Piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) are exceedingly rare, especially in the Great Lakes where there are only about 80 pairs.
Just five years ago, in 2019, the first documented piping plover pair nested in Chicago at Montrose Beach. Monty and Rose became celebrities as they raised young three years in a row before dying in 2022.
One of their sons, Imani born in 2021, returned to Montrose in 2022 and 2023 but he had no mate because there were so few females in the Great Lakes region.
It’s been another hot week with muggy high temperatures and more to come. Birds are adapting by bathing, hanging out in the shade, and avoiding activity during the worst part of the day.
Some birds who live where it’s hot and dry have adapted their bodies to help them cool off. Read about their special air conditioner nasal passages in this 2017 article.
p.s. Yesterday morning when it was 84°F and felt like 86°, Ecco took a sun bath to heat his feathers and force out the parasites. Aaaaaaah. And then he adjourned to the shade to preen them away.
Ecco sunbathes in the heat, 28 Aug 2024, 11:07am (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
Spotted lanternfly on my window on 2 Aug 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
28 August 2024
I was beginning to think we were safe this year but now I’m not so sure. After surprisingly few spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) in July and August, there are suddenly more of them in the air and on buildings and trees. Uh oh!
Have you seen more spotted lanternflies, too? I think I know why.
Their peak population was in September last year so we probably haven’t reached the peak yet. But it’s coming.
Spotted lanternflies love heat and it has been hot this week. Yesterday’s high was 94°F –> 13° above normal.
Why do I see them fly by my 6th floor windows? They love height as well.
Last year I mused on their love of height and heat. I sure hope their population doesn’t get so bad this year!
Pawpaws (Asimina triloba) are the quintessential wild fruit for browsing animals that eat the only ripe fruit on the branch and then move on. The fruit tastes like mango and has the consistency of banana. But don’t eat the seeds. They are poisonous.
The skin is thin and bruises easily so they cannot be shipped.
Pawpaws don’t ripen all at once. You must come back later for the next batch because …
If you pull a hard, unripe fruit from the tree it will never ripen.
Pawpaw fruits lose their flavor if you heat them.
The bark, leaves, fruit and seeds of pawpaw trees contain the disabling and potentially lethal neurotoxin annonacin so …
Do not dry or cook down the fruit because that concentrates the compound that — fortunately — makes you vomit. (see more in the WESA article).
However, the neurotoxin is a benefit for zebra swallowtails (Eurytides marcellus) whose only host plant is the pawpaw tree. Zebra swallowtail caterpillars eat pawpaw leaves, become toxic themselves and are protected from predators.
If you want to eat a pawpaw and learn more about them, your best bet is at an upcoming Pawpaw Festival. The complete schedule of 12 festivals plus additional events are at Heppy.org: 2024 Pawpaw Festivals and Events. Here are a few close to Pittsburgh on the Heppy.org list in order of occurrence.
Ohio Pawpaw Festival in Albany, Ohio, 13-15 Sept
Paw Paw Festival in Duncansville, PA, 22 Sept, 9a-4p
West Virginia Pawpaw Festival, Core Arboretum, Morgantown, WV, 28 September
Gabrielle Marsden is restoring zebra swallowtail butterflies to southwestern PA by planting pawpaw trees and encouraging others to do the same. Her YouTube channel is here. She also has two upcoming events:
Schenley Park outing participants, 25 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
26 August 2024
Yesterday morning 13 of us found 24 species of birds in Schenley Park plus flowering plants and insects.
Best Birds were the six+ ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) sipping nectar at orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) along Phipps Run and at Panther Hollow Lake. Between sips they chased each other everywhere.
Orange jewelweed, favorite of hummingbirds, Schenley Park, 25 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
So many hummingbirds was a happy sign after 7-8 years without big numbers in Schenley Park. Orange jewelweed is their favorite food on migration but it was eradicated 7-8 years ago by Schenley’s overabundant deer population. This year jewelweed patches thrive in inaccessible places at Phipps Run and among the cattails in Panther Hollow Lake. If you want to see hummingbirds, pause here and watch the jewelweed. Also check the wires above the lake.
Best insects were several red spotted purple butterflies flitting on the Lake Trail. Hailey Latona found one resting … but not for long. (Bug people: If I’ve misidentified this butterfly please correct me!)
Red spotted purple butterfly in Schenley Park, 25 Aug 2024 (video by Hailey Latona)
We also found a Honeybee Heaven near the railroad tracks. I had never noticed Japanese hop (Humulus japonicus) growing there but yesterday I could hear the flowers humming and saw it swarming with honeybees.
A species of hops at Schenley Park. Is it Japanese hops? 25 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
By 10:30am it was getting hot but we found a chestnut-sided warbler so we paused to look harder. Alas, it was the only warbler species for the outing. Here’s our checklist.
Schenley Park, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, US Aug 25, 2024 8:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) X Maybe 40 on Flagstaff Hill; evidence at Panther Hollow lake Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 4 Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 2 Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) 6 — Lots of chasing Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 2 Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 2 Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) 3 Heard Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 5 Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 6 Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 4 Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 1 Heard White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 2 Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 4 Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 3 Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) 1 Seen American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 4 Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 9 House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 4 American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 10 Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 8 Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) 2 Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 3 Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) 2 Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 2
Stiltgrass carpeting the ground in Schenley Park, 16 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
25 August 2024
At this time of year the woods in southwestern Pennsylvania often look as if gardeners have removed all the underbrush and left a thick carpet of grass on the forest floor. The “gardeners” are overabundant white-tailed deer who selectively eat their favorite foods and leave behind invasive Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum).
Japanese stiltgrass came to the U.S. in packing crates in the early 1900s as padding to protect porcelain shipped from China. Of course we threw it out when we unpacked the crates. It took root and was discovered in Tennesse in 1919. More than 100 years later it blankets much of the eastern U.S.
Range map of invasive Japanese stiltgrass in North America (EDDMapS. 2024. Early Detection & Distribution Mapping System. The University of Georgia – Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. Available online at http://www.eddmaps.org/; last accessed August 25, 2024.)
Japanese stiltgrass is pretty easy to identify because it has a shiny midrib (topside) and the midrib is not in the middle of the leaf (underside).
Shiny midrib on topside of Japanese stiltgrass leaf (photo by Kate St. John)
Japanese stiltgrass mid rib is not in the middle. Back of the leaf: (photo by Kate St.John)
Amazing as it seems, Japanese stiltgrass is an annual that dies every winter and grows back from seed the next spring. Its thick green carpet in summer shades out native species.
Japanese stiltgrass carpet, Butler-Freeport Trail, July 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)
After it goes to seed in early fall it dies and becomes a brown drape over the landscape in winter. This gives it the alternate common name of Nepalese browntop.
Japanese stiltgrass comes back thickly every year because it drops so much seed in the soil. It’s possible to get rid of it … eventually .. through hand pulling or goats. Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is using both techniques in Hays Woods this year.
Giant ragweed in bloom, Hays Woods, 20 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
24 August 2024
This week I encountered giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) along the trail at Hays Woods. Though the plant I photographed was still shorter than me it typically reaches six feet tall. The flower spikes are loaded with male pollen flowers, facing downward to dangle in the wind and spread the pollen that makes many people sneeze.
Giant ragweed in bloom, Hays Woods, 20 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
If you suffer from ragweed allergies your nose knows when it started blooming but you might not know what common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) looks like. What is making you miserable? Check out this vintage article.
Almost four years ago, artist and photographer Robert E. Fuller posted this video of a baby wild stoat playing on a trampoline in his garden in the U.K.
Fuller has observed wild stoats for many years at his home in Yorkshire. The baby stoat that played on the trampoline in autumn 2020 appears to have started a trend. His video posted in July 2021 shows mother and kits at the same playground.
Yes, they are very cute, but … wild weasels are not good pets and it is illegal to keep them without a wildlife permit. If you want a pet weasel, get a ferret.
It’s relatively hard to find a singing cricket because the male is on the ground, probably hidden by vegetation, and facing the entrance to his burrow. He rubs his modified leathery front wings, called tegmina, to make his chirping sound.
The burrow entrance provides an echo chamber that amplifies his sound and, if his chirping attracts a predator, he can quickly zoom underground for safety.
Did you know that the cricket’s chirp can tell you the temperature? Count the number of chirps of a lone cricket for 15 seconds, then add 37. That should tell you the temperature in Fahrenheit … probably. If it doesn’t, I like to imagine that the burrow entrance is colder or hotter than the ambient air. 😉
Read more about the cricket’s chirp here at the Songs of Insects.
p.s. Did you ever have a cricket in your house? In my experience they are really hard to find unless they’re in the corner of a gleaming white bathroom and you’ve moved everything out of the way to find the cricket in the corner.
Biennial gaura, Hays Woods, 20 August 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
21 August 2024
When I took this photo at Hays Woods yesterday, I knew the plant’s name — biennial gaura — but just for fun I asked PictureThis to identify it. It said “Biennial Gaura, a species of Evening Primrose.” Evening Primrose was a surprise. I didn’t think they were related.
Common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) has four evenly spaced petals with stamens and pistil in the middle. Though the flower appears to be open here, it actually opens more widely in the evening.
Evening primrose, September 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Biennial gaura (Oenothera gaura) also has four petals but they are all on one side of the stem with stamens and pistil drooping below. The shape of the flower looks “irregular” to me and “evening” doesn’t seem to apply either. The flower looks like it stays open all day.
Biennial gaura (photo by Kate St. John)
However, studies of the former genus Gaura caused all of it to be absorbed into Oenothera (Evening Primrose ) in 2007. The reason I was surprised 17 years later is that my hardback copy of Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide was published in 1997. I should rely more on apps these days.
Here are additional photos of both flowers for further comparison.
Biennial gaura, Hays Woods, 7 Sep 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)Common evening primrose near Herrs Island, 18 Aug 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Both plants are “weedy” species so they’re pretty easy to find in the field. Look for common evening primrose in sunny or mostly sunny places, often along trails. Biennial gaura wants full sun and dry, rocky soil. At Hays Woods it grows at the powerline cut.
Note that biennial gaura flowers are much smaller than evening primrose. Tiny but beautiful.
