Scenes From Acadia, September 2022

Travel
  • Snowball bush, Northeast Harbor, Maine, 24 Sept 2022
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1 October 2022

Last week, after a four-year hiatus, my husband and I enjoyed revisiting Acadia National Park. The scenery was beautiful and even the fog was gorgeous, as shown in the slideshow above. Jordan Stream was in full flow after a long day of rain.

We also learned a few things about Acadia and ourselves in 2022.

  • The park is jam-packed with visitors even in late September. Labor Day used to be the last big weekend — which is why we visited in mid/late September — but the number of people and cars on 23 September rivaled anything we’d seen in the past.
  • I used to drive up Cadillac Mountain on a whim to visit the Acadia Hawk Watch but now all visits are by reservation, reviewed at the checkpoint at the base of the mountain. The photo below shows why reservations are required. We did not visit Cadillac.
Sunrise is the busiest time on Cadillac Mountain (photo by Ashley L. Conti/Friends of Acadia embedded from nps.gov)
  • Four years ago we still climbed the mountains. This year we climbed a low one — less than 300 feet above sea level — and did not enjoy the challenging bits. Perhaps we are out of shape … but I think four years makes a difference at our age. Alas.
  • Seven days were too short for a vacation to Acadia because it takes so long to get there, even by air.

Acadia will be busy through Columbus Day weekend and perhaps beyond. Fall color still hasn’t peaked yet.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Hurricane Rain

Climate Change, Weather & Sky
Hurricane Ian spins northward (GOES East satellite Great Lakes sector, 30 Sept 2022, 3:40am to 5:30am from NOAA)

30 September 2022, 6am

UPDATE 30 SEPT, 6 PM. See UPDATED info at end

After wrecking a swath of Florida, Hurricane Ian popped out over the Atlantic Ocean, gained strength, and is bearing down on the Carolinas. Though Pittsburgh is quite far inland we will see the remnants of Hurricane Ian’s rain on Saturday.

These maps show total rainfall forecasts for the next three days as Hurricane Ian moves up the eastern U.S.

  • Quantitative Precipitation Forecast, Fri 30 Sep - Sat 1 Oct 2022 (map from NOAA)
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Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts, Continental US, 30 Sept to 3 Oct 2022 (maps from NOAA)

Pittsburgh will receive less than an inch of precipitation because Ian is tracking south and east of here. Fortunately this is far different from our experience of Hurricane Agnes 50 years ago.

Hurricane Agnes, 50 Years
UPDATE 30 SEPT, 6 PM. I have corrected the captions on the slideshow based on an email from Dick Rhoton. Note that the slideshow maps show total rainfall potential, no matter what cause.

This map shows rainfall potential from Hurricane Ian alone — anything greater than an inch — as of 30 Sept 2022, 6am.

Hurricane Ian total rainfall potential, 30 Sep through 2 Oct 2022 (map from NOAA)

(maps and animation from NOAA; click on the captions to see the originals)

Deer Are Picky Eaters

Deer, Mammals, Plants & Fungi
Arrowwood viburnum, Schenley Park, September 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)

29 September 2022

In western Pennsylvania, where we have a high deer population, gardeners have learned from experience that white-tailed deer will eat some plants and not others. They heavily browse their favorites to the point of killing them but leave others untouched, even plants in the same genus.

Viburnum is a case in point. Gardening advice at Rutgers University’s Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance indicates that arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) is deer resistant. Pictured at top, these shrubs are healthy in Schenley Park where the deer population is more than 100 per square mile.

Deer also don’t like the Japanese snowball (Viburnum plicatum) which thrives as an invasive in Frick Park, shown below.

Viburnum plicatum fruit, Schenley, July 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)

But they love our native hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides) and consume it to local extinction.

Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides) is a favorite food of deer (photo taken in Maine by Kate St. John)

Read about hobblebush in this vintage article.

Extirpated From Pennsylvania?

When it comes to viburnum, deer are picky eaters.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Eiders In Eclipse

Travel, Water and Shore
Male common eider in eclipse plumage (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

28 September 2022

In September large, dark brown sea ducks swim in rafts off the coast of Maine. When they aren’t resting on the water they dive for mussels and crustaceans or walk up on the rocks to stand among the seaweed.

Common eiders on seaweed rocks (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

They vaguely resemble the lead field guide pictures for common eider (Somateria mollissima) but their current plumage is motley and variable. Right now common eiders are in eclipse.

Like many ducks and geese, eiders completely molt their tail and wing feathers after the breeding season, rendering them flightless for 3-4 weeks. Flight is restored in time for fall migration, but then they molt their body feathers. All told the process takes 4+ months.

To see eiders in all their glory watch them in breeding plumage from January to early June.

Male and female common eiders in breeding plumage (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

And you’ll see them fly.

Male common eider running to take off, April, East Sussex UK (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)

Winter Finches Already!

Migration
Male red crossbill in hemlock, Jan 2013 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

27 September 2022

If you’re birding on the coast of Maine you already know this is a good year for winter finches, but I’d just arrived from Pittsburgh so I was surprised to hear jip-jip-jip among the conifers last Saturday in Acadia National Park. Was I hearing crossbills? Yes!

The Finch Network’s Winter Finch Forecast 2022-2023 explains:

In eastern North America, there is a good food crop along the coastal areas of Maritime Provinces southward into New England, which should hold many finches this winter.

Spruce cones are everywhere at Acadia, littering the trails in various stages of ripeness from sappy to seedless.

Spruce cones at various stages, Flying Mountain, Acadia National Park, 25 Sept 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Small groups of red crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) are almost everywhere, too. If you know what to listen for the birds are easy to find on Mount Desert Island.

Lots of people are seeing and hearing them as shown in eBird’s September 2022 map below. Note that the high density of crossbill reports is actually due to the high density of birders in the park.

Red crossbill species map, 26 September 2022 (map from eBird)

On Sunday at Flying Mountain I saw eight red crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) eating spruce cones. This 2013 photo on a hemlock shows how they feed:

  • Use feet to grab the cone,
  • Use crossed beak to twist open the seed shield,
  • Lick the seed out of the pocket.
Male red crossbill feeding on hemlock cone, grabbing with feet (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

The Winter Finch Forecast 2022-2023 predicts that points south along the coast will see crossbills this winter.

The “Northeastern Crossbill” (i.e. eastern Type 10) will be around this winter, but will they migrate down the coast to Long Island, Cape May and Delaware and points south, as they sometimes do as cone crops are depleted as we progress through the winter season.

— Winter Finch Forecast 2022-2023

Though Pittsburgh won’t see crossbills, check out the Winter Finch Forecast 2022-2023 for what we can look forward to in western Pennsylvania. If we’re lucky we may see:

  • Common and hoary redpolls
  • Purple finches
  • Evening grosbeaks, certainly in PA’s northern tier
  • Red-breasted nuthatches
  • And a big year for blue jays.

(photos from Kate St. John and Wikimedia Commons, map from eBird.org; click on the captions to see the originals)

CANCELLED! Schenley Park Outing, 2 Oct, 8:30am

Books & Events, Schenley Park
Goldenrod gall shaped like a green rose, Schenley Park, October 2014 (photo by Kate St. John)

26 September 2022

UPDATE 1 OCTOBER, 5:51PM: THIS OUTING IS CANCELLED BECAUSE I DON’T FEEL WELL

In early October the weather’s fine and there’s plenty to see outdoors. Birds are migrating, fruits are maturing, and insects have their final fling.

Join me on a bird and nature walk in Schenley Park on Sunday 2 October 2022 — 8:30am – 10:30am(*). Meet me at Schenley Park Cafe and Visitor Center near Phipps Conservatory where Panther Hollow Road meets Schenley Drive.

We’ll look and listen for signs of fall, yellow leaves and chirping crickets. We many find a goldenrod “rose” like the gall at top. Or a million blue jays and chipmunks.

Blue Jay and chipmunk (photos by Chuck Tague)

Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars and field guides if you have them.

Before you come, visit the Events page in case there are changes or cancellations.  The outing will be canceled if there’s lightning (unlikely this coming Sunday but you never know).

From experience I can say … there will be lots of blue jays and chipmunks.

(*) If the birding is suddenly good at 10:30am we’ll have the option to continue to 11a.

(photos by Kate St. John)

20 Quadrillion Ants & Why It Matters

Insects
A line of ants (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Last week the Washington Post reported that the number of ants on earth is unimaginably large. Scientists from the University of Hong Kong estimated there are 20 quadrillion total or 2.5 million ants for each human being.

They reached this number by combining studies from thousands of researchers around world whose reports span a century. Dedicated ant researchers count ants by literally trapping them or by sweeping them up in leaf litter and counting what they’ve found. Their counts were combined and extrapolated to reach the 20 quadrillion estimate.

Why count ants? To get a benchmark on their population. Our planet is in the midst of an insect apocalypse in which the number of insects has declined 75% over the past 50 years. Butterflies and beetles are the hardest hit. Has the trend affected ants? Soon we’ll know.

Dead painted jezebel butterfly (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Some of you are probably thinking: Wouldn’t we be better off without bugs? Actually, no. The insect apocalypse matters because bugs provide so many hidden benefits. They consume decayed matter, plant seeds, aerate the soil, pollinate plants and ultimately feed the larger organisms on earth. Their disappearance is especially dire for anything that directly eats insects and anything that eats the insect-eaters. Especially birds.

The decline of insects is one reason why birds have declined 29% in North America in the past 50 years. Hardest hit have been the insect eaters — swallows, swifts and nighthawks. In fact most songbirds feed insects (protein) to their young even if they eat fruits and seeds at other times of year.

Here are just a few of the birds that eat insects at least part of the time. Some of them may surprise you.

  • American redstart with insect (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
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Learn more about ants at “The Washington Post: Scientists have calculated how many ants are on Earth. The number is so big it’s ‘unimaginable.’“

Read about the insect apocalypse in The Guardian: The insect apocalypse “Our world will grind to a halt without them”.

p.s. Did you know that northern flickers eat ants?

(photos from Wikimedia Commons including insect-eating American redstart, mountain bluebird, barn swallows, olive-sided flycatcher, American kestrel at these links)

Revisiting a Favorite Place

Travel
Brooding sky at Acadia National Park near Thunder Hole, 2009 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

23 September 2022

Today we’re in Maine for a week-long return to a favorite place.

For 36 years starting in 1983 we visited Acadia National Park every September, only missing two years in all that time. But now it’s 2022 and we haven’t been back since 2018.

The ocean, mountains and lakes will be the same.

Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park, 7 Sep 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park, 7 Sep 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)

But some things will be different.

Maple leaves turning red, Acadia National Park, Sept 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)

We’ll be surprised by the changes to businesses, buildings and people we haven’t seen for four years though my husband and I have changed, too. We’ll notice our own changes when we pass by difficult trails we won’t climb anymore. Fortunately there are plenty of easy trails we’ve never walked because we thought they were “too easy” 30 years ago.

Tomorrow we’ll re-experience a hurricane passing offshore when Hurricane Fiona generates high surf and high winds on its way to Nova Scotia. Many things are memorable.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons and by Kate St. John)

Intense Migration Forecast for Tonight

Migration
Sunset and birds (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

22 September 2022

Tonight’s BirdCast Migration Forecast shows there will be intense migration from Michigan down to Mississippi and Georgia. The flocks will fan out east and west, touching southwestern Pennsylvania.

Birdcast migration forecast for the night of 22 Sept 2022 (map from BirdCast)

If you go birding on Friday 23 September, expect to find warblers and thrushes still passing through and an increasing variety of sparrows. Watch for the skulkers – Connecticut and mourning warblers — in late September. Perhaps you’ll see the last of the flycatchers, some of which are already considered “rare” now in eBird.

Friday’s sun and northwest wing will also encourage broad-winged hawks to migrate during the day. Keep an eye to the sky or visit a hawk watch in your area. Hawk watch locations and data are listed at hawkcount.org.

Broad-winged hawk on migration (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Check out the migration forecast and lots of migration tools at BirdCast.

Friday will be great day to go birding.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons, map screenshot from Birdcast; click on the captions to see the originals)