Now that it’s cold we’re all wearing winter coats.
We humans make decisions every day about what layers to put on, but birds and animals changed into their winter coats a couple of months ago.
White-tailed deer have two different coats of hair during the year. The gray winter coat is comprised of longer guard hairs and a soft wooly underfur that provide insulation from the cold. This thicker winter coat is shed prior to the hot summer months. The shorter summer coat is reddish-brown and lacks the thick insulating underfur. The summer coat hairs are short and wiry.
Non-migratory birds molt into fresh new feathers with added insulation in late summer. House sparrows (Passer domesticus) increase their plumage weight by 70% between August and September. Their typical summer plumage weight is 0.9 grams, winter weight is 1.5 grams, but they won’t look heavier until it’s really cold.
Speaking of darting into traffic, as I did yesterday regarding squirrels, November and December are the peak months in Pennsylvania for deer-vehicle collisions. Deer are in the rut (breeding) and not paying attention to anything except the opposite sex. In addition they prefer to move at dawn and dusk, and that’s when we’re driving because sunset is so early (5:04pm today).
The Post-Gazette pointed out on 9 November:
Pennsylvania, consistently among the worst for collisions between wildlife and vehicles, has seen crashes due to deer rising over the past five years, with 6,426 such collisions in 2024, per data from PennDOT.
And, beware, this week could add mightily to 2025’s tally.
“The peak of the rut in Pennsylvania is between the 12th and the 18th of November. It’s the worst time to be driving,” said Don Wagner, the deer unit manager at Penn State University in State College.
Almost the whole group (5 out of 6) at the Schenley outing, 26 Oct 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
27 October 2025
Yesterday morning six of us came out to look for birds at the Bartlett end of Schenley Park. I had high hopes for sparrows but we only saw song sparrows. It was cold and the birds did not become active until the day warmed up at 10:15am. By then we were done.
At first we stayed in the sunlit warmer areas, then walked the interior up the Falloon Trail and walked to Circuit Drive on the golf course. That’s where things got interesting.
We saw an 8-point buck in a tiny woodlot sandwiched between the road and the now-closed hole near the maintenance garage. He posed nicely for several of us and leapt away while Roger Day snapped this action shot. This buck was the second 8-point I’ve seen in four days; their antlers were different.
8-point buck leaps out of the tiny woodlot at Schenley golf course, 26 Oct 2025 (photo by Roger Day)
Further down the road I found stark evidence of deer damage in the park. These northern white-cedars (Thuja occidentalis) would normally have branches and greenery all the way to the ground (click here to see what I mean) but cedars are a favorite food of white-tailed deer who eat them up as far as they can reach.
Deer damage to northern white-cedar at the golf course, Schenley, 26 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Best Birds were two immature Cooper’s hawks (Astur cooperii) flying together and calling. Shortly thereafter we briefly saw an adult Coopers hawk hunting in the same area. Perhaps the youngsters were whining for food. No wonder the birds were hiding!
Dead deer in Schenley Park, road kill in Nov 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
22 October 2025
This week I learned of another side effect of this summer’s drought. Deer in southeastern Ohio and western West Virginia are dying of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD). It has also been reported in western Pennsylvania. I learned about EHD in The Guardian.
When landowner and hunter James Barkhurst went scouting his property about a month ago to assess the local deer population ahead of the fall hunting season, he was left in shock.
“I’ve seen about 14 dead in less than a mile stretch. There’s a lot of does, big bucks and even fawns. You smell the dead everywhere,” he says.
The longtime deer hunter owns several hundred acres and runs a small Airbnb business in Athens County, Ohio. This time of year, hunters from North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere usually descend on his accommodation and property to hunt. This year, with so many dead deer in the area, his business has been almost wiped out.
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is more prevalent during a drought because the tiny biting midges that carry it are concentrated at the watering holes and so are white-tailed deer. The disease kills rapidly. As soon as an infected deer shows symptoms it dies within 3 days, usually seeking water before it dies. Fortunately EHD cannot infect humans and deer cannot infect each other. Also fortunately, the midge dies at the first hard freeze. (Hooray for winter!)
Longspur Tracking used a drone in Wood County, WV to find dead deer and tally them. Their 25-minute video shows each deer found. I have started the YouTube embed at 22 minutes into the full video so you can see their last find and their conclusions. “This is what we’ve been talking about. The smell of death everywhere we go.”
This week I learned from a bow hunter that the few deer I see resting in Schenley Park are too young to hunt. Restrictions on antler size and “plumage” (coat indications) prohibit taking the ones I’ve seen. Apparently these individuals somehow know they are safe.
After four weeks of browsing neighborhood yards the pickings must be slim over in Shadyside. On Saturday 11 October a doe visited the Oakland highrise district to browse on the landscaping, slideshow above.
7 deer in a yard on Ellsworth Ave, 20 Sept 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
24 September 2025
From April through August the City of Pittsburgh’s overabundant deer population is generally unafraid of the humans they encounter in parks and greenways. In Schenley Park in August this buck in velvet merely looked at me as I stood close enough to take a cellphone photo.
Buck in velvet in Schenley Park, 13 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
This month he’s not visible at all.
In late September and early October, as deer hormones ramp up for the rut (mating season), does and fawns initially remain in matriarchal groups but they are on the move, crossing streets and spreading into neighborhoods. The males travel alone, searching for does in estrus. [See City Deer in the Rut for more information.]
The Cathedral of Learning seems isolated to us, surrounded as it is by wide streets and a big lawn but deer are not daunted by these barriers. They cross Fifth Avenue to browse on bushes and flowers, leaving evidence of their nocturnal visit in piles of scat (seen on 9 Sept).
Deer Were Here. On the lawn next to the Cathedral of Learning, 9 September 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
This group of seven crossed a lot of roads to end up in a yard on Ellsworth Avenue.
7 deer in a yard on Ellsworth Ave, 20 Sept 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Their switch from parks to neighborhoods exposes them to the dangers of cars and dogs while it takes them out of the city parks hunting zones. The City of Pittsburgh Deer Management Program, which began with archery hunts in Frick and Riverview in 2023-2024, expanded last year to Schenley, Highland, Riverview, and Emerald View, and expanded again this year to include Hays Woods (yay!), McKinley Park, Hazelwood Greenway, Southside Park and Seldom Seen Greenway.
Archers for the 2025-2026 season have already been selected and assigned their zones within the parks. Archery began Saturday, September 20, 2025.
Ironweed at Frick Park, 14 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
16 August 2025
There were so many things to see this week that it was hard to choose my favorites.
Tall ironweed, above, was halfway gone to seed at Frick Park but was gorgeous despite the spent flowers.
Two rare-to-Pittsburgh bird species showed up at the mouth of Flaugherty Run. I stopped by to see the sanderling (Calidris alba) on Sunday but missed 15 avocets (Recurvirostra americana) on Tuesday because I did not go see them immediately. Avocets in Pittsburgh are a One Day Wonder; they never stay more than a few hours.
Sanderling at Flaugherty Run along the Ohio River, 10 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
At Schenley Park on Wednesday I encountered six deer: one buck, 3 does and 2 “teenage” fawns. One of the does was closely associated with the buck and stayed with him when he crossed the valley. Here they are eating.
Buck at Schenley Park, 13 Aug 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Doe at Schenley Park paired with the buck, 13 Aug 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
On Thursday at Frick Park the field of wild senna was humming with at least 100 bumblebees. It was awesome to see so many in one place. (I counted!)
Three bumblebees on wild senna, Frick Park, 14 Aug 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Venus and Jupiter spent the week in conjunction and trading places. The process began with Venus on the right, then Jupiter ultimately moved above her as seen in this day-by-day slideshow.
Jupiter, Venus, 10 Aug 2025
Jupiter, Venus, 11 Aug 2025
Jupiter, Venus, 12 Aug 2025
Jupiter, Venus, 13 Aug 2025
Jupiter, Venus, 14 Aug 2025
Jupiter, Venus, 15 Aug 2025
It’s unusual to have clear skies night after night in Pittsburgh but we’re in an almost-drought so we have no clouds and no rain — except for a thunderstorm on Wednesday. Despite that precipitation, dry conditions continue in the city.
Drooping poison ivy in our abnormally dry weather, Schenley Park, 13 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
The U.S. Drought Monitor now acknowledges we are Abnormally Dry as of 12 August.
Insect(s) ate holes in this morning glory, Hays Woods, 31 July 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
2 August 2025
This week every flower had a bug on it. Even when I didn’t see insects I heard the drone of cicadas and found evidence of bugs munching on plants and flowers.
The symmetrical holes on the morning glory, above, probably indicate that a bug ate it at night when the petals were closed.
Butterflies were everywhere on Thursday along the trail of black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta) at Hays Woods, but they were difficult to photograph with a cellphone. I spent a lot of time trying to get a good photo of this silver-spotted skipper.
Silver spotted skipper on black-eyed susan, Hays Woods, 31 July 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
… and even longer trying for this butterfly who would not show to good advantage. Jeff Cieslak suggests it’s a hackberry emperor. You can see the “bug” looking at me.
Butterfly on black-eyed susan (Which one?) Hays Woods, 31 July 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
A true bug — a leaf-footed bug — rested on my window for several hours on 28 July.
Leaf-footed bug outside my window, 28 July 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Deer and Deer Damage in Schenley Park:
Alas there are still too many deer in Schenley Park for they’ve browsed these yews down to woody stems outside Phipps Conservatory.
Deer damage on yews, Schenley Park, 1 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Inside the park they’ve eaten all their favorite native plants and are now trying “novel” foods. It took them years to discover that the young shoots of Japanese knotweed are acceptable forage.
Deer damage on Japanese knotweed(!), Schenley Park, 1 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
As expected, Schenley’s deer have come out of hiding this month as they wait for the rut to begin. In this photo I’ve circled four does resting in dappled shade along the Upper Trail.
One fawn in dappled shade along Schenley’s Upper Trail, 1 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Nearby a single fawn rested alone. Can you see the fawn near the center of the photo?
One fawn in dappled shade along Schenley’s Upper Trail, 1 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Doe in Schenley Park, 4 July 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
7 July 2025
Lest you think you don’t have to worry about ticks in the City of Pittsburgh, consider this:
On a walk in Schenley Park last week I saw two does and a fawn along the Upper Trail. The doe pictured above looked healthy but the other one, further away, had very red ears. Why? Through binoculars I saw that the insides of her ears were lined with hundreds of red-colored engorged ticks! There were ticks on the backs of her ears, on her face and on her neck as well. It was the worst tick infestation I’d ever seen. Ick!
Red-colored ticks? Red is the color of blood. It’s likely they were engorged blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis), the ones that carry debilitating Lyme disease.
The infested doe is not spreading Lyme disease to ticks because deer are never infected by it. However she is spreading ticks — hundreds of potentially infected ticks — throughout Schenley Park. They will drop off in a new place when they’ve had their fill.
This spring and summer the Allegheny County Health Department is conducting black-legged tick sweeps in the City parks and so far they’re finding quite a lot of them.
At Pennsylvania’s Tick Research Lab — which is based at East Stroudsburg University with study locations all over the state — experts say they are tracking significantly more ticks this spring.
The Tick Lab recorded roughly two and a half times more ticks this May compared to the same time last year.
Spray Your Clothes to repel ticks (photo by Kate St. John)
In my experience wearing long pants, long sleeves, and socks sprayed with Permethrin is far safer from ticks than if you use insect repellent on your skin.
Did you know that oaks grow their roots first before they sprout any greenery? This timelapse from Boxlapse shows that it took 60 days of root growth, a full two months, before the acorn sprouted on top.
Watch an oak tree grow from acorn to sapling in 196 days = 6.5 months.
Video Description: Some acorns might require cold stratification before they will sprout. The main stem got stuck that’s why it sprouted two new ones instead. And it got a bit stressed by the move from the water to the pot, but it started slowly recovering after a while.
If this acorn had sprouted outdoors it would probably take longer to develop since the water supply, temperature and light levels would vary.
If it had sprouted in the wild in a Pittsburgh park, it would never become a tree because …
This is the biggest threat to oak sapling success in Pittsburgh city parks.
Deer in Frick Park, 17 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Oak seedlings and saplings are a favorite food of white-tailed deer, especially in winter.
In the presence of too many deer, oak saplings are browsed immediately but their root systems are robust so they sprout again and are eaten again, and on and on. The saplings become like bonsai and never grow up. Like this ash sapling in Schenley Park.
A sign of too many deer: Deer-damaged ash sapling, Schenley Park, Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
The only way to give oaks a chance is to grow them in tree tubes.
