White-M Hairstreak at Berg Street steps, 4 October 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)
A “hairstreak” is not a new fad in South Side hair styles. It’s a small butterfly.
A week ago I walked the Black Route on South Side’s Pittsburgh Step Trek. It took me two hours to complete 3.29 miles and climb up and down 1,692 steps but I found a reward.
This White-M Hairstreak butterfly (Parrhasius m album) was perched on the railing at the Berg Street steps.
Local butterfly expert, Monica Miller, tells me this one is a good find. She (who has so much experience!) has seen only three White M Hairstreaks in her life.
I had no idea I could find such good butterflies in the City. Woo hoo!
Wild raisins, Witherod viburnum (photo by Kate St. John)
This shrub’s common name is witherod but the fruits are wild raisins.
Last month we found witherod viburnum at Moraine State Park during the joint Wissahickon-Botanical Society outing. Those in the know said “Wild raisins!” and ate a berry.
When the tasters didn’t fall down, I ate one, too. Good texture but boring flavor.
Witherod (Viburnum cassanoides, or Viburnum nudum cassanoides) is a dense shrub, 12-20 feet tall, that grows in moist or wet soil. It is beautiful year round with white flower umbels in spring and deep red leaves in the fall. Its fruit attracts birds and it’s mildly resistant to deer damage so it’s a good choice for the garden.
I was surprised to learn that witherod is endangered in Pennsylvania, perhaps because I see so much of it every August-September at Acadia while the fruits are still pink and white, plentiful and unwrinkled.
If I visited Maine in October I’d see that the fruit turns black and shrivels into Wild Raisins.
(photo by Kate St. John)
p.s. Dianne Machesney says, “The fruit of Nannyberry (V. lentago) looks similar but you can tell the difference by looking at the leaves. Nannyberry is more toothed and the petioles are winged where it connects to the stem. Wild Raisin has blunt little teeth and no wings. Both fruits are edible so you won’t pay for a mistaken ID.”
Will this winter bring unusual northern birds to our feeders?
Yes, probably purple finches. Maybe redpolls. I know this because I read the Winter Finch Forecast.
Every fall Ron Pittaway produces a Winter Finch Forecast for Canada that predicts the travels of seed eating birds and three other species that often irrupt when finches do. When he says a species will leave Ontario, it will probably come to Pennsylvania.
To make his prediction Pittaway looks at Canada’s forests from a seed eater’s perspective. This year purple finch foods are in low supply on Canada’s trees so he predicts that “Many (not all) should migrate south out of Ontario this fall.”
Get ready for purple finches by offering sunflower seeds at your feeders.
Whimbrel (nicknamed Upinraaq) at the MacKenzie River, Canada. She winters in Brazil. (photo by Fletcher Smith, the Center for Conservation Biology)
What happens to birds who migrate over the ocean during hurricane season? Do they run into major storms?
Indeed they do. Since 2007 when the Center for Conservation Biology began satellite-tracking whimbrels they’ve seen 9 of them fly through hurricanes or tropical storms. All 9 birds survived!
This year when Upinraaq (above) launched from Newfoundland on her transoceanic journey, she had no idea she’d encounter Tropical Storm Erika. By the time she hit Erika’s 46 mile per hour winds she’d already been flying non-stop for three days. Nonetheless she flew straight through the storm and made landfall at Suriname.
However, her destination is Brazil and she faces a big challenge in Suriname before she gets home. Click here to read about her land-side challenge and the amazing feats of migrating whimbrels (one flew through Hurricane Irene!) at the CCB’s blog: Whimbrel Tracked Into Tropical Storm Erika.
(photo by Fletcher Smith via the Center for Conservation Biology. Click on the image to see the photo and read the story of Upinraaq.)
Open avocado showing huge seed (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Why does the honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) have huge thorns on its trunk? And…
Honeylocust thorns (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
… large seed pods that no one eats?
Honey locust seed pod (photo by Andrew Dunn from Wikimedia Commons)
These plants were food for giants that are now extinct.
Just 13,000 years ago the Americas were inhabited by mammoths, horses and giant ground sloths whose diet included “monkey balls,” avocados and honey locust pods. Only a giant could eat such large fruit in one gulp and pass the seeds through its digestive track.
The giant ground sloth (Megatherium) for instance weighed 4 tons (8,000 pounds) and could reach 20 feet high when he put his paw on a tree trunk and stood on his hind legs. He could also damage the trees so the honey locust evolved big thorns for protection.
Megatherium, extinct ground sloth (illustration from Wikimedia Commons)
He’s been extinct for 10,000 years, but the tree remembers.
For a fun 5-minute video about the fruits that point to missing mammals, watch below.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons. Click on each image to see its original)
Notes and links:
Horses were extinct in North America until the Spaniards imported them. Modern horses eat monkey balls.
A tip of the hat to Mike Cornell who taught us cool facts about Osage oranges and honey locusts at Wissahickon Nature Club last Thursday. You can learn more from him at the Frick Environmental Center.
This caterpillar is almost as cute as a Woolly Bear (Isabella tiger moth) with his fluffy white fur, a black dash down his back, and a little black face, but…
Hickory Tussock Moth (photo by Kate St. John)
Don’t touch him!
This is a hickory tussock moth caterpillar (Lophocampa caryae) and those long white hairs contain allergens that will make you sting and itch as if you’d touched stinging nettle.
The hairs are actually hollow spines, the perfect delivery system for chemicals that prevent him from being eaten. Even a clueless young animal will only mouth this caterpillar once. Inquisitive humans who’ve touched him will tell you the spines can stay in your skin and make you miserable for weeks.
Yellow Ladies’ Tresses (photo by Dianne Machesney)
Winter’s not here yet so there’s still time to see fall orchids blooming in western Pennsylvania.
Yellow Ladies’ Tresses (Spiranthes ochroleuca) are relatively common. Standing 4 to 21 inches tall, they grow in dry open habitats such as open woods, thickets or meadows and even by side of the road. Dianne Machesney photographed the one above at Moraine State Park.
October Ladies’ Tresses (Spiranthes ovalis), below, are so rare that they’re listed as endangered in Pennsylvania. Their USDA Pennsylvania map shows them occurring only in Lancaster County.
October Ladies’ Tresses (photo by Dianne Machesney)
Despite this status, Dianne and Bob Machesney found them blooming at both McConnells Mill and Moraine State Parks on 19 September 2015.
You can find October Ladies’ Tresses this month in moist, shady woods or thickets, or along the edges of marshes. Keep your eyes peeled for a flower that’s 2 to 15 inches tall.
The butterfly in question, topside (photo by Kate St. John)
Let me begin by saying I am not a butterfly expert. I can recognize 10 butterflies, yes only 10, and I regularly misname three of those.
On Thursday at Raccoon Creek State Park I saw lots of Comma(*) butterflies so I took some pictures. Sorting my photos this morning, I looked for this one showing the comma on the underwing.
The Question Mark on the underwing (photo by Kate St. John)
Uh oh! That white mark is not a Comma. That line has a gap! This butterfly is a Question Mark and it’s likely the others were, too.
Commas and Question Marks look similar because they’re closely related, but I could have identified them without a photo if I’d learned these field marks:
Hindwing Underside: Comma is white, large, hooked on one end, continuous, bulging at both ends
Hindwing Underside: Question Mark is white, curved, broken in two pieces, one large & one small piece
Here’s an illustration of the Question Mark’s 4 post-median spots, circled in blue with a yellow arrow pointing to dash/spot #4. Click here to see 3 spots on a Comma.
Question Mark butterfly, highlighting 4 post-median spots (photo by Kate St. John)
Both butterflies are active this month so I’ll get another chance to try my ID skills before they overwinter.
Jonathan Nadle with bird in hand (photo by Lori Nadle)
My Tuesday article about hand feeding chickadees (A Bird On The Hand) prompted my friend Jonathan Nadle to send me this photo.
He said it was difficult to find the bird at this location but he was determined not to miss the chance to hold this exceptional species.
(photo by L&J Nadle)
p.s. The man who invented the pink plastic flamingo died last June. Did you know that for 37 years he and his wife always wore matching outfits? Click here to read more.
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