Posted 9-12-21
A zipper spider
Naturally
September is the month of red leaves, ripe fruits and relocating birds.
After perching like an undertaker, a turkey vulture became one with the wind. I saw a vesper sparrow whose molt made it look as if it had been mugged.
Who can see enough chickadees? Not me. I’m caught in the gravitational pull of the tiny, habituated feeder bird. The same goes for butterflies. I see a few monarch butterflies moving across a lake near me every month they are flying, but the numbers flying over water increase during migration. Monarch populations in Minnesota peak in late August and early September as resident butterflies are joined by those from farther north.
I paused my walk to marvel at the beauty of a black-and-yellow Argiope. This orb weaver is called a corn spider, zipper spider, writing spider, golden garden spider, yellow spider, yellow garden spider, golden orb weaver, scribbler spider, yellow-and-black garden spider, McKinley spider and Argiope aurantia. A male courts a female by plucking at her web. Initially, webs are placed in areas sheltered from the wind, but as spiders age, they prefer higher web placement. After mating, the female deposits egg sacs on her web. The eggs hatch in late summer or fall and the hatchlings overwinter in the sac, not leaving it until spring. Juveniles disperse by ballooning, releasing silk that catches wind currents. Females die in a hard frost and males after mating.
There are so many dead animals on the road, I have to remind myself not to become calloused by their abundance.
A friend, Ruth Olson of Albert Lea, owns an African grey parrot that loves watermelon. When Ruth gives Elly May (named for Elly May Clampett of “Beverly Hillbillies” fame) a bit of melon, Elly May says, “Mmmmm!”
Duck stamp
Beginning with the 2022 federal duck stamp art contest, artists will no longer be required to include a hunting element in submissions, according to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The duck stamp was established in 1934, the same year President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act and launched legislation to protect and purchase wetlands vital to the survival of waterfowl and other wildlife. Ding Darling, an editorial cartoonist at the Des Moines Register and eventual head of the U.S. Biological Survey, drew the first stamp. The sketch showed a drake and hen mallard dropping into a marsh. Sales of the stamp to hunters, birdwatchers, outdoor enthusiasts and collectors have generated $1.1 billion to conserve over 6 million acres of habitat for birds and other wildlife and provide countless opportunities for hunting and other wildlife-oriented recreation on public lands. Ninety-eight percent of stamp sales go toward acquiring acreage in the National Wildlife Refuge System. The $25 stamps are available at most post offices.
Q&A
A customer sent me a video of a Jenner and a Kardashian saving a bird and asked what kind it was. It looked as if a song sparrow had gotten into their Malibu vacation home. The women didn’t save the bird, but they did help it by opening a door so it could fly out.
Marcia Clay of Truman asks where all the birds are. Natural food sources for birds are currently at their peak. The grocery shelves are stocked and the restaurants offer full menus. Trees produce nuts and seeds, plants offer seeds and insects are abundant. This makes it easy for birds to move about and some birds are migrating—shorebirds, warblers, Franklin’s gulls, hummingbirds, common nighthawks, chimney swifts, etc.—the other ones will be back to your yard.
Roger Batt of Algona asked about the nectar recipe for orioles and if it’s OK to feed them grape jelly. Orioles are fine with 1 part white sugar to 6 parts water. There have been no scientific studies conducted to determine any health hazards posed by grape jelly, but moderation, as it is in all things, might be wise.
Jim Van Riper of Albert Lea asked when Baltimore orioles leave. The peak migration is August and the first half of September. The majority of the birds reach their winter homes in Mexico, Central America or South America by the end of October.
“How can I tell a bee from a wasp?” Bees are fuzzy and chubby. They are cute. Wasps are smooth and skinny. They look threatening. Yellowjackets (a kind of wasp) are the ones most likely to hover around your picnic. They may be attracted to meat and soft drinks. Honey bees are vegetarians and aren’t usually drawn to soft drinks. Yellowjackets can be high-strung when searching for sweets and proteins.
Thanks for stopping by
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”—Soren Kierkegaard
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."—Marcel Proust
©Al Batt 2021
A zipper spider
Naturally
September is the month of red leaves, ripe fruits and relocating birds.
After perching like an undertaker, a turkey vulture became one with the wind. I saw a vesper sparrow whose molt made it look as if it had been mugged.
Who can see enough chickadees? Not me. I’m caught in the gravitational pull of the tiny, habituated feeder bird. The same goes for butterflies. I see a few monarch butterflies moving across a lake near me every month they are flying, but the numbers flying over water increase during migration. Monarch populations in Minnesota peak in late August and early September as resident butterflies are joined by those from farther north.
I paused my walk to marvel at the beauty of a black-and-yellow Argiope. This orb weaver is called a corn spider, zipper spider, writing spider, golden garden spider, yellow spider, yellow garden spider, golden orb weaver, scribbler spider, yellow-and-black garden spider, McKinley spider and Argiope aurantia. A male courts a female by plucking at her web. Initially, webs are placed in areas sheltered from the wind, but as spiders age, they prefer higher web placement. After mating, the female deposits egg sacs on her web. The eggs hatch in late summer or fall and the hatchlings overwinter in the sac, not leaving it until spring. Juveniles disperse by ballooning, releasing silk that catches wind currents. Females die in a hard frost and males after mating.
There are so many dead animals on the road, I have to remind myself not to become calloused by their abundance.
A friend, Ruth Olson of Albert Lea, owns an African grey parrot that loves watermelon. When Ruth gives Elly May (named for Elly May Clampett of “Beverly Hillbillies” fame) a bit of melon, Elly May says, “Mmmmm!”
Duck stamp
Beginning with the 2022 federal duck stamp art contest, artists will no longer be required to include a hunting element in submissions, according to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The duck stamp was established in 1934, the same year President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act and launched legislation to protect and purchase wetlands vital to the survival of waterfowl and other wildlife. Ding Darling, an editorial cartoonist at the Des Moines Register and eventual head of the U.S. Biological Survey, drew the first stamp. The sketch showed a drake and hen mallard dropping into a marsh. Sales of the stamp to hunters, birdwatchers, outdoor enthusiasts and collectors have generated $1.1 billion to conserve over 6 million acres of habitat for birds and other wildlife and provide countless opportunities for hunting and other wildlife-oriented recreation on public lands. Ninety-eight percent of stamp sales go toward acquiring acreage in the National Wildlife Refuge System. The $25 stamps are available at most post offices.
Q&A
A customer sent me a video of a Jenner and a Kardashian saving a bird and asked what kind it was. It looked as if a song sparrow had gotten into their Malibu vacation home. The women didn’t save the bird, but they did help it by opening a door so it could fly out.
Marcia Clay of Truman asks where all the birds are. Natural food sources for birds are currently at their peak. The grocery shelves are stocked and the restaurants offer full menus. Trees produce nuts and seeds, plants offer seeds and insects are abundant. This makes it easy for birds to move about and some birds are migrating—shorebirds, warblers, Franklin’s gulls, hummingbirds, common nighthawks, chimney swifts, etc.—the other ones will be back to your yard.
Roger Batt of Algona asked about the nectar recipe for orioles and if it’s OK to feed them grape jelly. Orioles are fine with 1 part white sugar to 6 parts water. There have been no scientific studies conducted to determine any health hazards posed by grape jelly, but moderation, as it is in all things, might be wise.
Jim Van Riper of Albert Lea asked when Baltimore orioles leave. The peak migration is August and the first half of September. The majority of the birds reach their winter homes in Mexico, Central America or South America by the end of October.
“How can I tell a bee from a wasp?” Bees are fuzzy and chubby. They are cute. Wasps are smooth and skinny. They look threatening. Yellowjackets (a kind of wasp) are the ones most likely to hover around your picnic. They may be attracted to meat and soft drinks. Honey bees are vegetarians and aren’t usually drawn to soft drinks. Yellowjackets can be high-strung when searching for sweets and proteins.
Thanks for stopping by
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”—Soren Kierkegaard
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."—Marcel Proust
©Al Batt 2021
Photo of Argiope aurantia by Al Batt
Posted 9-5-21
Bald blue jays
Naturally
I heard a pileated woodpecker call in the yard. It’s louder, lower-pitched and less regular than that of the northern flicker.
Common nighthawks flew over the yard. They were migrating to Brazil, but circled overhead and fed as I watched. They opened their mouths wide and ate whatever happened into their flight path.
I watched a hawk perched on a utility pole, peering at a tractor moving ground around in a farm field. Red-tailed hawks are common and they get to know the machinery that stirs up dinner for them. The field activities of tractors and combines chase rabbits, mice and voles from hiding. Gulls also enjoy the company of farm equipment providing comestibles in the form of grubs, worms and rodents.
Perfectly respectable songbirds have become ragged looking because of molts. Feathers needing replacement are subbed for. I see bald blue jays in my yard. The jays are fine, nothing more than the victims of an irregular molt. A friend who had been a bird rehabber told me she had never found mites on the bald heads of any jays, so it’s merely a simultaneous molt. It’s the nature of nature.
Q&A
“I see tall trees with silver leaves in southern Minnesota. What might they be?” The silver undersides of silver maple leaves make an impressive showing when the wind blows.
Jerry Viktora of Ellendale asked when hummingbirds leave. Ruby-throated hummingbirds begin to migrate south in mid-August, and most have left the state by the end of September—although stragglers are found into October. Keeping your hummingbird feeders up won’t cause the tiny birds to stay.
“I saw a snake near the river that acted like a rattlesnake, but it wasn’t. What kind of snake do you think it might have been?” Western fox snakes are among Minnesota’s longest snakes, reaching over 5 feet in length. The fox snake doesn't look like a fox. It got its name because when it’s handled it gives off a musky odor similar to that of a red fox. It’s yellow to dark brown with big, dark blotches and a belly that is yellow with black marks. Adults have an unmarked bronze-colored head. It’s found mainly along the Minnesota, St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. Despite lacking rattles, the fox snake can make a rattling sound by shaking its tail and may hiss when threatened.
“Do we duck because of the habits of ducks?” Yes. Our modern English word duck comes from the Old English “ducan,” which had nothing to do with a bird. Ducan was a verb meaning “to plunge underwater suddenly, to dive or dip.” The name duck for the waterfowl came from its habit of feeding by ducking, plunging its head into the water. To prepare for an atomic bomb, many American schoolchildren were taught to duck and cover.
“What’s the difference between a bill and a beak?” Not a thing—the two words are synonymous. Ornithologists use “bill” more than “beak.” Some people use “beak” when referring to songbirds with pointed bills, and “bill” for birds like ducks, but they mean the same thing.
“I think there are more grasshoppers this year. Am I crazy?” I’m not qualified to judge your mental state, but fungi are one of the major threats to grasshopper eggs. Hot, dry weather limits the growth of fungi and results in a larger proportion of eggs hatching. Grasshoppers thrive in hot weather. Insects are cold-blooded creatures and hot weather means their metabolism runs faster, so they eat more and grow faster. Grasshoppers are often more numerous in hot, dry conditions.
“What percent of bats have rabies?” According to the Minnesota Department of Health’s Zoonotic Diseases unit, 3 to 4% of bats tested for rabies in Minnesota test positive. Those bats aren’t a random sample, being the ones that have come into contact with humans. Only 1% of the total bat population is likely rabid. Over 51,000 people died in Minnesota in 2020, none from rabies.
“What animal has the best hearing?” The barn owl has better hearing than any animal that has been tested.
“What does the ruffed grouse hit its wings against to drum?” The sound resembling someone trying to start a 2-cylinder engine in the woods is produced by a male grouse in a drumming display. He creates it by beating his wings against the air to create a vacuum, as lightning does when it makes thunder.
HHH
It’s no Hubert Horatio Humphrey, but the Henderson Hummingbird Hurrah was a bodacious blast. Bender Park, the garden, the hummingbirds and the people were all gold medalists.
Thanks for stopping by
“Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.”—Mark Twain
“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Bald blue jays
Naturally
I heard a pileated woodpecker call in the yard. It’s louder, lower-pitched and less regular than that of the northern flicker.
Common nighthawks flew over the yard. They were migrating to Brazil, but circled overhead and fed as I watched. They opened their mouths wide and ate whatever happened into their flight path.
I watched a hawk perched on a utility pole, peering at a tractor moving ground around in a farm field. Red-tailed hawks are common and they get to know the machinery that stirs up dinner for them. The field activities of tractors and combines chase rabbits, mice and voles from hiding. Gulls also enjoy the company of farm equipment providing comestibles in the form of grubs, worms and rodents.
Perfectly respectable songbirds have become ragged looking because of molts. Feathers needing replacement are subbed for. I see bald blue jays in my yard. The jays are fine, nothing more than the victims of an irregular molt. A friend who had been a bird rehabber told me she had never found mites on the bald heads of any jays, so it’s merely a simultaneous molt. It’s the nature of nature.
Q&A
“I see tall trees with silver leaves in southern Minnesota. What might they be?” The silver undersides of silver maple leaves make an impressive showing when the wind blows.
Jerry Viktora of Ellendale asked when hummingbirds leave. Ruby-throated hummingbirds begin to migrate south in mid-August, and most have left the state by the end of September—although stragglers are found into October. Keeping your hummingbird feeders up won’t cause the tiny birds to stay.
“I saw a snake near the river that acted like a rattlesnake, but it wasn’t. What kind of snake do you think it might have been?” Western fox snakes are among Minnesota’s longest snakes, reaching over 5 feet in length. The fox snake doesn't look like a fox. It got its name because when it’s handled it gives off a musky odor similar to that of a red fox. It’s yellow to dark brown with big, dark blotches and a belly that is yellow with black marks. Adults have an unmarked bronze-colored head. It’s found mainly along the Minnesota, St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. Despite lacking rattles, the fox snake can make a rattling sound by shaking its tail and may hiss when threatened.
“Do we duck because of the habits of ducks?” Yes. Our modern English word duck comes from the Old English “ducan,” which had nothing to do with a bird. Ducan was a verb meaning “to plunge underwater suddenly, to dive or dip.” The name duck for the waterfowl came from its habit of feeding by ducking, plunging its head into the water. To prepare for an atomic bomb, many American schoolchildren were taught to duck and cover.
“What’s the difference between a bill and a beak?” Not a thing—the two words are synonymous. Ornithologists use “bill” more than “beak.” Some people use “beak” when referring to songbirds with pointed bills, and “bill” for birds like ducks, but they mean the same thing.
“I think there are more grasshoppers this year. Am I crazy?” I’m not qualified to judge your mental state, but fungi are one of the major threats to grasshopper eggs. Hot, dry weather limits the growth of fungi and results in a larger proportion of eggs hatching. Grasshoppers thrive in hot weather. Insects are cold-blooded creatures and hot weather means their metabolism runs faster, so they eat more and grow faster. Grasshoppers are often more numerous in hot, dry conditions.
“What percent of bats have rabies?” According to the Minnesota Department of Health’s Zoonotic Diseases unit, 3 to 4% of bats tested for rabies in Minnesota test positive. Those bats aren’t a random sample, being the ones that have come into contact with humans. Only 1% of the total bat population is likely rabid. Over 51,000 people died in Minnesota in 2020, none from rabies.
“What animal has the best hearing?” The barn owl has better hearing than any animal that has been tested.
“What does the ruffed grouse hit its wings against to drum?” The sound resembling someone trying to start a 2-cylinder engine in the woods is produced by a male grouse in a drumming display. He creates it by beating his wings against the air to create a vacuum, as lightning does when it makes thunder.
HHH
It’s no Hubert Horatio Humphrey, but the Henderson Hummingbird Hurrah was a bodacious blast. Bender Park, the garden, the hummingbirds and the people were all gold medalists.
Thanks for stopping by
“Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.”—Mark Twain
“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 8-29-21
Almanac predictions for winter
Naturally
I picked tomatoes while being thankful I’m not a member of the Flat Tomato Society. Being outdoors focuses my attention. Especially when deer flies are around. It’s all a sinister plot of the insects to survive.
The Farmer’s Almanac (published in Maine since 1818) predicts a “Numb’s the word, just shovels along” winter for us. The Old Farmer’s Almanac (published in New Hampshire since 1792) says our winter will be more wet than white.
A goldenrod patch is a world-class insect zoo. Bees, butterflies, soldier beetles, wasps, ambush bugs, crab spiders, etc. Remember, allergies are caused by ragweed, not goldenrod. Goldenrod is insect-pollinated, ragweed is wind-pollinated. I marveled at the beauty of a black and yellow Argiope. The writing spider had sentry duty on a web she’d built nearby. As I watched the spider hogtie prey, I thought she would have been good with a yo-yo. The colorful orb weaver makes a dandy photographic subject.
Chimney swifts are flying cigars. It has been estimated they fly 500 miles per day. They and common nighthawks vacuum insects from the air.
I miss the sounds of the Baltimore orioles. They are still around but are quiet. Arthur Cleveland Bent wrote of them, “We hear the softest, sweetest voice of all our birds—‘the herald of spring,’ Alexander Wilson calls him.”
The eastern chipmunk is maybe 10 inches long including its tail, yet it can put 31 kernels of corn, 7 acorns or 70 sunflower seeds in its cheek pouches. It might store 1/2 bushel of seeds and nuts in its burrow.
I strolled past lily pads and heard the snapping sounds of sunfish feeding.
The mew gull, common along the Pacific coast, is now the short-billed gull.
Q&A
“Are pelican eyes red?” They are white in hatchlings, becoming hazel to bluish-gray in adult American white pelicans. The bare skin around the eye is an orange-yellow color.
“Are goldenrod soldier beetles good guys?” This beetle is numerous in my goldenrod patch. It’s distinctive with its burnt orange color and two dark stripes on its lower wing covers. It’s a pollinator that feeds on nectar and pollen. It enjoys the occasional aphid. Its larvae feed on yummy things such as aphids, caterpillars and grasshopper eggs. It’s a beneficial insect.
“What is blue-green algae?” It’s not algae, but cyanobacteria. This type of bacteria looks like pea soup and thrives in warm, shallow, nutrient-rich lakes. Reducing the amount of nutrients getting into the lake by limiting the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen from lawn fertilizer, and runoff from cities, cultivated fields and feedlots.
“Are there more Cooper’s hawks than 50 years ago? If so, why?” The few days before writing this, I’d seen several Coop’s hunting house sparrows from roadsides and being mobbed by angry red-winged blackbirds. The hawk's positive population trends are a turnaround from the mid-twentieth century when the use of the pesticide DDT and widespread shooting had reduced populations.
Ken Nelson of Clarks Grove asked if barn swallows reuse nests. The presence of old nests appears to indicate territory quality and suitable nests from previous years are sometimes occupied. Birds avoid heavily parasitized nests. Many pairs switch nests between first and second broods. Those using old nests for their first broods are more likely to switch. Changing nests between first and second broods improves fledging success of second broods. Donna Hagerty of Waseca told me she had watched two broods fledge from the same barn swallow nest at her place this year.
"What do sandhill cranes eat?" I watched the cranes along the Platte River in March turn over dried cowpies to find edibles. They eat almost anything. While stopped in Nebraska on their migration, about 90% of their diet is made up of waste corn in the fields. The cranes are omnivorous with a diet heavy in seeds and cultivated grains, but the menu includes berries, tubers, small vertebrates and invertebrates. Insects, snails, reptiles, amphibians, nestling birds and small mammals are fair game. They aren't much interested in fish, but there are reports of them eating some. Sandhill cranes are doing well, but cranes are among the most endangered families of birds in the world, with 11 of the 15 species threatened with extinction. All 15 species can be seen alive and well at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. It’s an incredible place to visit.
Thanks for stopping by
"The constant happiness is curiosity."—Alice Munro
"One hardly knows what quality to admire most in the Barn Swallow. All the dear associations of life at the old farm come thronging up at sight of him. You think of him somehow as part of the sacred past; yet here he is today as young and as fresh as ever, bubbling over with springtime laughter."—William L. Dawson
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Almanac predictions for winter
Naturally
I picked tomatoes while being thankful I’m not a member of the Flat Tomato Society. Being outdoors focuses my attention. Especially when deer flies are around. It’s all a sinister plot of the insects to survive.
The Farmer’s Almanac (published in Maine since 1818) predicts a “Numb’s the word, just shovels along” winter for us. The Old Farmer’s Almanac (published in New Hampshire since 1792) says our winter will be more wet than white.
A goldenrod patch is a world-class insect zoo. Bees, butterflies, soldier beetles, wasps, ambush bugs, crab spiders, etc. Remember, allergies are caused by ragweed, not goldenrod. Goldenrod is insect-pollinated, ragweed is wind-pollinated. I marveled at the beauty of a black and yellow Argiope. The writing spider had sentry duty on a web she’d built nearby. As I watched the spider hogtie prey, I thought she would have been good with a yo-yo. The colorful orb weaver makes a dandy photographic subject.
Chimney swifts are flying cigars. It has been estimated they fly 500 miles per day. They and common nighthawks vacuum insects from the air.
I miss the sounds of the Baltimore orioles. They are still around but are quiet. Arthur Cleveland Bent wrote of them, “We hear the softest, sweetest voice of all our birds—‘the herald of spring,’ Alexander Wilson calls him.”
The eastern chipmunk is maybe 10 inches long including its tail, yet it can put 31 kernels of corn, 7 acorns or 70 sunflower seeds in its cheek pouches. It might store 1/2 bushel of seeds and nuts in its burrow.
I strolled past lily pads and heard the snapping sounds of sunfish feeding.
The mew gull, common along the Pacific coast, is now the short-billed gull.
Q&A
“Are pelican eyes red?” They are white in hatchlings, becoming hazel to bluish-gray in adult American white pelicans. The bare skin around the eye is an orange-yellow color.
“Are goldenrod soldier beetles good guys?” This beetle is numerous in my goldenrod patch. It’s distinctive with its burnt orange color and two dark stripes on its lower wing covers. It’s a pollinator that feeds on nectar and pollen. It enjoys the occasional aphid. Its larvae feed on yummy things such as aphids, caterpillars and grasshopper eggs. It’s a beneficial insect.
“What is blue-green algae?” It’s not algae, but cyanobacteria. This type of bacteria looks like pea soup and thrives in warm, shallow, nutrient-rich lakes. Reducing the amount of nutrients getting into the lake by limiting the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen from lawn fertilizer, and runoff from cities, cultivated fields and feedlots.
“Are there more Cooper’s hawks than 50 years ago? If so, why?” The few days before writing this, I’d seen several Coop’s hunting house sparrows from roadsides and being mobbed by angry red-winged blackbirds. The hawk's positive population trends are a turnaround from the mid-twentieth century when the use of the pesticide DDT and widespread shooting had reduced populations.
Ken Nelson of Clarks Grove asked if barn swallows reuse nests. The presence of old nests appears to indicate territory quality and suitable nests from previous years are sometimes occupied. Birds avoid heavily parasitized nests. Many pairs switch nests between first and second broods. Those using old nests for their first broods are more likely to switch. Changing nests between first and second broods improves fledging success of second broods. Donna Hagerty of Waseca told me she had watched two broods fledge from the same barn swallow nest at her place this year.
"What do sandhill cranes eat?" I watched the cranes along the Platte River in March turn over dried cowpies to find edibles. They eat almost anything. While stopped in Nebraska on their migration, about 90% of their diet is made up of waste corn in the fields. The cranes are omnivorous with a diet heavy in seeds and cultivated grains, but the menu includes berries, tubers, small vertebrates and invertebrates. Insects, snails, reptiles, amphibians, nestling birds and small mammals are fair game. They aren't much interested in fish, but there are reports of them eating some. Sandhill cranes are doing well, but cranes are among the most endangered families of birds in the world, with 11 of the 15 species threatened with extinction. All 15 species can be seen alive and well at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. It’s an incredible place to visit.
Thanks for stopping by
"The constant happiness is curiosity."—Alice Munro
"One hardly knows what quality to admire most in the Barn Swallow. All the dear associations of life at the old farm come thronging up at sight of him. You think of him somehow as part of the sacred past; yet here he is today as young and as fresh as ever, bubbling over with springtime laughter."—William L. Dawson
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 8-22-21
Naturally
A gentleman from Gaylord told a wonderful story about his grandfather. His grandfather wore a coat much of the year. I understand that. My father-in-law put on an overcoat to eat ice cream in the summer. One spring, the teller of the story and his grandfather were doing hard work as the day warmed. The grandfather hung his coat on a fence post. When the job was finished, the two walked over to pick up the coat. They noticed a wren had placed a pile of sticks in one of the coat’s pockets. That meant the pocket had become a potential nest. The narrator reached to grab the coat for his elder. His grandfather said, “Leave it there. I can always find another coat.”
The moths were reminders there are more insects than those who bite me. I walked under the light of a full moon and frightened a rabbit that had been making a meal of white (Dutch) clover. It caused me to think of Hank Williams. Dad enjoyed listening to all the Hanks—Thompson, Snow and Locklin, but Hank Williams was my father’s favorite singer. Father and I spent much time together in the dairy barn, where the old Philco radio (19 knobs and dials, only two of which made any difference—on/off/volume and station select) was tuned to either baseball or country music. Hank Williams sang, “I rode my horse to town today and a gas pump we did pass. I pulled him up and I hollered whoa, said fill him up with gas. The man picked up a monkey wrench and wham, he changed my tune. You got me chasing rabbits, spitting out teeth and howling at the moon.” I howled meekly at the moon as the rabbit pretended to listen.
I wanted to ask the rabbit if it had ever seen an American dipper, but of course, it hadn’t. The dipper is one of my favorites. Whenever I go to places where they might be, I look diligently for them. This chunky bird is North America's aquatic songbird. It catches its food underwater in flowing streams by swimming and walking on the stream bottom. John Muir wrote, "His music is that of the streams refined and spiritualized. The deep booming notes of the falls are in it, the trills of rapids, the gurgling of margin eddies, the low whispering of level reaches, and the sweet tinkle of separate drops oozing from the end of mosses and falling into tranquil pools." Has one ever been seen in Minnesota? Yes. According to the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, one was spotted in Cook County in 1970, 1971 and 1973, and in Lake County in 1970. Once called the water ouzel, the bird favors fast-flowing, rocky streams with clear, cold water. American dippers are year-round residents of the western United States, Canada, Alaska, Mexico and Central America.
Q&A
Mark and Joan Anderson of Albert Lea saw a downy woodpecker on mullein. They wondered what it was eating. Common mullein is native to Europe, northern Africa and Asia, and was introduced to North America as a medicinal herb. In the 1700s, it was used in Virginia as a piscicide (fish poison). It spread rapidly and reached the Midwest by 1839 where it’s found in neglected meadows, pasture lands, along fence rows, roadsides, vacant lots, wood edges, forest openings and industrial areas. In its second year, the biennial plants produce flower stalks 5-10 feet tall with small yellow flowers grouped on the leafy spike and maturing from the bottom to the top. The flowers attract a wide variety of insects and each plant produces 100,000‑240,000 seeds. The downy woodpecker eats mainly insects at this time of the year and has learned to harvest insect larvae and pupae. In the fall, goldfinches, indigo buntings and downy woodpeckers eat the seeds.
“When do purple martins leave Minnesota?” They’re gone by early October. The best time to see purple martins at nest sites is May through late July. Roost sites are used from late July through early September. After the young are fledged, martins move to where they can gather at traditional pre-migratory roosts at night. They’re highly social during the non-breeding season and the roosts might contain thousands of birds. Purple martins winter in South America.
Thanks for stopping by
“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.”—Tecumseh
“I saw a star slide down the sky, blinding the north as it went by. Too burning and too quick to hold, too lovely to be bought or sold. Good only to make wishes on and then forever to be gone.”—Sara Teasdale
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Naturally
A gentleman from Gaylord told a wonderful story about his grandfather. His grandfather wore a coat much of the year. I understand that. My father-in-law put on an overcoat to eat ice cream in the summer. One spring, the teller of the story and his grandfather were doing hard work as the day warmed. The grandfather hung his coat on a fence post. When the job was finished, the two walked over to pick up the coat. They noticed a wren had placed a pile of sticks in one of the coat’s pockets. That meant the pocket had become a potential nest. The narrator reached to grab the coat for his elder. His grandfather said, “Leave it there. I can always find another coat.”
The moths were reminders there are more insects than those who bite me. I walked under the light of a full moon and frightened a rabbit that had been making a meal of white (Dutch) clover. It caused me to think of Hank Williams. Dad enjoyed listening to all the Hanks—Thompson, Snow and Locklin, but Hank Williams was my father’s favorite singer. Father and I spent much time together in the dairy barn, where the old Philco radio (19 knobs and dials, only two of which made any difference—on/off/volume and station select) was tuned to either baseball or country music. Hank Williams sang, “I rode my horse to town today and a gas pump we did pass. I pulled him up and I hollered whoa, said fill him up with gas. The man picked up a monkey wrench and wham, he changed my tune. You got me chasing rabbits, spitting out teeth and howling at the moon.” I howled meekly at the moon as the rabbit pretended to listen.
I wanted to ask the rabbit if it had ever seen an American dipper, but of course, it hadn’t. The dipper is one of my favorites. Whenever I go to places where they might be, I look diligently for them. This chunky bird is North America's aquatic songbird. It catches its food underwater in flowing streams by swimming and walking on the stream bottom. John Muir wrote, "His music is that of the streams refined and spiritualized. The deep booming notes of the falls are in it, the trills of rapids, the gurgling of margin eddies, the low whispering of level reaches, and the sweet tinkle of separate drops oozing from the end of mosses and falling into tranquil pools." Has one ever been seen in Minnesota? Yes. According to the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, one was spotted in Cook County in 1970, 1971 and 1973, and in Lake County in 1970. Once called the water ouzel, the bird favors fast-flowing, rocky streams with clear, cold water. American dippers are year-round residents of the western United States, Canada, Alaska, Mexico and Central America.
Q&A
Mark and Joan Anderson of Albert Lea saw a downy woodpecker on mullein. They wondered what it was eating. Common mullein is native to Europe, northern Africa and Asia, and was introduced to North America as a medicinal herb. In the 1700s, it was used in Virginia as a piscicide (fish poison). It spread rapidly and reached the Midwest by 1839 where it’s found in neglected meadows, pasture lands, along fence rows, roadsides, vacant lots, wood edges, forest openings and industrial areas. In its second year, the biennial plants produce flower stalks 5-10 feet tall with small yellow flowers grouped on the leafy spike and maturing from the bottom to the top. The flowers attract a wide variety of insects and each plant produces 100,000‑240,000 seeds. The downy woodpecker eats mainly insects at this time of the year and has learned to harvest insect larvae and pupae. In the fall, goldfinches, indigo buntings and downy woodpeckers eat the seeds.
“When do purple martins leave Minnesota?” They’re gone by early October. The best time to see purple martins at nest sites is May through late July. Roost sites are used from late July through early September. After the young are fledged, martins move to where they can gather at traditional pre-migratory roosts at night. They’re highly social during the non-breeding season and the roosts might contain thousands of birds. Purple martins winter in South America.
Thanks for stopping by
“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.”—Tecumseh
“I saw a star slide down the sky, blinding the north as it went by. Too burning and too quick to hold, too lovely to be bought or sold. Good only to make wishes on and then forever to be gone.”—Sara Teasdale
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 8-15-21
Naturally
A choir of crickets serenaded me. I don’t see jackrabbits here anymore, so I’ve named one of the yard’s cottontails Jack Bunny.
I didn’t see a bald eagle until I was 14. I told that to a boy who replied, “I’ve seen 14 bald eagles and I’m only 7 years old.”
I asked a UPS driver about deer. He said that in the 22 routes he’s aware of, he knows of no brown truck that has collided with a deer. This is likely due to cautious drivers and the crepuscular habits of deer, which feed mainly from before dawn until several hours later, and again from late afternoon until dusk.
Ken Bertelson of Albert Lea told of a funeral procession where the hearse had to come to a complete stop because of a stubborn wild turkey.
Judy Hellie of Clarks Grove found a katydid. Her 4-year-old grandson suggested feeding it grass. Judy looked it up and found katydids eat grass and leaves. Her grandson said, “Finally, I’m right.”
I worked at a county fair. I watched a little boy chase a baby killdeer. The tiny bird easily outran its pursuer and I felt no need to chastise the boy as I was one once. The poor mother killdeer had a cow. The baby ran off into the classic tractor area as the mother headed in the opposite direction while feigning injury, hoping to draw the perceived predator away. I spent 10 minutes watching the mother as she called incessantly, running between food stands and a stand selling animated face masks. She finally found the tractors and her baby. I cheered, which made passersby smile
Q&A
Gunnar Berg of Albert Lea asked where flycatchers drink. They do so at the Flycatcher Bar on Main Street. It’s a fly-ridden dive. I saw a Say’s phoebe in North Dakota. The Say's phoebe breeds farther north than any other flycatcher with a breeding range from central Mexico to the arctic tundra. Charles Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon, named the Say’s phoebe after American naturalist Thomas Say, the first scientist to encounter the bird, at a site in Colorado, in 1819. This flycatcher typically doesn’t drink, even if water is available. Flycatchers get their moisture from an insectivorous diet. One will occasionally have a nip at the Flycatcher Bar.
Vicki Lauruhn of Mankato asked why house finches are nibbling on her flowers. Birds eat buds and flowers because they are nutritious. Some experts claim flowers have more food value than buds.
Ken Nelson of Clarks Grove wondered how long bald eagles live. The oldest known bald eagle in the wild was at least 38 years old when a car hit and killed it in New York in 2015. It had been banded in 1977.
Leo Skorin of Albert Lea saw three sandhill cranes and asked about their migration. Sandhill cranes mate for life. Juveniles remain near their parents for 9 or 10 months after hatching. Those three could have been parents and a colt. During migration, the family units group together with other cranes, forming loose roosting and feeding flocks that can reach into the many thousands. The DNR says the cranes in northwest Minnesota belong to the mid-continent population while those in central and east-central (and likely those seen by Leo) Minnesota belong to the eastern population. Eastern population cranes breeding in Minnesota winter in north and central Florida, and mid-continent cranes from northwest Minnesota winter along the Gulf Coast of Texas. The migration lasts from early September through mid-November with the primary spot to observe greater sandhill cranes in Minnesota is Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge near Zimmerman. Crane numbers there peak between late October and early November. Wintering sandhill cranes can be seen in Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico.
John Holt of Albert Lea asked where night-herons nest. Near water, from on the ground to 150 feet high in trees, shrubs and other vegetation. While not a night-heron, the more common green heron nests in shrubs or trees 5-30 feet high typically close to water.
Donna and Duane Swenson of Waseca watched a great horned owl stare at mallards in a pond. This owl begins nesting in January or February, laying their eggs in abandoned nests of squirrels, hawks or crows but sometimes nest on cliff ledges or in hollow trees. Females lay one to five eggs, which hatch in 30 to 37 days. The young owls leave the nest in six to nine weeks.
Paul Hensche of Alden asked how long house sparrows live. I’d say 2-5 years in the wild.
Thanks for stopping by
“The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too.”―Luther Standing Bear
“The meaning of life is to give life meaning.”―Viktor E. Frankl
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Naturally
A choir of crickets serenaded me. I don’t see jackrabbits here anymore, so I’ve named one of the yard’s cottontails Jack Bunny.
I didn’t see a bald eagle until I was 14. I told that to a boy who replied, “I’ve seen 14 bald eagles and I’m only 7 years old.”
I asked a UPS driver about deer. He said that in the 22 routes he’s aware of, he knows of no brown truck that has collided with a deer. This is likely due to cautious drivers and the crepuscular habits of deer, which feed mainly from before dawn until several hours later, and again from late afternoon until dusk.
Ken Bertelson of Albert Lea told of a funeral procession where the hearse had to come to a complete stop because of a stubborn wild turkey.
Judy Hellie of Clarks Grove found a katydid. Her 4-year-old grandson suggested feeding it grass. Judy looked it up and found katydids eat grass and leaves. Her grandson said, “Finally, I’m right.”
I worked at a county fair. I watched a little boy chase a baby killdeer. The tiny bird easily outran its pursuer and I felt no need to chastise the boy as I was one once. The poor mother killdeer had a cow. The baby ran off into the classic tractor area as the mother headed in the opposite direction while feigning injury, hoping to draw the perceived predator away. I spent 10 minutes watching the mother as she called incessantly, running between food stands and a stand selling animated face masks. She finally found the tractors and her baby. I cheered, which made passersby smile
Q&A
Gunnar Berg of Albert Lea asked where flycatchers drink. They do so at the Flycatcher Bar on Main Street. It’s a fly-ridden dive. I saw a Say’s phoebe in North Dakota. The Say's phoebe breeds farther north than any other flycatcher with a breeding range from central Mexico to the arctic tundra. Charles Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon, named the Say’s phoebe after American naturalist Thomas Say, the first scientist to encounter the bird, at a site in Colorado, in 1819. This flycatcher typically doesn’t drink, even if water is available. Flycatchers get their moisture from an insectivorous diet. One will occasionally have a nip at the Flycatcher Bar.
Vicki Lauruhn of Mankato asked why house finches are nibbling on her flowers. Birds eat buds and flowers because they are nutritious. Some experts claim flowers have more food value than buds.
Ken Nelson of Clarks Grove wondered how long bald eagles live. The oldest known bald eagle in the wild was at least 38 years old when a car hit and killed it in New York in 2015. It had been banded in 1977.
Leo Skorin of Albert Lea saw three sandhill cranes and asked about their migration. Sandhill cranes mate for life. Juveniles remain near their parents for 9 or 10 months after hatching. Those three could have been parents and a colt. During migration, the family units group together with other cranes, forming loose roosting and feeding flocks that can reach into the many thousands. The DNR says the cranes in northwest Minnesota belong to the mid-continent population while those in central and east-central (and likely those seen by Leo) Minnesota belong to the eastern population. Eastern population cranes breeding in Minnesota winter in north and central Florida, and mid-continent cranes from northwest Minnesota winter along the Gulf Coast of Texas. The migration lasts from early September through mid-November with the primary spot to observe greater sandhill cranes in Minnesota is Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge near Zimmerman. Crane numbers there peak between late October and early November. Wintering sandhill cranes can be seen in Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico.
John Holt of Albert Lea asked where night-herons nest. Near water, from on the ground to 150 feet high in trees, shrubs and other vegetation. While not a night-heron, the more common green heron nests in shrubs or trees 5-30 feet high typically close to water.
Donna and Duane Swenson of Waseca watched a great horned owl stare at mallards in a pond. This owl begins nesting in January or February, laying their eggs in abandoned nests of squirrels, hawks or crows but sometimes nest on cliff ledges or in hollow trees. Females lay one to five eggs, which hatch in 30 to 37 days. The young owls leave the nest in six to nine weeks.
Paul Hensche of Alden asked how long house sparrows live. I’d say 2-5 years in the wild.
Thanks for stopping by
“The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too.”―Luther Standing Bear
“The meaning of life is to give life meaning.”―Viktor E. Frankl
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 8-9-21
Naturally
I said hello to an HOLA. HOLA is the alpha code for bird banding identifying a horned lark. An Australian study found there are about six wild birds for every human on the planet. I hope that number is low. Chickens outnumber humans by almost 3-to-1.
After working at fairs, I’ve been driving nights from here and there and my windshield found enough insects that it looks like a supermarket for flycatchers.
Stable flies look like houseflies, but they bite. They are ankle biters that make victims want to exact revenge.
I watched an opossum meander. What’s a nervous tick? It’s one that sees an opossum headed its way. How many ticks do they eat? Who knows, but Rick Ostfeld, Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies said, “Opossums are extraordinarily good groomers it turns out – we never would have thought that ahead of time – but they kill the vast majority – more than 95% percent of the ticks that try to feed on them. So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left, killing over 90% of these things, and so they are really protecting our health.”
I watched circling turkey vultures. Their populations increase where sugar cane grows because vultures feed on animals killed by the annual burning. Numbers increased in the 19th century with bison slaughters and livestock epidemics. Increased availability of road-killed animals caused by escalated vehicular use of roads may contribute to range expansion. The vultures may follow the pavement to Minnesota.
Q&A
“Why is a group of crows called a murder?” The Egerton Manuscript and The Book of St. Albans, both dating from the mid-1400s, list collective nouns terms still in use today such as a charm of goldfinches, a pride of lions and a murder of crows. Crows are scavengers and feed on carrion. Folklore says crows form tribunals to judge and punish the bad behavior of another. If the crow was found guilty, the bird was murdered by the flock. No doubt a crow has killed another crow, but no trial was involved.
Kathy Paulsen of Geneva wrote, “We think squirrels in our part of town have been nibbling or chewing off the base of the small groups of leaves from our maple trees. Do you think that it would be the squirrels?” Squirrels eat maple seeds. They build dreys (nests) in summer and early fall from chewed-off branches bearing green leaves they weave together. They might find sustenance in the twigs or chew to maintain their teeth. The trees should be able to withstand the pruning.
Bruce Haugsdal of Albert Lea asked if hummingbirds nest in that fair city. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are statewide residents and could be found breeding in all regions. They’re most abundant in northern Minnesota, gradually becoming less common in the south, southwest and south-central regions. Breeding surveys have shown the hummingbird is common throughout the eastern half of Minnesota, with its distribution lessening as you head westward.
Eric Steinmetz of Mankato asked if the seedpods of catalpa trees were edible. The tree is famous for its dense clusters of white flowers and long seedpods, which resemble beans or grotesque cigars. Despite the common name of "bean tree," the catalpa has no known edible uses. Catalpa roots are poisonous.
Lou Jean Ingham of Hayward asked if she could feed wild rice to the birds. Rice is perfectly safe for birds to eat. I’m not sure how much they will enjoy it.
“Are butterflies good pollinators?” I’ve been enjoying fireflies each evening. They are a light show and are pollinators. Butterflies are pollinators but have limited contact with pollen. They aren’t as effective at it as bees, beetles and flies.
“How long can I leave my hummingbird feeder out before changing the water?” The National Audubon Society says, “In hot weather, the feeder should be emptied and cleaned twice per week. In cooler weather, once per week is enough.” Perky-Pet says, “During hot weather, change it every two days. In milder weather, once a week is fine.” Smithsonian says, “Change feeders every other day and thoroughly clean them each time to prevent harmful mold growth.” And the Cornell Lab of Ornithology says, “Change sugar water every 3–5 days to prevent mold and deadly fermentation, and more frequently when it’s over 90 degrees outside. Clean feeders at least once a week with hot water and a bottle brush. Don’t use soap or a detergent.“
Thanks for stopping by
“One mornin' when I was ridin' in my old pickup truck. A beautiful bluebird
came flyin' down. My eyes caught the color as it led me down the road.”—Neil Young
“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.” Often attributed to songwriter Reba McEntire, it was first said by Dr. Kavanagh during his talk on “Moral Anatomy” in 1908.
©Al Batt 2021
Naturally
I said hello to an HOLA. HOLA is the alpha code for bird banding identifying a horned lark. An Australian study found there are about six wild birds for every human on the planet. I hope that number is low. Chickens outnumber humans by almost 3-to-1.
After working at fairs, I’ve been driving nights from here and there and my windshield found enough insects that it looks like a supermarket for flycatchers.
Stable flies look like houseflies, but they bite. They are ankle biters that make victims want to exact revenge.
I watched an opossum meander. What’s a nervous tick? It’s one that sees an opossum headed its way. How many ticks do they eat? Who knows, but Rick Ostfeld, Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies said, “Opossums are extraordinarily good groomers it turns out – we never would have thought that ahead of time – but they kill the vast majority – more than 95% percent of the ticks that try to feed on them. So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left, killing over 90% of these things, and so they are really protecting our health.”
I watched circling turkey vultures. Their populations increase where sugar cane grows because vultures feed on animals killed by the annual burning. Numbers increased in the 19th century with bison slaughters and livestock epidemics. Increased availability of road-killed animals caused by escalated vehicular use of roads may contribute to range expansion. The vultures may follow the pavement to Minnesota.
Q&A
“Why is a group of crows called a murder?” The Egerton Manuscript and The Book of St. Albans, both dating from the mid-1400s, list collective nouns terms still in use today such as a charm of goldfinches, a pride of lions and a murder of crows. Crows are scavengers and feed on carrion. Folklore says crows form tribunals to judge and punish the bad behavior of another. If the crow was found guilty, the bird was murdered by the flock. No doubt a crow has killed another crow, but no trial was involved.
Kathy Paulsen of Geneva wrote, “We think squirrels in our part of town have been nibbling or chewing off the base of the small groups of leaves from our maple trees. Do you think that it would be the squirrels?” Squirrels eat maple seeds. They build dreys (nests) in summer and early fall from chewed-off branches bearing green leaves they weave together. They might find sustenance in the twigs or chew to maintain their teeth. The trees should be able to withstand the pruning.
Bruce Haugsdal of Albert Lea asked if hummingbirds nest in that fair city. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are statewide residents and could be found breeding in all regions. They’re most abundant in northern Minnesota, gradually becoming less common in the south, southwest and south-central regions. Breeding surveys have shown the hummingbird is common throughout the eastern half of Minnesota, with its distribution lessening as you head westward.
Eric Steinmetz of Mankato asked if the seedpods of catalpa trees were edible. The tree is famous for its dense clusters of white flowers and long seedpods, which resemble beans or grotesque cigars. Despite the common name of "bean tree," the catalpa has no known edible uses. Catalpa roots are poisonous.
Lou Jean Ingham of Hayward asked if she could feed wild rice to the birds. Rice is perfectly safe for birds to eat. I’m not sure how much they will enjoy it.
“Are butterflies good pollinators?” I’ve been enjoying fireflies each evening. They are a light show and are pollinators. Butterflies are pollinators but have limited contact with pollen. They aren’t as effective at it as bees, beetles and flies.
“How long can I leave my hummingbird feeder out before changing the water?” The National Audubon Society says, “In hot weather, the feeder should be emptied and cleaned twice per week. In cooler weather, once per week is enough.” Perky-Pet says, “During hot weather, change it every two days. In milder weather, once a week is fine.” Smithsonian says, “Change feeders every other day and thoroughly clean them each time to prevent harmful mold growth.” And the Cornell Lab of Ornithology says, “Change sugar water every 3–5 days to prevent mold and deadly fermentation, and more frequently when it’s over 90 degrees outside. Clean feeders at least once a week with hot water and a bottle brush. Don’t use soap or a detergent.“
Thanks for stopping by
“One mornin' when I was ridin' in my old pickup truck. A beautiful bluebird
came flyin' down. My eyes caught the color as it led me down the road.”—Neil Young
“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.” Often attributed to songwriter Reba McEntire, it was first said by Dr. Kavanagh during his talk on “Moral Anatomy” in 1908.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 8-1-21
A rabbit ate my dirt
Naturally
Crows were drinking cawfee and playing crowquet as turtle doves (mourning doves) were whistling wings on a utility wire. Time wings by and summer picks up speed. I hear insect noise at night. Cricket music. Kobayashi Issa wrote, “Summer night—even the stars are whispering to each other.” The Dog Days of summer last from July 3 to August 11. This period of sweltering weather coincides with the year’s heliacal (at sunrise) rising of Sirius, the Dog Star. Don’t worry about your lawn. Grass endures.
Killdeer are drama queens. One looks as if it had a broken wing and calls loudly as if in pain. It's all a big act by the killdeer parent, putting on a show as it tries to lure you away from its nest.
I look out the window at a stunning bird and feel as if I’m on the outside looking in. In the dooryard, our planted mint attracts dumbledore, an old English word meaning bumblebee.
I listened to Neil Young sing, "Beautiful Bluebird." Young bluebirds have been scarce this year, but blue jay, oriole and grosbeak fledglings entertain as they explore their new world. The day was a baby when I put peanuts in the shell in a feeder. A young blue jay had never seen such things. He tried to land on the feeder 15 times. I counted them. None involved a successful landing. He found the peanuts vexing. An adult flew in, grabbed a shell and flew away. The youngster followed suit, but not without trepidation and several fumbled goober footballs.
Tall yellow flowers bloom: common mullein, evening primrose and Black-eyed Susan. White and yellow clovers prosper on roadsides. Canada thistle is allelopathic, which
means it secretes chemicals from its roots that are toxic to surrounding plants. Canada thistle and bull thistle both have spiked leaves. Bull thistle stems have spiny wings that are absent on Canada thistle. The spines along its stem make a bull thistle look meaner than a Canada thistle. Both have pink/purple/reddish flowers, but bull thistles have much larger flowers.
Monarch butterflies land upon swamp milkweed, common milkweed and butterfly weed in our yard. Generations 3 and 4 monarchs are the great- and great-great-grandchildren of the overwintering monarchs. Eggs laid from late May through July (Generation 3) and late June through August (Generation 4) congregate in large numbers in September, and by the end of October have left in a migration to their winter grounds in Mexico.
We’ll start seeing more flocks of birds. A flock provides safety in numbers and keeps an eye on everything, especially you. It’s like circling the wagons of a wagon train for protection.
Breeding Bird Survey (BBS)
I did a BBS covering parts of Freeborn, Mower and Steele counties in June. I’ve done that count for umpteen years and each year, it’s fun with a proper amount of uncertainty. It’s an exercise that feeds my constant curiosity. I make 50 designated stops and count any bird I see or hear in 3 minutes according to my egg timer. I begin at 5:02 a.m. sharp and in the morning’s clarity, see wild critters besides birds—fox, raccoon and skunk. Bald eagles have become expected, as have trumpeter swans, Eurasian collared-doves and red-headed woodpeckers. I saw a couple of yellow-headed blackbirds. They’ve been scarce in that area this year. I was pleased to count a chimney swift flying above a red barn on a farm, yellow-billed cuckoo, Virginia rail, green heron and clay-colored sparrow. I was happy to get a long look at a gray (Hungarian) partridge on the road. I notice absences. Not one Savannah sparrow, grasshopper sparrow or eastern bluebird.
Q&A
“Do fish rot from the head down?” Despite the ancient proverb stating this, the guts of fish rot and stink before the head.
“Minnesota doesn’t get periodical cicadas, but does Iowa?” Yes, they get Broods III, IV and XIII of the 17-year cicadas and Brood XIX of the 13-year cicada.
“I watched a rabbit eat dirt. Why was it doing that?” The practice of eating dirt, especially claylike soils, is called geophagia. A common explanation as to why animals and people eat dirt is that soil contains minerals, such as calcium, sodium and iron, which support vital biological processes.
“Do pheasants lay eggs in the nests of other species?” They are rare nest parasites on grouse and ground-nesting waterfowl.
“What is the smallest bird in the U.S.?” The calliope hummingbird is the smallest native bird in North America.
Thanks for stopping by
"Nature gets into our souls and opens doors to hidden parts of ourselves."—Pamela Heyda
“The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”—Vincent Van Gogh
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
A rabbit ate my dirt
Naturally
Crows were drinking cawfee and playing crowquet as turtle doves (mourning doves) were whistling wings on a utility wire. Time wings by and summer picks up speed. I hear insect noise at night. Cricket music. Kobayashi Issa wrote, “Summer night—even the stars are whispering to each other.” The Dog Days of summer last from July 3 to August 11. This period of sweltering weather coincides with the year’s heliacal (at sunrise) rising of Sirius, the Dog Star. Don’t worry about your lawn. Grass endures.
Killdeer are drama queens. One looks as if it had a broken wing and calls loudly as if in pain. It's all a big act by the killdeer parent, putting on a show as it tries to lure you away from its nest.
I look out the window at a stunning bird and feel as if I’m on the outside looking in. In the dooryard, our planted mint attracts dumbledore, an old English word meaning bumblebee.
I listened to Neil Young sing, "Beautiful Bluebird." Young bluebirds have been scarce this year, but blue jay, oriole and grosbeak fledglings entertain as they explore their new world. The day was a baby when I put peanuts in the shell in a feeder. A young blue jay had never seen such things. He tried to land on the feeder 15 times. I counted them. None involved a successful landing. He found the peanuts vexing. An adult flew in, grabbed a shell and flew away. The youngster followed suit, but not without trepidation and several fumbled goober footballs.
Tall yellow flowers bloom: common mullein, evening primrose and Black-eyed Susan. White and yellow clovers prosper on roadsides. Canada thistle is allelopathic, which
means it secretes chemicals from its roots that are toxic to surrounding plants. Canada thistle and bull thistle both have spiked leaves. Bull thistle stems have spiny wings that are absent on Canada thistle. The spines along its stem make a bull thistle look meaner than a Canada thistle. Both have pink/purple/reddish flowers, but bull thistles have much larger flowers.
Monarch butterflies land upon swamp milkweed, common milkweed and butterfly weed in our yard. Generations 3 and 4 monarchs are the great- and great-great-grandchildren of the overwintering monarchs. Eggs laid from late May through July (Generation 3) and late June through August (Generation 4) congregate in large numbers in September, and by the end of October have left in a migration to their winter grounds in Mexico.
We’ll start seeing more flocks of birds. A flock provides safety in numbers and keeps an eye on everything, especially you. It’s like circling the wagons of a wagon train for protection.
Breeding Bird Survey (BBS)
I did a BBS covering parts of Freeborn, Mower and Steele counties in June. I’ve done that count for umpteen years and each year, it’s fun with a proper amount of uncertainty. It’s an exercise that feeds my constant curiosity. I make 50 designated stops and count any bird I see or hear in 3 minutes according to my egg timer. I begin at 5:02 a.m. sharp and in the morning’s clarity, see wild critters besides birds—fox, raccoon and skunk. Bald eagles have become expected, as have trumpeter swans, Eurasian collared-doves and red-headed woodpeckers. I saw a couple of yellow-headed blackbirds. They’ve been scarce in that area this year. I was pleased to count a chimney swift flying above a red barn on a farm, yellow-billed cuckoo, Virginia rail, green heron and clay-colored sparrow. I was happy to get a long look at a gray (Hungarian) partridge on the road. I notice absences. Not one Savannah sparrow, grasshopper sparrow or eastern bluebird.
Q&A
“Do fish rot from the head down?” Despite the ancient proverb stating this, the guts of fish rot and stink before the head.
“Minnesota doesn’t get periodical cicadas, but does Iowa?” Yes, they get Broods III, IV and XIII of the 17-year cicadas and Brood XIX of the 13-year cicada.
“I watched a rabbit eat dirt. Why was it doing that?” The practice of eating dirt, especially claylike soils, is called geophagia. A common explanation as to why animals and people eat dirt is that soil contains minerals, such as calcium, sodium and iron, which support vital biological processes.
“Do pheasants lay eggs in the nests of other species?” They are rare nest parasites on grouse and ground-nesting waterfowl.
“What is the smallest bird in the U.S.?” The calliope hummingbird is the smallest native bird in North America.
Thanks for stopping by
"Nature gets into our souls and opens doors to hidden parts of ourselves."—Pamela Heyda
“The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”—Vincent Van Gogh
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 7-25-21
Cabbageheads and duck snorts
Naturally
I fought the lawn and the lawn won. I retreated indoors, plopped down in a chair and listened to a caller tell me of a wild turkey terrorizing a walk-in basement window this spring. An American goldfinch is currently battling with my office window. The goldfinch fights politely, to my estimation. A chipping sparrow had a brief tussle with the glass earlier. There were no skirmishes featuring cardinals or robins this year. A great crested flycatcher was the year’s marathon brawler. It fought various windows of the house for several weeks. I worried it was ignoring important bird duties. It didn’t reach terminal velocity while striving for world domination, but the flycatcher walloped its reflection. Its attacks have ground to a halt.
Wipe that smile onto your face
As a tour leader, I took many group photos. There are the magic words, words with weight, used to make one smile. I’d say prunes, say cheese, smile, smile you’re on Candid Camera, whiskey, lottery winners, cabbageheads and duck snort. A duck snort is a softly hit ball that goes over the infield and lands in the outfield for a hit. Chicago White Sox announcer Ken “Hawk” Harrelson popularized the term.
Red admiral butterflies kept me company as the tree swallows fledged. I needed to walk past their nest box a few times each day. Each time, the male buzzed my tower. As the nestlings neared the point of fledging, he hunted me down in the yard to fly at me. He seemed happy to be unhappy to see me. The youngsters fledged in the morning. Took to air like experts and headed to a lake.
I saw a great-tailed grackle in Minnesota. The bird is a prolific producer of clacks, clatters, wheezes and trills. The male is nearly 1.5 feet long with a long tail shaped like a boat’s keel and the female is about 3/4 that size. There were 500,000 birds in one roost in south Texas. The population increase is due to urbanization, industrial agriculture and widespread irrigation.
Research reveals
Research shows that zebras have stripes not for camouflage, cooling or individual recognition, but to confuse biting flies.
Research by Marie Perkins, an ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, studied seven songbird species for mercury levels. Six species showed increasing levels and all six have declining populations (rusty blackbird, palm warbler, wood thrush, olive-sided flycatcher, saltmarsh sparrow and northern waterthrush). The red-eyed vireo was the one species that didn’t exhibit increased mercury levels and its population is increasing.
Q&A
“How clean should I keep my hummingbird feeder?” Clean enough so that you’d be willing to drink the sugar water. A typical hummingbird lifespan is 3-5 years.
“There is a nesting hawk on my southern Minnesota property that tries to catch birds at my feeder. Is it a sharp-shinned or Cooper’s hawk?” Cooper’s hawk as per breeding bird surveys. Sharpies nest in dense stands of mature coniferous and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests with well-developed canopies.
“What was a barn swallow called before it became the barn swallow?” The Oxford English Dictionary dates the English common name "barn swallow" to 1851 though there is an earlier instance in an English-language context in Gilbert White's book “The Natural History of Selborne,” originally published in 1789: “The swallow, though called the chimney-swallow, by no means builds altogether in chimneys, but often within barns and out-houses against the rafters.” Where did barn swallows nest before barns and chimneys? Probably in caves. Europeans refer to the barn swallow as the swallow. Thomas Jefferson called it the American swallow. I’ve heard people call it the country swallow. The barn swallow is the national bird of Austria and Estonia and in many cultures, a barn swallow nest on a barn is good luck. Legend says the barn swallow got its forked tail after it had stolen fire from the gods and given it to humans. Angry gods shot flaming arrows at the bird, one hitting the swallow’s tail, burning away its central tail feathers. Since then, the barn swallow has had a forked tail. Peter Kalm, a Swedish naturalist who visited this country in the 1700s, wrote that barn swallows nested both inside and on the outside of colonists' homes. The barn swallow is the most widespread of the swallows.
“Why are there so many monarch butterflies flying across the roads?” Roadsides are productive habitat for monarch reproduction, but the largest mortality is believed to occur during the fall migration.
“How many broods do chickadees have?” Black-capped chickadees have one. Second broods are rare in chickadees. Replacement broods, begun after losing a first brood, may have fewer eggs.
Thanks for stopping by
When the dew is on the grass, rain will never come to pass. When grass is dry at morning light, look for rain before the night.
“There are never enough 'I love you's.’”―Lenny Bruce
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Cabbageheads and duck snorts
Naturally
I fought the lawn and the lawn won. I retreated indoors, plopped down in a chair and listened to a caller tell me of a wild turkey terrorizing a walk-in basement window this spring. An American goldfinch is currently battling with my office window. The goldfinch fights politely, to my estimation. A chipping sparrow had a brief tussle with the glass earlier. There were no skirmishes featuring cardinals or robins this year. A great crested flycatcher was the year’s marathon brawler. It fought various windows of the house for several weeks. I worried it was ignoring important bird duties. It didn’t reach terminal velocity while striving for world domination, but the flycatcher walloped its reflection. Its attacks have ground to a halt.
Wipe that smile onto your face
As a tour leader, I took many group photos. There are the magic words, words with weight, used to make one smile. I’d say prunes, say cheese, smile, smile you’re on Candid Camera, whiskey, lottery winners, cabbageheads and duck snort. A duck snort is a softly hit ball that goes over the infield and lands in the outfield for a hit. Chicago White Sox announcer Ken “Hawk” Harrelson popularized the term.
Red admiral butterflies kept me company as the tree swallows fledged. I needed to walk past their nest box a few times each day. Each time, the male buzzed my tower. As the nestlings neared the point of fledging, he hunted me down in the yard to fly at me. He seemed happy to be unhappy to see me. The youngsters fledged in the morning. Took to air like experts and headed to a lake.
I saw a great-tailed grackle in Minnesota. The bird is a prolific producer of clacks, clatters, wheezes and trills. The male is nearly 1.5 feet long with a long tail shaped like a boat’s keel and the female is about 3/4 that size. There were 500,000 birds in one roost in south Texas. The population increase is due to urbanization, industrial agriculture and widespread irrigation.
Research reveals
Research shows that zebras have stripes not for camouflage, cooling or individual recognition, but to confuse biting flies.
Research by Marie Perkins, an ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, studied seven songbird species for mercury levels. Six species showed increasing levels and all six have declining populations (rusty blackbird, palm warbler, wood thrush, olive-sided flycatcher, saltmarsh sparrow and northern waterthrush). The red-eyed vireo was the one species that didn’t exhibit increased mercury levels and its population is increasing.
Q&A
“How clean should I keep my hummingbird feeder?” Clean enough so that you’d be willing to drink the sugar water. A typical hummingbird lifespan is 3-5 years.
“There is a nesting hawk on my southern Minnesota property that tries to catch birds at my feeder. Is it a sharp-shinned or Cooper’s hawk?” Cooper’s hawk as per breeding bird surveys. Sharpies nest in dense stands of mature coniferous and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests with well-developed canopies.
“What was a barn swallow called before it became the barn swallow?” The Oxford English Dictionary dates the English common name "barn swallow" to 1851 though there is an earlier instance in an English-language context in Gilbert White's book “The Natural History of Selborne,” originally published in 1789: “The swallow, though called the chimney-swallow, by no means builds altogether in chimneys, but often within barns and out-houses against the rafters.” Where did barn swallows nest before barns and chimneys? Probably in caves. Europeans refer to the barn swallow as the swallow. Thomas Jefferson called it the American swallow. I’ve heard people call it the country swallow. The barn swallow is the national bird of Austria and Estonia and in many cultures, a barn swallow nest on a barn is good luck. Legend says the barn swallow got its forked tail after it had stolen fire from the gods and given it to humans. Angry gods shot flaming arrows at the bird, one hitting the swallow’s tail, burning away its central tail feathers. Since then, the barn swallow has had a forked tail. Peter Kalm, a Swedish naturalist who visited this country in the 1700s, wrote that barn swallows nested both inside and on the outside of colonists' homes. The barn swallow is the most widespread of the swallows.
“Why are there so many monarch butterflies flying across the roads?” Roadsides are productive habitat for monarch reproduction, but the largest mortality is believed to occur during the fall migration.
“How many broods do chickadees have?” Black-capped chickadees have one. Second broods are rare in chickadees. Replacement broods, begun after losing a first brood, may have fewer eggs.
Thanks for stopping by
When the dew is on the grass, rain will never come to pass. When grass is dry at morning light, look for rain before the night.
“There are never enough 'I love you's.’”―Lenny Bruce
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 7-19-21
Harry Otter and the chiggers
Naturally
Birdsong diminishes in July. House wren songs abate toward the end of July, but indigo buntings, song sparrows and red-eyed vireos continue to sing. Why does the uncaged bird sing? Most songs are linked to a bird’s love life. Birdsong has touched the hearts of poets, composers and birders.
A friend, Kim Eckert of Duluth, wrote sagely that the swallows in Minnesota could be divided into three sets of two. The blue ones (purple martins and tree swallows) nest in birdhouses. The brown ones (bank and northern roughed-winged) nest in the ground (sand piles or riverbanks). The ones with dark red throats (barn and cliff swallows) construct mud nests. I find the swallows with masonry skills fascinating. Barn swallows create mugs and cliff swallows jugs.
I’m continually awestruck. A Navajo prayer is, “With dew about my feet, may I walk. With beauty before me may I walk. With beauty behind me may I walk. With beauty below me may I walk. With beauty above me may I walk. With beauty all around me may I walk.” While walking, I saw a river otter. I think his name was Harry Otter.
I watched three tree swallows at a nest. As a boy, I was told the third bird was an attendant or helper, but the extra swallow doesn’t feed nestlings. It attempts to pirate food from nestlings and parents.
Black-eyed Susans, yarrows (milfoil or thousand-leaf), blue flag iris, yellow sweet clover (usually blooms a bit earlier than white sweet clover), vetch, bergamot, false sunflower, milkweeds, evening primrose and field bindweed bloom. Bindweed has arrow-shaped leaf blades and white-to-pinkish flowers. Common morning-glory has rounded, heart-shaped leaves and blue to purple flowers. Daisy or prairie fleabane has flowerheads about ½-inch across with a daisy-like appearance and 40-100 white (sometimes pink- or purple-tinted) ray florets that surround a yellow disk. Pineapple weed is a low-growing plant with finely divided, feathery leaves that gives off a pineapple smell when crushed. Curly dock (yellow dock, sour dock, curled dock) flower stalks bloom at the top of the plant and when mature, turn brown and are covered with papery capsules that are triangular or heart-shaped. Each plant produces as many as 40,000 seeds, which remain viable in soil for decades.
Stay on the trails
There are chiggers in Minnesota. They crawl to the highest point on grass and other plants and use them as diving boards to hop onto a passing meal. They fall onto a person, usually landing on the shoes or lower pantlegs, and crawl up the body looking for a place to bite. They’re a type of mite related to ticks. Sometimes tiny red mites are seen. These adult chiggers don't bite people. The chigger larvae that bite us are much smaller than the adults and can scarcely be seen without a magnifying glass. They don't burrow into the skin. They pierce a skin cell with their mouths and their saliva contains an enzyme that causes the skin cell wall to liquefy. After the chigger has had its fluid meal, it drops off. The bite develops a welt in 10-16 hours. Coating bites with Vaseline or nail polish to suffocate the chigger doesn’t work. You can't suffocate something that’s not there. They’re sometimes confused with swimmer’s itch caused by microscopic larvae spread by waterfowl. Entomologist H.B. Hungerford wrote: “The thing called a chigger, is really no bigger, than the smaller end of a pin, but the bump that it raises, just itches like blazes, and that's where the rub sets in.”
Q&A
“What’s pooping in a pile in my yard?” Creating a latrine is raccoon behavior. Its scat is cylindrical with rounded or broken ends. Coyote scat is tubular with tapered ends and fox scat has twisted ends.
“Is there an easy way to tell if a flower is wind-pollinated or insect-pollinated?” Showy flowers are typically insect- or animal-pollinated. Tiny flowers lacking color are likely wind-pollinated. Think ragweed.
“You wrote of bluebird numbers being low this year due to ice storms in the south, were other birds impacted?” It hit other birds that winter there—robin, hermit thrush, song sparrow and eastern phoebe. The storms covered food resources. The loss will be properly assessed by nesting data.
“Is there such a thing as a Seahawk?” Only on the football field.
“Why do house wrens puncture the eggs of other birds?” The tiny, persistent singer does it to eliminate competition for resources.
Customer comments
Joyce Tabor of Askov wrote, “Apple cider vinegar is also good for bites. Wasp, deer fly, and mosquito bites.”
Thanks for stopping by
“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”—Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”―Helen Keller
Do good.
@Al Batt 2021
Harry Otter and the chiggers
Naturally
Birdsong diminishes in July. House wren songs abate toward the end of July, but indigo buntings, song sparrows and red-eyed vireos continue to sing. Why does the uncaged bird sing? Most songs are linked to a bird’s love life. Birdsong has touched the hearts of poets, composers and birders.
A friend, Kim Eckert of Duluth, wrote sagely that the swallows in Minnesota could be divided into three sets of two. The blue ones (purple martins and tree swallows) nest in birdhouses. The brown ones (bank and northern roughed-winged) nest in the ground (sand piles or riverbanks). The ones with dark red throats (barn and cliff swallows) construct mud nests. I find the swallows with masonry skills fascinating. Barn swallows create mugs and cliff swallows jugs.
I’m continually awestruck. A Navajo prayer is, “With dew about my feet, may I walk. With beauty before me may I walk. With beauty behind me may I walk. With beauty below me may I walk. With beauty above me may I walk. With beauty all around me may I walk.” While walking, I saw a river otter. I think his name was Harry Otter.
I watched three tree swallows at a nest. As a boy, I was told the third bird was an attendant or helper, but the extra swallow doesn’t feed nestlings. It attempts to pirate food from nestlings and parents.
Black-eyed Susans, yarrows (milfoil or thousand-leaf), blue flag iris, yellow sweet clover (usually blooms a bit earlier than white sweet clover), vetch, bergamot, false sunflower, milkweeds, evening primrose and field bindweed bloom. Bindweed has arrow-shaped leaf blades and white-to-pinkish flowers. Common morning-glory has rounded, heart-shaped leaves and blue to purple flowers. Daisy or prairie fleabane has flowerheads about ½-inch across with a daisy-like appearance and 40-100 white (sometimes pink- or purple-tinted) ray florets that surround a yellow disk. Pineapple weed is a low-growing plant with finely divided, feathery leaves that gives off a pineapple smell when crushed. Curly dock (yellow dock, sour dock, curled dock) flower stalks bloom at the top of the plant and when mature, turn brown and are covered with papery capsules that are triangular or heart-shaped. Each plant produces as many as 40,000 seeds, which remain viable in soil for decades.
Stay on the trails
There are chiggers in Minnesota. They crawl to the highest point on grass and other plants and use them as diving boards to hop onto a passing meal. They fall onto a person, usually landing on the shoes or lower pantlegs, and crawl up the body looking for a place to bite. They’re a type of mite related to ticks. Sometimes tiny red mites are seen. These adult chiggers don't bite people. The chigger larvae that bite us are much smaller than the adults and can scarcely be seen without a magnifying glass. They don't burrow into the skin. They pierce a skin cell with their mouths and their saliva contains an enzyme that causes the skin cell wall to liquefy. After the chigger has had its fluid meal, it drops off. The bite develops a welt in 10-16 hours. Coating bites with Vaseline or nail polish to suffocate the chigger doesn’t work. You can't suffocate something that’s not there. They’re sometimes confused with swimmer’s itch caused by microscopic larvae spread by waterfowl. Entomologist H.B. Hungerford wrote: “The thing called a chigger, is really no bigger, than the smaller end of a pin, but the bump that it raises, just itches like blazes, and that's where the rub sets in.”
Q&A
“What’s pooping in a pile in my yard?” Creating a latrine is raccoon behavior. Its scat is cylindrical with rounded or broken ends. Coyote scat is tubular with tapered ends and fox scat has twisted ends.
“Is there an easy way to tell if a flower is wind-pollinated or insect-pollinated?” Showy flowers are typically insect- or animal-pollinated. Tiny flowers lacking color are likely wind-pollinated. Think ragweed.
“You wrote of bluebird numbers being low this year due to ice storms in the south, were other birds impacted?” It hit other birds that winter there—robin, hermit thrush, song sparrow and eastern phoebe. The storms covered food resources. The loss will be properly assessed by nesting data.
“Is there such a thing as a Seahawk?” Only on the football field.
“Why do house wrens puncture the eggs of other birds?” The tiny, persistent singer does it to eliminate competition for resources.
Customer comments
Joyce Tabor of Askov wrote, “Apple cider vinegar is also good for bites. Wasp, deer fly, and mosquito bites.”
Thanks for stopping by
“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”—Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”―Helen Keller
Do good.
@Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 7-11-21
How many seeds can you get in your gular pouch?
Naturally
The cardinals fed at dawn. They avoid crowds. A chickadee is the epitome of a feeder bird—cute, tiny and perky.
The jumbled song of house finches was beautiful music to my ears. I bit a couple of mosquitoes back.
Stephanie Seymour wrote and sang, “Blue jay you made my day And you didn't even try But if you wonder why It's because of all the beauty that I see When you're in front of me.” A blue jay has a gizzard and a throat sac (called a gular pouch). It fills the pouch (observers have counted 70-100 black oil sunflower seeds) and hack up the seeds for consumption or caching later. Reports say its gular pouch can hold up to five acorns.
I saw a Cooper’s hawk in a city. This accipiter mainly eats birds. Studies have found that small birds are safer around Cooper’s hawks than are medium-sized birds like European starlings, mourning doves, rock pigeons, robins, jays, northern flickers, quail, pheasants, grouse and chickens, which are common targets. The female hawk is larger (about 1/3) than the male, a condition called sexual dimorphism, and because of this the female hunts larger birds than does the male.
I don’t see white-tailed jackrabbits around my place anymore. I grew up with cattle dogs. They were smart but insisted on chasing the big hares that leaped 10 feet and ran 40 mph. I saw jackrabbits eat clover, alfalfa, dandelion and grasses.
Q&A
“What do rabbits eat?” I’ve heard eastern cottontail rabbits described as artful dodgers. In winter, they feed on seeds, twigs, bark and tree seedlings. They also practice coprophagy, eating their own vitamin-rich droppings. I can tell where a rabbit had been eating, as the plant had suffered a 45-degree-angle cut. Deer tear away at plants. Rabbits love the tender shoots of various plants—crabgrass, sow thistle, dock, plantain, red clover, white clover and dandelion. Whether you consider them pretty, pesty or perky, dandelion plants can live 5-10 years. Dandelions have wide-spreading roots that loosen hard-packed soil, aerate the earth and help reduce erosion. Deep taproots pull nutrients from deep in the soil and make them available to other plants. They’re used by pollinators. Goldfinches, song and chipping sparrows, indigo buntings, towhees eat the seeds. Rabbits, porcupines, ground squirrels, mice and prairie dogs eat the seeds, foliage and root, while deer browse on dandelions.
“Are bug zappers effective?” A zapper participates in an indiscriminate slaughter of insects, many of them beneficial. A University of Delaware study found that 0.22% of the kills were biting insects. Research showed your chances of being bitten by a mosquito increase when you are near a bug zapper. The light is attractive and so are you.
“What birds eat cicadas?” There are many—chickadees, robins, bluebirds, eastern kingbirds, yellow-billed cuckoos, black-billed cuckoos, house sparrows, red-bellied woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, grackles, red-winged blackbirds, mallards, cardinals, wild turkeys and others.
“Does the male bluebird incubate eggs?” Only the female incubates as male bluebirds don’t develop a brood patch.
“How long is a snapping turtle’s neck?” Common snapping turtles have long necks that reach up to two-thirds the length of their shells, making handling them dangerous. They’re capable of inflicting a painful bite, but a human’s bite is stronger.
“How long will raccoons remain with their mother?” One man’s garbage is a raccoon’s treasure. The kits are weaned in 2-3 months and remain with their mother for up to a year. "Ain't no thing like me except me!” said Rocket Raccoon in “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
“What’s one good thing about having wolves around?” In a short time after wolves had colonized an area, deer-vehicle collisions dropped 24% according to Dominic Parker, a natural resources economist at the University of Wisconsin in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Thinning of the deer population by wolves and behavior changes in fearful deer are factors in the decline. “Wolves use linear features of a landscape as travel corridors, like roads, pipelines and stream beds. Deer learn this and adapt by staying away,” said Parker.
Annie Mattson of Albert Lea asked how long eagles are in a nest. Incubation for bald eagles is about 35 days. Eggs hatch in the order they were laid. Eaglets fledge in 10-14 weeks.
Customer comments
I wrote, “I watched a common nighthawk slice the sky above a ballpark in New Ulm and realized the bird had become the baseball game.” Thomas Schenk of St. Paul wrote, “Al, if you had watched a bat chasing a fly, it would have been a kind of reverse baseball game.”
Thanks for stopping by
“Every generation revolts against its fathers and makes friends with its grandfathers.”—Lewis Mumford
“The happiest people I know are always evaluating and improving themselves. The unhappy people are usually evaluating and judging others.”—Lisa Villa Prosen
Do good.
@Al Batt 2021
How many seeds can you get in your gular pouch?
Naturally
The cardinals fed at dawn. They avoid crowds. A chickadee is the epitome of a feeder bird—cute, tiny and perky.
The jumbled song of house finches was beautiful music to my ears. I bit a couple of mosquitoes back.
Stephanie Seymour wrote and sang, “Blue jay you made my day And you didn't even try But if you wonder why It's because of all the beauty that I see When you're in front of me.” A blue jay has a gizzard and a throat sac (called a gular pouch). It fills the pouch (observers have counted 70-100 black oil sunflower seeds) and hack up the seeds for consumption or caching later. Reports say its gular pouch can hold up to five acorns.
I saw a Cooper’s hawk in a city. This accipiter mainly eats birds. Studies have found that small birds are safer around Cooper’s hawks than are medium-sized birds like European starlings, mourning doves, rock pigeons, robins, jays, northern flickers, quail, pheasants, grouse and chickens, which are common targets. The female hawk is larger (about 1/3) than the male, a condition called sexual dimorphism, and because of this the female hunts larger birds than does the male.
I don’t see white-tailed jackrabbits around my place anymore. I grew up with cattle dogs. They were smart but insisted on chasing the big hares that leaped 10 feet and ran 40 mph. I saw jackrabbits eat clover, alfalfa, dandelion and grasses.
Q&A
“What do rabbits eat?” I’ve heard eastern cottontail rabbits described as artful dodgers. In winter, they feed on seeds, twigs, bark and tree seedlings. They also practice coprophagy, eating their own vitamin-rich droppings. I can tell where a rabbit had been eating, as the plant had suffered a 45-degree-angle cut. Deer tear away at plants. Rabbits love the tender shoots of various plants—crabgrass, sow thistle, dock, plantain, red clover, white clover and dandelion. Whether you consider them pretty, pesty or perky, dandelion plants can live 5-10 years. Dandelions have wide-spreading roots that loosen hard-packed soil, aerate the earth and help reduce erosion. Deep taproots pull nutrients from deep in the soil and make them available to other plants. They’re used by pollinators. Goldfinches, song and chipping sparrows, indigo buntings, towhees eat the seeds. Rabbits, porcupines, ground squirrels, mice and prairie dogs eat the seeds, foliage and root, while deer browse on dandelions.
“Are bug zappers effective?” A zapper participates in an indiscriminate slaughter of insects, many of them beneficial. A University of Delaware study found that 0.22% of the kills were biting insects. Research showed your chances of being bitten by a mosquito increase when you are near a bug zapper. The light is attractive and so are you.
“What birds eat cicadas?” There are many—chickadees, robins, bluebirds, eastern kingbirds, yellow-billed cuckoos, black-billed cuckoos, house sparrows, red-bellied woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, grackles, red-winged blackbirds, mallards, cardinals, wild turkeys and others.
“Does the male bluebird incubate eggs?” Only the female incubates as male bluebirds don’t develop a brood patch.
“How long is a snapping turtle’s neck?” Common snapping turtles have long necks that reach up to two-thirds the length of their shells, making handling them dangerous. They’re capable of inflicting a painful bite, but a human’s bite is stronger.
“How long will raccoons remain with their mother?” One man’s garbage is a raccoon’s treasure. The kits are weaned in 2-3 months and remain with their mother for up to a year. "Ain't no thing like me except me!” said Rocket Raccoon in “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
“What’s one good thing about having wolves around?” In a short time after wolves had colonized an area, deer-vehicle collisions dropped 24% according to Dominic Parker, a natural resources economist at the University of Wisconsin in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Thinning of the deer population by wolves and behavior changes in fearful deer are factors in the decline. “Wolves use linear features of a landscape as travel corridors, like roads, pipelines and stream beds. Deer learn this and adapt by staying away,” said Parker.
Annie Mattson of Albert Lea asked how long eagles are in a nest. Incubation for bald eagles is about 35 days. Eggs hatch in the order they were laid. Eaglets fledge in 10-14 weeks.
Customer comments
I wrote, “I watched a common nighthawk slice the sky above a ballpark in New Ulm and realized the bird had become the baseball game.” Thomas Schenk of St. Paul wrote, “Al, if you had watched a bat chasing a fly, it would have been a kind of reverse baseball game.”
Thanks for stopping by
“Every generation revolts against its fathers and makes friends with its grandfathers.”—Lewis Mumford
“The happiest people I know are always evaluating and improving themselves. The unhappy people are usually evaluating and judging others.”—Lisa Villa Prosen
Do good.
@Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 7-4-21
Naturally
June brought greening and growing. As sung in “Carousel,” “June is busting out all over.”
Bird is the word
I watched a kestrel take a house sparrow from a roadside. Young starlings have a grey-brown plumage. Cuckoos called. These rain crows feed on tent caterpillars.
There are over 800 whooping cranes in the world. I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen them in four local counties as they moved through.
I’ve rescued loon, eagles, hawks, pelicans, herons, owls, ducks, vultures, geese, kestrels, a bittern, a swan and more. They weren’t appreciative as I haven’t received a single thank you note from any of them.
Ditch lily
Baneberry, blue-eyed grass and birdsfoot trefoil bloomed as do the clovers—white or Dutch, red, and yellow hop or golden.
Thick shoots called candles appeared at the terminal ends of pine branches.
The ditch lily, sometimes called an outhouse lily, is a vigorous orange-flowered daylily that finds home in our road ditches. When I spot them, I sing a corrupted Beach Boys song, “Ditch lily, ditch lily, give me your hand. Give me something that I can remember.”
Crepuscular critters
I was late getting home and didn’t take in the hummingbird feeder before a raccoon had taken it down for me. The raccoon removed all six of the tiny, plastic, yellow flowers from their cavities and slurped down the sweet water. A deer towered over the corn rows. Deer are crepuscular, active in the twilight of dawn and dusk.
Spittlebugs
If you want to see an insect, look at a flower. Butterflies included: monarchs, tiger swallowtails, blues, sulphurs, skippers, black swallowtails, fritillaries, cabbage whites and crescents. The swallowtails are our largest butterflies here, but the largest, the giant swallowtail, is uncommon. June is the time for the big moths. The spotted, light brown Polyphemus is named after Polyphemus, the giant cyclops from Greek mythology who had a single large, round eye in the middle of his forehead because of the large eyespots in the middle of the moth’s hind wings. It has a 4-5 inch wingspan. Cecropia has a 5-6 inch wingspan and is reddish-brown. And the luna moth is green with a 3-5 inch wingspan.
Spittlebugs have a protective covering resembling soap suds or spit on a plant. It looks as if a baseball team had been there.
Hot, dry summers make for large populations of boxelder bugs in the fall. Those insects are most abundant in years when May is warm and July is dry. Dawn liquid soap in water is an effective spray to use on the harmless bugs if you find them annoying.
The mosquitoes bothered me as I gathered raspberries. My memory told me I notice the first big batch of mosquitoes around Memorial Day each year.
Ebony jewelwings are beautiful damselflies. In good light they appear a bright metallic green or teal blue depending on the angle of light. They appear black in shade.
Bald-faced hornets build the iconic gray, football-shaped nests in trees. A neighbor called them bull wasps and they’re prolific eaters of deer flies and horseflies.
Those rascally rabbits
A farmer’s market vendor told me apple cider vinegar discourages rabbits. Soak items (corncobs or rags work well) in vinegar for a few minutes and place them around the garden. Resoak every week. Or fill a spray bottle with half water and half vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is also effective at repelling ants.
Q&A
“Why do birds roll around in the dirt?” Birds take dirt baths because the abrasive particles in the dust clean feathers and remove lice and parasites. Birds roll about loose sand or dust and shake vigorously. The sand and dust absorb excess preen oil and remove dry skin. Dust bathing leaves bowl-shaped hollows on the ground. It’s soap and water without the soap and water.
Tom Belshan of Glenville asked about cormorants. John Milton, in “Paradise Lost,” described Satan as having “sat like a cormorant” on the Tree of Life, plotting the downfall of Adam and Eve. Despite the bad press, cormorants have benefited from the banning of DDT. Studies found 90% of the fish they consume are 5.3 inches or less in length and weigh an average of 4.2 ounces. They dive 5-25 feet for 30-70 seconds and could be a problem in baitfish ponds. They prefer an adequate food supply within a mile, but will fly a dozen miles for food.
Moron nature
To get more on nature from a nature moron, go to my blog at https://www.albatt.com/blogs/ Or listen in every Tuesday to KMSU (89.7 FM) or KTOE (1420 AM) aired on various dates. All radio shows are online.
Thanks for stopping by
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”—Winston Churchill
“The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope.”—Ronald Ross (alluding to mosquito research)
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Naturally
June brought greening and growing. As sung in “Carousel,” “June is busting out all over.”
Bird is the word
I watched a kestrel take a house sparrow from a roadside. Young starlings have a grey-brown plumage. Cuckoos called. These rain crows feed on tent caterpillars.
There are over 800 whooping cranes in the world. I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen them in four local counties as they moved through.
I’ve rescued loon, eagles, hawks, pelicans, herons, owls, ducks, vultures, geese, kestrels, a bittern, a swan and more. They weren’t appreciative as I haven’t received a single thank you note from any of them.
Ditch lily
Baneberry, blue-eyed grass and birdsfoot trefoil bloomed as do the clovers—white or Dutch, red, and yellow hop or golden.
Thick shoots called candles appeared at the terminal ends of pine branches.
The ditch lily, sometimes called an outhouse lily, is a vigorous orange-flowered daylily that finds home in our road ditches. When I spot them, I sing a corrupted Beach Boys song, “Ditch lily, ditch lily, give me your hand. Give me something that I can remember.”
Crepuscular critters
I was late getting home and didn’t take in the hummingbird feeder before a raccoon had taken it down for me. The raccoon removed all six of the tiny, plastic, yellow flowers from their cavities and slurped down the sweet water. A deer towered over the corn rows. Deer are crepuscular, active in the twilight of dawn and dusk.
Spittlebugs
If you want to see an insect, look at a flower. Butterflies included: monarchs, tiger swallowtails, blues, sulphurs, skippers, black swallowtails, fritillaries, cabbage whites and crescents. The swallowtails are our largest butterflies here, but the largest, the giant swallowtail, is uncommon. June is the time for the big moths. The spotted, light brown Polyphemus is named after Polyphemus, the giant cyclops from Greek mythology who had a single large, round eye in the middle of his forehead because of the large eyespots in the middle of the moth’s hind wings. It has a 4-5 inch wingspan. Cecropia has a 5-6 inch wingspan and is reddish-brown. And the luna moth is green with a 3-5 inch wingspan.
Spittlebugs have a protective covering resembling soap suds or spit on a plant. It looks as if a baseball team had been there.
Hot, dry summers make for large populations of boxelder bugs in the fall. Those insects are most abundant in years when May is warm and July is dry. Dawn liquid soap in water is an effective spray to use on the harmless bugs if you find them annoying.
The mosquitoes bothered me as I gathered raspberries. My memory told me I notice the first big batch of mosquitoes around Memorial Day each year.
Ebony jewelwings are beautiful damselflies. In good light they appear a bright metallic green or teal blue depending on the angle of light. They appear black in shade.
Bald-faced hornets build the iconic gray, football-shaped nests in trees. A neighbor called them bull wasps and they’re prolific eaters of deer flies and horseflies.
Those rascally rabbits
A farmer’s market vendor told me apple cider vinegar discourages rabbits. Soak items (corncobs or rags work well) in vinegar for a few minutes and place them around the garden. Resoak every week. Or fill a spray bottle with half water and half vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is also effective at repelling ants.
Q&A
“Why do birds roll around in the dirt?” Birds take dirt baths because the abrasive particles in the dust clean feathers and remove lice and parasites. Birds roll about loose sand or dust and shake vigorously. The sand and dust absorb excess preen oil and remove dry skin. Dust bathing leaves bowl-shaped hollows on the ground. It’s soap and water without the soap and water.
Tom Belshan of Glenville asked about cormorants. John Milton, in “Paradise Lost,” described Satan as having “sat like a cormorant” on the Tree of Life, plotting the downfall of Adam and Eve. Despite the bad press, cormorants have benefited from the banning of DDT. Studies found 90% of the fish they consume are 5.3 inches or less in length and weigh an average of 4.2 ounces. They dive 5-25 feet for 30-70 seconds and could be a problem in baitfish ponds. They prefer an adequate food supply within a mile, but will fly a dozen miles for food.
Moron nature
To get more on nature from a nature moron, go to my blog at https://www.albatt.com/blogs/ Or listen in every Tuesday to KMSU (89.7 FM) or KTOE (1420 AM) aired on various dates. All radio shows are online.
Thanks for stopping by
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”—Winston Churchill
“The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope.”—Ronald Ross (alluding to mosquito research)
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 6-27-21
Naturally
The other side of the door sparked my curiosity. There lurked a chickadee and my lawn that thrives on benign neglect. I’m always thrilled to see a chickadee.
I heard it calling “beans.” I watched a common nighthawk slice the sky above a ballpark in New Ulm and realized the bird had become an essential part of that baseball game.
A bird bander married them
My son coached a girls’ softball team. The players complained about being attacked by a bird as they warmed up before a game. It was a killdeer that first feigned injury, and when that didn’t dismiss the intruders, it fluttered at them to protect her nest. No harm was done to girl or bird.
Keith Radel of Faribault told me this about Forest Strnad of Faribault, a late friend of ours who was a Methodist pastor and a bird bander. The bird Forest banded the most was a dark-eyed junco—over 10,000 banded. He banded 700 of Keith’s bluebirds with two birds returning. A tree swallow, banded in one of Keith’s nest boxes, returned seven years later to the same box in which it had hatched. Forest presided at Keith’s wedding on a Friday the 13th, which was good luck.
A money-grubbing crow
I’ve been involved with the American Bald Eagle Foundation (ABEF) in Haines, Alaska, for many years. The ABEF secured a trickster crow that plucked a dollar bill from a willing visitor’s fingers. Sadly, the crow developed seizures and never made it to Alaska. A raven will be trained to perform that dodge.
Soaked, bouncing and concerned
Double-crested cormorants perch in the sun with wings spread to dry. They have less preen oil than other birds and their feathers become soaked rather than shedding water like a duck’s. That might aid hunting underwater.
The wood duck is the only North American duck that regularly produces two broods in one season. This is more common in southern latitudes due to the longer breeding season. The short interval between broods indicates a female’s first one likely failed. The ducklings hatch with the ability to bounce.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has updated its list of Birds of Conservation Concern, a report mandated by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1988. The new report identifies 269 bird species, subspecies, or populations that represent high conservation priorities for FWS and deserve proactive attention. A few of the newly listed Birds of Conservation Concern that caught my attention are: yellow-billed cuckoo, chimney swift, lesser yellowlegs, belted kingfisher, bobolink, scarlet tanager and rose-breasted grosbeak.
Q&A
“Do ticks fall from trees?” It’s a myth like bug zappers are effective against mosquitoes, deer whistles rid the roads of deer, electronic devices repel mice, and hedge apples (Osage orange fruit) or horse chestnuts discourage spiders. Ticks do climb while trying to find food (blood), but only to the height of the animal. They look close to the ground (grass) for mice and other rodents, and in bushes or tall grasses for larger mammals such as humans and deer.
“When do turtles lay their eggs?” Most of Minnesota's turtle species lay eggs in late May through June. Raccoons and skunks destroy nests by digging up the eggs. A turtle nest cage can be built to help protect them.
https://wiatri.net/Inventory/WiTurtles/Volunteer/Images/ProtectingTurtleNests.pdf
“Are those the same robins in my yard as last year?” There is about a 50% chance one of last year’s nesting pair has returned, but only 25% of fledged robins survive until November.
“I didn’t see many cardinals in Minnesota when I was a child. Was I looking in the wrong places?” Cardinals have expanded their range north into Canada taking advantage of moderate temperatures, human habitation and bird feeders. The growth of towns and suburbs across America has helped the cardinal expand its range. There is speculation the southern birds followed the railroad tracks north.
“What should I do if I find an injured bird?” Try to make the animal as comfortable as possible and call the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota at 651-486-9453. If you find an injured raptor, contact the University of Minnesota Raptor Center at 612-624-4745.
“What birds have more than one brood a year?” Here are some that commonly do: mourning dove, cardinal, robin, house sparrow, eastern bluebird, house wren, eastern phoebe and barn swallow.
“Do deer eat milkweed?” People have told me they have had rabbits and deer eating their milkweed, but it’s unlikely to be their favorite food. I watched a rabbit eat a leaf.
Thanks for stopping by
“In nature, one never really sees a thing for the first time until one has seen it for the fiftieth.”—Joseph Wood Krutch
“Destroying rainforests for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.”—E.O. Wilson
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Naturally
The other side of the door sparked my curiosity. There lurked a chickadee and my lawn that thrives on benign neglect. I’m always thrilled to see a chickadee.
I heard it calling “beans.” I watched a common nighthawk slice the sky above a ballpark in New Ulm and realized the bird had become an essential part of that baseball game.
A bird bander married them
My son coached a girls’ softball team. The players complained about being attacked by a bird as they warmed up before a game. It was a killdeer that first feigned injury, and when that didn’t dismiss the intruders, it fluttered at them to protect her nest. No harm was done to girl or bird.
Keith Radel of Faribault told me this about Forest Strnad of Faribault, a late friend of ours who was a Methodist pastor and a bird bander. The bird Forest banded the most was a dark-eyed junco—over 10,000 banded. He banded 700 of Keith’s bluebirds with two birds returning. A tree swallow, banded in one of Keith’s nest boxes, returned seven years later to the same box in which it had hatched. Forest presided at Keith’s wedding on a Friday the 13th, which was good luck.
A money-grubbing crow
I’ve been involved with the American Bald Eagle Foundation (ABEF) in Haines, Alaska, for many years. The ABEF secured a trickster crow that plucked a dollar bill from a willing visitor’s fingers. Sadly, the crow developed seizures and never made it to Alaska. A raven will be trained to perform that dodge.
Soaked, bouncing and concerned
Double-crested cormorants perch in the sun with wings spread to dry. They have less preen oil than other birds and their feathers become soaked rather than shedding water like a duck’s. That might aid hunting underwater.
The wood duck is the only North American duck that regularly produces two broods in one season. This is more common in southern latitudes due to the longer breeding season. The short interval between broods indicates a female’s first one likely failed. The ducklings hatch with the ability to bounce.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has updated its list of Birds of Conservation Concern, a report mandated by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1988. The new report identifies 269 bird species, subspecies, or populations that represent high conservation priorities for FWS and deserve proactive attention. A few of the newly listed Birds of Conservation Concern that caught my attention are: yellow-billed cuckoo, chimney swift, lesser yellowlegs, belted kingfisher, bobolink, scarlet tanager and rose-breasted grosbeak.
Q&A
“Do ticks fall from trees?” It’s a myth like bug zappers are effective against mosquitoes, deer whistles rid the roads of deer, electronic devices repel mice, and hedge apples (Osage orange fruit) or horse chestnuts discourage spiders. Ticks do climb while trying to find food (blood), but only to the height of the animal. They look close to the ground (grass) for mice and other rodents, and in bushes or tall grasses for larger mammals such as humans and deer.
“When do turtles lay their eggs?” Most of Minnesota's turtle species lay eggs in late May through June. Raccoons and skunks destroy nests by digging up the eggs. A turtle nest cage can be built to help protect them.
https://wiatri.net/Inventory/WiTurtles/Volunteer/Images/ProtectingTurtleNests.pdf
“Are those the same robins in my yard as last year?” There is about a 50% chance one of last year’s nesting pair has returned, but only 25% of fledged robins survive until November.
“I didn’t see many cardinals in Minnesota when I was a child. Was I looking in the wrong places?” Cardinals have expanded their range north into Canada taking advantage of moderate temperatures, human habitation and bird feeders. The growth of towns and suburbs across America has helped the cardinal expand its range. There is speculation the southern birds followed the railroad tracks north.
“What should I do if I find an injured bird?” Try to make the animal as comfortable as possible and call the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota at 651-486-9453. If you find an injured raptor, contact the University of Minnesota Raptor Center at 612-624-4745.
“What birds have more than one brood a year?” Here are some that commonly do: mourning dove, cardinal, robin, house sparrow, eastern bluebird, house wren, eastern phoebe and barn swallow.
“Do deer eat milkweed?” People have told me they have had rabbits and deer eating their milkweed, but it’s unlikely to be their favorite food. I watched a rabbit eat a leaf.
Thanks for stopping by
“In nature, one never really sees a thing for the first time until one has seen it for the fiftieth.”—Joseph Wood Krutch
“Destroying rainforests for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.”—E.O. Wilson
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 6-20-21
Naturally
In another time, I traveled around one day a week taking photos and peering at birds. No birds were harmed in the process. My faithful Chihuahua companion Sancho accompanied me. He got his name because of the book I was reading at the time I brought the puppy home in my coat pocket. Sancho Panza was Don Quixote’s squire in the novel “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote represented illusion, Sancho Panza represented reality. The canine Sancho was a good friend. A good listener to my quixotic ideas.
Such undertakings built a thirst and I’d swing into the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant to get a cup of iced tea. This was Sancho’s favorite part of birding and photography. He perked up when he saw the person at the restaurant’s window and immediately looked his sweetest. “Oh, your dog is so cute. Would it be OK if I gave him a little bit of hamburger?” said the worker. It was OK with Sancho.
Bluebird blues
Keith Radel of Faribault maintains 175 sites for bluebird nest boxes and told me bluebird numbers in those boxes were down 53% from last year. Many of his birds winter in Arkansas, Texas or Oklahoma and winter storms were hard on them. The best year Keith has had fledging bluebirds was in 2012. A nasty spring here dropped that number 53% in 2013. The availability of houses has led to double the number of chickadees nesting in them this year. He has two chickadee pairs nesting 10 feet apart and has noticed no disputes among them.
President of birding
President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most powerful voices in the history of American conservation. After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt established 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks and 18 national monuments on over 230 million acres of public land. He identified 91 bird species he saw or heard on the White House lawn.
Hummingbird highlights
When the Spanish first encountered hummingbirds, they called them resurrection birds—believing something that shining must die each night and be reborn the next morning. Spanish missionaries used hummingbirds to explain the resurrection. Male Anna's hummingbirds dive at speeds of 385 body lengths per second according to a study in the U.K. journal “Proceedings of the Royal Society B.” Mayan legend said the first two hummingbirds were created from small feather scraps left over from the construction of other birds. Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red. That includes parked cars, lipstick and hats.
Guy wires
Bob Janssen of Golden Valley told me he and Ray Glassel were birding years ago when they found 978 dead birds (including two yellow rails) near a communications tower by Lewisville. Guy wires can be bird-killers in a fog.
Q&A
“What is your favorite raptor?” I think the American kestrel is the most beautiful. The northern harrier, once called a marsh hawk, kept me company when I was a mere stripling along Mule Lake. The peregrine falcon because its TV channel kept me entertained when I was hospitalized. And the merlin because I can’t help but watch one when I see one. My least favorite is a Toronto Raptor.
“Does any bird have a beak longer than its body?” The sword-billed hummingbird is the only bird to have a beak longer than its body.
“Will barn swallows reuse nests?” They may use nests from previous years, but avoid those heavily infested with mites or other parasites. When reusing nests, they clean out old feathers and add new mud to the nest’s rim. They put their cup-shaped nests on upright surfaces like docks, bridges, barns and the eaves of other buildings. The nests are built of mud reinforced with grass and lined with feathers and fine grasses.
“How many nests does a cardinal have each year?” Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) commonly raise two broods in Minnesota. When the first brood fledges, the father takes care of the fledglings as the mother builds a second nest, and lays and incubates eggs.
“Do dragonflies eat many mosquitoes?” Not nearly as many as I wish they did because adult dragonflies and mosquitoes can keep different hours, but the carnivorous dragonfly nymphs devour mosquito larvae.
Thanks for stopping by
“The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”—Henry Beston
“And since all this loveliness can not be Heaven, I know in my heart it is June.”—Abba Gould Woolson
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Naturally
In another time, I traveled around one day a week taking photos and peering at birds. No birds were harmed in the process. My faithful Chihuahua companion Sancho accompanied me. He got his name because of the book I was reading at the time I brought the puppy home in my coat pocket. Sancho Panza was Don Quixote’s squire in the novel “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote represented illusion, Sancho Panza represented reality. The canine Sancho was a good friend. A good listener to my quixotic ideas.
Such undertakings built a thirst and I’d swing into the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant to get a cup of iced tea. This was Sancho’s favorite part of birding and photography. He perked up when he saw the person at the restaurant’s window and immediately looked his sweetest. “Oh, your dog is so cute. Would it be OK if I gave him a little bit of hamburger?” said the worker. It was OK with Sancho.
Bluebird blues
Keith Radel of Faribault maintains 175 sites for bluebird nest boxes and told me bluebird numbers in those boxes were down 53% from last year. Many of his birds winter in Arkansas, Texas or Oklahoma and winter storms were hard on them. The best year Keith has had fledging bluebirds was in 2012. A nasty spring here dropped that number 53% in 2013. The availability of houses has led to double the number of chickadees nesting in them this year. He has two chickadee pairs nesting 10 feet apart and has noticed no disputes among them.
President of birding
President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most powerful voices in the history of American conservation. After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt established 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks and 18 national monuments on over 230 million acres of public land. He identified 91 bird species he saw or heard on the White House lawn.
Hummingbird highlights
When the Spanish first encountered hummingbirds, they called them resurrection birds—believing something that shining must die each night and be reborn the next morning. Spanish missionaries used hummingbirds to explain the resurrection. Male Anna's hummingbirds dive at speeds of 385 body lengths per second according to a study in the U.K. journal “Proceedings of the Royal Society B.” Mayan legend said the first two hummingbirds were created from small feather scraps left over from the construction of other birds. Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red. That includes parked cars, lipstick and hats.
Guy wires
Bob Janssen of Golden Valley told me he and Ray Glassel were birding years ago when they found 978 dead birds (including two yellow rails) near a communications tower by Lewisville. Guy wires can be bird-killers in a fog.
Q&A
“What is your favorite raptor?” I think the American kestrel is the most beautiful. The northern harrier, once called a marsh hawk, kept me company when I was a mere stripling along Mule Lake. The peregrine falcon because its TV channel kept me entertained when I was hospitalized. And the merlin because I can’t help but watch one when I see one. My least favorite is a Toronto Raptor.
“Does any bird have a beak longer than its body?” The sword-billed hummingbird is the only bird to have a beak longer than its body.
“Will barn swallows reuse nests?” They may use nests from previous years, but avoid those heavily infested with mites or other parasites. When reusing nests, they clean out old feathers and add new mud to the nest’s rim. They put their cup-shaped nests on upright surfaces like docks, bridges, barns and the eaves of other buildings. The nests are built of mud reinforced with grass and lined with feathers and fine grasses.
“How many nests does a cardinal have each year?” Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) commonly raise two broods in Minnesota. When the first brood fledges, the father takes care of the fledglings as the mother builds a second nest, and lays and incubates eggs.
“Do dragonflies eat many mosquitoes?” Not nearly as many as I wish they did because adult dragonflies and mosquitoes can keep different hours, but the carnivorous dragonfly nymphs devour mosquito larvae.
Thanks for stopping by
“The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”—Henry Beston
“And since all this loveliness can not be Heaven, I know in my heart it is June.”—Abba Gould Woolson
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt