All posts by Kate St. John

Seventeen Years Outside My Window

Books & Events
Birthday cake and candy sprinkles (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

10 November 2024

It’s time to celebrate and I almost missed it! Fortunately the crows reminded me that …

17 crows in flight (photo from Wikimedia Commons, cropped)

Seventeen years ago yesterday, 9 November 2007, I published the first blog post of my blogging “career.”

As of this morning I’ve written 6,282 articles but not all of them are winners. On the blog’s anniversary I look for the most popular articles in the last 12 months.

One Day Wonders: These Top 5 posts caused the biggest single day surge in viewers. Click the links if you haven’t read them.

  • What Happens When a Dam is Removed? Locks and Dam #3 were about to be removed from the Monongahela River at Elizabeth. What would happen? (3 July; 7,265 readers)
  • Roost Rings on Radar Watch expanding rings on radar when thousands of purple martins leave their roosts all at once. (16 July; 3,446 readers)
  • Black Walnuts Amazingly popular because it includes photo and video of FLORY machines sweeping and vacuuming walnut orchards. (23 Nov last year; 3,121 readers)
  • Appalachia’s Mango Ripens Next Month Pawpaws are popular! (27 Aug; 2,214 readers)
  • Emerging From the Deep An old bridge and town emerge as Youghiogheny River Lake drops in drought. (23 Nov; 1,860 readers)

Old Faithfuls: Which articles steadily gather the most attention? Two articles had more than 12,000 viewers in the past 12 months.

I think some (maybe most?) people searching for this title were disappointed to find it’s not about a human invasion. It’s about spotted lanternflies.

Last Days Before the Invasion Begins

This article was a joke about the resemblance of the Devils Tower to a large petrified tree stump. I am surprised that viewers are still drawn in year after year.

World’s Largest Petrified Tree?

Daily readership hums along at 700-800 readers (YOU!) and soars to a new record of 7,200 viewers in unexpected ways.

Thank you, my readers, for your enthusiasm.  I couldn’t have blogged every day for 17 years without you.  And a big thank you to all the photographers who let me use your photos.  I’ve made a lot of new friends.

Happy Bird-thday, Outside My Window! 

17-year birthday candles (photo by Dark Dwarf on Flickr, Creative Commons license)

p.s. This is my blog’s birthday, not my birthday. I’m a heck-uv-a lot older than 17!

Seen This Week: Sun, Clouds, Acorns

Doves & Chickens, Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park, Trees
Red oak acorns rained on us at Biddle’s, 4 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

9 November 2024

It’s an abundant year for red oak acorns, also called a “big mast year.” The acorns pictured above rained on us while we sat outdoors at a coffee shop. Their parent tree shades the tables in summer but is not much fun this autumn.

In two days at Schenley Park: Sun through yellow trees on Tuesday. Overcast skies and russet oaks on Wednesday.

Sun through the trees at Schenley Park on Tuesday 5 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Overcast sky, russet oaks and leafless trees at Schenley Park on Wednesday 6 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

I took a picture of a bird! An unusual, piebald pigeon.

Piebald pigeon from the side, 5 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

The pattern extends to the back of its head.

Piebald pigeon from the back, 5 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

In an August article, Grass Carpet in the Woods, I mentioned that “After Japanese stiltgrass goes to seed in early fall it dies and becomes a brown drape over the landscape in winter.” Well, here it is draping part of Frick Park near Wilford’s Pines.

Dead Japanese stiltgrass draping the landscape at Frick Park, 7 Nove 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Gingko Leaves Drop All At Once

Phenology, Trees
Ginkgo leaves beneath the trees, 6 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

8 November 2024

In Pittsburgh this week the ginkgo trees (Ginkgo biloba) began to drop their leaves. I found a cheerful yellow carpet under gray skies on Wednesday.

Ginkgo leaves coat the ground; still more to come, Schenley Park, 6 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Other trees lose their leaves gradually or in the wind, but ginkgos can drop them all at once on a single day of calm weather. I tried to capture the “snowing” leaves in this 2017 video. Not very many.

video by Kate St. John in Nov 2017

@MyDailyNature does a better job of showing them fall including slow motion.

video embedded from MyDailyNature on YouTube

Get out soon to watch the ginkgos before the leaves are gone.

p.s. Did you know that gingkos are living fossils? Here’s more:

Native to East Asia, Ginkgo biloba is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million years ago. Fossils very similar to the living species, belonging to the genus Ginkgo, extend back to the Middle Jurassic epoch approximately 170 million years ago. The tree was cultivated early in human history and remains commonly planted, and is widely regarded as a living fossil.

— Wikipedia: Ginkgo bilboa account

Alien Plants Stand Out in November

Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Trees
Native maple (orange) and alien plants (green) along the trail at Hays Woods, 2 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

7 November 2024

This brilliant orange maple stood out at Hays Woods last weekend but when I examined the photo I realized there’s a lesson in this picture.

The native trees are either bare or, like the maple, on their last hurrah. Meanwhile, there are leafy green plants in the understory whose seasonal cycles do not match Pittsburgh’s. The green ones are aliens.

Notice the difference in the slideshow below. Natives are outlined in white, aliens in pink. The easy-to-see aliens are bush honeysuckle and porcelainberry.

Alien plants often leaf out early and drop leaves late. As our climate warms up they have an advantage over cautious native plants whose seasonal cycles expect frost.

In the days ahead most native plants will lose their leaves(*) and the only green left will be the aliens.

Honeysuckle still green beneath bare trees at Hays Woods, 6 Nov 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

In November, alien plants really stand out.

(*) p.s. Though oaks and beeches lose most of their leaves, they retain some leaves through the winter.

Hey, Cat! Can You Squeeze Through This Opening?

Mammals, Musings & News
photo from Wikimedia Commons

6 November 2024

How small a hole can a cat squeeze through? CatPusic tested his cat.

embedded video by CatPusic on YouTube

Science:

This hole was a circle, same size all around, but a recent study in Budapest — Cats are (almost) liquid!—Cats selectively rely on body size awareness when negotiating short openings — demonstrated that cats hesitate more when the opening is short than when it is narrow.

Narrow openings don’t bother cats because their free-floating collarbones are attached to muscle, allowing them to flatten vertically.

Short openings are a problem though. Young cats make mistakes.

Cats: We’d had them less than an hour when Sid went in a hole and couldn’t get out – had to break the grill off to let him out. — caption on the photo below by cormac70

Sid was stuck in this hole, Milly watches, July 2008 (photo by cormac70 via Flickr, Creative Commons license)

As cats gain body size awareness they become better at judging short openings.

Poster from the study Cats are (almost) liquid!—Cats selectively rely on body size awareness when negotiating short openings

Though this video is not the iScience experiment, it is very similar.

embedded video by CatPusic on YouTube

Listen to a podcast about this study at Science Magazine. (Note: there is a 1 minute promo before the broadcast begins.)

In The Rut: Deer Pairing Up in Frick Park

Deer
8-point buck with doe in Frick Park, 30 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

5 November 2024

Last Sunday in Frick Park we were privileged to see an 8-point buck hanging out with a doe. They were obviously a couple and merely gazed at us before returning to their interest in each other. The only thing that really got their attention was an off-lease dog on a trail to the right. Fortunately for the dog, he and his owner went the other way.

The paired stayed close together and the buck licked the doe’s face, ears and estrous. Bright light and shadows make it difficult to see them in this photo so I have brightened the remaining pictures.

8-point buck licks doe’s ears in Frick Park, 30 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

Over-bright photos allow you to pick out the deer.

8-point buck licks doe’s face in Frick Park, 30 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
8-point buck sniffing doe’s neck in Frick Park, 30 Oct 2024 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

What we witnessed was the “tending bond” when a buck shadows a doe for 24 to 48 hours, mating with her multiple times and making sure another buck doesn’t interrupt. (We did not stay for their finale.)

Most people never see this because white-tailed deer hide in dense forest during this period but Frick Park has a serious browse line so there is nowhere to hide.

During the 20th century a myth about deer mating practices governed deer management in Pennsylvania. Namely that it was OK to have 1 white-tailed buck for every 7 does because one buck could “service” all of them in the few weeks that all the does were in heat. Surely the males could get it done.

But they couldn’t. By the end of the 20th century PA hunters were routinely harvesting 90% of the bucks before they were two years old because the sex ratio was so skewed that there was not enough time for pairing up.

In 2002 the PA Game Commission changed deer management practices with antler restrictions to protect the young males and increased doe harvest to balance the sex ratio. The combination has given Pennsylvania’s deer the time they need to form a temporary pair bond.

p.s. Watch out for deer crossing the road! Chances are way too high that are you’ll hit a deer in PA during the rut in October/November.

Suddenly You’ll See a Lot of Crows

Bird Behavior, Crows & Ravens
Crows at the roost, 30 December 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

4 November 2024

Pittsburgh’s winter crow flock is building as more birds from the north join the thousands already here. By the end of December at the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count, there will be as many as 20,000 crows on the move at sunset.

This month while the flock is growing, the roosts that were adequate in October are too small, so they move the entire roost or split into several locations. The moving or splitting happens every week, if not more often.

On Halloween they chose a favorite spot in the Hill District overlooking the Allegheny River, but those coming from the southeast had to change course to get to it. Thousands flew over my apartment building just after sunset on 1 November. On 2 November they found a shortcut and took a different route.

Winter crow flock flies to the roost, Pittsburgh, 1 Nov 2024 (video by Kate St. John)

Tonight sunset is during rush hour at 5:12pm and for the first time this fall many people will be outdoors while the crows are on the move. Those who hadn’t noticed the flock before will think the crows suddenly showed up. Nope. Crows have been traveling at sunset all their lives. It’s the people who suddenly showed up.

p.s. Thank you to Sue Faust & Betty Rowland for alerting me to the crows’ whereabouts. It’s always a challenge to find the roost, especially in late December.

Seen Last Week: Frost, Fog and Fall Color

Phenology, Weather & Sky
Frost in the valley at Duck Hollow, 28 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

3 November 2024

Last week began with light morning frost but rose to 80°F on Halloween.

The colors were gorgeous at Duck Hollow on Monday …

Fall color and blue sky at Duck Hollow, 28 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

… while tendrils of fog chased each other across the river.

Fog tendrils blow slowly across the Monongahela River at Duck Hollow, 28 Oct 2024 (video by Kate St. John)

These wisps were formed at the rivers edge as clear cold air passed over warm water. Sunbeams make this a poor quality video, below, but you can see the wisps starting near shore. (You might also hear a song sparrow chipping in the background.)

Fog forms at Duck Hollow, 28 Oct 2024 (video by Kate St. John)

Slanting light illuminated the trees at Schenley Park.

Fall color and slanting light in Schenley Park, 29 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

A leaf-hidden cocoon reminded me why clearing out leaves is bad for insects. This insect will overwinter on a leaf in Frick Park and emerge as — perhaps — a butterfly or month next spring. Or it may become food for a bird this winter. The insect chain is broken where don’t leave the leaves.

Insect cocoon on a leaf at Frick Park, 30 Oct 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Making the Sun Set Earlier

Books & Events, Weather & Sky
Sunset times in Pittsburgh, late 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

2 November 2024

Spring Forward, Fall Back. Daylight Saving Time ends tonight as our clocks turn back an hour. Tomorrow the sun will set an hour earlier. A lot of us will be grumpy. Some will be depressed.

Most Americans agree that changing the clocks is bad.

Numerous polls have found that most Americans believe that a standard time should be fixed and permanent—as many as 75% favor no longer changing clocks twice per year. One of the most common observations among researchers of varying backgrounds is that the change itself causes most of the negative effects, more so than either standard time or daylight saving time. Researchers have observed numerous ill effects of the annual transitions, including reduced worker productivity, increased heart attacks and strokes, increased medical errors, and increased traffic incidents.

— Wikipedia: SP Act Debate

There are places that don’t participate in this dreaded exercise: Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and other U.S. island territories.

Map of Daylight Saving Time in U.S. from Wikimedia

But there is an area in northeastern Arizona of self-governed indigenous tribal land where part of it uses Daylight Saving Time (DST) and the center does not. The DST area is the Navajo Nation which spans three states and has chosen to use DST. The donut hole is the Hopi Reservation that uses Standard Time. Here’s a closer look.

If you drive from Tusayan, AZ to Tuba City to Ganado to Window Rock in March through October, you will change time zones seven times between Standard Time and DST. (Did I count correctly?) People who have to make that trip will be relieved that everyone is on Standard Time tomorrow.

Changing your clocks: Everything connected to the Internet — mobile phones, etc. — will change automatically at 2:00am Sunday. The rest of the clocks are up to us.

animation from Wikimedia

p.s. I wonder what happens to a cellphone on the trip from Tusayan to Window Rock during DST.

Emerging From The Deep

Climate Change, Water and Shore, Weather & Sky
Youghiogheny River dam with lake at normal level (photo from 1993 via Wikimedia Commons)

1 November 2024

In 1944 the US Army Corp of Engineers completed a flood control dam across the Youghiogheny River that created a lake into Maryland. The project included a new bridge for US Route 40 because the Great Crossings Bridge at Somerfield would be submerged and so would the town’s low lying streets and buildings.

map of Youghiogheny River Lake and Recreational Area from USACE via Wikimedia

Normally the lake is full and beautiful. You would never know there was a bridge underneath it.

Beautiful Youghiogheny River Lake (photo from recreation.gov)

But this year a drought in the Youghiogheny watershed has lowered the lake so far that you can walk out on the old Great Crossings Bridge.

video embedded from CBS Pittsburgh on YouTube

This Google Map shows both bridges.

embedded Google Map showing submerged Great Crossings Bridge north of US Route 40

Pittsburgh is not in severe drought so it’s hard to understand how this lake could drop unless you know where the river comes from. The Youghiogheny is a north-flowing river with headwaters in the mountains of West Virginia and Maryland. Notice that the rest of the Monongahela river basin starts in West Virginia as well.

Monongahela River Basin, Youghiogheny highlighted (map from Wikimedia Commons)

The headwaters of both the Youghiogheny and Monongahela have been in drought since early July. At this point the drought is Extreme to Exceptional in western Maryland and West Virginia.

Northeastern US Drought Map, 29 Oct 2024 (map from US Drought Monitor at UNL)

Water levels have dropped in both rivers but the Monongahela cannot afford to get too low because it carries a lot of barge and boat traffic.

Barge moving downstream on the Monongahela River at Duck Hollow, 18 Sep 2023 (photo by John English)

However, there is water upstream to feed the Monongahela. Releases from Youghiogheny River Lake have, in part, kept the Mon navigable.

And so the old bridge emerges from the deep.

p.s. This isn’t the first time the old bridge has been exposed.