Peregrine flying upside down, Ohio 2021 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
4 April 2025
For many raptors courtship season has given way to incubation but this recent video of a western marsh harrier in England reminds me that fancy flying is an important part of choosing a mate. Here are four species going all out in the air.
Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) Video description: The dizzying “sky-dancing” of a Golden Eagle is a territorial and courtship display. They dive from great heights and can reach nearly 200 miles per hour.
The map is derived by tracking daily weather conditions that prompt honeysuckle to leaf out. Yes, honeysuckle is invasive but it’s so pervasive and its leaves are so early that it’s a good common indicator of spring status across the country.
Here in Pittsburgh honeysuckle leaves began to emerge on 15 March in the city …
Honeysuckle status on 15 March 2025 in Frick Park (photo by Kate St. John)
… and were big and bushy yesterday, 2 April.
Honeysuckle leaves in Schenley Park, 3 April 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
It’s fascinating to watch Spring move north this year. 1 January through 2 April 2025 are shown in this animated map.
Great horned owl siblings at Schenley Park on a cold morning, 1 April 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
2 April 2025
Dana Nesiti visits Schenley Park every day to record the progress of the great horned owl family: mother, father, Muppet who was rescued in Feb and returned in March, and Sibling. (Read the back story in this 28 March article: Schenley Park Owl Update)
On Monday 31 March, Sibling made a big leap in development that allowed Dana to photograph three family members in one shot!
Muppet, Sibling and mother great horned owl at Schenley Park, 31 March 2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
Dana describes how big a deal this was:
4/1/2025. In today’s episode of the owlet’s development and behavioral series we find the owlets eating before daylight and then puffing themselves up against the cold wind. Video is a bit over 5 minutes.
Confirming with citizen scientist friends that yesterday’s [31 March] capture of Sibling finally making it up into the canopy with the adult and Muppet was a first for it. Today [1 April] was the first we saw it feeding with Muppet and the adult.
Yesterday was windy and cold so the two siblings ate and then puffed up and huddled together. Here’s Dana’s five-minute video of their morning activities.
video embedded from Dana Nesiti’s canonusr YouTube account
Northern rough-winged swallow on a wire (photo by Chuck Tague)
1 April 2025
On Sunday I saw two rare birds: the barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis) at Creighton and a northern rough-winged swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) at Duck Hollow. The barnacle goose is obviously rare — far outside its range and none had ever been reported in Allegheny County — but northern rough-winged swallows are returning on migration yet eBird made me justify it.
The two birds represent different kinds of “rare.” The goose is rare in place no matter what time of year. The swallow was rare in time though it was in the right place. I reported the swallow on 30 March but he wasn’t supposed to arrive last month. Today, 1 April, eBird says that northern rough-winged swallows are not rare at all.
As spring migration heats up we’ll encounter more birds rare in time as the early individuals arrive ahead of the crowd. Here are a few species we expect to see this month … but not yet.
Rare in Pittsburgh on 1 April but OK in late April:
Blue-headed vireo, late April 2021 (photo by Steve Gosser)Adult male purple martin (photo from Wikimedia Commons)Blue-gray gnatcatcher, 24 April 2020 (photo by Steve Gosser)House wren (photo by Chuck Tague)Gray catbird (photo by Shawn Collins)
Yesterday morning it was sprinkling when I left for the Duck Hollow outing. It looked like more rain would come so there were only three of us: Andy, John and myself.
At the start we saw a common merganser pair, a flock of three lesser scaup, two wood ducks in flight and one bufflehead (as promised).
The most numerous two species are usually mallards and Canada geese but yesterday they were topped by northern cardinals and red-winged blackbirds conspicuously singing, chasing, eating and chasing again. (The photos are from Wikimedia, not our outing.)
Red-winged blackbird (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Andy found a tiny snail on the move with its antennae leading the way. By the time I took its picture it was hiding under leaves. Its outstretched neck and head are inside the pink circle but it is so dark that it’s hard to see.
Tiny snail on the move, Duck Hollow, 30 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Back at the parking lot John pointed out a northern rough-winged swallow flying over the river, considered “rare” by eBird because it showed up in March.
If you haven’t seen or heard another new arrival yet, the eastern phoebe, visit Duck Hollow. We saw/heard three.
Yesterday morning Amy Henrici found a barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis) with a flock of Canada geese on the Allegheny River in East Deer Twp. This is an incredibly rare bird for Pittsburgh considering that its winter range is in Northern Europe.
Barnacle geese breed in the Arctic — Greenland, Svalbard and Siberia — plus a few places in Northern Europe, and spend the winter in Ireland, the UK, and the coast of the North Sea.
My original guess was that this one accidentally turned southwest (instead of southeast) when it left Greenland and eventually arrived in Pittsburgh 3,000 miles away.
But I’m probably wrong! Mike Fialkovich pointed out:
Barnacle Geese are annual in southeastern PA, appearing in fall and late winter/early spring. They typically are present a few days and then move on, presumably migrating back to the breeding grounds.
— Mike Fialkovich comment on this article, see comments section
So this goose may well be a regular southeastern PA visitor that made his way west of the Appalachians.
Many birders have visited the hotspot to catch a glimpse of the bird. Corvus captured awesome photos.
My day was so busy on Saturday that I did not go see the goose but I’ve seen them in Finland so I didn’t feel too bad. I stopped by Sunday morning, 30 March, and saw him for myself.
Barnacle goose at Creighton, PA 30 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
I can’t believe I wrote about barnacle geese just three weeks ago, knowing we would never see one in Pittsburgh because they never come here. And now one has.
Sharp-lobed hepatica, Barking Slopes, 25 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John) …Those are not its leaves.
29 March 2025
This week saw the real beginning of flower and leaf activity at Schenley Park, Aspinwall Riverfront Park, Barking Slopes and Raccoon Wildflower Reserve.
Flowers and …
Weather makes all the difference for spring wildflowers. They show off on sunny days.
The best weather by far was on 25 March at Barking Slopes where I found a single blooming sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba), lots of harbinger of spring (Erigenia bulbosa), cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) in the bud, and coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) opening to the sun.
Harbinger of spring, Barking Slopes, 25 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Cutleaf toothwort flowers in bud, Barking Slopes, 25 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Coltsfoot, Barking Slopes, 25 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Ramps! Barking Slopes, 25 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yesterday it rained while I visited Raccoon Wildflower Reserve, though it was sunny for half an hour at the start. These spring beauties (Claytonia virginica) were open early on … before I got wet.
Spring beauties, Raccoon Wildflower Reserve, 28 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Speedwell (Veronica persica) was hiding in the grass at Aspinwall Riverfront Park last Monday. Beautiful color.
Speedwell, Aspinwall Riverfront Park, 24 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Trees: A Hint of Green and First Leaf Out
Leaf out begins in the City long before the outlying areas. On 27 March at Schenley Park the willows gave a hint of spring and native buckeyes were already leafing out.
Willows greening up at Schenley Park, 27 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
At this time of year a tree that looks red at the top is a probably a flowering red maple (Acer rubrum) — like this one in Schenley Park.
Red maple in flower, Schenley Park, 27 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
I always search for low hanging branches to photograph the flowers. On 19 March this female red maple flower was easy to reach. The male flowers are yellowish because of pollen.
Red maple flowers, The Carnegie, 19 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Also on 19 March, yellow buckeyes (Aesculus flava) were already leafing out.
Yellow buckeye leafing out, Schenley Park, 19 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
By 27 March the bottlebrush buckeyes (Aesculus parviflora) had sizable leaves.
Bottlebrush buckeye leafing out, Schenley Park, 27 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
For the next three days it will be very cloudy in Pittsburgh but the temperature in the city will range from 59°F to 78°F — basically 60-80°.
I expect more flower and leaf activity before it turns cold on April Fools Day. Cold. No kidding.
Did you know that oaks grow their roots first before they sprout any greenery? This timelapse from Boxlapse shows that it took 60 days of root growth, a full two months, before the acorn sprouted on top.
Watch an oak tree grow from acorn to sapling in 196 days = 6.5 months.
Video Description: Some acorns might require cold stratification before they will sprout. The main stem got stuck that’s why it sprouted two new ones instead. And it got a bit stressed by the move from the water to the pot, but it started slowly recovering after a while.
If this acorn had sprouted outdoors it would probably take longer to develop since the water supply, temperature and light levels would vary.
If it had sprouted in the wild in a Pittsburgh park, it would never become a tree because …
This is the biggest threat to oak sapling success in Pittsburgh city parks.
Deer in Frick Park, 17 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Oak seedlings and saplings are a favorite food of white-tailed deer, especially in winter.
In the presence of too many deer, oak saplings are browsed immediately but their root systems are robust so they sprout again and are eaten again, and on and on. The saplings become like bonsai and never grow up. Like this ash sapling in Schenley Park.
A sign of too many deer: Deer-damaged ash sapling, Schenley Park, Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
The only way to give oaks a chance is to grow them in tree tubes.
Great horned owl youngsters in Schenley Park, 25 March 2025. Muppet the rescued female + Sibling (photos by Dana Nesiti)
27 March 2025
This week Dana Nesiti is having a great time observing Schenley Park’s great horned owl family. Yesterday was exceptional when he found and photographed all four family members and confirmed the well-being of both youngsters. See the complete story in Dana’s Facebook post here.
Composite photo of the great horned owl family in Schenley Park by Dana Nesiti
Dana’s photo contains:
Top left: Historical perspective: Mother and two youngsters more than a month ago approx 23 Feb.
Top right: Mother owl and Muppet on the same branch on 26 March.
Bottom left: Father owl perched high above Sibling on 26 March.
This year’s two owlets are celebrities, easy to tell apart because they have different markings and even different personalities.
Great horned owl youngsters, Schenley Park 25 March 2025. Muppet the rescued female + Sibling (photos by Dana Nesiti)
Muppet a.k.a. “Muppet the Marauder” is the whiter of the two youngsters. She fell 100′ from the nest on 27 February and was rescued and taken to Tamarack Wildlife Center where she acquired her nickname. Tamarack returned her to Schenley Park on 11 March where she branched for a couple of days and soon began making short flights from branch to branch and tree to tree. Tamarack says she has the personality of an avid explorer. At this point Muppet has been flying for about two weeks.
Sibling, whose sex is unknown, stayed in the nest until 24 March and was seen making short flights the next day. Sibling is cautious compared to Muppet. Dana captured him/her making a flying leap.
True to her personality Muppet flew much sooner than I expected. Sibling more is in line with my flight-date predictions.
If you want to find the owls in Schenley Park I suggest you look for the photographers or listen for blue jays. Both are good indications that an owl is nearby.
When peregrines are incubating eggs there is rarely any action on the falconcam and it’s always brief, so chances are most of us weren’t watching when Carla and Ecco did this nest exchange yesterday morning. I missed it too, so here it is.
I’ve chosen to highlight this video, not because anything is unusual, but because it’s so nice to watch something other than a sleeping bird.
In fact the segment starts with Ecco sleeping, but he hears something I can’t hear (probably Carla) and raises his head to look around. We know she’s nearby when she wails.
What does she mean? From the Peregrine FAQs: Wailing means “I want something to change.” The wail sounds awful but does not necessarily mean bad things are happening. It really means “Things are not changing fast enough for my liking.” Read more about this call and others at Peregrine Vocalizations and What They Mean.
We can guess what Carla means in this context by watching Ecco. He knows she wants to trade places with him but won’t get up until she’s close by and ready to cover the eggs.
Carla comes closer and makes soft noises. Ecco leaves; Carla settles down to incubate.
