27 June 2026
This week I was in Blair and Allegheny Counties where I found late June flowers, busy insects and urban deer.
Beauty
Obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana), at top, attracts many pollinators. It’s called obedient plant because if you move an individual flower to the side it stays in place.
Enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea sp.) started blooming at the summer solstice in Schenley Park.
American germander (Teucrium canadense) is blooming at the Herrs Island back channel.
On 21 June we had a beautiful morning birding the Lower Trail at Mt. Etna Station in Blair County. Before the day heated up, mist rose from the damp wooden railing on the pedestrian bridge over Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River.
Bugs
Also on the Lower Trail a bug floated down from the trees. We caught and examined it, only to find it was the exoskeleton of a mayfly.
On that same day back in Pittsburgh John English saw his first spotted lanternfly. 3rd instar.
In 24 June I visited the Herrs Island back channel where I reliably find spotted lanternflies in the summer. There weren’t many but at least one was already in the final instar … the red one.
The 4th instar will transform into a winged adult. This is only a matter of days away …
Urban Deer
The deer in my urban neighborhood don’t care about people and cars. On 20 June my husband photographed a limping doe.
And on 24 June my neighbor pointed out a doe and buck resting behind the retaining wall at Neville House. The buck is well hidden from my location. You can see the doe’s resting legs, her body and the back of her head.
Click here to see them wider photo for context.
I’m seeing lots of birds that are shaped like mockingbirds but they have a rusty color. Could they just be immature mockingbirds? They act like them. They are tearing up everything they find and generally making a big mess.
I’ll bet they are brown thrashers, a relative of mockingbirds. They are secretive in PA but quite visible in backyards in VA. This describes what they do while looking for beetles, bugs and caterpillars:
“Sweeps litter and soil with rapid, side-to-side motions of bill, scattering leaves and picking out food items. Probes the ground with beak.