If you’re like me you’re hard pressed for gift ideas for friends and family and you might, like me, have a hard time answering the question, “What do you want for Christmas?”

Fortunately I got a head start on this last summer when Robyn Martin of our ShopWQED department asked me to select nature-related books and gifts for the ShopWQED website.  She gave me a catalog to select from and urged me to suggest additional items that she could offer as well.

I circled my favorites, many of which I already own — I highly recommend Great Natural Areas of Western Pennsylvania and How Birds Migrate – and I added one of my favorite wildflower books.

Wildflowers of Pennsylvania by May Joy Haywood and Phyllis Testal Monk, is an illustrated guide to the wildflowers of the entire state.  Published in Pittsburgh in 2001, every flower is illustrated by a photograph contributed by members of the Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania.   Those of you who know Esther Allen will find many of her photos inside. 

I use Wildflowers of Pennsylvania as a resource when I blog about flowers and in the winter I browse through the photos and think about spring.  I’m glad we could offer this book online to a wider audience.

Take a look at the ShopWQED Nature section.  Maybe you’ll find some gift ideas.

p.s.  Click on the shopping bag above to see the entire website including Rick Sebak’s DVDs and Chris Fennimore’s cookbooks.

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Why aren’t our black-and-orange birds associated with Halloween?  Probably because Baltimore orioles, American redstarts and Blackburnian warblers are small and harmless and they’ve migrated out of North America by late October.  Instead the smart and crafty crows and ravens are symbols of this spooky holiday.  Black is in and the crows are in town.

For the color orange you can’t beat pumpkins.  Did you know that pumpkins are native to the Americas but they’re now grown around the world?  The major pumpkin-growing countries are the U.S., Mexico, India and China.  Pennsylvania is one of the top five pumpkin producing states so when I buy a pumpkin I’m “buying local.”

This Halloween we get a bonus.  We’ll turn our clocks back tonight and get an extra hour of sleep.  The bad news is that the sun will set at 5:07pm on Sunday and the black of night will descend upon us an hour earlier. 

Happy Halloween!

(photo by Chuck Tague)

Well, I just found out Friday afternoon that I’ll be on that show - live! – to talk about birding and blogging.  So if you’re in the Pittsburgh area on Monday October 5 at 7:30pm, you can see me on WQED.

Unrelated to this but Very Cool:  Last night in the rain we watched hundreds and hundreds of chimney swifts circle and drop into the chimney of the Oliver Bathhouse on the South Side.  It was just like the Swifts movie.

Some of you may know John – he grew up in Pittsburgh.  He’s an excellent birder, has a natural ear for bird song and can identify all our birds by sound.  He’s also a great teacher and it shows when he’s with kids.

John stands out in the birding community for another reason and it began to trouble him.  John is African-American and is usually the only person of color he encounters while birding.  Why are there so few minorities involved in birding?  Why hasn’t this changed in the last 40 years when African-American and Hispanic involvement in other areas has increased?  Even more troubling, in a few decades this gap will affect U.S. attitudes toward the environment.  Minorities are a growing percentage of the U.S. population and the greater the percentage of people who know nothing about birds, the less care will be shown to them.

A few years ago John decided to do something about this.  More people needed to understand this gap as a problem, more people needed to encourage minorities to go birding, and young birders, no matter what their background, needed mentors.  And so John wrote Birding For Everyone: Encouraging People of Color to Become Birdwatchers to urge us all to get involved.

Next week you can meet John Robinson and learn about his passion for birds and bird watching on OnQ, Monday October 5 at 7:30pm.  And you can buy his book here at ShopWQED.

(cover of Birding For Everyone: Encouraging People of Color to Become Birdwatchers, courtesy, John C. Robinson)

Welcome to the first morning of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.  The heads of state and advisors of the 20 most economically powerful countries will be here for two days.  Plus 3,000 journalists.  Plus who-knows-how-many protesters. 

Since the 1999 riots in Seattle, these meetings are always heavily guarded against violent protest.  Most of Downtown Pittsburgh is closed to vehicles.  Pedestrians near the Convention Center must pass through checkpoints.  Schenley Park is closed because of tonight’s reception and dinner at Phipps Conservatory.  The National Guard is at the ready (hence, the black helicopters) and police are stationed everywhere.  Pittsburgh “welcomes” the world.

After the traffic barriers were announced in August, the schools and a lot of businesses gave up and decided to close for these two days, but WQED’s OnQ is producing shows about the G-20 Summit so I must be at work. 

Now that I live in a city under seige, I have no interest in these goings on, nor do I want to be near them.  Just for today I wish I was a bird.  I could avoid the traffic, the barriers, the annoyances.  If I was a bird I could fly over all this trouble just as Dorothy flies over Oakland. 

But I’m not.  I’m just a pedestrian who will see less of Pittsburgh than you’ll see on the news.  Sadly the news is looking for – dare I say hoping for - conflict and that’s not the Pittsburgh I live in.

The headline in last Sunday’s Post-Gazette was “Why Pittsburgh?”  My question exactly! 

(photo by Jack Rowley of peregrine falcon, Dorothy, flying over Oakland at the University of Pittsburgh, May 25, 2004) 

…p.s. Click on the photo above to see how Carnegie Museum is protecting their statues against G-20 vandals.  Plus a few sites that describe/show other scenes: A video of downtown, a description of Schenley’s barriers.

In America, everyone owns some of the most beautiful land this country has to offer.  It’s ours to enjoy at any time, without fences, without No Trespassing signs.  That land is in our national parks whose story will air on PBS beginning this Sunday, September 27 at 8:00pm in Ken Burns’ The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.

Having just spent two weeks at Acadia National Park, I agree it’s one of America’s best.  I’m thankful that so much coastal property is open to everyone and that it retains its natural habitat and scenic beauty to this day. 

It might not have been that way.  Acadia was private land in 1901 when George B. Dorr and Charles W. Eliot were inspired to preserve it.  They and others formed the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations who assembled the land from private landholders big and small.  Soon it became clear that the only way to permanently protect the land was through national park status. George Dorr championed the cause and in 1916 presented 5,000 acres as a monument to the nation.  In 1919 it became our first national park east of the Mississippi.

Today Acadia covers 48,000 acres.  Though protected by law, the work is never done. If no one had followed in George Dorr’s footsteps Acadia would be in sad shape today, plagued by traffic jams, unusable trails and swaths of development on formerly scenic sites.  Fortunately, as Ken Burns points out, people are still “willing to devote themselves to save some precious portion of the land they love.”

Friends of Acadia (FOA) is one such group.  Formed in 1986 their mission today is to preserve, protect and promote stewardship of the park and its surrounding communities.  FOA has restored trails (shown here), worked with L.L. Bean to provide buses that reduce traffic congestion, provided education and stewardship programs and preserved land threatened by development.  My husband and I are so impressed by their work that we became Friends of Acadia members several years ago.

Throughout America people are devoting their time and energy to the national parks they love.  This land is your land, too.  Find out more on Sunday at 8:00pm.

(photo of Friends of Acadia trail crew building a bridge, courtesy Ian Marquis, Friends of Acadia)

As promised I participated in International Rock Flipping Day (IRFD) today. 

Yesterday I tried to get a head start by flipping a few rocks in a stream in Schenley Park but there was nothing under them except smaller rocks.  Today in Butler County I turned over a big rock in Portersville.  Nothing but dead leaves underneath. 

Back home at Schenley Park I hunted for a likely candidate and finally found a winner, the rock pictured above.  There was an earthworm and a millipede underneath but you can’t see them in my lousy cell phone photo.  They were trying to burrow underground but it’s drought-y here so the ground is too dry for them.

The biggest thing I learned is that southwestern Pennsylvania is just not a rocky place.  I had no trouble finding rocks everywhere when I was in Maine early this month but around here the only real rocks we have are those used in landscaping.  I think we have to import them.   

No wonder I came up with nothing.  Sort of.

For more IRFD results see Wanderin’ Weeta’s blog.

p.s.  IRFD rules include putting the rock back the way you found it without harming what’s underneath – which I did, though not pictured here.

(photos from my cell phone)

p.p.s.  Look how many bloggers participated in International Rock Flipping Day!

• The Natural Capital
• Fertanish Chatter
• Roundrock Journal
• Just Playin’ Around
• What It’s like on the Inside
• KrisAbel
• BugSafari
• Sofia_Alexandra
• Growing with Science
• ChickenSpaghetti
• NaturalNotes
• Yips and Howls
• Rock, Paper, Lizard
• Outside My Window
• The dog geek
• Dave Ingram’s Natural History Blog
• via negativa
• Unplug Your Kids
• ORCA: Observar, Recordar, Crecer y Aprender
• Will Rees Fine Woodworking …
• The Marvelous in Nature
• Ontario Wanderer
• Bare Baby Feet
• The Homefront Lines
• Crazy Maize World
• Dr. Omed’s Tent Show Revival
• Wanderin’ Weeta

Founded in 2007 by Dave Bonta (from Plummer’s Hollow, Pennsylvania!), this will be the third year for people all over the world to take the time to flip a rock, record what they see and tell this year’s coordinator, Susanna Anderson the Wanderin’ Weeta blogger from British Columbia. 

I plan to participate but I can’t decide whether to flip a small rock in my city back yard (boring but quick) or go somewhere far away and turn over a big one (time consuming and potentially exciting).  My decision will be influenced by my earlier rock-flipping experience.

Years ago my husband and I took a 6-hour Reptiles and Amphibians class in which we watched a two-hour slideshow presentation, then went on an afternoon field trip.  The class was in the city, the field trip was in Elk County – timber rattlesnake country.  My husband has never been interested in nature classes but he did want to learn about snakes.

Before we began to flip rocks, Dr. Art Hulse explained it was very important to pull up the rock from its far edge so the rock shields your body from what’s underneath.  My husband is very near-sighted (he can’t drive or watch birds) so we were a team.  He pulled up the rock, I looked under it. 

On our first rock we found a ring-necked snake - harmless, kind of pretty and very stinky.  On our second rock we found something that was coiled in a circle and silently shaking its tail.  I called out, “It looks like a milk snake.”   Dr. Hulse said “Careful!  Hold on!” and came running with his snake handling stick.  He pinned the snake’s neck and held it up for all of us to see.  It was a baby timber rattlesnake, so young its rattler made no noise.  Half the class jumped back in fear.  The other half peered forward in fascination.

Since that day I have a motto for those who tell me they’re afraid of snakes, “If you don’t want to see snakes, don’t flip over rocks.”  I hope this doesn’t eliminate half of my reading audience from tomorrow’s activities. 

In any case, tomorrow’s the day.  The rules are simple.  Susanna describes them here.  Go flip a rock and send your findings to wanderinweeta@gmail.com

p.s. Remember!  Pull up the far edge of the rock and, please, carefully replace the rock without harming the creatures you found under it.

(International Rock Flipping Day logo via IRFD coordinator Susanna Anderson)

Not your typical nature movie, On The Wing is as much about Portland and the people who watch the swifts as it is about the tens of thousands of Vaux’s swifts who come to roost.  The swifts circle and swirl around the chimney, a few hawks and peregrines come in for an easy meal, and hundreds of people show up to watch.  It’s a huge event.

The phenomenon became so famous and well-loved that it changed Chapman School.  The swifts huddle in Chapman’s chimney to stay warm on cold September nights and the kids were huddling in the school by day to avoid killing the swifts by turning on the boiler.  Eventually Chapman replaced its heating system so that the chimney is now used only by the swifts.

As soon as you see this movie you’ll wish you were in Portland, Oregon to watch the birds but you don’t have to travel that far.  Eastern cities have chimney swifts, very similar to Vaux’s swift, and we have chimneys.  We can’t offer the community event that happens at Chapman (you will have to go to Portland for that) but you can watch our swifts go to roost. 

In Pittsburgh there are many chimneys to choose from.  Look for tall stand-alone chimneys, usually made of brick, and you may find a roost near home.  Here are some of the roosts I’ve seen:

• At South St. Clair Street, across the street from 5802 Baum Boulevard, look at the chimney across the parking lot.  Three Rivers Birding Club usually visits this chimney at least one evening during migration… and then we go to The Sharp Edge for beer. 
• In Oakland on Clyde Street near Central Catholic High School, watch the tall chimney on an apartment building on the left.
• In Dormont, start at the corner of West Liberty Ave and Edgehill Ave.  Walk up the right side of Edgehill Ave to the second telephone pole that has a sign on it saying Weight Limit 9 Tons.  Stop and look across the street & you’ll see the chimney.
• In Squirrel Hill at the corner of Murray and Forward Avenues there are lots of chimneys.  I’m not sure they’re used by swifts but it’s worth a look. Stand on Pocusset.
• Check out the closed public schools: the former Schenley High School, former Gladstone Middle School, etc.  I bet you’ll find swifts.

Meanwhile, watch a preview of the movie!

(photo from Dan Viens, creator of On the Wing)

Today I have an excuse to write about the little girl in this picture.  She’s Rachel Carson, one of my heroes, pictured here with her brother and sister beside the Allegheny River, circa 1915.

Rachel Carson was born in Springdale and grew up with the Allegheny River as her playground.  She eventually studied marine biology and zoology and worked for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  She also wrote many books, including The Sea Around Us, but her most famous book was Silent Spring in which she described the dangers of the indiscriminate use of pesticides and herbicides.  Birds prompted her to write the book, sparked by a letter from a friend who described birds dying on the spot after aerial pesticide spraying. 

When the book was published in 1962 Rachel Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and labeled as an emotional person who didn’t know what she was talking about.  Neither was true.  Silent Spring took the country by storm.  Ten years later Congress outlawed DDT making it possible for birds of prey – including the peregrine falcon – to make a comeback.  Thank you, Rachel Carson!

Besides the chance to talk about peregrines, my real excuse for writing about Rachel Carson is that she’s one of the many people featured in Rick Sebak’s new show — Right Beside The River – premiering this Thursday August 20 at 8:00pm on WQED.  It’s a whimsical look at the people, communities and activities that have sprung up along the rivers in our area.  You’ll like it.  Thursday, 8:00pm.

(photo courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University)