Category Archives: Deer

Popping Seeds!

Deer, Plants & Fungi
Yellow jewelweed flower and seed pod (photo from Wikimedia)

26 August 2026

It’s seed-popping time in Schenley Park. On Friday my friend Andrea and I found a large stand of yellow jewelweed (Impatiens pallida) along the Upper Trail with seed pods in pop-ready condition.

The outer skin of ripe, swollen seed pods is spring loaded so that a mere touch is enough to make the casings curl and fling the seeds.

One of my favorite activities is to gently touch a seed pod from below, testing to see how light a touch will pop the seeds into my cupped hand. I try this experiment on just a few seed pods and leave the rest for Nature or for my own a later visit.

Popped! Yellow jewelweed seeds and opened seed pods, Schenley Park, 21 August 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Last Friday’s pops were extra special because deer had eradicated this activity from Schenley Park for 10 years. Since 2016 the deer population had been so high that they ate all the easy-to-reach jewelweed.

Yellow jewelweed eaten by deer, Schenley Park, 20 July 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)

By 2024 there were no more stands of jewelweed near the trails and the few plants I could find were in impossible-to-reach locations. This lone flower was protected by thorny wineberry stems in August 2023.

Yellow jewelweed protected by wineberry thorns, Schenley Park, 18 August 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Thanks to the City of Pittsburgh’s Deer Management Program, which began in Schenley Park in fall 2024, the number of deer in Schenley has fallen enough this year that jewelweed is once again abundant along the trails.

This is visual evidence that hunting pressure makes a difference but it doesn’t mean the city deer population is low. Far from it! Enough deer have left Schenley in the run-up to hunting season that jewelweed can grow in August. However more deer are in adjacent neighborhoods (City Deer at the Highrise). Fortunately the Deer Management Program adjusts the plan every year based on deer statistics.

Meanwhile the jewelweed thrives. I think I’ll go pop some seeds.

Seen This Week: Sun Pillar and Oh, Deer

Deer, Plants & Fungi, Weather & Sky
“Welcome August” sunrise, 1 August 2026, 6:06am (photo by Kate St. John)

1 August 2026

There was a spectacular sunrise this morning to usher in the month of August. As quickly as it built to fiery red with a sun pillar, it was gone.

On Thursday 30 July, Charity Kheshgi and I went birding at Frick Park where our most impressive sighting was not a bird. In the area south of the large deer exclosure on Clayton Hill we saw a 10-point buck browsing with a 4-point comrade. Both were still in velvet and were exhibiting the behavior I’ve often noticed in August in the City Parks. The deer kept their distance but were curious and generally unafraid of us. Their placid behavior changes in September for the rut — at which point stay away.

We only had our cellphones and wanted to take pictures but we kept our distance, too. Hence the photo quality.

10-point buck, Frick Park, 30 July 2026 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

A slideshow of my photos.

We also saw this beautiful flower, nodding onion (Allium cernuum), in the meadow near the Environmental Education Center. It thrives in the presence of so many deer because deer won’t eat it.

Nodding onion, Frick, 30 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Seen This Week Before The Smoke

Deer, Plants & Fungi, Weather & Sky
Asiatic dayflower, Schenley Park, 11 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

18 July 2026

Before the smoke came to town I went on a long walk in Schenley Park and around the neighborhood this week. The captions tell the stories.

  • Flowers and a cooperative young rabbit in Schenley Park on 11 July.
  • Smoke-free sunrise on 12 July.
  • A lovely tiny weed in the cobblestone cracks + a deer eating her way through a front yard on Bayard Street, 13 July.
  • A dinosaur statue being repainted, photographed in media res on 2 July and complete on 14 July. (I prefer the 2 July version.)
Bindweed with insects, Schenley Park, 11 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Young rabbit, Schenley Park, 11 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Sunrise before the smoke, 12 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Tiny pretty weed in the cracks, Japanese mazus, 13 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Doe browsing on Bayard Street, 13 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Doe browsing on Bayard Street, 13 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Seen This Week: Flowers in Fog, and More Deer

Deer, Plants & Fungi, Travel
Perennial sow thistle in fog, Albion Falls, Hamilton, Ontario, 5 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

11 July 2026

Last weekend in Hamilton, Ontario we wanted to see Albion Falls cascade over the Niagara Escarpment but it was foggy.

Albion Falls in fog, Hamilton, Ontario, 5 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

However at ground level there were beautiful water droplets on all the plants. Many of them “weeds” but all looked gorgeous. Top to bottom:

  • Perennial sow thistle
  • White sweet clover
  • Common salsify
  • Gray dogwood berry stems shrouded in cobwebs
  • Tartarian honeysuckle berries
White sweet clover in fog, Albion Falls, Hamilton, Ontario, 5 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Common salsify in fog, Albion Falls, Hamilton, Ontario, 5 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Gray dogwood, mostly eaten berry bunch shrouded in cobwebs and fog, Albion Falls, Hamilton, Ontario, 5 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Tartarian honeysuckle berries in fog, Albion Falls, Hamilton, Ontario, 5 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Back in Pittsburgh I see deer every day now in my neighborhood. These two are munching a garden on Neville Avenue — a 6-point buck in velvet with a doe. They are a persistent couple.

Muching a garden: 6-point buck in velvet with doe, 10 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

City Fawn Learns From Mom

Deer, Mammals

8 July 2026

Yesterday on Ellsworth Avenue my husband was surprised to see a curious fawn inside the Hunt Mansion fence. The fawn began to approach him. Where was its mother?

Not far away. After a few steps the fawn paused and went to mom nearby. Its mother taught it that humans on the sidewalk are not dangerous, but don’t get too close.

The doe must have indicated she was going outside the fence. “I’m going to eat that hedge. Go to your hiding place while I’m gone.”

The doe crossed the street to the yard with the delicious hedge and the fawn trotted away.

So this doe I saw last week has a fawn.

(photos in the first slideshow are by Richard St. John, both photos in the second slideshow by Kate St. John)

Seen This Week: Deer, Heat and Hamilton

Deer, Plants & Fungi, Travel

5 July 2026

In my neighborhood on 1 July I encountered a deer very close to the sidewalk who didn’t care that I stared at her.

She was eating a large Japanese spindle hedge (Euonymus japonicus)*, a plant that is toxic to humans and pets but not toxic to deer. She must be eating it day after day because the long hedge is damaged and see-through.

Japanese spindle hedge browsed by deer, 1 July 2026 (photo my Kate St. John)

Terribly hot weather. Even the sunset looked hot.

Heatwave sunset, 2 July 2026, 8:41pm (photo by Kate St. John)

So we’re on a mini-vacation in Hamilton, Ontario where it is not as hot. “Why Hamilton?” asked the Canadian immigration officer at the Peace Bridge. Well, we didn’t want to drive all the way to Toronto. Fair enough.

Hamilton (H on the map below) is on the way to Toronto (T) and more than an hour+ from the Peace Bridge in Buffalo (B). As we learned, there is a lot of stop and go traffic on the expressway.

Annotated Great Lakes satellite map from Wikimedia Commons

Hamilton is at the westward tip of Lake Ontario and is bisected by the Niagara Escarpment, a 650-mile cliff that arcs from New York state to Ontario, Michigan and Wisconsin. It is not a fault line but the result of unequal erosion with hard rock on the cliff top and eroding limestone on the cliff face. Both the Genesee River in Rochester, NY and Niagara Falls cascade over the Niagara Escarpment.

Both the lake and the escarpment are visible from our hotel windows.

Lake Ontario seen from Hamilton, Ontario, 4 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
A portion of the Niagara Escarpment as seen from Hamilton, Ontario, 4 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

But not visible today. We were going to see the escarpment but it’s foggy.

Fog in Hamilton, Ontario, northeast wind, 5 July 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

(*) p.s. It’s possible that I’ve misidentified the hedge the deer was eating. Cultivated Euonymus japonicus and E.Fortunei are very similar.

Seen This Week: Beauty, Bugs and Urban Deer

Deer, Insects, Spiders, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park, Spotted Lanternflies
Bumblebee at obedient plant, 23 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

27 June 2026

This week I was in Blair and Allegheny Counties where I found late June flowers, busy insects and urban deer.

Beauty

Obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana), at top, attracts many pollinators. It’s called obedient plant because if you move an individual flower to the side it stays in place.

Enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea sp.) started blooming at the summer solstice in Schenley Park.

Enchanter’s nightshade, Schenley, 26 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

American germander (Teucrium canadense) is blooming at the Herrs Island back channel.

American germander, near Herr’s Island, 24 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

On 21 June we had a beautiful morning birding the Lower Trail at Mt. Etna Station in Blair County. Before the day heated up, mist rose from the damp wooden railing on the pedestrian bridge over Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River.

Mist rises from a damp railing on the Lower Trail at Mt. Etna, 21 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Bugs

Also on the Lower Trail a bug floated down from the trees. We caught and examined it, only to find it was the exoskeleton of a mayfly.

Mayfly exoskeleton, Lower Trail in Blair County, 20 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

On that same day back in Pittsburgh John English saw his first spotted lanternfly. 3rd instar.

Spotted lanternfly, Homestead, 20 June 2026 (photo by John English)

In 24 June I visited the Herrs Island back channel where I reliably find spotted lanternflies in the summer. There weren’t many but at least one was already in the final instar … the red one.

Two instars of spotted lanternfly, Herrs Island back channel, 24 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Spotted lanternfly 3rd instar, Herrs Island back channel, 24 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)
Spotted lanternfly 4th instar, Herrs Island back channel, 24 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

The 4th instar will transform into a winged adult. This is only a matter of days away …

Spotted lanternfly stages, from nymph to adult (image from Wikimedia Commons)
Urban Deer

The deer in my urban neighborhood don’t care about people and cars. On 20 June my husband photographed a limping doe.

Limping deer in Shadyside, 19 June 2026 (photo by Richard St. John)
Limping deer in Shadyside, 19 June 2026 (photo by Richard St. John)

And on 24 June my neighbor pointed out a doe and buck resting behind the retaining wall at Neville House. The buck is well hidden from my location. You can see the doe’s resting legs, her body and the back of her head.

Doe and buck sleeping behind the wall at Neville House, 24 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Click here to see them wider photo for context.

Seen This Week: Flowers, Leaves & Urban Wildlife

Deer, Phenology, Plants & Fungi

18 April 2026

Seen this week. All photos are my own.

Lilacs blooming in the city, 14 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Urban Wildlife: Here’s what I saw, literally outside my window, in 10 minutes on Thursday 16 April.

That dot on Central Catholic High School’s cross is a red-tailed hawk. A pair is nesting within sight of the cross … but where?

Red-tailed hawk on Central Catholic cross, 16 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Three deer crossed the street outside my window and grazed next to the sidewalk as cars drove by. When people approached on the sidewalk and started taking pictures and video, the deer walked away.

Three deer browsing on Ascension Church lawn, 16 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

How urban is their habitat? Very urban.

Where the deer were browsing on Ascension Church lawn, 16 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Seen This Week: Crows, Deer and a Hole in the Road

Crows & Ravens, Deer, Musings & News, Schenley Park
Crows staging near Frick Fine Arts, 9 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

13 December 2025, Pittsburgh, PA

Crows: On Tuesday evening I counted more than 4,000 crows in the first 15 minutes of staging at Frick Fine Arts at University of Pittsburgh. Thousands more showed up after that but they were too hard to count because they kept swirling. See photos and videos in Wednesday’s article: So Many Crows!

Deer: Yesterday in Schenley Park I saw a herd of seven deer on a wooded hillside near the Westinghouse memorial, a mix of bucks and does. The bucks had already shed their antlers, however their interactions attracted my attention. Two or three deer frequently snorted and chased the others. I could tell that one chaser’s head used to have antlers. Apparently his hormones were waning but he was still feisty.

This photo from February 2014 will have to substitute for what I saw. Yesterday’s herd was too quick and camouflaged to photograph with my cellphone.

Deer in Schenley Park in winter, 22 Feb 2014 (photo by Kate St. John)

Hole in the Road: Workmen arrived yesterday to fix a water main break near where I live. The small hole on the right is the sinkhole. The enormous hole on the left is what they’re digging to hook up the source. The jackhammer is digging the slab the guys are standing on inorder to join the two holes. Scary thing: The surface concrete is about a foot thick but beneath it is nothing but air for more than 6 feet! Apparently the intersection is a “bridge” over … what?

Hole in the road at N. Craig and Bayard, 12 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Under the thick street-level concrete … Nothing! at N. Craig and Bayard, 12 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

We’re Wearing Winter Coats

Deer, Phenology, Songbirds
White-tailed deer in its winter coat (photo by Carolyn Lehrke via Flickr Creative Commons license)

20 November 2025

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.

— Maryland Dept of Natural Resources White-tailed Deer Facts

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.

House sparrow in January (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

To stay warm in really cold weather birds fluff out their down to hold warm air near their skin. They look fat but it’s all air.

Female and male cardinal in winter (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

We on the other hand look puffy, feel awkward, and are weighed down by our extra clothing.

Winter hikers in Virginia State Parks (photo by VA State Parks via Flickr Creative Commons License)

Maybe it’s easier to be a bird.