Yesterday in Schenley: Fascinating Insects and Breeding Birds

Spittlebugs made this, 28 June 2026 (photo by Kate St. John) 29 June 2026 Sunday morning started foggy so there were only five of us for the Schenley Park outing. Four are pictured below with Charity Kheshgi holding the camera. By the time we started walking the fog was gone at ground level. Schenley Park outing, 28 June 2026 (photo by Charity Kheshgi) As expected we saw several robin fledglings but Best Bird was a pair of pileated woodpeckers foraging and shouting to keep in touch with each other. They probably had nestlings nearby but we didn’t see the nest. This photo from the same area a month ago is probably one of the pair. See our checklist at the end. Pileated woodpecker at Schenley Park 25 May 2026 (photo by Charity Kheshgi) Yesterday’s big attraction were the insects. We found white foam patches on plant stems (photo at top). Hiding inside the foam are spittlebugs, nymphal froghoppers that suck the juice out of plants and excrete it as a sticky foam to protect themselves…