Did You Know? Bread Is Bad For Me!

close shot of ducks by David Tomic via Flickr Creative Commons license

6 February 2025

It sure is fun to feed the birds but not all food is good for them. Did you know that bread is junk food for birds? Just like us, ducks love junk food but it is bad as a steady diet.

Bread, crackers and our own junk food snacks have no nutritional value for ducks and geese. These foods are especially bad for ducklings because their little bodies are still growing and have special nutritional needs.

If a duckling depends on bread instead of a varied normal diet its wing bones will grow in a deformed manner called angel wing, a condition similar to rickets in humans. Both are permanent deformities caused by malnutrition.

Because this bird has angel wing it will never fly.

Duck with angel wing deformity from malnutrition (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Since ducks don’t control their own junk food intake, and since we don’t know how much bread they ate before we got there, don’t feed bread to birds. Maine Audubon suggests what to feed them instead.

Some great options are lettuce or cabbage … Other things you can give them are: corn (not popcorn), rice, peas, broccoli, tomatoes, and most fruits (not citrus).

Maine Audubon: Do’s and Don’ts of Duck Feeding
“Hey, Duck, no more! Didn’t you hear that bread is bad for you?”

Give this duck some lettuce.

Hey, no more! (photo by Andy Ihnatko via Flickr Creative Commons license)

Read more about bread and ducks in this vintage article from 2018.

Starlings Are Declining in North America

Two common starlings in non-breeding plumage (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

5 February 2025

During January’s cold snap, flocks of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) suddenly swarmed backyard bird feeders and everyone wished they would just “Go away!”

Common starling flock in winter in Newark, Ohio (photo by Mary Ellen St. John via Wikimedia Commons)

As it happens starlings are going away, though maybe not quickly in your backyard.

Despite its success and large numbers, the European Starling is now in steep decline, like so many other species in North America. The current population is half the size it was 50 years ago – down from an estimated 166.2 million breeding birds in 1970 to 85.1 million. The species is also declining in Europe.(*)

Cornell Chronicle: Starling success traced to rapid adaptation, Feb 2021, emphasis added

The decline is easy to see in red on eBird’s European starling Trends map, 2012-2022.

European starling: Breeding season population trends in North America, 2012-2022 (from eBird Status and Trends)

In just a decade starlings declined 14.9% in North America, mostly in the Midwest and especially Illinois where they are down 24.5%.

Despite this, many of us worry that starlings are having a negative impact on cavity-nesting native birds — but they are not.

Starlings often take over the nests of native birds, expelling the occupants. With so many starlings around, there is concern about their effect on native bird populations. Nevertheless, a study in 2003 found few actual effects on populations of 27 native species. Only sapsuckers showed declines due to starlings; other species appeared to be holding their own against the invaders.

All About Birds: European starling account

“Only sapsuckers showed declines?” Fortunately this is not quite the case in Pennsylvania. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers have declined in certain regions of PA but in others they have increased. In areas of overlap with starlings, such as the western I-80 corridor, sapsuckers have increased. [I-80 is under the word “Pennsylvania” on the maps below.]

Meanwhile, starlings have declined more than sapsuckers overall and have not appreciably increased in the sapsuckers’ range. Compare the two Trends maps below.

Breeding population trends in PA 2012-2022: Yellow-bellied sapsucker (top) and European starling (bottom)

If you don’t like starlings, don’t worry. The problem is taking care of itself.


(*) In the UK the starling population dropped 80% in just 25 years from 1987 to 2012. This is very worrisome because they are a native bird in Europe.

Plucky Crows Harass Bald Eagles

Crow pulls the tail of an immature bald eagle, Delta, BC, Canada (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

4 February 2025

Bald eagles are top predators who will eat crow nestlings, fledglings and unwary adults if the opportunity arises, so crows learn from a very young age to watch out for eagles.

Even in the nest young crows hear and see their parents drive off hawks and eagles. In their first year of life, which they spend with their parents, they learn the rules of harassment.

  • When a lone crow sees an avian predator he perches prominently and calls for reinforcements.
  • When his buddies arrive the crows work as a mob to drive away the predator.
Crows mobbing a bald eagle in Bremerton, WA (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
American crows harassing a bald eagle in Alaska (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
  • When the situation is acute and the mob is left behind, a solo crow may harass an eagle even though he’s the only one left. Sometimes he does something daring.

Ten years ago photographer Phoo Chan went to the shore at Seabeck, Washington to photograph the bald eagles who arrive in large number during the midshipman fish run (Porichthys sp). He was very lucky to capture photos of a lone crow riding on an eagle’s back. See more in his article below.

Crows keep the world safe for crows. 😉

Seen in Past Week: Gulls, Owls and Bonus Birds

Immature herring gull on ice shouts at his friends, Duck Hollow, 28 Jan 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

3 February 2025

In the past week I’ve been lucky to see gulls on ice, an owl on the nest, and three Bonus Birds.

Tiny icebergs were floating down the Monongahela River when Charity Kheshgi and I visited Duck Hollow on 28 January.

Ring-billed gulls on ice at Duck Hollow, 28 Jan 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

Ring-billed gulls outnumbered every other species. A few immature herring gulls made a ruckus in the middle of the river. And a Bonus Bird: A peregrine falcon flew over. I wonder who it is!

Peregrine falcon flyover, Duck Hollow, 28 Jan 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

On 1 February I visited Schenley golf course to take a photo of my shadow and decided to drive down Circuit Road on the way home. The sun was so bright that it illuminated the great horned owl’s nest under the Panther Hollow Bridge. From the road I digiscoped a photo of the female and cropped it for a closer look.

Digiscoped photo of nesting great horned owl at Schenley, 1 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Heavily cropped digiscoped photo of nesting great horned owl, 1 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Yesterday I went back with Charity Kheshgi to see the owls. The captions on her video and photos tell the story.

video of great horned owl on nest, Schenley, 2 Feb 2025, by Charity Kheshgi

We were able to see both the male on the left and the female on the nest from a trail on the same level as the nest (the “Lower Trail”).

Great horned owl pair male roosting (left), female on nest, 2 Feb 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

Below the bridge we couldn’t see the nest but the male was visible, roosting in the shadows.

Great horned owl male roosting near his mate, 2 Feb 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

And later, two Bonus Birds: A golden-crowned kinglet who flashed his crown, yellow and red …

Golden-crowned kinglet, Schenley Park, 2 Feb 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

… and a brown creeper

Brown creeper, Schenley Park, 2 Feb 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

Halfway to Spring!

26 January and 1 February 2025

2 February 2025

Today is the celestial midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Halfway to Spring! In just six days Pittsburgh went from snow cover on 26 January to soggy grass on 1 February. And shadows on both days.

Speaking of shadows, today is Groundhog Day. The “largest crowd ever” gathered before dawn at the annual Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Dancing before sunrise on Groundhog Day 2025 in Punxsutawney (screenshot from visitpa.com live stream)

At sunrise Punxsutawney Phil was roused from his burrow to predict the rest of winter. The legend is that if he sees his shadow we’ll have six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow we’ll have an Early Spring.

OK, so was it cloudy enough for an Early Spring? Here’s today’s sunrise in Pittsburgh, 100 miles away from Punxsutawney. Moments later the sun was quite bright.

Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 2 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Up in Punxsutawney, Phil saw his shadow and predicted Six More Weeks of Winter.

Groundhog Day 2025 in Punxsutawney (screenshot from visitpa.com live stream)
6 more weeks of winter! Groundhog Day 2025 in Punxsutawney (screenshot from visitpa.com live stream)

Groundhog Day was quite sunny until 9:00am.

The Live Stream at visitpa.com is over but you’ll want to bookmark this link for next year.

Pitt Falconcam is Live for the 2025 Season!

Ecco and Carla bow at the nest, 28 Jan 2025, 12:16pm (snapshot from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

1 February 2025

It’s Peregrine Season!

Today the National Aviary’s Falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning has begun live streaming for the 2025 peregrine nesting season. Watch the Pitt falconcam to see the nesting season unfold.

For the next six weeks we’ll see the resident peregrine falcon pair courting at the nest: Ecco (male, unbanded) and Carla (female, banded Black/Blue S/07). These two have been a couple ever since Ecco’s former mate, Morela, died in mid-May 2023. Carla arrived that month but it was too late to begin a nest so they waited until the next season. Last spring they raised two young.

If Carla follows the same schedule as 2024 she’ll lay her first egg in mid-March, the eggs will hatch in late April, and the young will fledge around 1 June.

This week when the stream was in test mode it captured Ecco and Carla bowing at the nest. Watch as they strengthen their pair bond last Tuesday. (NOTE: Male peregrines are 1/3 smaller than females. The biggest bird is female.)

video excerpt from the National Aviary Falconcam at the Univ of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning.
Click here and scroll down to watch the National Aviary Falconcam at the Cathedral of Learning.

(photo and video from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Twirling Kudzu Like Spaghetti

Kudzu draping trees in Atlanta (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

31 January 2025

If you’ve ever been to Atlanta you’ve seen areas like the one pictured above where invasive kudzu is draped over everything. You can see why it’s called “The vine that ate the South.”

Kudzu was introduced to the Southeast U.S. back in 1883 and given a healthy head start on its way to invasion.

The vine was widely marketed in the Southeast as an ornamental plant, … as a high-protein content cattle fodder and as a cover plant to prevent soil erosion.

By 1946, it was estimated that 3,000,000 acres of kudzu had been planted [in the U.S].

Wikipedia: Kudzu in the United States, emphasis added

Planted!

Now that the genii is out of the bottle, how do we get rid of it? Good question.

The video below shows an interesting technique that is not enough to eradicate kudzu but is very satisfying to watch.

The “business” end of the equipment is a claw or grabber attached to a Tiltrotator on an excavator. It twirls the kudzu like spaghetti.

video embedded from TheRegrowthProject on YouTube

Great Horned Owls Already on Eggs

Great horned owl on nest, Merritt Island, Florida, January 2011 (photo by Chuck Tague)

30 January 2025

Great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) are the first birds to nest in Pennsylvania each year(*). They start courting in late fall and become really intense in December when you often hear them hooting in the woods and suburbs.  By January or February they’ve chosen a nest site and the female lays her eggs.

Since great horned owls never build a nest they often take over an old red-tailed hawk nest and that’s what they did at this bridge in Oakland. Ankur and Wenting saw the pair last Sunday 26 January.

The female owl is the only one who incubates, so she’s on the nest in the photo. Look closely behind and above her and you will see her mate perched on a horizontal girder. He feeds her at night and roosts near her during the day.

According to eBirder Andy Georgeson, this female has been on the nest since around 8 January:

[Great horned owl] continuing – I have now observed this owl on the old red tail hawk nest for the last 3 weeks. … This morning the owl was mobbed by 2 Ravens and displayed a defensive posture while in the nest before the Ravens flew off.

eBird Checklist comment from Andy Georgeson, 29 Jan 2025, 7:30am

Look at old red-tailed hawk nests near you for some ear tufts sticking up. If you see them, don’t get too close!  You don’t want to tangle with Mama owl!

Great horned owl on nest in March 2020 (photo by Steve Gosser)

p.s. The nest pictured at top is an old osprey nest in Florida, claimed by a great horned owl.

(*)First to nest: Pigeons nest all year long in Pennsylvania. They never have an off season.

Sun Dogs and Halos

A 22 degree halo around the sun with two sun dogs, Schenley Park, 26 Jan 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

29 January 2025

Clear skies and thin icy clouds have made this a great week for sun dogs and 22 degree halos in the sky. I’ve seen both near sunset this week: Last Sunday at Schenley Park golf course and yesterday at Duck Hollow.

Sun dogs are bright rainbow spots to the left and right of the sun …

… commonly caused by the refraction and scattering of light from horizontally oriented plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals either suspended in high and cold cirrus or cirrostratus clouds, or drifting in freezing moist air at low levels as diamond dust. The crystals act as prisms, bending the light rays passing through them with a minimum deflection of 22°.

Wikipedia account: Sun dog

Sometimes you see only one.

Sun dog peeking through the branches of a bare tree in Schenley Park, 26 Jan 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Last Sunday two sun dogs were connected by a 22 degree halo, a faint rainbow caused by the same atmospheric conditions as sun dogs.

A 22 degree halo around the sun with sun dogs hidden by the trees, Schenley Park, 26 Jan 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

If you’re really lucky you’ll also see a circumzenithal arc, an upside down rainbow at the top of the halo. I was fortunate to see all three on 5 Nov 2022 at Yellow Creek State Park.

Sun dogs, 22 degree halo and ircumzenithal arc seen at Yellow Creek State Park, 5 Nov 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

I haven’t seen all three this week … yet. The best time is during the hour before sunset.

p.s. A halo can also occur around the full moon.

Snow on the Delta

Snow drift on a car, New Orleans, 21 Jan 2025, 5:55pm (photo by Infrogmation via Wikimedia Commons)

28 January 2025

This photo of a car in a snow drift was not taken in Minnesota. It was in New Orleans, Louisiana on 21 January 2025!

The winter storm that brought these blizzard conditions and 30-40 mph wind gusts had passed by the time this satellite image was taken on 22 January. Snow etches the contours of the Mississippi Delta.

Snow on the ground in the Southeastern U.S., 22 Jan 2025. Note including the Mississippi River Delta (image from MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC)

During the storm it really did look like Minnesota in photos by Infrogmation on Wikimedia Commons — at top and below.

New Orleans backyard during snowfall on 21 Jan 2025, 4:10pm (photo by Infrogmation via Wikimedia Commons)
Snow drift in the backyard, New Orleans, 21 Jan 2025, 5:59pm (photo by Infrogmation via Wikimedia Commons)

The storm left behind …

  • 200 miles of Interstate 10 closed due to snow and ice.
  • 8 inches of snow in New Orleans.
  • 7°F in Baton Rouge, the lowest temperature ever recorded in their 95 years of keeping track.
  • Frozen, broken water pipes …
  • and everyone huddled indoors!

The rare storm brought more snow to New Orleans than has fallen in Anchorage, Alaska, since the start of meteorological winter, noted the National Weather Service.

from NASA MODIS Image of the Day 24 Jan 2025

The entire episode was quite a shock to a city that stays green all winter. Without snowplows Louisiana had to clear I-10 using backhoes.

Today’s high in New Orleans will be near normal at 61°F. This is what is should look like in January.

Cambronne Street, Carrolton Historic District, New Orleans, 2 Jan 2024 (photo by Infrogmation via Wikimedia Commons)

UPDATE on 1 Feb 2025: After this storm paralyzed the Gulf Coast states it headed out to sea and strengthened into an extremely powerful extratropical cyclone in the North Atlantic. When it got to Ireland it had a name — Storm Éowyn.

“Éowyn barreled into Ireland and the northern United Kingdom on Friday, January 24, bringing heavy wind damage, a destructive storm surge, and widespread power outages.

“The ferocious windstorm brought the highest sustained winds — 135 km/hr (84 mph) — and the highest wind gust ever recorded in Ireland — 183 km/hr (114 mph).

“Sustained 10-minute winds of 84 mph are characteristic of a strong Cat 1 or weak Cat 2 hurricane. The damage being reported from Ireland and the U.K. is indeed characteristic of a hurricane, and Storm Éowyn may well end up being Earth’s second billion-dollar weather disaster of 2025, along with the Los Angeles fires.”

quoted from: Storm Eowyn brings hurricane-level destruction to Ireland