Category Archives: Books & Events

Two Longest Days in a Row

Sunset, July 2019 (photo by John English)

20 June 2025

Today the northern summer solstice will arrive at 10:42pm EDT providing Pittsburgh with its longest day and shortest night of the year.

But this year we will have two longest days in a row, probably because the solstice is so late in the day.

The timeanddate.com website shows that for Pittsburgh today and tomorrow both will have 15 hours 3 minutes and 50 seconds of daylight.

screenshot of ‘Sun in Pittsburgh’ for mid June 2025 from timeanddate.com

We’ll also have two shortest nights, 8 hours 57 minutes and 10 seconds long.

Look up sunrise and day length for your hometown here –> https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/

And try to get some sleep on these short and soon-to-be-hot.

Schenley Park Outing: June 22, 8:30am

Yarrow with insect, Schenley Park, 15 June 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

17 June 2025

Summer flowers are blooming, bugs are buzzing, and nesting is at its peak with early birds fledging and second broods on the way.

Join me for a bird and nature walk in Schenley Park next Sunday, June 22, 8:30am to 10:30am. Meet at the Schenley Park Cafe and Visitor Center where Panther Hollow Road joins Schenley Drive.

In addition to birds and flowers, this walk it will introduce a new way of looking at the mix of species found in the park, especially at Schenley’s Panther Hollow Lake. The insights come from a new-to-me field guide: Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast, by Peter Del Tredici, second edition and include the radical idea that the plants we see in the urban landscape are a new and beneficial ecosystem. For example, they are performing an immense amount of “free work” including converting CO2 to oxygen, creating topsoil, holding topsoil against flooding and providing food for insects, birds and animals.

Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. It will be HOT so don’t forget a sun hat + water. Bring binoculars and field guides if you have them.

Before you come, visit the Events page in case of changes or cancellations.

Hope to see you there!

Fledge Watch News and Now an Empty Nest

Carla on the roof, preening, while a juvie stretches her leg, 2 June 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

3 June 2025

Yesterday at Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch the weather was beautiful and so were the peregrines.

Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch, 2 June 2025 (photo by John English)

When we arrived at 4:30pm two juveniles were on the nestrail: the male (Green Boy) and one female (Yellow Girl). Notice their size difference!

Two juvies on the nestrail, 2 June 2025 (photo by John English)

We figured out which female was topside by noting Blue tape on the bird in the nestbox. She exercised her wings a lot.

Blue exercises her wings at the green perch, 2 June 2025 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Meanwhile on the nestrail, one of the juvies walked all the way to the right to perch above the nestbox.

Juvenile perched above the nestbox, 2 June 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

The second juvie flapped and ran to the righthand side — using the nestrail like a runway — and was on hand for Ecco’s food delivery. (Notice the excited wings-open on that juvie!)

Two juvies plus Ecco on the nestrail, 2 June 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

Down in the nestbox Blue Girl missed out. Her parents were delivering food to the nestrail, not to the nest, so she would come topside.

Blue was still down there when Green Boy came for a visit at 7:25pm and discovered the fun of climbing the snapcam wall.

Green Boy stops by for a visit, 2 June, 7:25pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

You’d think he was posing, but no. He’s looking over the nestrail.

Green Boy looks over the nestrail while Blue stands below, 2 June 2025, 7:36pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

This morning Blue was done with feeling left out. At 6:38am she climbed up to the nestrail …

Blue ledge-walks out of the nest, 3 June 2025 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

… and now the nest is empty.

Empty nest, 3 June 2025, 7:22am (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Join me at Schenley Plaza today at 11:30am – 12:30am for Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch. Bring binoculars if you have them. I’ll bring my scope.

Will one of the juvies fly today?

p.s. At 8:10am Ecco came to the nestbox for a respite from the “kids.”

Ecco is at the nestbox, 3 June 2025, 8:23am (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch: Meet Me at the Tent Next Week

Schenley Plaza tent (photo by Kate St. John)
Schenley Plaza tent (photo by Kate St. John)

28 May 2025

Just one week after Banding Day the Pitt peregrine chicks are becoming fully feathered and turning brown.

Carla and three chicks, 27 May 2025 (photo from the National Aviary streaming camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Next week they’ll be ready to fly. We’ll know this because step-by-step they will:

  • Pull the white fluff off their feathers and become dark brown.
  • Spend a lot of time flapping and exercising their wings.
  • Make running almost airborne leaps across the gravel … and then …
  • Walk up the bulwark and out of camera view to stand on the nestrail.

… at which point the best place to see them is from Schenley Plaza.

This photo from June 2021 was taken at the plaza. Come on down to Fledge Watch for views like this.

Ecco greets two chicks on nest rail, 2 June 2021

Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch, Schenley Plaza, June 1-5, 2025

Pitt Peregrine Fledge Watch is a drop-in event to see the peregrine family and watch the youngsters learn to fly. I’ll be there with my scope on hand for a closer view of their activity.

Meet me at the tent at the dates and times below, weather permitting.

Where: Schenley Plaza near the tent, pictured above.
When: Fledge Watch is weather dependent and will be canceled for rain or thunder. Check the Events page before you come in case of weather cancellation.

  • 1 June, 4:30pm to 5:30pm (Sunday) — after the Neighborhood Flea Market ends at 3:30pm
  • 2 June, 4:30pm to 5:30pm (Monday)
  • 3 June, 11:30am to 12:30pm (Tuesday)
  • 4 June, 11:30am to 12:30pm (Wednesday)
  • 5 June, 11:30am to 12:30pm (Thursday)
  • 6 June (Friday) — to be determined, depending on whether they’ve all flown.

See you at the tent next week.

p.s. If no one shows up I might stay only 30 minutes, so come at the beginning if you can.

Yesterday in Schenley Park: Three Ways to Look at Birds

Female pileated woodpecker examines an old telephone pole, Schenley Park, 25 May 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

26 May 2025

Yesterday morning was sunny and surprisingly warm when eight of us went birding in Schenley Park. We had at least three reasons to look for birds.

Our Best Bird was a very cooperative pileated woodpecker who happened to be female. We were amazed that she probed an old telephone pole.

Female pileated woodpecker uses her tongue to pull insects from a crack, Schenley Park, 25 May 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

Red-winged blackbirds were busy nesting and socializing in the cattails at Panther Hollow Lake. The females often walked along poking at the water’s edge, then zipped back into the cattails. Food for their young? We couldn’t see the nests but we know they’re in the cattails.

Female red-winged blackbird, Schenley Park, 25 May 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

Eastern phoebes were present and photogenic yesterday. I hoped to find a phoebe nest, but we did not.

Eastern phoebe looks for an insect, Schenley Park, 25 May 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

And, yes, we had fun.

Schenley Park outing, 25 May 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

View our checklist below and here at https://ebird.org/checklist/S242682388

Schenley Park, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, US
May 25, 2025 8:30 AM – 11:00 AM
40 species

Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 9 One bathed in the lake in flight
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) 2
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 2
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 2
Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) 2
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 3
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) 1 Adult perched on nest rail at CL
Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) 3
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) 2
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 5
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 5
Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus) 1 Heard
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 2
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) 6
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) 1 Heard
Northern House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) 3
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 5
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 6
Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus) 1
Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) 2 Heard and seen
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 20
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 5
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 5
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 4
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 3
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) 8
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 10
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 1
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 2
American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) 3
Bay-breasted Warbler (Setophaga castanea) 3
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) 1 Heard
Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) 1
Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens) 1
Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) 1
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 10
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) 3

Three Peregrine Chicks Banded at Pitt Yesterday

Patti Barber hands first female chick to Kate St. John, 21 May 2025 (photo by Kim Getz)

22 May 2025

After yesterday morning’s downpour, three healthy chicks were banded at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest. Two already looked much larger than the third and their weight confirmed it(*). Two females and one male.

Both parents, Carla and Ecco, have experienced Banding Day in prior years so they knew what was coming when they heard us talking indoors. Carla circled ahead of time and watched us through the blinds. Soon the PA Game Commission’s Patti Barber retrieved, banded, and weighed the chicks while Carla and Ecco continued their vigil. The chicks were returned to the nest within half an hour. Here are the highlights:

Normally I take a lot of photos during the event and blog about it on the afternoon of Banding Day but my hands were busy at the banding. Patti asked me to hold the chicks while she banded them, a new experience for me. Photos at top and below.

Kate St. John holds female chick on Banding Day at Cathedral of Learning, 21 May 2025 (photo by Megan Hinds, National Aviary)
Kate St. John holds female chick while Patti Barber prepares bands (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
First female chick maxes out the scale, 21 May 2025 (photo by Mike Faix, National Aviary)

For ease of identification on camera, Patti Barber put colored tape on the chicks’ USFW bands.

  • First female = Yellow
  • Second female = Blue
  • The smallest chick is Male = Green

Watch the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh to see the chicks grow up.

(*) Because male peregrines are one third smaller than females, the sex of peregrine chicks at banding is determined by weight.

Schenley Park Outing, May 25, 8:30a

American robin on nest with young (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

19 May 2025

Join me for a Memorial Day Weekend bird and nature walk on Sunday May 25 at 8:30am in Schenley Park.

Meet at the Schenley Park Visitor Center where Panther Hollow Road meets Schenley Drive for this 8:30am to 10:30am walk. We’ll see flowers, late migrants and nesting birds.

Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars and field guides if you have them. Do you have the Merlin app on your phone that tells you what birds are singing? If not you’ll enjoy using it on this outing. Click here at All About Birds to find out how to get it.

I’ll lead the outing rain or shine, but not in thunderstorms. Check the Events page before you come for more information and in case of cancellation.

p.s. If the birds are exciting there will be an option to walk until 11am.

Ick! It’s Tick Season!

A vial full of newly hatched black-legged ticks! April 2025 (photo by Anita Colyer Graham used by permission)

10 April 2025

We haven’t thought about black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) for months but their life cycle continues and the most dangerous time for Lyme disease is here. It’s time for Spray Your Clothes Day.

The next 6-8 weeks will witness an explosion of ticks on the landscape though they’ll be too tiny to see. Each engorged female that sipped on deer (and our) blood last fall spent the winter in the leaf litter and has or will soon lay an egg mass of 1,500-2,000 eggs. Then she’ll die.

What does it look like when those eggs hatch? They’re in the vial in the top photo, held by Anita Colyer Graham. These larvae are not yet infected with Lyme disease because they haven’t sucked blood yet, but they will if they get out!

Anita describes how they got there.

A couple of months ago, I pulled a huge, engorged tick off LGK [Little Gray Kitty] on our front porch. My husband took the fat tick and stuck it in a plastic vial, put the vial atop a shelf in the bathroom, and forgot about it. Yesterday, while looking for something, he picked the vial up, and he handed it to me. YUCK!

Anita Colyer Graham’s blog, There Must Be Magic: Welcome to Tickville, U.S.A.!!!!

Here’s a closer look through Anita’s magnifying glass. They’re all alive despite the lack of water and the limited oxygen in the vial. Yikes!

Closeup of black-legged tick larvae, April 2025 (photo by Anita Colyer Graham used by permission)
Closeup of black-legged tick larvae, April 2025 (photo by Anita Colyer Graham used by permission)

And here’s their mother — or a mother just like theirs.

Engorged adult female black-legged ticks (photo by Anita Colyer Graham used by permission)

Lyme disease is a debilitating illness that has taken over the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern and Upper Midwest. Since you can only catch it from an infected black-legged tick, the blue color is basically a map of infected ticks. Watch out PA!

Read more about the ticks in the vial and Lyme disease in Anita Colyer Graham‘s article: Welcome to Tickville, U.S.A.!!!!

And don’t forget to Spray Your Clothes! Here’s what to do …

Duck Hollow Outing, 30 March 8:30a

Blue-winged teal, 24 March 2024, Moraine State Park (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

18 March 2024

3/29 at 8pm: I will be at Duck Hollow tomorrow at 8:30am as planned. The predicted rain may hold off for an hour or two. Sometimes more interesting ducks show up when it rains. We’ll see.

It’s time to get outdoors! Join me for 2025’s second Birdblog outing next Sunday.

Sunday 30 March 2025 — 8:30am – 10:30am

Duck Hollow and Lower Frick Park

Meet at Duck Hollow parking lot at the end of Old Browns Hill Road. We’ll check the river for migrating waterfowl and walk the beginning of lower Nine Mile Run Trail watching for birds and many signs of Spring.

Duck Hollow can be excellent or just ho-hum. Yesterday, in addition to the usual suspects, I found one male blue-winged teal (similar to the one pictured above) and eight distant lesser scaup.

Next Sunday I’m counting on the male bufflehead who’s been hanging around for a couple of weeks to still be there in the distance.

Bufflehead in the distance (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars, birding scopes and field guides if you have them.

Hope to see you there!

Next Sunday’s weather looks acceptable so far, but always check the Events Page before you come in case of cancellation.

St. Patrick’s Lucky Shamrock is Harder to Find

Four leaf clover among a patch of Trifolium repens (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

17 March 2025

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

St. Patrick’s and Ireland’s shamrock symbol is a leaf cluster of either lesser clover or white clover. We don’t see much lesser clover (Trifolium dubium) in the U.S. but we used to have lots of white clover. When I was a child our lawns were a mixture of grass and white clover (Trifolium repens).

House sparrow on a lawn of grass and white clover (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

The mixture worked well because clover sets nitrogen in its roots and naturally fertilizes the grass. As kids we used to search for lucky 4-leaf clovers in the yard.

Three 4-leaf clovers (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

But times changed. People didn’t want weeds in the lawn and the easiest way to remove them was to spread weed killer that targeted broadleaf plants. Clover is a broadleaf so it died and fertilizer had to be added to the chemical mix.

These neighboring lawns in New Jersey show both types of lawn treatments. At top is a chemically treated lawn without broadleaf plants. At bottom is an old fashioned grass-and-clover mix. If you can’t see the dividing line, click on the photo to see the divide.

Neighboring lawns in New Jersey: herbicide vs clover (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Chances are you’ll have to search for lucky 4-leaf clovers in a photo instead of on the lawn. How many are in this photo? (Click on it to see a larger version.)

How many 4-leaf clovers in this patch? (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

p.s. False Shamrock: The “shamrock” plant often sold around St. Patrick’s Day is not related to clover. “False shamrock” or “purple shamrock” (Oxalis triangularis) is native to Brazil.

False or purple shamrock, Oxalis triangularis (photo from Wikimedia Commons)