Sweetgum leaf at Frick Park, 31 Oct 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

1 November 2026

Beautiful fall color this week at Frick (above) and Schenley Parks (below).

Bright yellow: Bottlebrush buckeyes, Schenley Park, 30 Oct 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

It was also gorgeous in Centre County where we took a getaway vacation in Bellefonte. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the beautifully renovated historic flour mill, Gamble Mill, and are impressed with how walkable Bellefonte is, especially the Waterfront Walkway that parallels Spring Creek as seen below.

• Gamble Mill inn & suites, Bellefonte, PA

Gamble Mill, Bellefonte: Historic flour mill, inn & suites (photo from gamblemillbellefonte.com)

• Bellefonte Waterfont Walkway next to Spring Creek, a high quality trout stream. Fisherman can fly fish here as long as they stand in the water (in waders).

Bellefonte Waterfront Walkway, 26 Oct 2026 (photo by Richard St John)

• Victorian style park bench with old spider webs. There are small flying insects near the creek.

This bench along the Waterfront walkway attracted insects for spiders to eat, 26 Oct 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

• Video of Spring Creek dam at Tallyrand Park.

• Another view of Spring Creek and colorful leaves.

Spring Creek at Krauss Park, Bellefonte, PA, 28 Oct 2026 (photo by Richard St. John)

• Bald Eagle lake + Bald Eagle Mountain at Bald Eagle State Park.

Bald Eagle Mountain and the lake at Bald Eagle State Park, 27 Oct 2026 (photo by Richard St. John)

Pittsburgh Crows:

Upon my return to Pittsburgh I decided to see how many crows had come to town. Many are roosting on University of Pittsburgh campus, so I walked the area on Thursday afternoon and counted large mature trees with poot-splat beneath them. There were 46 roost trees which hold, on average, 250 crows per night = 46 * 250 = 11,500 crows as of 29 Oct 2026.

Crows in flight (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

To double-check that number, I counted crows on their way to the roost last night, flying from the north & east moving west past my window. 8,150 crows in 25 minutes. This doesn’t include those flying in from the south and west. So 11,500 looks pretty good.