For ten days, July 8 to 18, the airspace around the Cathedral of Learning was quiet. Literally quiet. No screeching. This year’s young peregrines had finally left home to become independent. What a relief after Silver Girl screeched all day for a handout on 6 July! Ecco and Morela relaxed.
It was too much to hope. When it rained all day on Sunday 17 July with more rain due on Monday the 18th, Silver Girl came home to beg from Ecco rather than hunt on her own in the rain.
Oh no! She’s back! Ecco retreated to the nestbox but departed as Silver Girl arrived. Screeching! Screeching! She hopped up to the snapshot camera and continued screech.
Here’s what she sounded like in case you’ve forgotten the noise.
Silver Girl screeches for a handout, 18 July 2022
My husband heard her screeching again at St. Paul’s Cathedral steeple at 7pm.
The weather will be sunny for the next five days without any all-day rain for the foreseeable future. Silver Girl will leave again but will she become truly independent? It remains to be seen.
Once again it’s time to count wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in Pennsylvania.
Every year the PA Game Commission conducts a statewide Wild Turkey Sighting Survey, July 1 to August 31, to collect data on the size and makeup of our wild turkey population.
They ask for the public’s help to report what we see on the Turkey Brood Survey website. It’s pretty easy to do.
Have you noticed small white caterpillars this month, suspended on invisible threads from the tree canopy and swinging in the breeze? You might see only one but there are others nearby dropping from the same tree. These are hickory tussock moth caterpillars (Lophocampacaryae) traveling from their natal leaves.
Here’s what one looks like. Why is it climbing? Read on.
Arctiids have a thorax that comes equipped with a sound-producing organ. The moths “vocalize” to attract mates and to defend against predators, emitting ultrasonic clicks [>20,000 Hz] that advertise their identity. Because an animal that is able to make sound probably needs to be able to hear it too, Arctiids have “ears,” also located on their thorax.
The parents die after reproducing but the young live on. When they hatch the caterpillars are toxic so they safely feed in a crowd, eating leaf tissue between leaf veins and skeletonizing leaves.
After they’ve eaten everything in sight they have to move on so they spin out an invisible thread and swing to another branch or tree. The caterpillar in my video had missed the other vegetation and was hanging over a wide gravel road. Perhaps he could see nothing green below so decided to climb the thread back up to the trees.
p.s. Did you know that National Moth Week is only 6 days away? 23-31 July 2022.
Help map moth distribution and life history. Attend or start a National Moth Night event (called “mothing”) to contribute scientific data about moths. Join friends and neighbors to check porch lights from time to time or set up a light and a white sheet to see what’s in your own backyard.
Deptford pink, Butler County, 10 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
16 July 2022
Flowers are blooming, fruits are ripening and the sky has been spectacular. Here are just a few things seen outdoors this week and last.
Deptford pink’s (Dianthus armeria) small flower, at top, is worth a closer look. Native to Europe it does well in North America but is disappearing from the UK.
Enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea canadensis) was in bloom last week in Schenley Park, shown below.
Enchanter’s nightshade in bloom, Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)
Spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) is blooming in Butler County. This plant goes by several names including “striped wintergreen.” Here’s why it is not pipsissewa.
Spotted wintergreen, Butler County, PA, 10 July 2022
Wineberry fruits (Rubus phoenicolasius) are ripening in Frick Park. This shrub was introduced from Asia as breeding stock for Rubus cultivars in 1890 but it grows so vigorously that it’s now invasive in Pennsylvania. Unlike native raspberries, wineberries are sticky to the touch. They taste well enough when you eat them in the woods but are boring on cereal. I tried.
Wineberry, Frick Park, 14 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Bottlebrush buckeye flowers were at their peak last week in Schenley Park. This closeup shows the feathery stamens.
Bottlebrush buckeye, closeup of flower, 8 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
And finally, we’ve had some spectacular sunrises in the past two weeks. A deep blue sunrise on Wed 6 July (below) and a fiery orange one on the 8th. Click here to see the fiery sunrise.
Sunrise in Pittsburgh, July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Though daddy longlegs or harvestmen (Opiliones) resemble spiders they are not even closely related to them. Harvestmen are harmless and have many characteristics that set them apart from spiders including:
A fused body that appears to be 1 segment. Spiders have a “waist.”
A single pair of eyes (2) at center-front. Spiders have four pairs of eyes (8).
Cannot make silk. Spiders make silk and spin webs.
Cannot regrow a leg that is lost. Spiders can regrow legs.
No fangs or venom. Spiders have both.
Eat solid food. Spiders have to liquefy their food, then suck it in.
Harvestmen are members of the class Arachnida that includes spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites. Their closest relatives might be mites, though this is in dispute.
Mid to late summer is a good time to be a bird in Pennsylvania. Fruit is ripe, seeds are plentiful, insect food is everywhere and for raptors there are plenty of naive young animals to capture. With so much natural food available and with songbirds’ preference for insects in summer, birds are not dependent on backyard feeders in July.
You can safely bring in your bird feeders now. In fact, if you cannot clean your feeders every week, they are unsafe for birds. Highly pathogenic avian flu has ebbed this summer but there is apprehension that it will return during fall migration. And it’s not the only disease that kills birds.
Yesterday I encountered three dead or dying birds in my neighborhood within half a mile of each other: a house finch that fell over unless it propped itself on open wings, a dead fledgling robin standing in the street (below), and a fluffed house sparrow that could not walk.
Frozen in place: dead American robin fledgling standing in the street, 12 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
I have no idea what was killing them. It could have been a different reason for each species. I do know that if it was contagious, finches and sparrows would have spread it at bird feeders.
Feathers are vital to a bird’s survival but they wear out and have to be replaced by molting. The best time to do this is when feathers are not urgently needed for migration, courtship or warmth. That makes summer the time to molt. Here are a few examples.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris), above, have to look flashy at the start of the breeding season so they molt their body feathers from June to August. On the wintering grounds they molt flight feathers in preparation for their strenuous spring migration. Look closely at ruby-throats this summer and you’ll see that their body feathers are not as perfect as they were in May.
Northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) wrap up their last brood of the season in mid summer and begin to molt in mid July. By August they will look very ragged, male and female shown below. Some will be bald.
Male and female peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) molt at slightly different times. Females molt their primary wing feathers while they’re incubating eggs (March-May) because their mates are doing all the hard flying to provide food. The males molt their primaries in July after teaching the young to hunt.
Birds molt the same flight feather on each side of the body so that flight remains balanced. Morela’s wings look sleek while she’s sunbathing because she replaced her wing feathers a few months ago.
Have you noticed that Canada geese (Branta canadensis) are not grazing in their usual upland haunts? They are staying near water because they cannot fly while they molt all their primary feathers at once.
This spiky ball, a pufferfish, is so toxic that if eaten it can kill 30 adult humans.
There are more than 260 species of pufferfish in two families, almost all of which are toxic: Diodontidae and Tetraodontidae. The spiky ones are aptly called porcupinefish.
They don’t swim fast so their main defense is to blow up into an unappetizing ball. When fully extended their buoyancy changes and they involuntarily roll onto their backs, exposing their white bellies. In this position they can still swim with tiny fins.
How do pufferfish blow themselves up? Why are they toxic? Who eats them? This video explains it all.
And though they are spiky, they somehow they manage to look cute.
An awesome pufferfish expanding its body after sensing a threat.
A young Piping Plover chick takes her first steps. Beautifully photographed by our volunteer @4binator, with zoom & and at a safe distance. These babies are the most vulnerable beings on the beach. Will you help us protect them? pic.twitter.com/fzjImvupwC
A flightless guillemot chick (Cepphus grylle), accompanied by his father, jumps into the sea at an island off the UK coast:
42 secs of one of the most iconic UK wildlife moments. A still flightless, ~20 day-old Guillemot chick, accompanied by its dad, leaving the patch of rock where it was born, making its way to the edge of the cliff, and jumping into the sea without hesitation. pic.twitter.com/q9qrC91CSe
Ecco: OH NO! SHE'S BACK!
