Monthly Archives: June 2017

Signs of Summer 7: The American Chestnut: Trans-genetics and Hybrids

The America chestnut (Castanea dentate), as I have written before, was once one of the most abundant trees in the forests of the eastern United States.  They were not the tallest tree in these forests, but they did have huge, … Continue reading

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Signs of Summer 6: A Good (Bad?”) Year For Ticks

Ticks are a recurring topic on the pages of this blog. We are exploring the ecology of Western Pennsylvania, after all, and Pennsylvania has been experiencing a population explosion of black legged ticks and is also the epicenter of the … Continue reading

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Signs of Summer 5: Leaf Shapes (and great questions!)

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from a Seventh Grade student named Gordon. Gordon was doing a Life Science project that involved coming up with a question that could not be answered by simply doing a Google … Continue reading

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Signs of Summer 4: Fledglings in the Yard

Watching the fledglings around my yard: A robin with a juvenile speckled breast follows an adult around my concrete slab basketball court. You assume the adult is teaching the fledgling how to find food, but the fledgling seems to be … Continue reading

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Signs of Summer 3: The Bluebirds of Harrison Hills Park

The Cavity Nesting Team is back for its third consecutive season in Harrison Hills Park in northern Allegheny County! The team (which includes Mardelle and Patrick Kopnicky, Sharon Svitek, Odessa Garlitz, Chris Urik, Paul Dudek, Kathy and Dave Brooke, and … Continue reading

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