Holly is so beautiful that we often use it as landscape plant, but the real purpose behind that beauty is to attract wildlife to eat the berries. Though holly berries are mildly poisonous to humans and dogs, they are readily eaten by deer, squirrels and many birds, especially cedar waxwings and American robins.
Cedar waxwings can strip a holly tree or hedge of all its berries in a matter of minutes. They start at the top and work their way to the bottom, then to fallen fruit on the ground.
Holly leaves are more prickly at the bottom of the tree than at the top. Thorns keep mammals from plundering the low hanging fruit so the birds can get first crack at the berries and spread the seeds far and wide.
Snow on the rose, Pittsburgh, 2 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
6 December 2025
As I mentioned on Thursday, Pittsburgh isn’t usually this cold in early December and certainly not for long. But ever since it snowed Tuesday morning the temperature has not ventured above freezing, though it will finally do so later today.
On Monday it was comfortably above freezing when I saw sun shining through yellow-green willow leaves at the Beaver River in Rochester, PA.
Willow with green and yellow leaves, Rochester, PA, 1 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
On Tuesday all the trees were coated in snow and so was the rose (photo at top). It was hazardous weather for a flower.
Snow covered trees, Cathedral of Learning, overcast sky, Pittsburgh, 2 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Snow-covered tree on Pitt’s campus, 2 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
On Thursday sun lit Flagstaff Hill before the night turned quite cold.
Snow on Flagstaff Hill, Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, 4 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Today and tomorrow the snow will melt but then we’re heading back into a deep freeze Monday night. Terrible weather for a rose.
Do you have cranberry sauce left over today? When I was growing up we had sauce-shaped-like-a-can and it was always leftover. Half the family was polite about eating it on Thanksgiving but would not eat it later.
It doesn’t have to look like a can. This sauce gives a hint of where it came from.
Black tupelo fruits and fall color, Schenley Park, 6 November 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
8 November 2025
Fall color faded quickly after yesterday’s gusty winds blew all the best leaves off the trees. The colors were brilliant in Schenley Park on Thursday 6 November as seen in these photos.
Fall color in Schenley Park, 6 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Fallen sweetgum leaf, Schenley Park, 6 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Fall color in Schenley Park, 6 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
We found yellow black walnut leaves at Moraine State Park on Monday 3 November. The leaves and stems felt soft because they are fuzzy.
Fall color on black walnut leaves, Moraine State Park, 3 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yesterday Schenley Park was at “Half Leaf” — about 50% of the leaves had fallen — and the remaining leaves were not as brilliant. The colors have faded fast.
Beech trees are the last to show fading fall color, Schenley Park, 7 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Soon the only brilliant colors will be in the sky.
Fall color in the sky at sunrise, 7 Nov 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Green hawthorn fruits (probably Winter King cultivar), Frick Park, 28 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
1 November 2025
This week the brightest fall color disappeared from the landscape as rain and wind took down the reddest leaves. This showed off many colorful fruits to attract attention.
Above, a hawthorn tree at Frick Environmental Center is loaded with bright red fruit. I believe this is a cultivar of the green hawthorn (Crataegus viridis) chosen for its winter hardiness.
Below, on Flagstaff Hill I found one tree that still had red leaves on Wednesday. Thursday’s rain and wind probably stripped it bare.
One red tree left on Flagstaff Hill, Schenley Park, 29 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica) was so colorful that even the bud scales looked red.
Fragrant sumac leaves and buds near Phipps, 29 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Tonight’s the night for jack o’ lanterns and Trick Or Treat. Carved pumpkins glow on front porches and in the woods, far from city lights, a mushroom with the same name glows in the dark.
On my bird walk last Sunday we passed the site at Schenley Park golf course where there used to be jack o’ lantern mushrooms (Omphalotus illudens). They grew on an oak tree stump which I noted in 2021 below, but this year the stump and the mushrooms are gone, ground up and removed.
Jack o’lantern mushroom in Schenley Park, Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Here in town we wouldn’t have seen the mushrooms glow because of city lights, but in parts of western Michigan there is very little light pollution. West Michigan’s WOODTV featured them in the video below.
Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 19 October 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
25 October 2025
Vibrant reds and oranges graced the sky and the forest in Pittsburgh this week.
Our region is in the midst of an oak-hickory forest so red-colored leaves can be scarce. Oaks turn dark red after most other trees are bare and hickories turn yellow, so I look forward to the moment when our few sugar maples turn red. It happened this week in Schenley Park, as you can see below.
Fall color on maples in Schenley Park, 23 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Fall color on maples in Schenley Park, 23 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Fall color along the Lower Trail at Schenley Park. Notice that it’s yellow. 20 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Fall color on maples in Schenley Park, 23 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Sunlight breaks through the background; fall color in Schenley Park, 23 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Two deer browsed near Schenley’s Upper Trail. One is already in her gray winter coat but so close to the trail that her camouflage didn’t matter. I would have missed the other deer (yellow arrow) except that it moved.
Two deer browsing in Schenley Park near the Upper Trail, 20 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Cold temperatures have ended this year’s spotted lanternflies so I was surprised to see one on the Panther Hollow Bridge. The air was so cold that didn’t move as I approached. Hah! I see you.
Spotted lanternfly, Schenley Park, 20 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
p.s. Mary Kate reminded me that sweetgum trees are very pretty in the fall. I’ll try to get some pictures this coming week.
Cape Cod view at the end of Navigation Road, Banstable, MA, 4 October 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
11 October 2025
A week ago at Cape Cod I was birding with Bob Kroeger along Navigation Road in Barnstable when we popped out at this beautiful salt marsh scene at the end of the road.
I took the red foliage for granted until I got close. Glasswort’s succulent leaves provide the clue that it thrives in saline habitats. In spring and summer this plant is green so I probably didn’t notice it. In October it turns a beautiful red. I think this is Virginia glasswort (Salicornia virginica).
Virginia glasswort, Navigation Road, Cape Cod, 4 October 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Succulent leaves of Virginia glasswort, Cape Cod, 4 October 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
I’d been telling my sister-in-law about the crows that roost in Pittsburgh in the winter and she said, “You ought to see our cormorants.” As sunset approached we followed the bike trial to the Bass River in South Dennis and found 300 double-crested cormorants with more coming in all the time. I’ve heard that people aren’t happy that the birds roost on the wires over the river, but this is certainly a case of build-it-and-they-will-come.
Cormorants coming in to roost at the Bass Rover, South Dennis, MA, 4 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Cormorants coming in to roost at the Bass Rover, South Dennis, MA, 4 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Back home in Pittsburgh, 10 October: While walking in Schenley Park yesterday I saw something white in a splash of sunlight in the woods. Was it trash?
What’s that white thing in the woods? Schenley Park, 10 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
When I bushwhacked to examine it I found a large puffball mushroom with a corner broken off. The last time I saw one in Schenley Park was 10 years ago!
Puffball mushroom, Schenley Park, 10 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Inky cap mushrooms in mulch at Cathedral of Learning, 30 Sep 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
4 October 2025
This week started with two signs of fall in Pittsburgh: Inky cap mushrooms melting into “ink” and a spider web beaded with fog.
Spider web in fog, Schenley Park, 28 Sep 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
On Wednesday my husband and I traveled to Cape Cod for a family visit and a day-trip yesterday to Nantucket. The weather is gorgeous but has recently kept migrating birds away from the coast. Birding is quiet here compared to reports from friends in Pittsburgh.
View of Nantucket harbor, 3 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Cape Cod’s sandy soil and saltwater attracts plants we don’t have in western PA. My Picture This app said this is coastal sweetpepperbush (Clethra alnifolia). The shape of the fruits gives the plant its name though there is nothing peppery about it.
Costal sweetpepperbush, Bell’s Neck, Cape Cod, 2 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yesterday a two-headed bee flew by and landed on the gravel where it was easy to figure out it was two bees conjoined: a future queen and a male. The queen is so large and strong that she can fly while he’s attached. The second photo looks fuzzy because they are vibrating.
Bumblebees mating, Nantucket town, 3 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Bumblebees mating, Nantucket town, 3 Oct 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
At home in Pittsburgh it feels like summer. Here on the Cape, surrounded by water, all the buildings have the heat on because the nights are cold.
