1 January 2024
Wishing you a happy, healthy and peaceful 2024 … and a year full of birds!
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Happy New Year!
Category Archives: Books & Events
Counting Crows: 15,000
31 December 2023
Success! Last night, Saturday 30 December, our team counted 15,000 crows at their roost on Robinson Ext and Brackenridge Streets during the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count (CBC). It was a big challenge compared to last year when we could stand in one place and count 20,000 flying by in the distance. This year we had to chase them for two hours, texting each other with updates, until the crows finally picked a spot. In darkness and rain we think we were unable to see another 5,000 but we can’t count what we can’t see. So the official count is 15,000.
Carol Steytler, Sue Faust and I did a dry run on Friday night. That evening the western stream flew over the Allegheny River to stage at Cliff Street before moving on. My brief video shows how impossible it is to count them before they settle.
That night we followed about half the flock to Wylie Avenue near Lawson, but where did the rest of them go? Fortunately it was just a dry run before Count Day.
On Saturday night Claire Staples joined us for the CBC and we split up to find the crows. Sue waited for them on Arcena Street but not a single crow came to the bluff above Bigelow. Carol found them staging near Wylie and Herron but when Claire and I caught up we could tell the crows were going to leave; there are no streetlights on that patch of woods.
By 5:30pm the crows had picked a roost and we gathered near Vera Street to watch them swirl overhead in the rain. We counted them in trees and on the Sports Dome but could not see how many were on nearby roofs and other places out of sight, so the official count is 15,000. Maybe next year we’ll count all of them.
Thank you to the intrepid team — Carol Steytler, Sue Faust and Claire Staples — who braved rain, cold, and darkness to count the crows. We were up for the challenge and we found almost all of them. And thanks to my readers for your tips and sightings. We’re done now until next year. 🙂
And we’ve learned a valuable lesson: If you want to count crows, don’t expect to find them in the same place or even flying the same route every night.
(photo and video by Kate St. John)
Only 3 Days To Find the Crows!
27 December 2023
This Saturday, 30 December, is Pittsburgh’s annual Christmas Bird Count when we confirm the number of crows that come to town for the winter. Usually the count is 20,000 so after they skunked me three years ago (I counted only 220!) it’s been my mission to find the roost and count them all.
Last week I was confident that, thanks to you, we had found the crows. Carol Steytler saw them roosting near Heinz Lofts on 16 December so I went down there on the 19th — before I left town for the holiday — and saw more than 10,000 streaming in from Troy Hill to Heinz Lofts. I thought the Crow Count was going to be easy.
Hah! The crows have something else in mind.
On Sunday 24 December Carol told me the crows were GONE! They weren’t near Heinz Lofts and when she drove around yesterday from 5-7pm she couldn’t find them anywhere!
Are we going to let 20,000 crows avoid the Count? No!
If you see a steady stream of crows at dusk please tell me where you saw them and where they were going.
If you see crows at sunset making a racket in the trees, please tell me where they were!
There are only 3 days left until Pittsburgh’s Christmas Bird Count and (yikes!) I’m still out of town. Please help me find the crows!
Merry Christmas
25 December 2023
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Holiday Magic at Phipps
24 December 2023
In the run-up to Christmas I was too busy to fit in a trip to Phipps Conservatory’s Holiday Magic but others have done so and provided videos.
See the show in Scott Hirschman’s 12-minute video, created with a wearable panoramic camera.
There’s still time to visit in the next 2+ weeks. The show is open through 7 January 2024.
Order your tickets in advance –> Phipps Conservatory Tickets
Solstice Begins the Shortest Season
21 December 2023
When the sun stands still tonight at 10:27pm Eastern Time we’ll experience the shortest day of the year and begin the shortest season as well.
Regardless of the weather we change seasons four times a year based on astronomical events: December solstice, March equinox, June solstice, September equinox. Since these events occur at the same moment everywhere on Earth, each of the four seasons lasts the same amount of time for everyone. This is easiest to see on the Seasons page at timeanddate.com. A screenshot of Pittsburgh at 6am today is shown below.
If you don’t like winter, the Northern Hemisphere has the best arrangement. Our astronomical seasons from shortest to longest are:
- Winter = 88 days, 23 hrs, 39 mins (shortest)
- Autumn = 89 days, 20 hrs, 37 mins
- Spring = 92 days, 17 hrs, 44 mins
- Summer = 93 days, 15 hrs, 52 mins (longest)
Climate change guarantees that winter is the shortest weather season, too. Winter was 21% of the year in 1952 but will take up only 9% of the year by the end of this century.
Average seasonal lengths in Northern Hemisphere, information from Phys.org
So I’m not counting on a white Christmas.
Read more about the weather-based lengths of the seasons at:
Start Counting! Christmas Bird Counts 2023
7 December 2023
Songbird migration ended last month but there’s birding fun ahead in the coming weeks. Join Audubon’s 124rd annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) from Dec 14, 2023 to January 5, 2024!
Visit one (or more) of the >2,500 count circles in North America. Each circle has its own compiler who coordinates the count for a single scheduled day within the 15-mile radius. No experience is necessary. The only prerequisite is that you must contact the circle compiler in advance to reserve your place.
Go birding outdoors or, if you live in a Count Circle, stay home and count birds at your feeder. Click here and enter your home address to find out what circle you’re in. (If you’re within a circle, click on the colored bird icon to see date, time and contact information.)
Follow the instructions here at audubon.org to sign up.
If you live in the Pittsburgh area you may be interested in one of these counts.
These circles touch Allegheny County:
- South Hills, 16 Dec 2023
- Buffalo Creek Valley, 16 Dec 2023
- Imperial CBC, 17 Dec 2023
- Mon Valley, 17 Dec 2023
- Pittsburgh CBC, 30 Dec 2023
- South Butler, 31 Dec 2023
For more information visit Audubon Society of Western PA’s Christmas Bird Count page or click here for details on National Audubon’s CBC map.
Join the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count on 30 December 2023 (map below). To participate contact Brian Shema at the Audubon Society of Western PA at 412-963-6100 or bshema@aswp.org.
Sign up now! We’ll be counting soon.
(photo from 2024 Audubon Christmas Bird Count webpage, maps from audubon.org; click on the captions to see the originals)
Turkey Day
23 November 2023
Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) are thriving in Pittsburgh’s suburbs. This flock of 14 feels right at home in a Kathy Saunders’ backyard.
Meanwhile, where have all the city turkeys gone? A decade ago they were easy to find in Schenley Park and Oakland but I haven’t seen one here in three years. This vintage article describes an impromptu Turkey Day at WQED when six came for a visit in November 2011.
Happy Thanksgiving!
(credits are in the captions)
Sixteen Years!
9 November 2023
Today it’s been 16 years since Outside My Window began on 9 November 2007.
Every day I get up very early to write about birds and nature and am sometimes distracted by the birds themselves. The girl above is distracted by her pet goldfinch. This month, for me, it’s been the crows.
My first blog post was Waiting for Tundra Swans but I didn’t have to wait this year. Last weekend I saw 29 at Yellow Creek State Park including these in Mark McConaughy’s photo.
On anniversaries I look back at the past year’s high points. My highest traffic day is usually when the peregrine eggs hatch at the Cathedral of Learning but there were no eggs this year. Instead, the most popular article was a surprise on Friday 7 April with 10,000 views of…
Top articles in the past 12 months include:
- Armadillos … (April 2023), more popular than my home page!
- World’s Largest Petrified Tree? (2022) is actually a joke but is still attracting readers.
- Perennial favorites pop up when people ask Google:
- Gifts from Crows (2019)
- Falcon or Hawk? (2011)
- Leaves Turn White (2017)
- Why do birds take dust baths? (2009)
- Anatomy: Parts of a Feather (2010)
I’ve written a lot and I’m still going at it. 5,913 articles since 2007, and you’ve posted 24,308 comments.
Thank you, my readers, for 16 years together at Outside My Window.
You keep me going every day!
(credits are in the captions)
Pumpkins Before & After Halloween
31 October 2023
This month we started with new pumpkin gourds …
… carved some into jack o’lanterns …
… or applied stickers or paint to make faces.
If you used paint or stickers make sure they’re non toxic. When old pumpkins are outdoors …
… someone will eat them. This is where non-toxic paint is important!
If you’re not sure about your pumpkins, be careful where you dispose of them so that the critters who like to eat them stay healthy.
Happy Halloween!
(photos from Wikimedia and by Kate St. John, credits are in the captions)