Across Pennsylvania breeding birds are hatching eggs and feeding young. As the nestlings grow the nests become crowded, a sure sign that the babies will leave soon.
Baby birds in hollow trees have an amazing way of leaving the nest: they climb up the inside of the hole and jump! This is true of chickadees, screech-owls, woodpeckers and wood ducks. But ducklings have no flight feathers and they jump away. That’s OK, they’re built for it.
This 3.5 minute PBS NATURE video shows a family of common mergansers (Mergus merganser) taking the plunge.
Though the video doesn’t show it, the ducklings waddle to the water where their mother calls and waits for them.
Terzo at the Pitt peregrine nest, 31 May 2020, 12:23p (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ. of Pittsburgh)
1 June 2020
Yesterday Michael Potoski remarked that he hadn’t been watching the falconcam often “but when I do look it seems the eggs keep moving to different positions with no sign of Morela, Terzo or Ecco.” A mystery! So I looked into it.
Sunday 31 May 2020 was a very active day at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest even though the eggs are no longer incubated. In this Day-in-a-Minute video you can see Morela come to the nest at 9:20am and move the eggs into a pile. Then at 10:05am Terzo shows up for one of many visits.
It was chilly yesterday with a northwest wind but the nest side of the building was out of the wind and in full sun. At 12:15pm Terzo arrived to sunbathe for about an hour.
Terzo sunbathing at the Pitt peregrine nest, 31 May 2020, 12:51pm
Then at 1:50pm Morela came too and bowed with Terzo for more than 4 minutes. This is the longest time they’ve spent together at the nest since Ecco, his rival, made Terzo so cautious. This video includes the full 4.5 minutes even though there’s not much action.
Terzo was on camera a lot yesterday. Ecco was absent, at least for the day.
Peregrine fledgling on the roof of a pickup truck, 30 May 2013 (photo by Ericka Houck, National Aviary)
When a young peregrine lands on the ground on his first flight he doesn’t yet have the upper body strength to flap and get airborne. He has to be rescued and put on a high perch to start over.
In Downtown Pittsburgh the Third Avenue nest site is so low that fledglings land on the ground every year. Thankfully, passersby call the PA Game Commission at 724-238-9523 to rescue the downed birds.
Downtown’s fledglings are often found on the sidewalk but sometimes a bird gets creative. Last year one waited at the bus stop. Seven years ago a fledgling landed six feet off the ground on a pickup truck roof rack. Then things got interesting.
Read about 2013’s car-surfing peregrine in this vintage article: Fledged For A Ride.
Corn speedwell near the road (photo by Kate St. John)
Everything’s green and the leaves are big. Suddenly the woods feel closer, shadier and sometimes dark. This week a just few plants attracted my attention.
Above the alien “weed” corn speedwell (Veronica arvensis) has a delicate beauty when seen at close range. It blooms in fields and rocky places from spring through fall.
Below, a small tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) at Deer Lakes Park has leaves almost larger than the tree itself.
This tuliptree has leaves that seem larger than the tree itself, Deer Lakes Park, 27 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Black locusts (Robinia pseudoacacia) bloomed in the City of Pittsburgh last week and some have already begun to drop their flowers. This bunch caught the early morning light on Tuesday in Greenfield.
Black locust flowers in Pittsburgh, 26 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Two chicks peer from the nest area at Westinghouse Bridge, 27 May 2020 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
Dana Nesiti has been keeping up with the peregrine family at the Westinghouse Bridge by photographing them every few days. On Wednesday 27 May 2020 he saw the chicks for the first time, pictured above near the edge of the nest area.
Their success is due to the care and feeding supplied by their parents, Hammond (male) and Ms. Indiana (banded female from South Bend, Indiana, 2016). This slideshow of Dana’s 17-24 May photos shows how the pair cooperates to bring in food.
Hammond delivers prey to Indiana at the Westinghouse Bridge, 17 May 2020 (photo by Dana Nestiti)
(photo by Dana Nesiti)
Indiana flies toward the nest with prey, 17 May 2020 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
Repositioning the prey, 17 May 2020 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
(photo by Dana Nesiti)
Indiana flies into the nest area at Westinghouse Bridge (arrow),17 May 2020 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
Babysitting is sleep inducing, 24 May 2020 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
2 of the 4 young peregrines at Tarentum Bridge, 27 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
28 May 2020
If you want an easy look at young peregrine falcons the next week is the time to do it. Four youngsters at the Tarentum Bridge are ledge walking and will make their first flight some time between May 31 and June 7.
Yesterday I visited the Tarentum Boat Ramp and digi-scoped these photos with my cellphone. All four youngsters were preening fluff from their feathers and walking along the middle bridge pier. The top photo has three birds in it; the third is hidden behind his siblings.
Peregrines at Tarentum Bridge, 27 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)Peregrines at Tarentum Bridge, 27 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
The fourth youngster walked over from the nestbox and jumped up to the step.
Ledge-walking peregrines at Tarentum Bridge, 27 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Meanwhile their mother watched from the far pier. She turned her head away just as I snapped this photo.
Adult peregrine on the far pier, babysitting from a distance, 27 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
The youngsters are changing fast. Just two days earlier they were much whiter as seen in John English’s photos from Memorial Day, 25 May 2020. Next week they’ll be completely brown.
Three young peregrines visible near the Tarentum nestbox, 25 May 2020 (photo by John English)The Tarentum Bridge nestbox and two young peregrines from slightly upriver, 25 May 2020 (photo by John English)
The youngsters will fly soon so visit the Tarentum Bridge now through June 7. Click here for a map. This is the week to see them!
Last evening six of us stood in a dirt parking lot deep in the woods of Washington County and waited for the whip-poor-wills. Twenty minutes after sunset they started to sing.
The eastern whip-poor-will says its name: “whip-poor-WILL, whip-poor-WILL, whip-poor-WILL.” If you’re close enough you can hear the introductory cluck described at Birds Of The World.
Three notes are easily discerned as the bird pronounces its name, and a fourth introductory cluck may be heard at close range.
— Birds Of The World, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
We were that close!
Eastern whip-poor-will, Hillman State Park, 26 May 2020 (recorded by Kate St. John)
When whip-poor-wills nest the female lays two eggs on the ground on top of dry leaves, choosing a place where sunlight makes dappled patterns to match her camouflaged plumage. Hall E. Harrison’s Birds’ Nests Field Guide explains:
Incubating bird sits close; when flushed flies silently away like a moth. Eggs usually discovered by accident rather than by search. Friend of author flushed female from 2 eggs, and returning later to point out nest was unable to find it. After careful study, author detected nearly invisible female incubating 4 ft (1.2 m) away.
— Birds’ Nests Petersen Field Guide by Hall E. Harrison
Since they operate at night even a singing male is hard to find. As we approached our cars to leave, a whip-poor-will sounded very close. Barb Griffith found him in the dark, calling from a flat rock. This photo isn’t the bird we saw, but you get the idea.
Golden alexanders, Schenley, 24 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
26 May 2020
Memorial Day was certainly the official start of summer with a high of 86 degrees F yesterday, 13 degrees above normal. The signs of spring are long gone, replaced by a lot of leaves.
With spring on the wane there are fewer plants to attract attention. Here’s what I’ve seen in Schenley Park, May 10 to 24.
Golden alexanders (Zizia aurea), a perennial in the carrot family.
Squaw root (Conopholis americana), a non-photosynthesizing parasite on oak roots. This is a banner year for squaw root in Schenley.
Columbine (Aquilegia sp.) is mildly toxic to animals, which explains why the deer haven’t eaten it.
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) flowering on May 17. The pawpaws in Schenley grow in single-plant clumps so the flowers are not fertilized and rarely produce fruit.
Five little foxes, Schenley Park, 25 April 2020 (photo by Frank Izaguirre)
(photo by Frank Izaguirre, 25 April 2020)
(photo by Frank Izaguirre, 25 April 2020)
(photo by Frank Izaguirre, 25 April 2020)
(photo by Frank Izaguirre, 25 April 2020)
(photo by Frank Izaguirre, 25 April 2020)
(photo by Frank Izaguirre, 25 April 2020)
(photo by Frank Izaguirre, 25 April 2020)
(photo by Frank Izaguirre, 25 April 2020)
At the den before mother moved us, Schenley Park, 25 April 2020 (photo by Frank Izaguirre)
Looking back to a month ago…
Back in April, five little foxes lived with their mother in a den under the old log cabin in Schenley Park.
During the day, while mom was asleep, they came out to play inside the chain link fence that surrounds the cabin. Frank Izaguirre photographed them on 25 April 2020 and tweeted about them here.
Inevitably the fox kits attracted a crowd.
Six people watching the fox kits in Schenley Park, 27 April 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
As soon as they were old enough to move, their mother got them out of there.
The kits have grown up and haven’t been seen in a long time.
Star-flowered lily-of-the-valley, 23 May 2020, Beach 11, Presque Isle State Park (photo by Kate St. John)
Yesterday, in the midst of a warbler-filled visit to Presque Isle State Park, I paused to take a photo of this flower at Beach 11.
Star-flowered Solomon’s seal or Star-flowered lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum stellatum) is so beautiful that I thought it was an alien that escaped from a garden. Thankfully it is native to North America.
