Blog
National Aviary
A photographic trip through Pittsburgh’s National Aviary.
Six minute read & view:
Birds from around the world
A 24-hour journey to my birth town, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
And an unusually colored squirrel
(What I believe is) A leucistic Eastern Gray Squirrel on the grounds of Allegheny Commons Park, Pittsburgh, PA | 253mm, 1/250s, f/5.0, ISO 500
On the 51st anniversary of The Immaculate Reception, my friend David and I took a jaunt to Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA for what would become a Steelers win! with Mason Rudolph as QB no less against the Cincinnati Bengals. It was December 23, 2023. That was a great experience for one Steelers fan (and the Raiders fan with me, question mark) and was my first time attending a game since my mom was pregnant with me in fall 1975 when at the venerable Three Rivers Stadium. Apparently the stadium that would be imploded in 2001 was only five and a half years old at the time…
That morning we had time for sightseeing downtown. So we went to Pittsburgh’s Northside and visited the National Aviary, located in Allegheny Commons Park. This very cool place provides an opportunity to see and photograph over 150 species of birds. The official website notes they are “America’s only independent indoor nonprofit zoo dedicated to birds”. The honorary “National” status was enacted into law by United States Congress in 1993, and Wikipedia also tells us this is the largest aviary in the US.
Not actual Love Birds, rather two Saipan White-Eye (Zosterops saypani). Conservation Status NT | 300mm, 1/400s, f/5.6, ISO 4000
The Aviary has several indoor and outdoor habitats, most of which are viewed from inside. The indoor rooms are conditioned to approximate tropical climate and you enter through a controlled vestibule to prevent bird escape. Once in, the birds are swimming, flying, perching, and in some cases, walking around you. The rooms seemed to vary mostly by size, light level, and whether they have water pools or not. We first visited Grasslands with its many finch- to robin-sized tree perching birds. Other than a couple of single species areas, like the outdoor Eurasian Eagle-Owl and Sea Eagle enclosures, my layman’s assessment is each habitat contains birds ranging from common to rare with native habitats from the United States to South America, Australasia, and Asia. In the Wetlands, where we spent the most time, it was a bit funny to see native Hooded Mergansers, Mallard, and a Brown Pelican (who I understand had been injured and is unable to be released) alongside brightly colored birds like Scarlet Ibis, Blue-bellied Roller, and Venezuelan Troupial.
One guide told me some birds have to be relocated occassionaly to a different room if they don’t get along with another. It got me thinking about what were the designed differences in each room, and how specific are the habitat and food requirements for the different species. But it was very cool to see them all together and be among them, if not while tolerating the Hyacinth Macaw’s constant and very loud screeching. As a photographer, it did feel slightly like shooting fish in a barrel, but it was a great opportunity to see species I will otherwise never get to as well as remove one or two variables surrounding distance and perspective out of the equation which are among the biggest challenges regularly faced.
Bubba, a 26-year old Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) looking very stoic. He reminds me of Sam the Eagle. Conservation Status NT | 472mm, 1/400s, f/7.1, ISO 12800
A Giant Eurasian Owl (Bubo bubo) napping. He was huge! | 270mm, 1/640s, f/5.6, iso 3200
An American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) in its distinctive orange-pink plumage and unipedal stance. Conservation Status LC | 238mm, 1/1250s, f/5.0 ISO 2500
This vibrantly colored (and aptly named) Superb Starling (Lamprotornis superbus) was captivated by the lens reflection. | 343mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 12800
A beautiful and royal-looking Victoria Crowned Pigeon (Goura victoria). Conservation Status NT | 223mm, 1/400s, f/5.0, iso 10000
A bird trip wouldn’t be complete without herons. These are Boat-billed Herons (Cochlearius cochlearius). | 109mm, 1/400s, f/7.1, iso 5000
A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus) | 343mm, 1/640s, f/5.6, iso 4000
One of many mustachiod-looking Inca Terns (Larosterna inca). They enjoy splashing and chasing around the water hole. | 500mm, 1/400s, f/7.1, iso 10000
A Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) poses, and then takes a bath. His color seems to match the flamingo’s! | (right photo) 238mm, 1/3200s, f/5.0, iso 10000
This Venezuelan Troupial (Icterus icterus) is related to the Oriole, as its’ colors suggest, and are nest pirates. | 500mm, 1/500s, f/7.1, iso 800
The semi-ubiquitous Snowy Egret (Egretta thulapani) having a good, or bad, hair day. Conservation Status LC | 400mm, 1/500s, f/7.1, ISO 5000
A pair of White-throated Bee-eaters (Merops albicollis) nestle on a branch. This an African native species. | 324mm, 1/640s, f/5.6, iso 1000
A diminutive African Pygmy Goose (Nettapus auritus) preening vigorously. | 324mm, 1/400s, f/5.6, iso 10000
A Toco Toucan (Ramphastos toco). I can’t imagine having a long bill to eat my fruit with. | 100mm, 1/640s, f/5.0, iso 3200
One of a pair of Steller’s Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus pelagicus). The beak halo is due to being photographed through glass. | 254mm, 1/640s, f/5.0, iso 2500
A striking Shaft-tailed Finch (Poephila acuticauda), an Australian species. | 343mm, 1/640s, f/5.6, iso 1250
This Blue-bellied Roller (Coracias cyanogaster) seemed to be posing, from Africa. | 428mm, 1/400s, f/6.3, iso 2000
A brightly colored Red Sisken (Spinus cucullatus) in the Grassland habitat. | 400mm, 1/400s, f/6.3, iso 1250
One of two Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus), the largest macaw species. They were loud! | 254mm, 1/320s, f/5.0, iso 6400
May you have a fantastic 2024 with many travel - photography - animal adventures!
Music used to create this post: Memphis, Tennessee (Roy Orbison), Une année sans lumière (Arcade Fire), Last Goodbye (Jeff Buckley), Faith I Do Believe (Rusted Root, Pittsburgh’s most famous band?), Delicate (Taylor Swift), Emily I’m Sorry (boygenius).
From Zeus to Helios
A 96-acre post-war antenna array in rural Maryland becomes a unique local spot for flower watching.
Eight minute read:
Public land conservation and wildlife management.
The first detection of extra-planetary radio signals.
Sunflowers
Rural Maryland lowlands, near the town of Poolesville.
A woman and her dog stroll along field #1 at McKee-Bershers Wildlife Management Area one late July afternoon. 32mm, 1/125s, f/10.0, iso 320
On the advice of my good friend, architect and enthusiast photographer (and amateur chef) David Belgin, I recently visited McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area. Here, along Maryland’s rural lowlands paralleling the Potomac River, is a network of managed sunflower, sorghum, and wheat fields cut in among hardwood and pine forest. Wetlands and a few dog training fields are sprinkled in for good measure. These are state-owned lands, managed for wildlife and accessible to the public. Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) grows crops as a food source for mourning doves, songbirds, and, from what I could tell, many thousands of bumblebee pollinators. Beginning in September, certain fields open during select times for dove hunting, just as they are at fifteen other WMA’s across the state into winter. The lands are park-like but in a satisfyingly undeveloped way.
A field of sunflowers looking west in the late afternoon. 8.38mm, 1/2000s, f/2.8, iso 110
Many others were visiting the fields during my trip - not a constant stream, more of a flow and ebb. Couples, a group of 20-something women in white dresses which I thought might be part of a wedding photoshoot (but when they wandered through the tall sunflowers, I wasn’t so sure), mother and daughters, whole families with young kids, others like myself with a camera and carrying a stepladder, top rung over their shoulder, and a few individuals. As I arrived at the gravel lot and sat in my car protected from heavy drizzle that was starting to dissipate, I reviewed the online map again to get oriented for a three-quarter-mile walk to one of the four fields. A closed vehicular gate served as a rallying point, many pairs and threesomes circumnavigating it to begin or end the journey into the 14 parcels that I later learned were joined over 40 years. Seeing the well-visited park, it seemed like a distinct possibility I was just coming into a not-so-well-kept secret.
An artichoke-like bud beginning to open. 70mm, 1/60s, f/11, iso 800
Looking at Google Earth’s historic imagery, aerials of this site show it has remained virtually unchanged for seventy years. The exact same field clearings among the same forested lands. Mr. Jim Bennett, Central Region Manager for DNR’s Wildlife and Heritage Service told me that the first two parcels were purchased in 1951 from the McKee family. In 1953 more acres were acquired from the Beshers family, hence the name of the WMA. First mystery solved. The last parcel was purchased in 1990.
One difference I did notice though from reviewing the images, wetlands appeared to be ponds filled to the brim in 1995’s version, internal farm roads containing the waters which read like smooth black masses. In other years though, these same areas look like Petri-dishes of bacteria growth, a mosaic of many different pea, olive, and forest-green blooms spread out, indicating puddles among desiccated mudflats. Perhaps the difference in overly wet and dry years. Re-reading Mr. Bennett’s message led me to question this assumption though.
One of the tools of land management he said that is used at McKee-Beshers are Green Tree Reservoirs (GTRs). Being an arborist planning for tree preservation during development (as part of my landscape architectural projects) and not trained in forestry which is all about the management of large stands of trees and timber production, this concept is new to me. Essentially, lowland forested areas or grasslands can be impounded during winter for periodic flooding. This simulates an increasingly less common natural cycle along stream and river valleys, less common because of flood control measures and loss of habitat from greenfield development. Studies of the best practices for GTR periodically reveal new insights. A balance must be struck in the amount of soil saturation so the forest stand’s health and composition are not compromised. If started too early, pin and other red-oak types that provide a valuable acorn food source and forest structure may die. But benefits, back to Mr. Bennett’s message, are improving wintering habitat for waterfowl and play a part in how they keep certain areas in early successional form. I am unsure where at McKee-Beshers GTRs are managed, but would be very interested to see them in action with ducks and geese. So maybe the variation patterns seen in the aerials for so many decades are part Mother Nature - part land manager driven.
A field of sunflowers looking west in the late afternoon. 254mm, 1/125s, f/9, iso 250, 80% crop
It turns out that McKee-Bershers had a different angle to its story in the mid-20th century. Much like Huntley Meadows in Alexandria was formerly used by the US Navy for information gathering purposes as I described in June, the Poolesville, Maryland site has a technological story of its own in the Mills Cross Radio Telescope. An article in The Astronomical Journal in 1955 describes a 96-acre two-dimensional array with “two crossed 2047-ft. arrays of 66 dipoles each”. The device set up by the Carnegie Institution of Washington was essentially two long electrified cables mounted with sensors pointing east-west and a wire mesh backing. The voltage could be adjusted in order to scan a particular part of the sky and, in return, collect bursts of radio noise. The main source of the disturbance they identified was near the Crab Nebula.
Scientists Bernard Burke and Kenneth Franklin “concluded that the radio noise is associated with Jupiter… in events in its atmosphere similar to terrestrial thunderstorms.” They determined this largely from the timing of the bursts they recorded, which aligned with the time for one rotation of Jupiter - once every 10 hours. “Astronomers had never picked up radio signals from any planet besides Earth.” The juicy details are described in more detail on NASA’s website. The oldest historic aerial I found is dated 1957 and shows a large X immediately west of what is today Field #2. You can see it today by searching for the coordinates 39°04'41.5"N 77°23'36.7"W. The next available image I found is dated 1963. In it the X pattern is no longer visible, though some nearby structures which no longer exist today did still remain.
Jupiter is the 5th and largest planet in our solar system. Jupiter was considered by many Romans to be king of the gods, and equivalent to the Greek god Zeus.
A woman and her daughter examine some flowers up close. 70mm, 1/100s, f/11, iso 640
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, 2021 is the Year of the Sunflower. Annual-type sunflowers, those which complete their life cycle in one year, have been domesticated for thousands of years, and are native to the Americas. Sunflowers are in the Asteraceae family, a huge taxonomic conglomerate of over 30,000 species of flowering plants including Asters, Lettuce, Artichoke, Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Artemesia (absinthe), and the infamous Ragweed.
A characteristic of the family is that each ‘flower’ or capitula is actually a collection of hundreds of small true flowers called florets. The large petals around the center are purely decorative (directing bees and other pollinators to the treasure they hold) and have been bred to various cultivars having different colors and sizes. I estimated the variety at McKee-Beshers to each have roughly 1,200 florets or, eventually, seeds. I found this article with a pretty detailed and interesting description of the life cycle of an annual sunflower. See “Stage 7. Seed Development” for a photograph of mature seeds ready for harvest from the flower.
Mature sunflower flowers facing east in late afternoon. Morning sun draws in pollinators. 24mm, 1/100s, f/11, iso 500, B&W Split Tone.
Sunflowers are a perfect example of heliotropism. Each flower follows the sun’s movement throughout each day, at least while the plants are actively increasing in size and their stems remain pliable. This time-lapsed swaying east to west occurs as they grow faster on the side the stem is exposed to direct light, as described in an article by UC Davis. Once the plants reach full size, as in the ones at McKee-Beshers during my visit, they will continue facing east even in the late afternoon. By facing east, they benefit from first exposure to the early morning sun, which warms and attracts more pollinators. In experiments, flowers that were forced to face west in morning received fewer visits.
What birds are likely to seek out the sunflowers, corn, sorghum, wheat, and acorns during fall and winter? I’ve just recently tried to wrap my mind around the bird family tree, I think they will fall into four main groups: upland game birds such as Pheasant, Quail, and Turkey (the Galliformes), Mourning Doves (Columbiformes), Goldfinch, and other songbirds (passerines), and waterfowl like Mallards, Wood Duck, Canada Goose, and Bufflehead (Anseriformes). Some of these birds and the rodents which are likely to also benefit from all the protein, carbohydrates, fats, and mineral goodness may, in turn, attract Osprey or Bald Eagles (Accipitriformes) from the nearby Potomac River. A regular palustrine circle of life.
By the way, the sun for which sunflowers are named is of course the star at center of our solar system. Many ancient Greeks considered Helios to be god and personification of the sun.
Sunflowers may have over 1000 florets, which develop into over 1000 seeds. 400mm, 1/125s, f/6.3, iso 125
Music used to create this post: Ignoreland (REM), Alligator (Of Monsters & Men), It Can Happen (Yes), I Know The End (Phoebe Bridgers), Get Out (Chvrches)
Origins
Wetlands as a metaphor for beginnings, inspiration, and growth.
This male Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, pendulum-sways atop a cattail reed. 500mm, 1/2000s, f/8.0, iso 800
I’m a bit of a collector. There’s something about creating a place to gather ideas, memories, crafted things (like photographs), and the like. Every now and then I drive by some scene during vacation or daily life, moments later regretting not pulling over to capture at least a quick snapshot. I rue the days (well, not quite) I didn’t write down a song that would be great for a particular dinner club theme and now can’t remember, or a favorite word I cannot now think of - telemetry is one I did. As Al Harris once said, it feels good in the mouth. Memories and even ideas can be fleeting, so to collect is to remember and, in the case of a website, hopefully, share with others and contribute to something bigger.
I’ve contemplated a photocentric website for many years. Today there are so many channels for all sorts of information and the avenues are fairly vast. Blogs can marry the visual with written word without necessarily selling something tangible. For me it’s partly an opportunity for discipline - following through on a commitment to visit, record, contemplate, challenge and synthesize ideas into coherent thought - something I often regret not having done better. So at long last, moving past an idea, beyond a day or two’s time invested creating before stopping short for feeling something was not ready, or some technical limitation I let get in the way. A first blog post.
A Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, takes a brief fishing spot adjustment-flight. 500mm, 1/1600s, f/7.1, iso 800
This spring I spent time at several local wetlands looking for birds and other animals: from two old farm ponds in the neighborhood, at Huntley Meadows Park, to my drinking water source at Beaverdam Reservoir, and my first visit to the recently completed 3/4-mile Neabsco Creek Boardwalk which is part of Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. One of my strongest memories as a boy scout was canoeing through the duckweed and black waters of Merchants Mill Pond State Park in North Carolina, and now I want to plan a trip back there. I occasionally hike around freshwater wetlands, but don’t usually stop to immerse in these places: listening, hearing, smelling. I was struck suddenly during the most recent visit to Huntley Meadows, while in the center of hundreds of acres of emergent marsh, by a strong and pleasing smell. I think it was Grandma’s basement; it was musty but with an undeniable freshness. Back in the parking lot, I saw three guys who had just arrived taking dramatically deep inhalations of air as they wafted with their hands towards their faces. Their looks to each other said, “Smell that fresh air?”, even though the park is in the most populous jurisdiction in Virginia and the Washington, DC metro area, Fairfax County.
My olfactory moment back on the wetland was equally exciting as when a green heron took off 20 feet from me shortly before, and flew almost in arm’s reach. Earlier at Neabsco, I watched for over 20 minutes as a red-winged blackbird relentlessly harassed a blue heron who seemed to be trying to fish in peace. The sight of a blackbird chasing a heron, crow, hawk, or osprey is as ubiquitous as seeing one stake out his territory alone atop a swaying cattail reed, but this one’s boldness was a degree higher. All of these moments keep me wanting to return to these wetlands for more.
This Green Heron, Butorides virescens, momentarily showed off his or her crown feathers for the camera. 500mm, 1/1250s, f/7.1, iso 1600
Wetlands are symbolic of birth and rebirth, productivity and richness. They provide valuable ecosystem services by storing sediment, pollutants, and excess nutrients. They ameliorate flooding in the watershed. They have helped to inspire first blog posts. Most interestingly perhaps, they support a disproportionately diverse range of plant and animal species.
Birds, turtles, amphibians, and mammals that I’ve watched stalk, sun, fly, grow and swim in Northern Virginia’s freshwaters during April and May include Pickerelweed, Swamp-rose Mallow, Common Rush, Silky Dogwood, and Elderberry. Muskrat, Beaver, White-tailed Deer. Eastern Painted Turtle, Red-eared Slider, Snapping Turtle; even an anomalous adult American Bullfrog with a very long tail. Northern Cardinal, Tree Swallow, Great Egret, Spotted Sandpiper, Osprey. Common Grackle, Fish Crow, Wood Duck, and Eastern Bluebird. Since wetlands are federally protected resources, these sites are often among the most popular public parks. This level of interest can be a blessing and a curse, necessitating additional needs and resources for management for people and the wildlife there alike.
A family of Canada Geese, Branta canadensis, go for a mid-morning swim. Is mom or dad first? 500mm, 1/1600s, f/7.1, iso 1250
As a landscape architect, my daily professional routine is to collect and unify ideas. It’s a complex process that usually and eventually results in drawings and written documents that a contractor will use to physically modify the site and construct something new. During the design process we mix in our understandings of human behavior, site historical activity, choices of materials - frequently including water, earth, stone, and wood - and our analysis of a site’s tactile qualities, both “natural” and human-influenced, among the arrangements of physical space. The resulting creation is capital-L Landscape. Hopefully, these efforts enhance existing or newly achieve a sense of place. One definition of this is a memorable and desirable connection between people and a particular space.
My work tends to have an even balance of urban and suburban contexts, with an occasional rural site for good measure. In 2020, a normal week included detailing for an urban town center redevelopment project, leading a team of consultants developing plans for a large 40-acre park that will have formal athletic fields with a mile-long trail network through a large meadow, and developing entrance gateway renderings for a small wooded campus (and residence) for the owners of a federal contracting business. A smaller proportion of sites are very naturalistic - where the pre-construction amount of forest and unpaved open area greatly exceeds the impervious surfaces and other marks left by people.
But what is natural tends to be deceiving, particularly in a large metropolitan area. Not one but two neighborhood-scale park sites which we will complete design or construction for this year had a public school on them before being given over to the park authority for decades of passive and active recreation. As we planned the renovated designs that will take shape, it was only when borings that must be taken to evaluate the ground’s capacity for infiltrating stormwater, or when earth was started to be shifted to its new elevations, that foundations of concrete block, brick, and asphalt were revealed and we gained new insight of how the land that today feels mostly ‘natural’ was managed. Buildings were flattened and earth was spread across it, creating new geologic strata of sorts.
A Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas, lingers on a tree near the marsh edge. 500mm, 1/640s, f/7.1, iso 2000
Even the tranquil waters and second-growth woodlands of Huntley Meadows today belie a quite different past. In the 1920s the land which had been owned by George Mason in the 1750s was reassembled by a developer with designs on developing it into the world’s largest airport. After the Great Depression happened, the government acquired the land and used it for testing asphalt road surfacings, as a base for an anti-aircraft battery defending Washington, DC, and later classified naval communications research. Eventually, Gerald Ford conveyed it to the citizens of Fairfax County, and since that time big planning and engineering projects have been conducted to address the impacts caused by watershed development which led to sedimentation and declining biodiversity of the wetlands that had since taken over.
Being there, immersed in the quiet solitude broken by the thudding of woodpeckers, croaking of bullfrogs, and the quiet maneuvering of many photographers along the boardwalk, I would not have known that roughly ten years ago the largest of these projects was finished. Today efforts to continually assess the conditions and results of that work are ongoing in what is Fairfax County’s largest park.
An ambitious Green Heron spears an American Bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus, and struggles to consume it. This photo is not of good quality from low light and heavy cropping, but it shows a long tail, usually reabsorbed through apoptosis during adolescence, which I didn’t notice until later that evening. 500mm, 1/200s, f/7.1, iso 2000
As I mentioned before, it’s not very hard to find good examples of storytelling, photography, interesting information about our natural systems, and other allied topics. I appreciate all those who produce quality content and have served as inspiration for me and others. Like DailyVogel. A Bird A Day, The Planthunter, Tony and Chelsea Northrup, and the National Park Service, among others.
The marshy interior of Huntley Meadows Park midday. 12mm, 1/125s, f/9.0, iso 100
