersed. The Cooper’s hawk family had grown up.
(photos by Charity Kheshgi)
24 July 2022
Since the winter of 2016-2017 many of us have visited Schenley Park golf course at dusk from late December to late February to watch one to three merlins come in to roost.
Merlins (Falco columbarius) are small fast falcons about the size of pigeons, though pigeons outweigh them. Like their peregrine cousins, merlins declined because of DDT and their population retracted into Canada’s boreal forest. After DDT was outlawed, they recovered slowly and in 1995-2014 began to take up residence further south. Some began nesting in towns and cities.
This year it was Pittsburgh’s turn. On 18 March 2022 Malcolm Kurtz saw and heard two merlins vocalizing at Chatham University as if they intended to nest. Would they? Unlikely. Most eastern merlins nest in Canada. They had never nested in Allegheny County.
Four months later on 18 July Malcolm saw proof that they’d raised a family — a juvenile with parents at Chatham.
County record! Merlins are nesting in Pittsburgh!
Why Chatham?
Birds of the World, Merlin account explains: “Merlins do not build a nest and make few if any modifications to an old corvid or hawk nest. In cities, they nest in conifers in residential areas, school yards, parks, and cemeteries. High availability of safe nesting sites (corvid nests in spruces) and high prey abundance (house sparrows) appear to be two main reasons for urban populations of merlins.”
Yes, I’ve seen plenty of house sparrows in the merlins’ territory.
How long will the juvenile merlin hang around?
Again from Birds of the World, Merlin account, “Fledglings remain dependent upon adults and remain near nest sites for 1 to 4 weeks. They often hunt for dragonflies, which are abundant in July and August and may half-heartedly chase potential prey species or pigeons.”
Will the Chatham merlins be back next year? Perhaps nearby but not in the same nest. Merlins rarely use the same nest in two consecutive years.
Watch for Malcolm Kurtz’s article on the merlins in an upcoming issue of Three Rivers Birding Club’s newsletter, The Peregrine. Check out his photos on Instagram.
(photos by Malcolm Kurtz)
p.s. Sounds! Here are examples of what merlins sound like in their nesting territory. Be alert for these calls in your neighborhood March-to-August.
Alarm near the nest, Xeno Canto 666137:
Female calling after mating with male, Xeno Canto 642023:
Adults and begging juvenile, Xeno Canto 642023:
23 July 2022
The flowers on Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), or wild carrot, are so lacy and regular that they resemble snowflakes when viewed from above, especially in black-and-white.
Look closely and you’ll see that the tiny flowers inside the umbel have 5 regular parts. Step back to see the pattern of 5’s replicating to the edge.
Unlike winter’s 6-sided snowflakes (below) these summer “snowflakes” have only five.
p.s. See Vicki Dinsmore’s comment below about wild parsnip which is not the same thing!
(photos by Kate St. John and from Alexey Kljatov via Wikimedia Commons)
22 July 2022
This week has been and will be unusually hot around the world. On Tuesday in Britain, where there is virtually no air conditioning, the high temperature was a record-breaking 40.3 degrees Celsius, 104.5 degrees F! It was as hot as Phoenix, Arizona without the respite of air conditioning and community cooling centers.
Back in the 1970s and 1990s climate change was slow to ramp up so we fooled ourselves by saying (1) Nothing’s changed yet so it’s not going to change, and (2) Climate change will be manageable because it won’t happen fast.
Wrong on both counts. This animation from NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies shows world temperature anomalies in Fahrenheit, 1880 – 2021. The fastest changes have occurred in the last 5-10 years!
So hot! And getting hotter.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons, animation from NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies)
21 July 2022
When you “Vote with your feet” you show your opinion by leaving an organization or by no longer supporting, using, or buying something.
Butterflies vote with their feet — literally — for the opposite reason. They decide to stay.
After mating with a male, the female butterfly must go in search of a plant on which to lay her eggs. Because the caterpillars that will hatch from her eggs will be very particular about what they eat, she must be very particular in choosing a plant. She can recognize the right plant species by its leaf color and shape. Just to be sure, however, she may beat on the leaf with her feet. This scratches the leaf surface, causing a characteristic plant odor to be released. Once she is sure she has found the correct plant species, she will go about the business of egg-laying.
— University of Kentucky: All About Butterflies
Sometimes this activity is called “tasting” the plant. Learn more and see photos of butterflies making the “stay or go” decision in this vintage article.
(photo by Kate St. John)
20 July 2022
Whoosh! Fast moving birds circle, swoop, rise and fall as they eat flying insects. Swallows and swifts move so fast that it’s hard to identify them in flight. With one swift and six swallow species in our area(*) the first step is to decide: “Is that a Swallow or a Swift?“
This stop-action photo by Patrick bx (@bronxfxdc) makes it easy to see the differences described by audubon.org below.
Chimney swift and male tree swallow bronx county pic.twitter.com/sF9w3VF1Bh
— Patrick bx (@bronxfxdc) May 13, 2022
Is That a Swallow or a Swift? Identification clues from Audubon.org.
Even from a distance these two swallow plates from Crossley ID show many features that are different from the chimney swifts at top.
And finally, chimney swifts make a unique chittering sound in flight.
Swallow or swift? You’ll get plenty of practice in the coming weeks as the birds gather for fall migration.
(*) p.s. Here are the swallow and swift species that occur in our area — southwestern Pennsylvania.
(photos from Patrick bx (@bronxfxdc) embedded tweet & the Crossley ID Guide to Eastern Birds via Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)
