Trees with stacks of white flowers are drawing our attention this week in Pittsburgh. Perhaps you’re wondering “What tree is this? “
Horsechestnuts (Aesculushippocastanum) originated in Greece but have been planted around the world for their beautiful flowers. When fertilized the flowers become the familiar shiny buckeyes I played with as a child.
In Pittsburgh we call the tree a “buckeye” though it is just one of many buckeyes (Aesculus) in our area including natives of North America: yellow, Ohio, and bottlebrush.
A close look at horsechestnut flowers reveals that some have yellow centers, others red.
Bees see and are attracted to yellow, not red, so when a horsechestnut flower is fertilized it turns red. The flowers are …
Are there red flowers on the tree? Come back in early fall to collect the buckeyes.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)
Wood thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina) are back in Schenley Park after their winter sojourn in Central America.
Yesterday this one used his beautiful voice to claim a nesting territory near the Bartlett tufa bridge. Click here or on the screenshot below to hear him sing.
Of all the birds he wins “Best In Song.”
(photo from Wikimedia Commons, video by Kate St. John)
After yesterday morning’s downpour the sky never cleared and the air was so heavy that I didn’t expect to see good birds in Schenley Park, but when I arrived the soundscape was filled with the songs of rose-breasted grosbeaks, wood thrushes, Baltimore orioles, and many northern parulas. When I found the loudest parula I discovered he had a rare friend — a golden-winged warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera). The two of them were feeding on insects hidden in new elm leaves.
My post on the rare bird alert drew in other birders and photographers, including Charity Kheshgi whose photos are shown here. Rare birds usually visit for only 24 hours so everyone had to act fast.
Why is this bird rare?
The Golden-winged Warbler is a sharply declining songbird that lives in shrubby, young forest habitats in the Great Lakes and Appalachian Mountains regions. They have one of the smallest populations of any songbird not on the Endangered Species List and are listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. An estimated 400,000 breeding adults remain—a drop of 66% since the 1960s. In the Appalachian Mountains the situation is even worse: the regional population has fallen by 98%. We’ve learned that the main reasons for the decline include habitat loss on the breeding and wintering grounds (Central and northern South America) and hybridization with the closely related Blue-winged Warbler.
Because of their precipitous decline, golden-winged warblers have been well studied for at least a decade. Seven years ago, scientists tracking this tiny bird in Tennessee discovered that it sensed the approach of violent storms and fled the tornadoes one day ahead. Read the amazing story of how golden-winged warblers flew 400 miles to the Gulf of Mexico to avoid the storms … and then came back.
Thirteen of us came out for a walk in Schenley Park on Sunday morning and were thrilled to hear a wood thrush singing near the Visitors Center. The bird was hard to spot in the treetops but CJ Showers got a photo of him from below.
Two First of Year species had just returned: yellow warbler and gray catbird. Male red-winged blackbirds claimed territory and chased females at Panther Hollow Lake, while two spotted sandpipers sidestepped bullfrogs among the reeds.
The red-tailed hawk family on the bridge appears to have babies in the nest, though we could not see them.
And a surprise awaited us around the bend.
Sara Showers saw the profile of this fledgling eastern screech owl perched at eye level on a hackberry branch. Though he wasn’t hidden he was doing his best to look like part of the tree until we gawked at him. That made him raise his ear tufts and look at us through slit eyes.
Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, PA, Apr 24, 2022 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM. 30 species Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 4 Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 2 Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) 2 Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) 1 — Flyover Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 2 Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) 1 — fledgling! Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 1 Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 1 Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) 1 Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 4 Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) 1 Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 7 American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 3 Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula) 10 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) 1 Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 2 Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 1 First of year Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) 2 American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 20 House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 4 American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 2 Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 9 Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 8 Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 3 Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 2 Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) 1 First of year Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) 8 Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 6
If you attended the outing and would like me to share the list to you, please leave a comment to tell me so.
(photos by Charity Kheshgi and CJ Showers)
UPDATE 25 APRIL 2022: On Monday morning I took the same walk as on Sunday and found that bird activity was more subdued. Many of the birds we saw on Sunday must have left on Sunday night’s strong south wind, including all but one of the ruby-crowned kinglets. However, I found an eastern screech-owl nest near where we saw the fledgling on Sunday. His sibling was looking out of the hole! (It’s a lousy cellphone photo but you get the idea.)
Trees and wildflowers are blooming. New birds come to Pittsburgh on every south wind. I expect gray catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis) will back in time for this outing. Will we hear one? Will we see him before he hides? I hope so.
Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Don’t forget your binoculars.
This event will be held rain or shine, but not in downpours or thunder. Check the Events page before you come in case of cancellation.
Hope to see you there.
p.s. If the birding is good I’ll give an option to continue until 11a.
(photo from Wikimedia Commons; click the caption to see the original)
Almost-blooming native trees including eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) in Frick Park.
Swelling buds and leaf out on the yellow buckeyes (Aesculus flava) in Schenley Park.
and Mud Season!
This year’s cold weather delayed the trees compared to last year on this date. For comparison see Spring Green from 10 April 2021.
And finally: Why did it Rain, Sun, Rain, Sun over and over again yesterday? The National Weather Service radar shows a flock of discrete self-contained rain clouds moving over the landscape.
This week the elms, maples, ornamental cherries and northern magnolias began to bloom in Pittsburgh. Their flowers have not yet reached their peak and that’s a good thing. Tomorrow night the low will be 19 degrees F and will devastate the tender petals.
Above, an ornamental cherry shows off its delicate pink-white blossoms in the sun on Thursday 24 March. Below, a northern magnolia flower peeks out of its winter coat in Schenley Park on Tuesday 22 March.
Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas), one of the earliest shrubs to bloom in western Pennsylvania, is a Eurasian member of the dogwood family. It can also look like an understory tree.
Also blooming in yellow this week, forsythia is putting out tentative flowers.
And at Frick Park the hellebore planted near the Environmental Education Center is in full bloom (probably Hellebore odorus). I wonder if these nodding flowers will survive the cold.
Meanwhile I’m not worried about the new leaves on these hardy invasive plants. I doubt they’ll be damaged by the cold.
Take a look at flowers today. They’ll be gone tomorrow night.
After yesterday’s 2.5 to 5 inches of drifting snow, this morning’s temperature is 14oF. Our progress toward Spring has been halted in only a day.
Last week I saw hopeful signs of Spring.
Skunk cabbage was blooming at Jennings Prairie on 5 March.
Northern magnolia buds were beginning to open at Schenley Park on 8 March.
Spring peepers had started to sing at Moraine State Park on 10 March, calling very slowly in the cold. Turn up your speakers to hear 5 creaky peeps in the video.
And The Crocus Report came back positive on 7 March when I found a lawn of purple crocuses blooming on North Neville Street.
But yesterday morning brought heavy snow and gusty winds, drifts and bare patches.
(building provides a dark backdrop so you can see the snow.)
The tender plants have died. Those crocuses are gone. Spring has been dealt a setback.
This week began with temperatures in the single digits so it was amazing that we had a record rainfall on Thursday. Not snow, rain.
By Tuesday afternoon, 1 February, the high temperature was 48 degrees and everything was melting at Frick Park, above.
However, Wednesday’s red sunrise on Groundhog Day presaged the upcoming winter storm. “Red sky at morn, sailors forewarn.”
Birds knew bad weather was coming and frantically fueled up. This hungry red-tailed hawk momentarily perched at Carnegie Museum parking lot for a better look at potential prey while the blue jays shouted “Watch out!”
On Thursday the storm moved in. It rained and rained — 1.02 inches — matching the previous record rainfall set in 1939. We were fortunate not to have freezing rain in the city.
By Friday snow covered everything again except this new creek flowing into Westinghouse fountain at Schenley Park.
And in case you missed it …
… the most amazing event happened on Monday 31 January. Click the link for pictures, videos and the reason why the Flying Squirrel Hill Bus is in the air.