Now that most of the trees are bare(*) we can see nests that were hidden by summer leaves. Among them are those built by hornets, birds, and squirrels.
Papery hornet nests dangle like hanging raindrops or upside-down cones from a sturdy branch.
Squirrel nests — actually called dreys — look like misshapen leaf balls with a few twigs poking out.
A drey is the nest of a tree squirrel, flying squirrel or ringtail possum (in Australia). Dreys are usually built of twigs, dry leaves, and grass, and typically assembled in the forks of a tall tree. They are sometimes referred to as “drey nests” to distinguish them from squirrel “cavity nests” (also termed “dens”).
Squirrels use dreys as nests in spring-summer and shelters in the winter. Before the leaves fall they are busy biting off leafy branches and carrying them up to the winter drey. It takes a lot of effort to keep their shelter warm and waterproof. Brrrr!
In the top photo there are three dreys in three trees and one in the fork of a tree in Schenley Park, below.
Squirrel drey in the crotch of a tree, Schenley, 11 Dec 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
How can we tell whether it’s a squirrel’s drey or a large bird nest?
Large bird nests, such as the crow nest below, are built of sticks. Squirrels use leaves, especially on the outside.
(*) Most of the trees are bare: For many years I’ve kept track of leaf-off in Schenley Park. Sometimes it’s early, sometimes it’s late. This year most of the trees were bare on or before Friday 14 November 2025. Here’s what the park looked like on that date.
Most of the trees are bare, Schenley Park, 14 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Peregrine falcons occur on every continent including Australia and always breed in the spring. In Pittsburgh their time at the nest runs late February to early June. In Australia it runs late August to early November.
You might see them when you watch in the morning in the U.S. when it is night in Australia and the peregrines are roosting. By afternoon the peregrines will be waking up, and since they will fledge soon you might not see them.
At top, an adult perches atop the nestbox, visible on the North Facing Stream on Sunday night 9 November at 10:34pm (6:34am Pittsburgh).
Below, two juvies roost at the runway in sight of the South Facing Stream on Sunday night at 10:50pm.
Veery on migration, early May 2008 (photo by Chuck Tague)
18 August 2025
This news from 2018 is worth repeating.
Back in May 2025 NOAA predicted a strong hurricane season this year so it was a little surprising how quiet the ocean was this summer … until now. Last Friday Tropical Storm Erin was upgraded to a hurricane and quickly grew to Categories 4 and 5. Is this the start of the strong season we expected? Veerys could tell us the answer if we knew this spring’s nesting status and whether they’ve already left on migration.
Veerys (Catharus fuscescens) breed in cool climates in North America and spend the winter in Brazil. Banding and tracking studies found that southbound veerys never travel overland through Mexico. Instead they always cross the Caribbean to get to the Yucatan, Central and South America. Even northwestern breeders begin by traveling east to later fly across the Gulf. (Their path is actually a great circle route.)
I’ve marked up the veery range map to show some of their southbound routes across the Gulf.
Veerys have been studied in Delaware since 1998. In 2017 with decades of data on nesting outcomes and fall departure times, ornithologist Christopher Heckscher discovered an amazing correlation. In bad hurricane years, Delaware’s veerys abbreviate the breeding season and leave in midsummer on migration. This timing happens to get them safely across the Caribbean before the hurricanes hit.
By midsummer 2017, Heckscher knew the veerys had shortened their breeding season so he boldly predicted a bad hurricane season even though meteorologists had already said otherwise. When the season was over it was true. The veerys were right. Heckscher published a paper on this in Scientific Reports in 2018.
Heckscher has a theory on why veeries know this:
Heckscher hypothesizes that, on their wintering grounds, they may notice precipitation patterns linked to the El Niño and La Niña cycles that influence hurricane activity. “Whatever it is, they know by mid-May,” he says, explaining that the average date of all nesting attempts in years with low ACE(*) was after May 23.
(*) ACE is Accumulated Cyclone Energy, a numeric measure of hurricane season intensity. A low number means it will be a low-activity hurricane season; high is bad.
We have little owls in North American but not The Little Owl, Athene noctua, native to parts of Eurasia and North Africa and introduced to Britain and New Zealand.
Watch a little owl hunt for a worm for its chicks in this video by Robert E Fuller. You can tell how small the owl is when it picks up the earthworm in its beak!
Mrs. Mallard leads her ducklings away from the nest, Spring 2025 (photo by Caroline Muller)
30 June 2025
This spring my mother’s next door neighbor discovered a mallard nesting in her front yard under the shrubs that line her home’s foundation. It seemed like an unsafe place but Mrs. Mallard had her reasons.
Two males are interested in Mrs. Mallard
She selected a nest site ...
... under the foundation shrubs
9 eggs
Ducklings on Hatch Day
ducklings
She leads them to water
Bye bye
Nesting mallards must be alert for a wide variety of predators including raptors, snakes, weasels, red foxes and raccoons. You would think they’d also avoid humans but our constant presence keeps many of those predators away. That was the calculation Mrs. Mallard made and she was right.
One day a black rate snake approached the nest but the neighbors went on high alert and saved the day. Caroline, who took these photos, drove away the snake with a technique so successful that the snake never came back.
Black rat snake that wanted to raid the nest — failed (photo by Caroline Muller)
One day after they hatched, Mrs. Mallard led her “kids” down the street to the nearest water. Her protectors wished them all a fond farewell.
Wood-warblers, belonging to the large family Parulidae, are beautiful, dainty birds unique to the Americas. The family has 115 species spread between North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean—56 species can be found in the United States and Canada.
Of those 56 species only two nest in cavities: the prothonotary warbler in eastern North America and Lucy’s warbler in the West.
The prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) is arguably the most gorgeous of all the wood-warblers with a glowing yellow head and chest and gray wings and tail. As a woodland swamp specialist, he prefers to breed where old trees stand in water and woody shrubs overhang it. A great example of his habitat can be found at Conneaut Marsh–McMichael/Brown Hill Rd in Crawford County, PA.
The prothonotary male arrives in the spring ahead of the females and chooses several potential nest sites. He sings from the opening to claim his territory and attract a mate.
p.s. According to Wikipedia, the Francis Beidler Forest in South Carolina has the densest known population of prothonotary warblers and is currently home to more than 2,000 pairs. A good place to look if you’re nearby.
Two of the 5 barred owl fledglings at Frick Park, 11 June 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
12 June 2025
When Charity Kheshgi and I visited Frick Park last weekend to see the barred owl fledglings we thought we saw three youngsters at the same time but we doubted ourselves. Barred owls (Strix varia) usually have only one or two youngsters per year. Yesterday we went back to see them again and saw FIVE youngsters, an unusually high number.
Charity arrived at the Hutchinson entrance ahead of me and saw five fledglings. By the time I arrived one had flown off but at the end of our stay the mother owl came in with prey and all five crowded round for a bite to eat. It was only a chipmunk, not a full meal for a family of five, so as soon as it was gone she left to find more.
Enjoy Charity’s photos and videos of the owl family. Eventually they attracted a crowd of humans.
Barred owl fledlging tries to cast a pellet, 11 June 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
"Who's that?"
Mother owl with 4 fledglings grabbing for prey
5th fledgling is just off camera. All 5 mob their mother!
One of the "kids" is about to grab and go
Five barred owl fledglings at Frick Park + mother, 11 June 2025 (photos by Charity Kheshgi)
Barred owl fledgling, Frick Park, 11 June 2025 (video by Charity Kheshgi)
Two barred owl fledglings look at the paparazzi, Frick Park, 11 June 2025 (video by Charity Kheshgi)
The family is hanging out near the Hutchinson entrance. Your best bet for finding them is to listen for upset songbirds.
Barred owl fledgling “branching” at Frick Park, 7 June 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
10 June 2025
Great horned owls stole the show in Schenley Park from March into April. Now Frick’s own barred owl family has two fledglings branching and flying this month.
UPDATE as of 11 June: There are FIVE fledglings!
Barred owls (Strix varia) have lived in Frick Park for about five years and though they missed nesting last year they have two five fledglings this spring. On 7 June Charity Kheshgi and I met at the Hutchinson entrance to go find them.
The first clue for me were the sounds of upset robins and blue jays which we followed to the general area. Once there Charity and my Merlin app could hear the call of a barred owl juvenile. We waited for it to make a move.
Eventually one, then two, fledglings awkwardly flapped and branched from tree to tree.
Barred owl fledgling, Frick Park, 7 June 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
The youngster with the dark face perched where we could see it between the leaves.
Barred owl fledgling (dark face), Frick Park, 7 June 2025 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)
Charity captured video of the youngster calling. Can you hear it? Because of upper-range hearing loss I cannot hear any of it but I can see the bird open its beak to make the call.
Barred owl calling,7 June 2025 (video by Charity Kheshgi, 7 June 2025)
If you go looking for these owls, listen for upset songbirds to “tell” you where the birds are hanging out. You’ll have a big advantage finding them if you can hear their high-pitched calls!
p.s. On 7 June Charity and I saw three owls at once but the third was very obscured by leaves. We thought it was a 3rd fledgling but was it an adult? A short time later we saw an adult and only two fledglings. Michelle Kienholz has watched this family for months and confirms there are only two youngsters.
Mother peregrine at Tarentum, Saturday 24 May 2025 (digiscoped by Kate St. John)
1 June 2025
Lots of news today at the peak of Peregrine Season in Southwestern Pennsylvania. This report is “double-long.”
Cathedral of Learning, Univ of Pittsburgh
The Pitt peregrine chicks are getting closer to First Flight but yesterday was certainly not the day. As you can see from Saturday’s slideshow and Day In A Minute video below, they felt comfortable flapping on the green perch but none of them took the next step of walking away from the nestbox.
Male peregrine chicks fly at a younger age than females because their lighter weight makes it easier to get airborne. The Cathedral of Learning male is three days younger than his sisters so he will probably be ready for takeoff when they are.
UPDATE! Jeff Cieslak visited Third Avenue on Friday and found four, yes 4, peregrine chicks at the Downtown Pittsburgh nest. This crew looks as close to fledging as the Pitt peregrines. It’s going to be a big week.
Four peregrine chicks at Third Avenue nest, Downtown Pittsburgh, 30 May 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Jeff also saw Terzo watching the sky …
Terzo near the Third Avenue nest, Downtown Pittsburgh, 30 May 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
… and his mate watching the nest from across the street.
Female (mother) peregrine at Third Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh, 30 May 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
I stopped by on Saturday when it was cold and gray and saw only one chick and his mother dozing at the ledge edge.
One chick plus female peregrine at Third Avenue nest, Downtown Pittsburgh, 31 May 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh
In May three chicks were confirmed at the East Liberty Presbyterian steeple. Based on this 23 May photo my guess is that they will fledge around 17-22 June. Exciting days ahead!
Three peregrine chicks at East Liberty Presbyterian Church steeple, 23 May 2025 (photo from Ed Moore)
Adam Knoerzer also reports that the male (father) peregrine is noticeably busier this spring now that he is feeding three chicks instead of the one last year.
Male peregrine flying with prey to East Liberty Presbyterian Church steeple, 26 May 2025 (photo by Adam Knoerzer)
The male takes a break to warm up in the sun.
Male peregrine takes a break in the sun at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, 26 May 2025 (photo by Adam Knoerzer)
Sewickley Bridge, Ohio River
The Ohio River is so high with heavy rain that the Sewickley Bridge nestbox has been hard to observe. Jeff Cieslak found a less than ideal place to stand on 26 May for this glimpse of the three chicks. Lots of rain in West Virginia in the past couple of days means the Ohio River will stay high into this week.
Three chicks in Sewickley Bridge nestbox, 26 May 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)
Tarentum Bridge, Allegheny River
Dave Brooke is keeping tabs on the Tarentum Bridge peregrine family where he notes that the three youngsters fledged on or after 24 May but still hang out at the bridge. They are very photogenic.
Juvenile peregrine flapping atop the nestbox, 31 May 2025 (photo by Dave Brooke)All three juvenile peregrines at Tarentum Bridge, 29 May 2025 (photo by Dave Brooke)
I stopped by on 24 May and was able to digiscope a youngster picking at a bone and his mother perched in the superstructure (at top) — so far the best digiscoped photo I’ve ever taken of a peregrine falcon.
Juvenile peregrine eating at the Tarentum Bridge, 24 May 2025 (digiscoped by Kate St. John)
Westinghouse Bridge, Turtle Creek near Monongahela River
On 24 May Dana Nesiti watched the parents at Westinghouse Bridge call to chick(s) in the scrape. Eventually one chick came to the ledge edge.
One chick appears at the ledge edge, Westinghouse Bridge, 24 May2025 (photo by Dana Nesiti)
SUMMARY FOR SOUTHWEST PA
Southwestern Pennsylvania peregrine sites are listed in the table below. Help fill in the blanks ed below by visiting a site near you. Leave a comment if you find anything!
