23 May 2026
On May 15-16 I went birding with Charity and Kaleem Kheshgi at Presque Isle State Park where we saw many birds featured in Seen This Week: Warblers and Ducklings. It was chilly and cloudy when we paused at a lagoon on the lakeshore. Charity found no birds in the distance but it sure was beautiful.
At lunch we stopped at a picnic table near the rental boats and a red-winged blackbird arrived to beg for food. He stomped back and forth demanding a snack and landed so close on our table that I couldn’t take his picture.
Flowers seen included:
- Cypress spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias), invasive at Presque Isle and featured in this vintage article: A Smell That Reminds Me of Warblers.
- Starflower (Lysimachia borealis), a native perennial.
- Starry false lily of the valley (Maianthemum stellatum), another native perennial.
This week at Schenley Park I photographed three alien plants that deer don’t eat because they are toxic — which is why it’s easy to find them at Schenley.
- Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)
- Jetbead (Rhodotypos scandens)
- Greater celandine (Chelidonium majus). If you break a leaf or stem it “bleeds” bright orange latex sap. This makes it easy to identify the plant. Read more at Orange Juice in The Leaves
