Phenology Notes: April 21, 2014

One of the interesting things of living north of the Kittatinny Ridge and working south of it, is that I get 2 sets of all things spring! The difference can be amazing, even though the distance between Bethlehem and Kunkletown is about 20 - 23 miles. So in the southeast corner of Monroe County, the star magnolia (Magnolia stellate) are just coming in to peak bloom. The cold temps from a week ago (4/14) turned the tips of some of the petals brown, but most are in good shape. The ones in Bethlehem were nailed last week, as were the flowers on other species of magnolia. I was saddened by the hope of an amazing peak bloom on Monday morning, only to see the flowers in ruin the next day. By the way, remember the year without a winter 2 years ago? The magnolias in Bethlehem were in full bloom by March 20th!

Magnolia stellate

We had a harsh winter and many things this spring are late. We now await the toll that the frigid temps took on our landscape plantings. Today, the first flowers of our weeping cherry in Kunkletown opened; they peaked in Bethlehem last week. These are flowers that never last long enough for me, but the tree will attract countless bees over the short time period that it is blooming.  Did you know this tree is in the Rosaceae family?



Prunus subhirtella and Bombus sp. 
This was at 7:00 pm, just before "bedtime" for the bee.

Buds on the apple trees are forming. The flower buds on the lilacs are also now quite obvious. The National Phenology Network follows a cloned variety of lilacs (Syringa sp.) quite closely: https://www.usanpn.org/nn/cloned-lilacs. For a bit of information on the 50 years of monitoring these, go to https://www.usanpn.org/node/30.

If you follow the weather, you will notice that we now get pollen alerts with the forecast. The maple (Acer) trees are past their peak bloom, but look up at the top of aspen (Populus) or sweet birch (Betula lenta) trees right now and you will see the source of the cream and yellow "dust" on your cars. As you are looking up, it is a good place to find migrating birds early in the morning too.   And if you have Tulip Poplars (Liriodendron tulipfera) around, look up and see the greenish-yellow flowers forming.  Despite the name, these are not poplars, but in the Magnolia family.  Yes, common names are problematic.

Ooh – and I just heard the first of season “squeezy, squeezy, squeezy” of a Black and white Warbler!

Some bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis) flowers hiding amongst the Pachysandra



Assorted Narcissus sp.

I know we are in the throes of winter, but...

Believe it or not, for the last three years, during this upcoming week in February, the aconite started blooming in my garden!  This year, the poor plants are buried under a few feet of snow.

But there are a few signs of change that come  with the longer day length.  Last week, almost right on cue, I heard the first "Peter, Peter, Peter" of the Tufted Titmouse.  In addition, I heard a male cardinal doing its song "Purdy, Purdy, Purdy, chip".  Both sexes of the cardinal sing, but I actually saw this particular male at the top of a tree in our field singing away.  Given the cold weather and continual snow we have been having in eastern Pennsylvania, I am curious as to what cues make these two species think it is time to sing to the ladies?

Phenology - kind of

An ode to August

 

An early morning walk through 18 acres

of bergamot and late-blooming butterfly weed,

Asclepias tuberosa.

Mixed in were some yarrow and the earliest goldenrod,

a Solidago, but which species I don’t know.

Remembrance of grandma’s farm;

a reminder that summer is beginning to fade.

 

Butterfly wings laden with last night’s rain,

too heavy to fly yet today.

But with the promise of sun and 80 degrees,

a fulfilling nectar feast awaits.

The spider webs are not hidden today,

heavily outlined by pearls of dew.

The bees were already starting their work of the day.

 

My retriever is happy to chase the scents,

some from new colonies of baby rabbits.

Is this batch number 2 or 3 this season?

Last year there were fewer, but more groundhogs.

Brood #2 of the barn swallows greeted me this morning

from their nests on our barn beams.

Parents return from the fog with food.

 

It is quite lush and green for this late in the summer,

a sign of lots of rain.

Lots of insects for the birds and bats,

the tick numbers are temporarily down.

I enjoy the quiet solitude, but can’t help but think

that soon, like the birds that will be heading south,

my oldest son will migrate to college.

Phenology and environmental change in our national parks

See this report about phenology from the Great Smoky Mountains:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts7FDt3oqRY&feature=share

If you visit any national parks this summer, you might ask the rangers what changes they have noted over the past several years or decades.  And share what you learn!

While not phenology, rangers from  the Grand Canyon talk about the increase in pine beetles and express concern about increasing demands for water. 

In the Grand Tetons, snow pack was down this year, so many flowers in the sagebrush flats were blooming earlier than usual ,and the elk had dispersed from the lower elevations sooner than usual.

Soon I will be in Alaska where I am sure to hear about receding glaciers in the Kenai Fjords region.   Stay tuned.

Happy May Day 2013

Some reflections from my other blog:
http://anewprosperity.blogspot.com/2013/05/may-day-2013.html

Another set of observations about changes in our seasons.

This new essay in the May/June 2013 Orion is written by my friend Sandra Steingraber and is worth a read:

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/7487

While I will never be able to write like Sandra, this reminds me of my post from last winter (that wasn't):

http://watchingtheseasons.blogspot.com/2012/02/winter-that-hasnt-been.html

What do the bird watchers know and a lot of other questions

A bit on citizen science and some other interesting tidbits of information can be found in this opinion piece from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/opinion/sunday/what-do-the-bird-watchers-know.html?smid=fb-share

Phenology data, from Pennsylvania and from other locations in more northern latitudes, tell us that many bird species are arriving earlier in the spring than they did 40 or 50 years ago.  The results are the same regardless if trained scientists or citizens are reporting their observations over the long term.  The difference is that scientists typically publish their data in peer-reviewed journals; citizen scientists publish (or crowd source) their data in public databases such as e-Bird maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (see http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about).

What we don't yet know is how this early arrival impacts the ability of birds to find food after a long migration.  Are their spring food sources -- mainly insects -- hatching earlier?  We know that the fuel reserves of birds can be largely depleted after their long flight; we don't know if they are able to sufficiently replenish their energy needs.  If not, how is this impacting the health and survival of neotropical migrants -- our long-distance athletes? 

And if spring arrival of birds and the emergence of insects are no longer in sync, what is happening to the population of insects?  The trend has been for milder winters.  Bats are in decline.  And both of these two observations lead to more bugs.

Do the birds find shelter if the leaves on trees and shrubs aren't unfurling earlier?  The earliest plants to leaf-out are typically woody invasive plants.  Are the birds o.k. with these new types of temporary shelter?  Birders create list of the birds they see on a given day at a given location.  But they typically don't report the habitat conditions, so we don't really know.

Is there a competitive advantage for the "early bird"?  Perhaps, but we don't know if the worms are available.  These squiggly animals also migrate, but do so vertically through the soil.  (This migration was described by Edwin Way Teale in his 1951 book North With the Spring.)  Contributors to Journey North can track spring observations of earthworms (see http://www.learner.org/jnorth/worm/index.html), but I don't know of anyone linking these data with that of the timing of bird arrivals. 

Do the birds build nests and lay eggs earlier?  If so, is there a greater risk that a cold snap will diminish their reproductive success in a given season?

So many questions.  So many birders and nature lovers/observers are needed to help us find out more information in our changing environment.

Good advice from Adam Frank

Here in eastern PA, we are slowly seeing the seasonal transitions.

The essay below was on NPR this a.m.:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2013/04/23/178467726/noticing-how-to-take-a-walk-in-the-woods

I am struck by the author's focus on presence.  That is really what phenology is about - the appearance, sudden presence (or disappearance) of things in nature.  So go for a walk in the woods and let us know what you are noticing.

dwh

Phoebes are back!

On March 27, 2012, there were several reports of the "first of the season" Phoebes in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.

In my records, in 2011, these first showed up in Kunkletown (north of the Kittatinny Ridge) on 3/23 and last year on 3/15.  I haven't seen them here yet, but one was at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center yesterday (3/27).  In 2012 (a wierd year, for sure), the first reports in the Lehigh Valley were on 3/11 and 3/13.  I have the data for the Lehigh Valley in 2011, but not at my fingertips.  They sometimes are quiet for the first week or so when they first arrive, so are less noticeable.

Is it finally going to be spring?

From my other blog, but a bit on changing seasons
http://anewprosperity.blogspot.com/2013/03/not-your-typical-drive-home-from-work.html

January 12th and cherry blossoms?

Today, I had the first reports of cherry blossoms in Washington D.C.  Seriously.

Washington D.C. Cherry Blossoms in January 2013
(photo posted by fellow Audubon Together Green Fellow, Sara Espinoza, on Facebook)

The oldest known phenology records are of the timing of cherry tree blooms from China and Japan, going back over one thousand years.  A 2011 scientific paper by Sakurai, et al., published in the journal Biological Conservation reported that  "In Japan, biologists have found climate change is affecting species and ecosystems, including the earlier flowering time of cherry trees which are an important cultural symbol in Japan...According to research in Kyoto, the average flowering date during 1971– 2000 was 7 days earlier than an average of the previous 1200 years."

According to the National Park Service, the Peak Bloom Date in Washington is defined as "the day on which 70 percent of the blossoms of the Yoshino cherry trees that surround the Tidal Basin are open." As in Japan, this date has been arriving earlier by a week to ten days.

This tidbit of information may not have any significant impact on our lives, except when we should plan a weekend trip to the nation's capital in the spring.  But one has to wonder if this is a little sign from nature that we should be paying attention to what else might be changing as a consequence of climate change?

The times they are a changin'

From the phenology project in 2012, we had a number of "early "reports, especially with plants emerging/flowering at odd times. West Nile cases were reported in the state earlier. The PA Breeding Bird Census shows northwardly expanding ranges for several species. Any connection to the unusual weather patterns?

NOAA scientists confirm that 2012 was the warmest and second most extreme year on record for the contiguous U.S.:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130108131149.htm

Smart phones and citizen science

The apps are cool and adding to the number of people participating in citizen science projects like phenology!

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/apps-transform-cellphone-users-citizen-scientists

Heading to Doha

For the fourth year in a row, I am headed to the United Nations conference on climate change with a small delegation from Moravian College. We will be blogging, and to kick off COP18, I have posted the first entry for 2012:

http://moraviancollegeatunfccc.blogspot.com/2012/11/pondering-ad-dawhah.html

 

In the 2007 report (the 4th assessment report) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), authors noted the value of phenology as an indicator of ecological responses to a changing climate.  At the meetings in Doha, IPCC members are slated to provide a number of updates that will be published in the 5th assessment report.  I look forward to hearing what they have to say.

The Autumnal Equinox

I have been away from this blog for too long.

I noticed today the early tinges of color in the trees along the mountain as I worked on a sustainability project for campus. I had forgotten that today was the autumnal equinox, the start to my favorite season. And then I stumbled on this passage and thought it perfect for the day.

A hidden fire burns perpetually upon the hearth of the world.... In autumn this great conflagration becomes especially manifest. Then the flame that is slowly and mysteriously consuming every green thing bursts into vivid radiance. Every blade of grass and every leaf in the woodlands is cast into the great oven of Nature; and the bright colours of their fading are literally the flames of their consuming. The golden harvest-fields are glowing in the heart of the furnace.... By this autumn fire God every year purges the floor of nature. All effete substances that have served their purpose in the old form are burnt up. Everywhere God makes sweet and clean the earth with fire. ~Hugh Macmillan

My friend, Drew Lanham, posted this on Facebook today: “Happy Fall Y'all! 'Tis the season for chasing migrating warblers and wary whitetails. As summer relents to autumnal senescence, embrace the pace of things slowing down, moving on and storing up. It is my favorite time of year!”

What do you like about the autumn season?  What changes are you seeing (and when and where) that signal this fall season?  There are many phenological events to be recorded!

Welcome back to the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks

Towards the end of this past week, I noticed the first reports of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks in the state.  Bright and early this morning, a gorgeous male in fresh plumage was atop of our weeping cherry illuminated by the sun.  Another was singing in the woods behind our house.  This species is the herald for a number of other returning neotropical songbirds, so this coming week should bring some good birding.

After the mild winter and unusually warm weather in March, we have had much cooler weather recently in April and the spring advance has slowed.  Thus, I was curious as to how today’s arrival of the grosbeak compared to the trends we have been following. Below are the graphs plotting data from long-term records donated to the Eastern PA Phenology Project (Northampton, Lehigh, Carbon, and Monroe Counties) and from analysis of eBird data for the entire state.

Our bird today was pretty much right on target based on the trends for sightings north of the Kittatinny Ridge. 

First Day of Arrival of Rose-breasted Grosbeak
(Eastern PA Phenology Project Data)
Compiled by Anna Meola



First Day of Arrival of Rose-breasted Grosbeak
(All of PA data from eBird)
Compiled by Anna Meola

Nature on the Move?

The iConservePA program of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has been producing short videos for the Science Afield series that illustrate both the impact of changes in our environment and the important roles of citizens in observing and understanding these changes.  A new episode was recently posted that discusses the interrelationships between climate change and species important to the Commonwealth.  Science Afield, episode 2 - Nature on the Move?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL8DafgeuSQ

Comparing two years

Here are a few dates for phenological observations at Lehigh Gap, Lehigh County, PA in 2011 and 2012. Note that last year we had a warm spell in February, then a colder March, but still had an early spring for some things. This year is really unusual.

First Cabbage White butterfly
April 4, 2011
March 12, 2012
First Tree Swallow
April 4, 2011
March 14, 2012
First Trailing Arbutus (at Sheep Mountain, Franklin Twp, Carbon County, PA)
April 9, 2011
March 22, 2012
First Field Sparrow song
April 11, 2011
March 19, 2012
First Serviceberry Blossoms
April 21, 2011
March 23, 2012
First Maple flowers open
April 4, 2011
March 15, 2012

It has gotten cooler and little more seasonable lately, but now we are in drought. If that lasts, it could have significant consequences. Stay tuned.

A post on the early spring in Pennsylvania

See:  http://baypoll.blogspot.com/2012/03/early-spring.html

One of my favorite blog posts on climate change - ever

My worst global warming fear: buckeyes in Ann Arbor by Jeff Masters
See:
http://classic.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2032&tstamp=

What would Penn Staters worry about?!!