Nine years ago two studies of rock pigeon (Columba livia) brain power discovered that pigeons can tell the difference between a real 4-letter English word and a nonsense collection of four letters.
In the experiment, pigeons were trained to peck four-letter English words as they came up on a screen, or to instead peck a symbol when a four-letter non-word was displayed.…
Eventually the four birds in the experiment recognized 26 to 58 real words and correctly labelled over 8,000 as non-words.
Though they know a real 4-letter word when they see one, they don’t know what it means, so they can’t tell the difference between a good 4-letter word and a bad one.
And so it comes as no surprise that the #1 location for snow goose migration in Pennsylvania — Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area near Kleinfeltersville — has been closed for the spring migration season.
HARRISBURG — Due to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that is currently affecting many parts of the state, the Pennsylvania Game Commission is restricting public access at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, effective Tuesday.
With the continued warming trends and the anticipated arrival of snow geese to Middle Creek, this decision was made out of an abundance of caution for human and domestic animal health.
Beginning Tuesday 4 February 2025, the following areas will be CLOSED to all public access:
Willow Point Parking Lot and Trail
Archery Range
Boat Launch
White Oak Picnic Area
All shoreline access of the lake, INCLUDING fishing
The Wildlife Drive remains seasonally closed, and an extended closure is possible.
Hiking trails (with the exception of Willow Point Trail and Deer Path Trail) and the Visitor Center will remain open during regular business hours, and all events will take place as scheduled.
All visitors are reminded:
If you have pet birds, backyard domestic poultry, or connections with commercial poultry facilities, you are STRONGLY discouraged to visit during this time to minimize transmission risk.
You are HIGHLY ADVISED to remain in your vehicles while observing wildlife from roadways.
Please remember the public plays a critical role in wildlife health surveillance. Report sick or dead wild birds to the Game Commission by calling 1-833-PGC-WILD (1-833-742-9453).
Flocks at Middle Creek can contain 100,000 snow geese and 10,000 tundra swans at the peak of migration. This is what it looked like 3 years ago in 2022. It’s easy to see how these birds could spread contagious diseases.
While bird flu (HPAI) spreads during spring migration remember to:
Always observe wildlife from a safe distance.
Avoid contacting surfaces that may be contaminated with feces from wild or domestic birds.
Do not handle wildlife unless you are hunting, trapping, or otherwise authorized to do so.
UPDATE, 28 Feb 2025 via Post-Gazette: The snow goose death toll in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania is now at 5,000 –> and these are just the birds that people could see and count.
At the end of every eBird checklist the app asks, “Are you submitting a complete checklist of the birds you were able to identify?”
“YES” means “I wrote down every species.”
It also means that during data analysis researchers can infer that “No other species were present.”
If you don’t include pigeons, house sparrows or starlings but you answer YES you have biased your results.
Observer selection bias occurs when the evidence presented has been pre-filtered by observers. … The data collected is not only filtered by the design of experiment, but also by the necessary precondition that there must be someone doing a study.
Don’t worry that they are non-native. eBird colors the map orange outside their native range. Your checklists update the rock pigeon (Columba livia) map worldwide.
There were over 100 dead and dying snow geese at the limestone quarry in Nazareth PA [Northampton County] this afternoon. We have a possible avian influenza outbreak on our hands. I have contacted the PA Game Commission.
Yesterday the PA Game Commission said there were also dead snow geese at Upper Macungie Township in Lehigh County, both with a “strong suspicion of avian influenza.”
UPDATE as of 8:50 AM 1/2/25: The PA Game Commission has had specialists in the quarry at Nazareth to collect the dead snow geese. There are reportedly hundreds now. There are too many to even try to collect them all. The birds are reportedly on their way to or at the lab for autopsy. In my post last evening, I used the word POSSIBLE … This morning the staffer calling me used the words “strong suspicion of avian influenza.” Tests will confirm or reject that hypothesis.
It is not surprising that bird flu is spreading in the wild from state to state. Birds fly and Prime Hook, Delaware is only 130 miles from Nazareth, PA, well within the snow goose range of up to a thousand miles per day in migration.
Meanwhile, the state of Pennsylvania urges everyone to take these precautions:
Those encountering sick or dead wild birds can report them to the Pennsylvania Game Commission by calling 1-833-PGC-WILD (1-833-742-9453), by emailing pgc-wildlifehealth@pa.gov or by using the online Wildlife Health Survey tool.
Any sick or dead domestic birds should be reported to Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture at 717-772-2852. If you have had contact with sick or dead birds and are not feeling well, contact your primary care physician or the Pennsylvania Department of Health at 877-724-3258.
Always observe wildlife from a safe distance. Avoid contacting surfaces that may be contaminated with feces from wild or domestic birds. Do not handle wildlife unless you are hunting, trapping, or otherwise authorized to do so.
Waterfowl hunters are encouraged to continue participating in the remaining season, but should take precautions while handling and dressing birds. These include wearing nitrile gloves, protective eye wear, and a mask. Following any hunt make a point to practice good hygiene, including washing hands and any clothing used in the process of dressing game that may contain blood or feces. Finally, never handle wildlife that is sick or displaying signs of sickness. Instead, report it to the Game Commission.
At this moment bird flu can only be caught by human contact with infected birds or animals but we should take care not catch it. Why? Because the more people who catch it, the more likely it will mutate within humans to something we can spread directly to each other. When that happens, all bets are off. Read more about bird flu transmission and humans at the BBC.
p.s. This December 2024 map of recent HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) outbreaks in the wild is current to 18 Dec 2024. It is maintained by USDA but does not yet include this week’s news from PA and Delaware which I’ve added in pink. Watch here for a USDA update this month!
Though this willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) thinks he’s hiding his all-white plumage makes him painfully obvious in a snowless landscape.
There are three species of north country ptarmigans (Lagopus) — willow, white-tailed and rock ptarmigans — that change their plumage with the seasons in order to stay camouflaged against the ground. They’re white in winter to match the snow, brown in summer to match vegetation, and mottled as the seasons change. Their molt cycle worked well until climate change made winters shorter.
Fourteen years ago, in 2010, I blogged about the willow ptarmigan’s superior winter camouflage in Where’s Willow? and he was hard to find in the snowy landscape.
But climate change is making winter is shorter. Snow cover does not begin as early as it used to the fall and it melts earlier in the spring. The ptarmigans’ molt cycle is still on the old schedule so he’s no longer camouflaged when the seasons change. You can see this rock ptarmigan easily from far away.
Now that Thanksgiving is over turkeys can own the road again.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a wild turkey cross the road in the City of Pittsburgh. Six years ago they were very common in Pittsburgh’s East End but there are gone now, perhaps because the City’s huge deer population eats all their winter food.
If you want to see a lot of turkeys visit Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs. In February I saw 20 cross the road near North Park.
Fortunately none of them wanted to challenge cars!
You may have noticed that the price of eggs went up … or is going up again. The rise is directly related to dead birds.
It’s been only three years since the highly contagious avian influenza H5N1 arrived in North America on the wings of migratory waterfowl in autumn 2021. Though not dangerous to humans it easily kills poultry and ripples through waterfowl and raptor communities.
Among wild birds, mallards are particularly susceptible and lead the infection rate in many places.
When waterfowl are sick, peregrines die after eating them hence the peregrine photo at top. Avian flu kills so quickly that in some cases peregrines have been found dead on the nest. The peregrine population at both coasts has declined in the past two years as described in Audubon Magazine: Why Are Peregrine Falcon Numbers Falling in the United States Again? … and by the Center for Conservation Biology at William & Mary …
But by far the greatest effect is on domesticated poultry. From 2022 through 20 November 2024, nearly 110 million farm birds have died because H5N1 is so contagious in crowded conditions. Even “cage free” hens are crowded.
In the past six weeks alone, avian flu has hit five large egg farms in Washington, Oregon, California, and Utah. More than 6 million hens have been culled because of exposure to H5N1 and certain death.(*)
Fewer hens means fewer eggs. So the price of eggs goes up.
Producing billions of eggs a year is an inherently messy business. Just 200 or so farmers control almost all of the nearly 300 million egg-laying hens in the United States.
Red oak acorns rained on us at Biddle’s, 4 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
9 November 2024
It’s an abundant year for red oak acorns, also called a “big mast year.” The acorns pictured above rained on us while we sat outdoors at a coffee shop. Their parent tree shades the tables in summer but is not much fun this autumn.
In two days at Schenley Park: Sun through yellow trees on Tuesday. Overcast skies and russet oaks on Wednesday.
Sun through the trees at Schenley Park on Tuesday 5 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Overcast sky, russet oaks and leafless trees at Schenley Park on Wednesday 6 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
I took a picture of a bird! An unusual, piebald pigeon.
Piebald pigeon from the side, 5 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
The pattern extends to the back of its head.
Piebald pigeon from the back, 5 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
In an August article, Grass Carpet in the Woods, I mentioned that “After Japanese stiltgrass goes to seed in early fall it dies and becomes a brown drape over the landscape in winter.” Well, here it is draping part of Frick Park near Wilford’s Pines.
Dead Japanese stiltgrass draping the landscape at Frick Park, 7 Nove 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
The question sounds foolish but … Can pigeons play Wordle?
Seven years ago a pigeon behavioral study found that the birds can recognize 4-letter English words and tell the difference between real words and mere jumbles of letters. This was the first time anyone knew that a non-primate species had this ability.
Their 4-letter prowess is described in the vintage article below. Do you think they can they deal with 5 letters? Can they play Wordle?
Statewide, wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in Pennsylvania declined again last year. Did their status improve in the last 12 months? To answer that question, the PA Game Commission (PGC) is conducting their Annual Pennsylvania Wild Turkey Sighting Survey from July 1 through August 31 and is asking the public to help. Right now this link shows prior results. Click here to enter data after July 1.
In the survey press release PGC reported:
The Statewide reproductive success last summer, which is measured by the number of young turkeys (poults) seen per all hens seen, was 2.9 poults per hen, compared to 3.1 poults per hen in 2022 and 2021.”
Allegheny County’s predominant Wildlife Management Unit, WMU 2B below, had mixed results. Overall, there were fewer turkeys but reproductive success was higher than in 2022. However, our WMU contributed to the downward spiral as we had only 2.24 poults per hen.
