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.
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.
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.
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)
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:
Carla, Downtown Pittsburgh behind her (photo by Mike Faix, National Aviary)
Someone is watching us (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Ecco (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Carla circling and shouting (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Carla (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Carla (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Meanwhile, Patti Barber, PGC, collects the chicks (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera)
Carla at the nest without chicks (National Aviary snapshot camera)
First female chick (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
First female chick (photo by Mike Faix, National Aviary)
The handoff. (photo by Britta Moletz, National Aviary)
Bands on second female chick (photo by Mike Faix, National Aviary)
Patti Barber, PGC, holds male chick (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Patti Barber w/ male chick (photo by Kate St. John)
Delivering chicks back to the nest (photo by Kim Getz)
Releasing chicks at the nest (photo from National Aviary snapcam)
Banding visit is over (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera)
Carla has the last word (photo by Kim Getz)
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.)
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.
