More than 20 people turned out this morning for the Duck Hollow and Lower Frick Park outing.

We were hoping to see the northern shovelers, green-winged teal, and pied-billed grebe reported on the Monongahela River yesterday, but all of them had departed overnight.  Best ducks were two very distant hooded mergansers.  The red-winged blackbirds, northern cardinals and local red-tailed hawks put on a show.

As we started up the Lower Nine Mile Run Trail we heard that someone saw a peregrine on the Homestead Grays Bridge.  Is it there?  Could more than 20 people quickly run downhill and under the trestle to see it before it left?  The report was confusing/conflicting so we didn't go.  Later I saw Michele Kienholz's photo of the peregrine. Erf!  Wish we'd seen it.

Best bird was a sharp-shinned hawk.  Best bug was a mourning cloak butterfly that flew by and best flower -- the ONLY flower -- was this single coltsfoot still with frost on its edges.

The complete eBird checklist is here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43755756

(photos by Kate St. John)

Spring is coming so let's get outdoors!

Join me on my first bird and nature outing of the year at  Duck Hollow and Lower Frick Park on Sunday, March 18, 2018 -- 8:30am to 10:00am.

Meet at Duck Hollow parking lot at the end of Old Browns Hill Road.

We hope to see migrating ducks on the river and and songbirds along lower Nine Mile Run Trail in south Frick Park.  We will certainly see traces of the big flood of February 17.

Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars, field guides and a scope for river watching if you have them.

Hope to see you there!

p.s. Lauryn Stalter of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will lead a First Day of Spring walk in Schenley Park on Tuesday March 20, 5:30pm to 6:30p.  For more information and to register for this free outing, click here.

(photo of a female mallard coming in for a landing by Bert De Tilly via Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)

This burrowing owl isn't in a backyard but if you find one next weekend you can count it in the Great Backyard Bird Count.  This global event runs Friday, February 16 through Monday, February 19, 2018.  You can count birds anywhere!

It's easy to participate.  If you're already on eBird, just enter your checklists and the Great Backyard Bird Count will scoop up the data.

If you've never participated (or you haven't done so since 2012) follow the easy steps here: Get Started.

Bonus for photographers: Submit your photos to the GBBC Photo Contest.

Most of us will count backyard birds, especially if the weather is bad.  In Pittsburgh we're sure to see chickadees. Trick question: Are they black-capped or Carolina?
(click the link for the answer)

(photos by Chuck Tague and Marcy Cunkelman)

2017 was a crazy upside down year for birds and nature in the U.S.  including hurricanes, fires, a solar eclipse, climate change and more.  Outside My Window had some crazy moments, too.  Here's the blog year in review.

On 7 November Outside My Window celebrated its 10th anniversary. I've now written more than 3,700 posts and you've commented more than 17,100 times (not including comments on Facebook & Twitter).  And we're using different hardware to read the blog than we did back then. 10 years ago most of us used desktop computers.  Now we use Desk 46%, Mobile 40%, Tablet 14%.

The most popular posts of 2017 were prompted by peregrine and bald eagle drama.  Our tastes are a bit upside down:  Bad news is the most popular.

• 13 February:  The Hays Eagle nest tree went down in a storm
• 17 March: Peregrine Hope shouts at Terzo: Why is She Shouting? And Other News
• 20 April: First peregrine egg hatches at Gulf Tower
• 25 April:  HIGHEST READERSHIP OF THE YEAR:  Hope kills and eats her first chick as it hatches (shown above):  One Killed, One Spared
• 17 May: Peregrine Banding Day at Pitt & Gulf:  One Male, Two Females Banded at Pitt, Three Female Chicks Banded at Gulf Tower
• 30 May:  Peregrine fledgling news:  Why Peregrines Don't Fledge in the Rain and Gulf Tower & Pitt Updates.

Other favorite articles (most Googled) answered the questions: What? How? Why?

• How do I tell the difference between a Falcon or Hawk?  (from 2011)
• How Will Birds React to the Eclipse?  (20 Aug 2017)
• What about Peregrines?  (the entire category)
• What does a Chickadee Nest look like?  (from 2012)
• What's That Sound?  (bug noise, written in 2011)
• What's glowing in the trees?  Glow in the Dark (from 2011)
• What's that barking sound? Mystery Solved, a red fox in my city neighborhood (2009)
• What are those things on my cedar tree? These Are Not Pine Cones (from 2013)

Thank you again, dear readers, for another great year at Outside My Window.

You keep me going every day!

p.s. Don't miss Google's 2017 Year in Review.  Inspiring.

(parrot photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original. Peregrine and hawk photos from National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh, Katie Cunningham, and Kim Steininger)

Inside Phipps Conservatory the holiday display is warm and colorful.

Meanwhile Pittsburgh's weather changed overnight. This morning there's a white Christmas outside my window.

(photos by Kate St. John)