Monthly Archives: March 2017

Nesting in a Snow Storm

March 14, 2017Bird Behavior, Nesting & Courtship, PeregrinesKate St. John

Peregrine incubating in a snow storm, Harrisburg, PA, 14 Mar 2017, 6:00am (snapshot from the DEP Falcon Cam) — Peregrine incubating eggs during snow storm, Harrisburg, PA, 14 Mar 2017, 6:00am (snapshot from the DEP Falcon Cam)

One of Pennsylvania’s peregrine falcon families has a big challenge today. They’re incubating three eggs in Harrisburg where the “Nor’easter” will bring 9 to 13 inches of snow and blustery winds until 10pm tonight.

Their nest is on a ledge of the Rachel Carson Building where four cameras provide live streams of their activity. Two snapshots taken before dawn show there was already a lot of snow at 6am. Below, a view from the closeup camera.

The situation looks awful to us but it’s all in a day’s work for peregrine falcons. Here’s why:

Snow is a normal challenge during the nesting season. Peregrines lay eggs in late winter so that their young will hatch when food is plentiful during spring migration. There are many stories of successful peregrine nests after blizzards in the Snow Belt. Ask folks from Cleveland, Ohio and Rochester, New York about their peregrines!
Feathers provide excellent insulation. These birds are wearing down “coats” underneath their smooth body feathers. Notice the unmelted snow on the female’s back. This is good!
The brood patch (bare skin on their bellies) keeps the eggs quite warm.

During a brief respite in the snowfall, the female peregrine stood up at 6:25am. You can see that her body has kept the nest free of snow. Don’t worry, she was back on those eggs within 30 seconds!

The peregrines' nest has been kept warm, 14 Mar 2017, 6:25am (photo from the DEP Falcon Cam in Harriburg, PA) — The peregrines’ nest has been kept warm, 14 Mar 2017, 6:25am (photo from the PA Falcon Cam in Harriburg, PA)

Click any one of the photos above to go directly to the Live PA Falcon Cam or click here for the complete website.

Meanwhile, here in Pittsburgh we have no snow at all.

(snapshots from the PA Falcon Cam in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

p.s. Why are the time stamps different on the Harrisburg cameras? The wide-angle PA Falcon Cam is on Eastern Standard Time (EST); the closeup camera is on Daylight Saving Time (EDT).

Of Llamas and Possums

March 13, 2017Mammals, MigrationKate St. John

Llama on Machu Picchu, Opossum in western Canada (photos from Wikimedia Commons) — Llama on Machu Picchu, Virginia opossum in western Canada (photos from Wikimedia Commons)

13 March 2017

What do llamas and opossums have in common?

Their ancestors swapped continents during the Great American Interchange. They now live a world away from their country of origin.

The “Great American Interchange” sounds like a flea market or a swap meet but it’s actually the movement of species between North and South America when the two continents joined at Panama three million years ago.

Before the interchange our continent had members of the camel family; South America did not. The camelids walked south and thrived on their new continent in the wild as guanacos and vicuñas and some even became domesticated — llamas and alpacas. In the meantime camels went extinct here in North America. So there are wild camels in Peru but we have none.

Other animals made the journey, too. Here are just a few of the northern species that became successful in South America: camelids, squirrels, cottontail rabbits, deer, wild horses, peccaries, otters, raccoons, wolves, cougars, American sparrows (Emberizidae), trogons and condors. Click here for the complete list.

Initially the interchange was symmetrical with the same number of species going north and south but the result was lopsided. More northern species survived their move to South America than did southern species transplanted to the north. This was due in part to the difficult trek northward (deserts en route), our less hospitable climate (winter!) and the long isolation of South American fauna.

Opossums were one of the few success stories. We had no marsupials in North America until the Virginia opossum’s ancestors made the journey and thrived on our continent. Many of their relatives still live in South America.

So what did we get when South American animals walked north? Not as much as you’d think: opossums, armadillos, porcupines, cougars, parrots, hummingbirds, tanagers, and tyrant flycatchers. Click here for the complete northbound list.

Cougars (Puma concolor) are on both lists because they were originally from North America and walked into South America. After they went extinct in North America the southern ones walked north to repopulate our continent.

We humans were part of the Great American Interchange, too. Our species’ movement around the globe was made possible by continental land bridges.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons: llama at Machu Picchu, Virginia opossum in western Canada. Click on each link to see the original.)

Good? Morning

March 12, 2017Musings & NewsKate St. John

exhausted (from clipart-library.com) — Exhausted! (from clipart-library.com)

Are you feeling exhausted this morning?

Well, it’s going to last about three days.

Last night we turned our clocks forward for Daylight Saving Time (DST). I’m no fan of changing the clocks and complain about it in the fall but, in fact, the worst physical effects occur in the spring.

Just like plants and animals we have internal clocks that cue on daylight, so artificially “moving” sunrise and sunset and losing an hour of sleep messes up our circadian rhythm. Studies have shown there are at least three bad effects: There’s an increase in heart attacks during the first three days of Daylight Saving Time. There are more road accidents on the first Monday (tomorrow). And many people have sleep problems until their circadian clocks reset.

Everyone is grouchy, even the kids.

What would it be like if we didn’t change the clocks? Arizona(*) and Hawaii stay on Standard Time and they aren’t suffering this morning … except for one thing. They’re annoyed by the time zone difference. Arizona’s clock is now three hours later than Pennsylvania’s, not two.

Don’t worry. We’ll all feel better by Friday. Meanwhile ….

Yawwwn! 😮

(clipart from clipart-library.com. Click on the image to see the original)

(*) The Navajo Nation within Arizona does use Daylight Saving Time.

Coltsfoot Bloomed Last Wednesday

March 11, 2017Phenology, Plants & FungiKate St. John

Coltsfoot blooming in Schenley Park, 8 Mar 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

In another landmark of spring I found coltsfoot blooming in Schenley Park last Wednesday, March 8.

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) is an early-blooming Eurasian plant whose flower resembles a dandelion except that it blooms when it has no leaves. The leaves, which are shaped like a colt’s footprint, come out after the flower is gone.

This morning it’s 14^oF so the flowers are closed tight against the cold. Coltsfoot will survive but I’m not so sure about my daffodils.

Looking back, I’m wistful. It was only three days ago that the temperature was 60^oF and these hazelnut catkins blew in the wind along Schenley Park’s Lower Trail.

Catkins blow in the wind along Schenley Park's Lower Trail, 8 Mar 2017 (photo by Kate St.John) — Catkins blow in the wind along Schenley Park’s Lower Trail, 8 Mar 2017 (photo by Kate St.John)

(The logs in the photo are an old ash, killed by emerald ash borer.)

(photos by Kate St. John)

Vaudeville Gulls

March 10, 2017Bird Behavior, Vocalizations, Water and ShoreKate St. John

It’s Vaudeville time with duets of gulls singing and dancing.

Above, two yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis) sing in Europe.

Below, European herring gulls (Larus argentatus) dance in Penzance, UK.

Their acts are serious business. Gulls sing when they’re courting and dance for their dinner.

You’ll hear lots of gulls singing in the months ahead as they enter the breeding season.

But you’ll be lucky if you find a dancing gull. In Europe gulls stamp on the ground to bring worms to the surface. I’ve never seen them do it in North America. Have you?

p.s. I guessed at the identity of the dancing gulls. If you know they’re not herring gulls, please tell me what they are.

(videos from YouTube)

Lyme Disease Will Be Bad This Year

March 9, 2017InsectsKate St. John

White-footed mouse (photo by Brian Wulker)

9 March 2017

In case you missed it, NPR reported on Monday that Lyme disease will be bad this year in the northeastern U.S.

Why? Because this cute little animal, the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), was very abundant last summer.

White-footed mice carry Lyme disease and host many black-footed ticks (Ixodes scapularis) on their ears and faces. When the ticks bite the mice they suck in Lyme disease and transmit it later to us.

Ecologists Felicia Keesing and Rick Ostfeld figured out that when the mice thrive so do the ticks and in the following year, so does Lyme disease. 2016 was a spectacular year for white-footed mice, so watch out. 2017 will be bad for Lyme disease. Learn more here at NPR.

What can you do to protect yourself?

Lyme disease is debilitating and, what’s worse, you can catch it in your own backyard. Avoid exposure by using the techniques described in this April 2015 blog article:

Forewarned Is Forearmed

p.s. Learn how to safeguard your home in this blog article from last fall: Prevent Lyme disease in your own backyard.

(photo by Brian Wulker)

First Egg at the Gulf Tower, 2017

March 8, 2017Nesting & Courtship, PeregrinesKate St. John

Dori with her first egg of 2017, Gulf Tower, 8 March 2017 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)

Dori laid her first egg of 2017 at the Gulf Tower this morning (8 March 2017) at 8:29am.

Hooray, she chose the Gulf Tower!

Closeup of Dori with her first egg of 2017, Gulf Tower, 8 March 2017 (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)

Click here to watch her on camera.

(photos from the National Aviary falconcam at Gulf Tower)

Graceful

March 8, 2017Bird Behavior, Birds of Prey, Costa Rica, Nesting & Courtship, TravelKate St. John

Swallow-tailed kite in flight (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

We use words like powerful, strong or fierce to describe raptors but this one is different. The swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus) is truly graceful.

Named for their beautiful black tails, their flight is so buoyant that they barely flap as they swoop and turn to grab food from the air or the treetops. They seem to be moving in slow motion and it’s true. They can fly slowly because their wings and tails are so long.

Swallow-tailed kites live year round in South America but only visit the southern U.S. and Central America to breed. They eat mostly insects which they capture with their feet but supplement their diet with frogs, lizards and nestling birds during the nesting season.

I’ve seen solo kites returning to Florida in late February but my best experience was last month on the Road Scholar birding trip to Costa Rica. We saw flocks of swallow-tailed kites and they were spectacular!

At a pond near the road to Agua Buena, three kites skimmed the water, drinking and bathing, as graceful as swallows. They flew so low that we could see the bluish sheen on their backs. Jon Goodwill photographed them in the flight.

Swallow-tailed kite, bathing (photo by Jon Goodwill) — Swallow-tailed kite, bathing or drinking in flight (photo by Jon Goodwill)

Swallow-tailed kite lifting off from its bath (photo by Jon Goodwill)

Later we took a detour … and we were lucky. Our guide Roger Melendez saw a pair of kites building a nest. Bert Dudley zoomed his camera for this video of the female arranging the sticks. (You can hear us talking in the background.)

I would love to show you the beautiful flight of these graceful birds. This video of three man-made kites flown by Ray Bethell is the closest approximation.

Swallow-tailed kites are so graceful.

(top photo from Wikimedia Commons, bathing and drinking photos by Jon Goodwill, video by Bert Dudley. Click on the images to see the originals)

Not A Squirrel

March 7, 2017Mammals, TravelKate St. John

Central American agouti, in Panama (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

What rodent is as big as a groundhog, looks like a squirrel, and has long legs like a small dog?

The agouti (pronounced “a GOO tee”) lives in forests, nests in burrows, and eats fallen fruit and nuts. Eleven species in the genus Dasyprocta range from Mexico to South America and in the Caribbean. Four are endangered because of habitat loss and over hunting but the Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata), the species I saw in Costa Rica, seems to be doing fine.

Agoutis look like very large squirrels but their bony legs and extremely short hairless tails set them apart.

Central American agouti, walking in Gamboa, Panama (photo from Wikimedia Commons) — Central American agouti in Gamboa, Panama (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Like squirrels, they are diurnal but avoid humans because we hunt them. Where they feel safe, though, they’re almost tame. At Las Cruces Biological Station they’re protected so they stroll around the Wilson Botanical Garden and stop by the bird feeders every morning to glean the fruit knocked off the feeders.

This agouti was wary when I followed him at the garden to take his picture. I was amazed when he raised the greenish fur on his rump when I got too close. He lowered it when I stopped following him.

Agouti at Las Cruces Biological Station, February 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

Despite their physical resemblance, agoutis aren’t even related to squirrels. Their nearest relatives are guinea pigs.

(top two photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals. Last photo by Kate St. John)

Changing Their Minds?

March 6, 2017PeregrinesKate St. John

One of the Downtown peregrines perched on Third Avenue, 2 March 2017, 4:00pm (photo by Lori Maggio) — One of the Downtown peregrines at Third Avenue, 2 March 2017, 4:00pm (photo by Lori Maggio)

Are the Downtown peregrines changing their minds about where they want to nest?

In February they spent a lot of time courting at the Gulf Tower, so much so that Downtown monitor Lori Maggio said they were completely absent from their other nest site on Third Avenue. She captured this photo of Dori perched at the Gulf Tower during that period. (The triangular shape and tube are the nest box roof and perch.)

Dori at the Gulf Tower, as seen from the ground, February 2017 (photo by Lori Maggio)

On Thursday March 2 Dori was at the Gulf nest before dawn but later that day, at 4:00pm, Lori found a peregrine near the Third Avenue nest (photo at top). It was the first time they’d been there since February 17.

And the next day, they were both at the Third Avenue site at noon when Lori took this photo of Dori leaving the nest area.

Dori at the Third Avenue nest, 3 March 2017 (photo by Lori Maggio)

Why do they visit the Gulf Tower nest if they aren’t going to use it?

Will they come back to Gulf? We’ll find out this month.

(photos by Lori Maggio)

Outside My Window

A Blog of Birds & Nature with Kate St. John