6 September 2025
This week I couldn’t assist however discover the panorama seems to be very dry and crops are wilting.
It’s official. Pennsylvania is in a average drought in Elk, Cameron, northwest Clearfield, western Allegheny, Beaver and Greene counties. Discover the pink arrows I added to this map from U.S. Drought Monitor at UNL.
Dry climate hasn’t stopped the bugs.
Gabrielle Marsden (@gobbism on Instagram) raises many sorts of butterflies, particularly zebra swallowtails. She introduced three adults to Schenley Park to launch through the Botanical Society stroll final Sunday. (See prime photograph) The butterflies’ host plant, the pawpaw tree, grows in Schenley.
Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania walks give attention to crops however the outings don’t ignore the remainder of nature. Bugs are sometimes related to particular crops so once we discovered cool bugs we took a glance … and located a planthopper. He was straightforward to see as a result of his shiny inexperienced disguise doesn’t work in a drought.
We additionally discovered the remnants of a scissor-grinder cicada who left his exoskeleton behind on a leaf.
Generally the bugs discovered us. Steve Tirone needed to cease in his tracks to keep away from hurting the katydid on his shoe.
p.s. I forgot to inform you what we noticed on the Schenley Park outing final Sunday, 31 August.
The birds have been quiet and customarily exhausting to seek out; we noticed solely 15 species. Finest birds have been two immature red-tailed hawks that chased one another.
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 75 Flagstaff Hill
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 3
Crimson-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 2 Immatures lazily chasing one another up the creek
Crimson-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 3
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 2
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 6
Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus) 1
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 8
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 20
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 25
Home Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 16
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 3
Track Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 4 Not precisely the colour we anticipated, Grownup & fledgling each had rumpled look as in the event that they obtained soiled someway.
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 4
View this guidelines on-line at https://ebird.org/guidelines/S270721752
