Posted 11-22-20
Naturally
I find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Fall, summer and winter showed up in November and fought it out. The air became crisper, the nights cozier and the socks woolier. The view out a window can be exquisite and some would argue there were days when the weather was best enjoyed that way. Especially when the wind with its cold teeth threatened to peel back the day.
A gray catbird was in my yard on Nov. 7. That's late for that bird species to be here. It was joined by immature Harris's sparrows, eastern bluebirds and drab-colored goldfinches galore. The cedar waxwing is a stylish bird, which means I have nothing in my closet it'd ever be caught wearing. A flock of waxwings fed on berries. The hum of farm equipment and the roar of tractor-trailer rigs swallowed any sounds the waxwings might have been making as I pulled impaled leaves from my rake.
Buckthorn has many branches and thorns. It keeps its leaves longer and greens up earlier than most deciduous trees. It sprouts profusely. I saw a great blue heron (Big Cranky, Long John or Poor Joe) standing as still as a statue along the Le Sueur River.
A woolly bear caterpillar moved across the walk. These caterpillars shed their skins several times and their colors change before fall. The caterpillar’s coat helps it survive winter. The woolly worm was searching for a place to curl up and hibernate until building a cocoon in the spring. The length of the bands is based on the caterpillar's age, with nutrition, genetics, habitat and species being other possible determinants.
It resembled a big mosquito but doesn't bite humans. It was a crane fly with a 1.5-inch long body and a 3-inch wingspread. In colloquial speech, crane flies are sometimes called mosquito hawks or daddy longlegs. To me, mosquito hawks are dragonflies and daddy longlegs are the arachnids called harvestmen. They aren't spiders. They don’t produce silk and aren't venomous. I've found daddy longlegs with fewer than eight legs because they'll shed legs grasped by predators and cannot regrow them.
Q&A
"My yard has noisy squirrels. What are they talking about?" A researcher at Auburn University wondered the same thing and learned the most common sounds squirrels make are danger warnings. The kuk is a sharp bark of alarm, usually issued in a series and intended for other squirrels and predators. The study showed that when a squirrel starts kukking, a cat gives up, knowing it had lost the element of surprise. The quaa sounds a bit like a cat screeching and is issued after the threat level has dropped. A quaa moan sounds like a chirp followed by a meow. It's ventriloquial, making it difficult to determine the sound's location. It's given in hopes the predator had left but suggests continued caution. Muk-muk resembles a stifled sneeze or buzz-like phfft, phfft. Nesting squirrels use it when hungry and males make it during mating chases.
"How many trumpeter swans are there in Minnesota?" A 2015 statewide tally counted over 17,000 swans. A current estimate is 30,000. Some winter in Minnesota, settling on open water on the Mississippi River in Monticello (2,000 winter there) or along the St. Croix River. Native to Minnesota and the largest North American waterfowl species, trumpeter swans inhabited wetlands from Illinois northwest to Alaska. Throughout the 1800s, they were hunted for their meat (no supermarkets available) and feathers (some used for quill pens). Swan habitat diminished as settlers moved across North America. By the 1930s, an estimated 69 trumpeters remained in the lower 48 states, living in remote southeastern Montana. When the DNR started the swan reintroduction program in the 1980s, its goal was 350 swans.
"This fall, something made holes as big around as a pencil in my lawn. There were no mounds of dirt and the holes went down a few inches before stopping or turning. What is making them?" A northern flicker, with its white rump patch and black bib, creates holes like your description. The woodpecker regularly feeds on the ground, eating ants or grubs.
Thanks for stopping by
"It is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be born a millionaire." — Robert Louis Stevenson
"Great blue heron is the color of gray mist reflecting in blue water. And like mist, she can fade into the backdrop, all of her disappearing except the concentric circles of her lock-and-load eyes. She is a patient, solitary hunter, standing alone as long as it takes to snatch her prey. Or, eyeing her catch, she will stride forward one slow step at a time, like a predacious bridesmaid. And yet, on rare occasions she hunts on the wing, darting and diving sharply, swordlike beak in the lead." ― Delia Owens, "Where the Crawdads Sing"
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
I find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Fall, summer and winter showed up in November and fought it out. The air became crisper, the nights cozier and the socks woolier. The view out a window can be exquisite and some would argue there were days when the weather was best enjoyed that way. Especially when the wind with its cold teeth threatened to peel back the day.
A gray catbird was in my yard on Nov. 7. That's late for that bird species to be here. It was joined by immature Harris's sparrows, eastern bluebirds and drab-colored goldfinches galore. The cedar waxwing is a stylish bird, which means I have nothing in my closet it'd ever be caught wearing. A flock of waxwings fed on berries. The hum of farm equipment and the roar of tractor-trailer rigs swallowed any sounds the waxwings might have been making as I pulled impaled leaves from my rake.
Buckthorn has many branches and thorns. It keeps its leaves longer and greens up earlier than most deciduous trees. It sprouts profusely. I saw a great blue heron (Big Cranky, Long John or Poor Joe) standing as still as a statue along the Le Sueur River.
A woolly bear caterpillar moved across the walk. These caterpillars shed their skins several times and their colors change before fall. The caterpillar’s coat helps it survive winter. The woolly worm was searching for a place to curl up and hibernate until building a cocoon in the spring. The length of the bands is based on the caterpillar's age, with nutrition, genetics, habitat and species being other possible determinants.
It resembled a big mosquito but doesn't bite humans. It was a crane fly with a 1.5-inch long body and a 3-inch wingspread. In colloquial speech, crane flies are sometimes called mosquito hawks or daddy longlegs. To me, mosquito hawks are dragonflies and daddy longlegs are the arachnids called harvestmen. They aren't spiders. They don’t produce silk and aren't venomous. I've found daddy longlegs with fewer than eight legs because they'll shed legs grasped by predators and cannot regrow them.
Q&A
"My yard has noisy squirrels. What are they talking about?" A researcher at Auburn University wondered the same thing and learned the most common sounds squirrels make are danger warnings. The kuk is a sharp bark of alarm, usually issued in a series and intended for other squirrels and predators. The study showed that when a squirrel starts kukking, a cat gives up, knowing it had lost the element of surprise. The quaa sounds a bit like a cat screeching and is issued after the threat level has dropped. A quaa moan sounds like a chirp followed by a meow. It's ventriloquial, making it difficult to determine the sound's location. It's given in hopes the predator had left but suggests continued caution. Muk-muk resembles a stifled sneeze or buzz-like phfft, phfft. Nesting squirrels use it when hungry and males make it during mating chases.
"How many trumpeter swans are there in Minnesota?" A 2015 statewide tally counted over 17,000 swans. A current estimate is 30,000. Some winter in Minnesota, settling on open water on the Mississippi River in Monticello (2,000 winter there) or along the St. Croix River. Native to Minnesota and the largest North American waterfowl species, trumpeter swans inhabited wetlands from Illinois northwest to Alaska. Throughout the 1800s, they were hunted for their meat (no supermarkets available) and feathers (some used for quill pens). Swan habitat diminished as settlers moved across North America. By the 1930s, an estimated 69 trumpeters remained in the lower 48 states, living in remote southeastern Montana. When the DNR started the swan reintroduction program in the 1980s, its goal was 350 swans.
"This fall, something made holes as big around as a pencil in my lawn. There were no mounds of dirt and the holes went down a few inches before stopping or turning. What is making them?" A northern flicker, with its white rump patch and black bib, creates holes like your description. The woodpecker regularly feeds on the ground, eating ants or grubs.
Thanks for stopping by
"It is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be born a millionaire." — Robert Louis Stevenson
"Great blue heron is the color of gray mist reflecting in blue water. And like mist, she can fade into the backdrop, all of her disappearing except the concentric circles of her lock-and-load eyes. She is a patient, solitary hunter, standing alone as long as it takes to snatch her prey. Or, eyeing her catch, she will stride forward one slow step at a time, like a predacious bridesmaid. And yet, on rare occasions she hunts on the wing, darting and diving sharply, swordlike beak in the lead." ― Delia Owens, "Where the Crawdads Sing"
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 11-15-20
Naturally
The yard crows were kicking up a fuss. Crows can't keep a secret. There was a puff of cold wind that led to a puff of house sparrow. A bird’s body heat warms the air between its feathers, so birds fluff up in the cold to trap as much warm air in their feathers as possible. The more trapped air there is, the warmer the bird. An American goldfinch and a pine siskin shared a feeder table that allowed them to maintain social distancing. There was a chickadee eye looking everywhere. The Ginkgo tree completed its annual striptease by dropping all its leaves in a single day.
Q&A
"I have mullein growing on my property. Do birds feed on it?" Common mullein is a biennial that in its first year has a basal rosette of large, velvety leaves. Its second year produces a tall dried skeleton of seeds after the fuzzy stem has dropped its yellow, five-petalled flowers. Once it has gone to seed, mullein provides winter food for finches, chickadees and downy woodpeckers.
"I watched a blue jay pick up several peanuts in the shell on my feeder before flying off with one. What was it doing?" A study published in the Journal of Ornithology suggested that the bird was weighing peanuts and possibly shaking them to determine the quality. When presented with ten empty and ten full identical pods, the jays rejected the empty ones and accepted the full peanuts without opening them. The jays preferred the heavier nuts.
"What is the smallest mammal?" By total mass, the Etruscan shrew, a shrew species found from southern Europe to southern Asia, is the smallest mammal, weighing up to two grams. The bumblebee bat or Kitti’s hog-nosed bat occurring in Thailand and parts of Myanmar is the smallest mammal by length, measuring barely over an inch long. The smallest mammal in North America is the pygmy shrew, which weighs 0.07 ounces and has a body 1.5 to 2 inches long.
"Why don't I find many dead birds?" There is no secret avian graveyard. Vulnerable birds seek secluded places, hoping rest would help them recover. Scavengers and predators find those weak or deceased birds. Those that aren't found by predators or scavengers decompose rapidly, with the help of bacteria and insects.
"How much does a pelican eat?" According to the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service, an adult American white pelican consumes 20-40% of its body weight daily, with its average weight being 15 pounds, which means 3-6 pounds of fish per day. Approximately 150 pounds of food is needed to feed one chick from hatching to fledging. The food caught is always swallowed, never carried in a pouch.
"Have you heard about Bird Names For Birds?" It's a campaign to abandon eponyms in taxonomy and honorific common names for birds to support equity, diversity and inclusion in the American birding community. The campaign writes "Eponyms (a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named or thought to be named) and honorific common bird names (a name given to something in honor of a person) are problematic because they perpetuate colonialism and the racism associated with it. The names that these birds currently have—for example, Bachman’s Sparrow — represent and remember people (mainly white men) who often have objectively horrible pasts and do not uphold the morals and standards the bird community should memorialize." I wouldn't be unhappy with more descriptive names.
"What bird migrates the farthest?" The arctic tern breeds in the Arctic and sub-Arctic and winters in the Antarctic. Tracking studies have found the birds make annual journeys of about 44,100 miles, with one bird flying round trip from England to Antarctica on a journey of 59,650 miles.
"Were canaries used in coal mines or is it just a story?" Canaries are early detectors of carbon monoxide because they’re vulnerable to airborne poisons. In 1986, a mining tradition dating back to 1911 ended the use of canaries in coal mines to detect carbon monoxide and other toxic gases before they were harmful to humans.
"Why is Iowa the Hawkeye State?" The nickname was partially inspired by the scout, Hawkeye, in James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans" and was suggested as a tribute to Chief Black Hawk.
Thanks for stopping by
"We have probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried things in it, chopped down its forests, leveled its hills, muddied its waters, and dirtied its air. That does not fit my definition of a good tenant. If we were here on a month-to-month basis, we would have been evicted long ago." — Rose Bird, the late Chief Justice of California Supreme Court
"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." —Will Rogers
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
The yard crows were kicking up a fuss. Crows can't keep a secret. There was a puff of cold wind that led to a puff of house sparrow. A bird’s body heat warms the air between its feathers, so birds fluff up in the cold to trap as much warm air in their feathers as possible. The more trapped air there is, the warmer the bird. An American goldfinch and a pine siskin shared a feeder table that allowed them to maintain social distancing. There was a chickadee eye looking everywhere. The Ginkgo tree completed its annual striptease by dropping all its leaves in a single day.
Q&A
"I have mullein growing on my property. Do birds feed on it?" Common mullein is a biennial that in its first year has a basal rosette of large, velvety leaves. Its second year produces a tall dried skeleton of seeds after the fuzzy stem has dropped its yellow, five-petalled flowers. Once it has gone to seed, mullein provides winter food for finches, chickadees and downy woodpeckers.
"I watched a blue jay pick up several peanuts in the shell on my feeder before flying off with one. What was it doing?" A study published in the Journal of Ornithology suggested that the bird was weighing peanuts and possibly shaking them to determine the quality. When presented with ten empty and ten full identical pods, the jays rejected the empty ones and accepted the full peanuts without opening them. The jays preferred the heavier nuts.
"What is the smallest mammal?" By total mass, the Etruscan shrew, a shrew species found from southern Europe to southern Asia, is the smallest mammal, weighing up to two grams. The bumblebee bat or Kitti’s hog-nosed bat occurring in Thailand and parts of Myanmar is the smallest mammal by length, measuring barely over an inch long. The smallest mammal in North America is the pygmy shrew, which weighs 0.07 ounces and has a body 1.5 to 2 inches long.
"Why don't I find many dead birds?" There is no secret avian graveyard. Vulnerable birds seek secluded places, hoping rest would help them recover. Scavengers and predators find those weak or deceased birds. Those that aren't found by predators or scavengers decompose rapidly, with the help of bacteria and insects.
"How much does a pelican eat?" According to the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service, an adult American white pelican consumes 20-40% of its body weight daily, with its average weight being 15 pounds, which means 3-6 pounds of fish per day. Approximately 150 pounds of food is needed to feed one chick from hatching to fledging. The food caught is always swallowed, never carried in a pouch.
"Have you heard about Bird Names For Birds?" It's a campaign to abandon eponyms in taxonomy and honorific common names for birds to support equity, diversity and inclusion in the American birding community. The campaign writes "Eponyms (a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named or thought to be named) and honorific common bird names (a name given to something in honor of a person) are problematic because they perpetuate colonialism and the racism associated with it. The names that these birds currently have—for example, Bachman’s Sparrow — represent and remember people (mainly white men) who often have objectively horrible pasts and do not uphold the morals and standards the bird community should memorialize." I wouldn't be unhappy with more descriptive names.
"What bird migrates the farthest?" The arctic tern breeds in the Arctic and sub-Arctic and winters in the Antarctic. Tracking studies have found the birds make annual journeys of about 44,100 miles, with one bird flying round trip from England to Antarctica on a journey of 59,650 miles.
"Were canaries used in coal mines or is it just a story?" Canaries are early detectors of carbon monoxide because they’re vulnerable to airborne poisons. In 1986, a mining tradition dating back to 1911 ended the use of canaries in coal mines to detect carbon monoxide and other toxic gases before they were harmful to humans.
"Why is Iowa the Hawkeye State?" The nickname was partially inspired by the scout, Hawkeye, in James Fenimore Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans" and was suggested as a tribute to Chief Black Hawk.
Thanks for stopping by
"We have probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried things in it, chopped down its forests, leveled its hills, muddied its waters, and dirtied its air. That does not fit my definition of a good tenant. If we were here on a month-to-month basis, we would have been evicted long ago." — Rose Bird, the late Chief Justice of California Supreme Court
"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." —Will Rogers
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al batt
Posted 11-8-20
Naturally The snowbirds (juncos) found snow here in October. They were likely no more excited about it than I was. The weather, though disagreeable, wasn't completely without a good side. It ended the reign of terror of the minute pirate bugs, the things disguised as nothing that bite us. They are attracted to people wearing light-colored clothing and bite with an impact far above their weight class. The weather moved birds to my feeders and waterer. For this hick from the sticks, seeing three redbirds in a single tree in my yard is a highlight.
I watched robins feed in a hawthorn tree. I realized a robin has a great sense of humor. It enjoys a good haw. Woodpeckers also sampled the haws. A hairy woodpecker visited the suet. It hammered away. "Give 'em hell, Hairy," I said. "Give 'em hell, Harry" was a play and film based on Harry Truman. How much wood would a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker would peck wood? I’ve been hearing from homeowners with cedar shakes who are learning the answer to that question the hard way. Male house finches give the yard's feeders a rosy outlook. A lovely singer, the house finch was once sold in the illegal pet trade as a Hollywood finch. I'm not sure if blue jays will work for peanuts, but they will fly in and vocalize for peanuts.
Starlings (numerous, quarrelsome and ravenous) moved into the yard like Cousin Eddie's family in the National Lampoon's Vacation film series. An eastern phoebe did likewise in 27° weather. The flycatcher perched on a feeder sheltered from the snow and looked up for flying insects to eat. I hoped things looked up for that phoebe. A single white-crowned sparrow, with racing stripes on its noggin fed below the feeders with the fox sparrows. The sight of br'er fox sparrow caused me to say "The quick brown fox sparrow jumps over the lazy dog," a pangram — a sentence that contains all the letters of the alphabet. With the color of its plumage, even when doing what it's always done, a fox sparrow looks rusty.
The wind picked up and made the beautiful leaves dance in the air. John Critchley Prince wrote, "Ruffling the colors of the forest leaves, the winds make music as they come and go." I examined a tree along a lake. It had been gnawed by a beaver.
The words "And Jerry Mathers as the Beaver" ran through my mind. I marveled at the beauty of trumpeter swans, which can take the cold and will winter where there is open water. In winter, they feed upon grasses, grains, roots and tubers. They get much of their food by dabbling, feeding on whatever submerged vegetation is within reach of their long necks.
I'll miss going to Texas for speaking and birding this year. I love saying "chachalaca" and "kiskadee." I'll find solace in recalling the sight of such incredible birds as green jays, blue mockingbird, red-crowned parrots, green kingfishers, Altamira orioles, aplomado falcons, least grebes, northern beardless-tyrannulets, greater peewee and many others in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
The mushrooms have gone with the cold, leaving my yard a spore loser, but Halloween brought thoughts of owls. Young owls leave their parents and move to new territories in the fall. Inexperienced birds with glowing eyes, quiet wings and eerie voices (a fall night can provide wonderful acoustics) make them seem otherworldly when their juvenile dispersal causes them to show up in odd places.
Q&A
"I listen to your radio show. You said house sparrow populations are declining in London. Why?" London's house sparrows have plummeted by 71% since 1995, with new research suggesting avian malaria could be the cause. Similar to human malaria, it's spread by mosquitoes, which transfer the parasite to healthy birds. The parasite reproduces in red blood cells and other tissues, and in severe cases can be fatal. Avian malaria is not a danger to humans.
"What is the oldest banded bird?" Wisdom, a female Laysan albatross, is the oldest known banded bird in the wild. She nests in the world's largest albatross colony, which is located on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. She is at least 70-years old and as difficult as it is to believe, was not discovered while she was reading a membership solicitation from AARP.
Thanks for stopping by
Journalist Ed Murrow: "Who owns the patent on this vaccine?" Jonas Salk, developer of polio vaccine: "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
"The old Lakota was wise. He loved the earth and all things of the earth. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard. He knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon leads to lack of respect for humans too." — Chief Luther Standing Bear
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally The snowbirds (juncos) found snow here in October. They were likely no more excited about it than I was. The weather, though disagreeable, wasn't completely without a good side. It ended the reign of terror of the minute pirate bugs, the things disguised as nothing that bite us. They are attracted to people wearing light-colored clothing and bite with an impact far above their weight class. The weather moved birds to my feeders and waterer. For this hick from the sticks, seeing three redbirds in a single tree in my yard is a highlight.
I watched robins feed in a hawthorn tree. I realized a robin has a great sense of humor. It enjoys a good haw. Woodpeckers also sampled the haws. A hairy woodpecker visited the suet. It hammered away. "Give 'em hell, Hairy," I said. "Give 'em hell, Harry" was a play and film based on Harry Truman. How much wood would a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker would peck wood? I’ve been hearing from homeowners with cedar shakes who are learning the answer to that question the hard way. Male house finches give the yard's feeders a rosy outlook. A lovely singer, the house finch was once sold in the illegal pet trade as a Hollywood finch. I'm not sure if blue jays will work for peanuts, but they will fly in and vocalize for peanuts.
Starlings (numerous, quarrelsome and ravenous) moved into the yard like Cousin Eddie's family in the National Lampoon's Vacation film series. An eastern phoebe did likewise in 27° weather. The flycatcher perched on a feeder sheltered from the snow and looked up for flying insects to eat. I hoped things looked up for that phoebe. A single white-crowned sparrow, with racing stripes on its noggin fed below the feeders with the fox sparrows. The sight of br'er fox sparrow caused me to say "The quick brown fox sparrow jumps over the lazy dog," a pangram — a sentence that contains all the letters of the alphabet. With the color of its plumage, even when doing what it's always done, a fox sparrow looks rusty.
The wind picked up and made the beautiful leaves dance in the air. John Critchley Prince wrote, "Ruffling the colors of the forest leaves, the winds make music as they come and go." I examined a tree along a lake. It had been gnawed by a beaver.
The words "And Jerry Mathers as the Beaver" ran through my mind. I marveled at the beauty of trumpeter swans, which can take the cold and will winter where there is open water. In winter, they feed upon grasses, grains, roots and tubers. They get much of their food by dabbling, feeding on whatever submerged vegetation is within reach of their long necks.
I'll miss going to Texas for speaking and birding this year. I love saying "chachalaca" and "kiskadee." I'll find solace in recalling the sight of such incredible birds as green jays, blue mockingbird, red-crowned parrots, green kingfishers, Altamira orioles, aplomado falcons, least grebes, northern beardless-tyrannulets, greater peewee and many others in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
The mushrooms have gone with the cold, leaving my yard a spore loser, but Halloween brought thoughts of owls. Young owls leave their parents and move to new territories in the fall. Inexperienced birds with glowing eyes, quiet wings and eerie voices (a fall night can provide wonderful acoustics) make them seem otherworldly when their juvenile dispersal causes them to show up in odd places.
Q&A
"I listen to your radio show. You said house sparrow populations are declining in London. Why?" London's house sparrows have plummeted by 71% since 1995, with new research suggesting avian malaria could be the cause. Similar to human malaria, it's spread by mosquitoes, which transfer the parasite to healthy birds. The parasite reproduces in red blood cells and other tissues, and in severe cases can be fatal. Avian malaria is not a danger to humans.
"What is the oldest banded bird?" Wisdom, a female Laysan albatross, is the oldest known banded bird in the wild. She nests in the world's largest albatross colony, which is located on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. She is at least 70-years old and as difficult as it is to believe, was not discovered while she was reading a membership solicitation from AARP.
Thanks for stopping by
Journalist Ed Murrow: "Who owns the patent on this vaccine?" Jonas Salk, developer of polio vaccine: "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
"The old Lakota was wise. He loved the earth and all things of the earth. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard. He knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon leads to lack of respect for humans too." — Chief Luther Standing Bear
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 11-1-20
Naturally Cricket chirps slowed with the cold before coming to a standstill after a killing frost. The silence is "Taps" for crickets, but creatures are still lurking.
A skein of geese was stirring. I saw gulls — ring-billed and Franklin's. It was a Franklin’s gull, not Ben Franklin, that said “Kek, kek!" Birding is a phenomenal pandemic pastime for people. All I need do is to watch them and my spirits are lifted. A cedar waxwing enjoyed a hawthorn apple in the yard. I enjoyed watching a cedar waxwing enjoying a haw in the yard. In the same hawthorn tree was a northern flicker, which after consuming some of the berries, appeared to be contemplating the migration ahead. Being your own GPS has to be stressful.
White-throated sparrows kicked back. They forage in the leaves on the ground, using both feet at once to scratch backward, then pounce forward on seeds or insects they’ve uncovered. The fox sparrows in the yard also use that distinctive double-scratch ground move. With a forward and backward hop, their feet move aside leaf litter in their search for insects and seeds for dinner. An eastern phoebe was in my yard on Oct. 25, looking up in 27° weather for flying insects in the falling snow.
The starlings moved in like Cousin Eddie's family in the National Lampoon's Vacation film series. They were numerous, loud and argumentative creatures with prodigious appetites. Even the house sparrows scattered at the invasion. The house sparrow isn't a true sparrow. It's a weaver finch native to Eurasia and northern Africa that has succeeded in urban and farming areas worldwide -- including North America, where birds shipped from England were released in New York in 1851. People built nest boxes for them. The bird known as the English sparrow was brought here to combat cankerworms. By 1900 the sparrows had spread to the Rocky Mountains. By 1910, they were established in California. They're found on every continent except Antarctica.
My father once shared a hospital room with a Sparrow. No, not a house sparrow. It was a man named Sparrow. A Batt and a Sparrow in hospital beds. My father was uncomplaining, but the Sparrow chirped a lot. Just as house sparrows do.
Q&A
"I heard you mention whiffling Canada geese on your radio show. What does that mean?" Whiffling is a term used to describe the behavior whereby a bird rapidly descends with a zig-zagging, side slipping motion. It's as if they're spilling air from their wings. A goose occasionally flies briefly upside down with its head in a normal position. The aerodynamics giving lift during flying are extinguished and the goose plummets toward the ground before returning to a normal flying orientation. This erratic motion resembling a falling leaf is used to avoid a long, slow descent.
"What states are grizzly bears found?" Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming. All grizzly bears are brown bears, but not all brown bears are grizzly bears. Brown bears are generally considered to be those of the species having access to coastal food resources like salmon. Grizzly bears live inland and typically don't have access to marine-derived food resources. How does a bear stay cool in summer? It has bear conditioning.
"Should I rake the leaves or leave the leaves?" If you leave them on the lawn they give shelter for beneficial insects and the nutrients in the leaves break down and fertilize the lawn. It's a good idea to use a mower or mulcher to shred them so they break down faster and don’t smother the grass. You should clean up the leaves in areas close to open water and areas near streets and storm drains. If you don't, it could lead to water quality issues in lakes, rivers and streams because of an exacerbation of algae blooms in the spring. Some of our deciduous trees keep their leaves for much or all of winter — ironwood, buckthorn and some oaks.
"Do crows stash food?" Crows will bury food in a yard and cover it with leaves or grass. They cache food in trees, rain gutters, niches, nooks and crannies. They retrieve the stored food when it's needed. The hidden food is an insurance policy against lean times and offers convenience foods without the brick and mortar store.
Thanks for stopping by
"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter." — Rachel Carson in her book "Silent Spring"
"A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart." — Luke 6:45
Do good.
© Al Batt 2020
Naturally Cricket chirps slowed with the cold before coming to a standstill after a killing frost. The silence is "Taps" for crickets, but creatures are still lurking.
A skein of geese was stirring. I saw gulls — ring-billed and Franklin's. It was a Franklin’s gull, not Ben Franklin, that said “Kek, kek!" Birding is a phenomenal pandemic pastime for people. All I need do is to watch them and my spirits are lifted. A cedar waxwing enjoyed a hawthorn apple in the yard. I enjoyed watching a cedar waxwing enjoying a haw in the yard. In the same hawthorn tree was a northern flicker, which after consuming some of the berries, appeared to be contemplating the migration ahead. Being your own GPS has to be stressful.
White-throated sparrows kicked back. They forage in the leaves on the ground, using both feet at once to scratch backward, then pounce forward on seeds or insects they’ve uncovered. The fox sparrows in the yard also use that distinctive double-scratch ground move. With a forward and backward hop, their feet move aside leaf litter in their search for insects and seeds for dinner. An eastern phoebe was in my yard on Oct. 25, looking up in 27° weather for flying insects in the falling snow.
The starlings moved in like Cousin Eddie's family in the National Lampoon's Vacation film series. They were numerous, loud and argumentative creatures with prodigious appetites. Even the house sparrows scattered at the invasion. The house sparrow isn't a true sparrow. It's a weaver finch native to Eurasia and northern Africa that has succeeded in urban and farming areas worldwide -- including North America, where birds shipped from England were released in New York in 1851. People built nest boxes for them. The bird known as the English sparrow was brought here to combat cankerworms. By 1900 the sparrows had spread to the Rocky Mountains. By 1910, they were established in California. They're found on every continent except Antarctica.
My father once shared a hospital room with a Sparrow. No, not a house sparrow. It was a man named Sparrow. A Batt and a Sparrow in hospital beds. My father was uncomplaining, but the Sparrow chirped a lot. Just as house sparrows do.
Q&A
"I heard you mention whiffling Canada geese on your radio show. What does that mean?" Whiffling is a term used to describe the behavior whereby a bird rapidly descends with a zig-zagging, side slipping motion. It's as if they're spilling air from their wings. A goose occasionally flies briefly upside down with its head in a normal position. The aerodynamics giving lift during flying are extinguished and the goose plummets toward the ground before returning to a normal flying orientation. This erratic motion resembling a falling leaf is used to avoid a long, slow descent.
"What states are grizzly bears found?" Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming. All grizzly bears are brown bears, but not all brown bears are grizzly bears. Brown bears are generally considered to be those of the species having access to coastal food resources like salmon. Grizzly bears live inland and typically don't have access to marine-derived food resources. How does a bear stay cool in summer? It has bear conditioning.
"Should I rake the leaves or leave the leaves?" If you leave them on the lawn they give shelter for beneficial insects and the nutrients in the leaves break down and fertilize the lawn. It's a good idea to use a mower or mulcher to shred them so they break down faster and don’t smother the grass. You should clean up the leaves in areas close to open water and areas near streets and storm drains. If you don't, it could lead to water quality issues in lakes, rivers and streams because of an exacerbation of algae blooms in the spring. Some of our deciduous trees keep their leaves for much or all of winter — ironwood, buckthorn and some oaks.
"Do crows stash food?" Crows will bury food in a yard and cover it with leaves or grass. They cache food in trees, rain gutters, niches, nooks and crannies. They retrieve the stored food when it's needed. The hidden food is an insurance policy against lean times and offers convenience foods without the brick and mortar store.
Thanks for stopping by
"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter." — Rachel Carson in her book "Silent Spring"
"A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart." — Luke 6:45
Do good.
© Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 10-25-20
Naturally Autumn colors popped and fell. Unlike Maxwell House coffee, whose slogan is "Good to the last drop," a leaf is good after the last drop. The leaves on the ground are beautiful unless you detest raking them.
The frost had deleted most of the wasps and bees. Emily Dickinson wrote, "The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee; a clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy." The bees that do all the work are females. That might surprise no one.
I listened to blue jays go on and on. Mark Twain wrote, “A bluejay is human; he has got all a man's faculties and a man's weakness.” I figured these were discussing the merits of the electoral college. Mark Twain also wrote, “You never saw a bluejay get stuck for a word. He is a vocabularized geyser."
Horned larks gathered on the roadside on a windy day. There was and might still be a brand of cigarettes called Lark. I have never seen a horned lark smoking one. A road-killed muskrat wasn't far from the larks. The muskrat is commonly known as Ondatra zibethicus and rightly so. Captain & Tennille sang “Muskrat, muskrat. Candlelight. Doing the town. And doing it right. In the evening, it's pretty pleasing. Muskrat Suzie, Muskrat Sam. Do the jitterbug at a Muskrat Land. And they shimmy, Sam is so skinny.” I have nothing to add to that.
Brenda Kotasek of St. Peter volunteers at the fabulous Henderson Hummingbird Garden and saw the last hummingbird on Oct. 6 and last monarch butterfly on Oct. 8.
My feeders were so busy, I expected to hear "Yackety Sax," the song played during the chase scenes on "The Benny Hill Show." Pine siskins seemed to be everywhere. The wind, white-throated sparrows and chickadees whistled. So did the temperature as it whistled past my ears on its way down. Harris's sparrows, which I sometimes hear whistle as they pass through in the spring, magically appeared. I whistled on their behalf. Why not? As Monty Python's Eric Idle sang, "When you're chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble, give a whistle."
Q&A
"How fast can a mole tunnel?" I read something from Purdue University saying moles can tunnel 100 feet per day. I've been told and read often that they can dig 160 feet in a single night, but couldn't find research documenting that. Moles nest deep underground but make tunnels as they burrow through the soil in search of food. Surface tunnels are the raised ridges in lawns created by moles working just below the surface. Folkloric remedies haven't proven effective in discouraging moles.
"What can I do about powdery mildew on lilacs?" Learn to ignore it. It's a cosmetic disease as it is on most woody ornamentals.
"Do you recommend using pruning paints on trees?" No, research has found they slow natural healing. You might use them if you're forced to prune an oak during the growing season. It keeps sap beetles from finding the wound, which they'd find almost immediately and possibly transmit oak wilt. Latex house paint would work as all that is needed is a physical barrier.
"Why does a monarch butterfly chrysalis have gold on it?" Chrysalis is from the Greek chrysalid, which is from chrysos meaning "gold," referring to the metallic gold-like sheen of some butterfly pupae. The gold is created by a coupling of a carotenoid pigment and hill-like structures that reflect light from their peaks. There are theories as to the purpose of the gold. It could act as camouflage -- mirroring colors of the surroundings and breaking up the shape of the pupa or it might look like dew droplets. It could be a warning coloration, which acts like a "Poison" sign. Or it might filter particular wavelengths of light, which might be harmful to the monarchs.
"What is the one thing that most often becomes litter?" According to the Ocean Conservancy, the top 5 most littered items are: 1. Cigarette butts 2. Food wrappers 3. Plastic bottles 4. Plastic bottle caps 5. Plastic bags.
"Why do robins molt right before they migrate south?" Robins molt so they'll have fresh feathers for the flight. These fresh feathers are better insulation against the winter cold. Robins start molting flight feathers in mid-June and finish molting by early September. They molt body feathers from late July into October. Each feather is pushed out by a new one. Most feathers last a year, but if a feather is pulled out when a robin isn't molting, it's replaced promptly.
Thanks for stopping by
"Tell me, O Octopus, I begs. Is those things arms, or is they legs? I marvel at thee, Octopus; If I were thou, I'd call me Us." — Ogden Nash
"God in his wisdom made the fly. And then forgot to tell us why." — Ogden Nash
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally Autumn colors popped and fell. Unlike Maxwell House coffee, whose slogan is "Good to the last drop," a leaf is good after the last drop. The leaves on the ground are beautiful unless you detest raking them.
The frost had deleted most of the wasps and bees. Emily Dickinson wrote, "The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee; a clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy." The bees that do all the work are females. That might surprise no one.
I listened to blue jays go on and on. Mark Twain wrote, “A bluejay is human; he has got all a man's faculties and a man's weakness.” I figured these were discussing the merits of the electoral college. Mark Twain also wrote, “You never saw a bluejay get stuck for a word. He is a vocabularized geyser."
Horned larks gathered on the roadside on a windy day. There was and might still be a brand of cigarettes called Lark. I have never seen a horned lark smoking one. A road-killed muskrat wasn't far from the larks. The muskrat is commonly known as Ondatra zibethicus and rightly so. Captain & Tennille sang “Muskrat, muskrat. Candlelight. Doing the town. And doing it right. In the evening, it's pretty pleasing. Muskrat Suzie, Muskrat Sam. Do the jitterbug at a Muskrat Land. And they shimmy, Sam is so skinny.” I have nothing to add to that.
Brenda Kotasek of St. Peter volunteers at the fabulous Henderson Hummingbird Garden and saw the last hummingbird on Oct. 6 and last monarch butterfly on Oct. 8.
My feeders were so busy, I expected to hear "Yackety Sax," the song played during the chase scenes on "The Benny Hill Show." Pine siskins seemed to be everywhere. The wind, white-throated sparrows and chickadees whistled. So did the temperature as it whistled past my ears on its way down. Harris's sparrows, which I sometimes hear whistle as they pass through in the spring, magically appeared. I whistled on their behalf. Why not? As Monty Python's Eric Idle sang, "When you're chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble, give a whistle."
Q&A
"How fast can a mole tunnel?" I read something from Purdue University saying moles can tunnel 100 feet per day. I've been told and read often that they can dig 160 feet in a single night, but couldn't find research documenting that. Moles nest deep underground but make tunnels as they burrow through the soil in search of food. Surface tunnels are the raised ridges in lawns created by moles working just below the surface. Folkloric remedies haven't proven effective in discouraging moles.
"What can I do about powdery mildew on lilacs?" Learn to ignore it. It's a cosmetic disease as it is on most woody ornamentals.
"Do you recommend using pruning paints on trees?" No, research has found they slow natural healing. You might use them if you're forced to prune an oak during the growing season. It keeps sap beetles from finding the wound, which they'd find almost immediately and possibly transmit oak wilt. Latex house paint would work as all that is needed is a physical barrier.
"Why does a monarch butterfly chrysalis have gold on it?" Chrysalis is from the Greek chrysalid, which is from chrysos meaning "gold," referring to the metallic gold-like sheen of some butterfly pupae. The gold is created by a coupling of a carotenoid pigment and hill-like structures that reflect light from their peaks. There are theories as to the purpose of the gold. It could act as camouflage -- mirroring colors of the surroundings and breaking up the shape of the pupa or it might look like dew droplets. It could be a warning coloration, which acts like a "Poison" sign. Or it might filter particular wavelengths of light, which might be harmful to the monarchs.
"What is the one thing that most often becomes litter?" According to the Ocean Conservancy, the top 5 most littered items are: 1. Cigarette butts 2. Food wrappers 3. Plastic bottles 4. Plastic bottle caps 5. Plastic bags.
"Why do robins molt right before they migrate south?" Robins molt so they'll have fresh feathers for the flight. These fresh feathers are better insulation against the winter cold. Robins start molting flight feathers in mid-June and finish molting by early September. They molt body feathers from late July into October. Each feather is pushed out by a new one. Most feathers last a year, but if a feather is pulled out when a robin isn't molting, it's replaced promptly.
Thanks for stopping by
"Tell me, O Octopus, I begs. Is those things arms, or is they legs? I marvel at thee, Octopus; If I were thou, I'd call me Us." — Ogden Nash
"God in his wisdom made the fly. And then forgot to tell us why." — Ogden Nash
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 10-18-20
Naturally
The day was a humdinger; Mother Nature must have moved her world headquarters to my neighborhood. Most of the deciduous trees were engaged in making their leaves colorful. Virginia creeper vined in bright red leaves.
Nature is the ship on which I sail. There's always something worth noticing. Large black ants hurried. I heard music. I think it was a carpenter anthem. Let there be ants. And let there be eaters of ants like northern flickers. The male flicker has a black mustache. For an ant, a flicker is the skunk at the party.
Once I start watching birds, I become too lazy to stop. My capacity for astonishment becomes endless. A chickadee cached sunflower seeds in a divot in a power pole. The tiny bird was investing in utility stocks. Crows produced a natural noise as jays gave me an earful. I was unable to get a word in edgewise. I’ve read of a group of jays called a party, band, cast and scold. I use "a bunch of jays" more than anything else. Something plural flew past my head. Multi-colored Asian lady beetles. Maybees were on the flowers. That's my nickname for bee mimics, flies that resemble bees. Bee mimics are other insects that resemble bees. This is called Batesian mimicry, which means something harmless is imitating something dangerous. Most bee-lookalikes are hoverflies. These harmless flies cannot sting.
Portland, a Texas city on the coast, claims properly that it's always feather weather there. I know that's true, but it was feather weather in my yard, too, thanks to the white-throated sparrows scratching for grub on the ground. They took occasional breaks to whistle a bit. Whistling is a white-throated sparrow’s superpower. A caller asked why some of the birds had tan stripes while others had white stripes. This lovely bird, with a declining population, comes in two forms — those with tan stripes and those with white stripes. Those with white stripes are the most aggressive. Males of both forms want to mate with females with white stripes, but females of both forms prefer tan-striped mates. So it all works out. I wish birds had a mailbox so I could send them an appreciative postcard.
A phalanx of blackbirds moved past as I walked at the edge of a lake at a state park on a quiet day. I checked logs in a bay and was rewarded with good looks at turtles. Hope springs a turtle. Pelicans flew over, their wings made sounds as if they were swinging ropes.
Q&A
Tom Jessen of Madelia wrote, "If all cowbirds are raised by other species, how are they able to communicate with each other after leaving the host nest and joining the flock?" Cowbirds are brood parasites, meaning they ditch their eggs in the nests of other species and allow the foster parents to do the hard work of raising the chicks. Cowbirds have parents that don't look or act like them. Behavioral scientists are working on an answer. Cowbirds learn to recognize other cowbirds through sound and sight. Some scientists believe adult cowbirds stick around after the eggs are laid and maintain contact with the hatchlings, which is how the chicks learn the ways of the cowbird. In response to hearing the begging cries of baby cowbirds, female cowbirds respond by calling to them. When a young cowbird is able, it begins to visit adult cowbirds. It's an amazing story.
Rick Mammel of Albert Lea asked how long to keep a hummingbird feeder up in the fall. I keep mine up 7 to 10 days after I see the last hummingbird in case there are any stragglers. A feeder doesn't delay their migration.
"Are insect numbers declining?" The German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research did a worldwide compilation of insect abundance that showed land-dwelling insects are in decline. On average, there is a global decrease of 0.92% per year. The number of insects living in freshwater has increased an average of 1.08% each year. Local trends are highly variable.
"Where do Minnesota's trumpeter swans migrate?" They are short-distance migrants, with the vast majority of the breeding population migrating only as far south as central and southern Minnesota to sites where there is open water and an abundant food supply. A power plant site that hosts thousands of wintering swans is Xcel Energy’s Monticello Nuclear Power Plant along the Mississippi River, which has local efforts that feed the swans. Some have migrated to Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas. Single swans, sibling groups, young pairs and failed breeders leave their summer territories first, followed by pairs with cygnets. They migrate in small family groups to wintering grounds.
Thanks for stopping by
"Voting isn’t the most we can do. But it is the least." — Gloria Steinem
"I get mail; therefore I am." ― Scott Adams
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
The day was a humdinger; Mother Nature must have moved her world headquarters to my neighborhood. Most of the deciduous trees were engaged in making their leaves colorful. Virginia creeper vined in bright red leaves.
Nature is the ship on which I sail. There's always something worth noticing. Large black ants hurried. I heard music. I think it was a carpenter anthem. Let there be ants. And let there be eaters of ants like northern flickers. The male flicker has a black mustache. For an ant, a flicker is the skunk at the party.
Once I start watching birds, I become too lazy to stop. My capacity for astonishment becomes endless. A chickadee cached sunflower seeds in a divot in a power pole. The tiny bird was investing in utility stocks. Crows produced a natural noise as jays gave me an earful. I was unable to get a word in edgewise. I’ve read of a group of jays called a party, band, cast and scold. I use "a bunch of jays" more than anything else. Something plural flew past my head. Multi-colored Asian lady beetles. Maybees were on the flowers. That's my nickname for bee mimics, flies that resemble bees. Bee mimics are other insects that resemble bees. This is called Batesian mimicry, which means something harmless is imitating something dangerous. Most bee-lookalikes are hoverflies. These harmless flies cannot sting.
Portland, a Texas city on the coast, claims properly that it's always feather weather there. I know that's true, but it was feather weather in my yard, too, thanks to the white-throated sparrows scratching for grub on the ground. They took occasional breaks to whistle a bit. Whistling is a white-throated sparrow’s superpower. A caller asked why some of the birds had tan stripes while others had white stripes. This lovely bird, with a declining population, comes in two forms — those with tan stripes and those with white stripes. Those with white stripes are the most aggressive. Males of both forms want to mate with females with white stripes, but females of both forms prefer tan-striped mates. So it all works out. I wish birds had a mailbox so I could send them an appreciative postcard.
A phalanx of blackbirds moved past as I walked at the edge of a lake at a state park on a quiet day. I checked logs in a bay and was rewarded with good looks at turtles. Hope springs a turtle. Pelicans flew over, their wings made sounds as if they were swinging ropes.
Q&A
Tom Jessen of Madelia wrote, "If all cowbirds are raised by other species, how are they able to communicate with each other after leaving the host nest and joining the flock?" Cowbirds are brood parasites, meaning they ditch their eggs in the nests of other species and allow the foster parents to do the hard work of raising the chicks. Cowbirds have parents that don't look or act like them. Behavioral scientists are working on an answer. Cowbirds learn to recognize other cowbirds through sound and sight. Some scientists believe adult cowbirds stick around after the eggs are laid and maintain contact with the hatchlings, which is how the chicks learn the ways of the cowbird. In response to hearing the begging cries of baby cowbirds, female cowbirds respond by calling to them. When a young cowbird is able, it begins to visit adult cowbirds. It's an amazing story.
Rick Mammel of Albert Lea asked how long to keep a hummingbird feeder up in the fall. I keep mine up 7 to 10 days after I see the last hummingbird in case there are any stragglers. A feeder doesn't delay their migration.
"Are insect numbers declining?" The German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research did a worldwide compilation of insect abundance that showed land-dwelling insects are in decline. On average, there is a global decrease of 0.92% per year. The number of insects living in freshwater has increased an average of 1.08% each year. Local trends are highly variable.
"Where do Minnesota's trumpeter swans migrate?" They are short-distance migrants, with the vast majority of the breeding population migrating only as far south as central and southern Minnesota to sites where there is open water and an abundant food supply. A power plant site that hosts thousands of wintering swans is Xcel Energy’s Monticello Nuclear Power Plant along the Mississippi River, which has local efforts that feed the swans. Some have migrated to Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas. Single swans, sibling groups, young pairs and failed breeders leave their summer territories first, followed by pairs with cygnets. They migrate in small family groups to wintering grounds.
Thanks for stopping by
"Voting isn’t the most we can do. But it is the least." — Gloria Steinem
"I get mail; therefore I am." ― Scott Adams
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 10-11-20
Nature by the yard
Each day comes in bits and pieces. I try to hoard time. Staying close to where I am is soothing. Geese flew overhead in a ragged V, which made me wish the change of seasons didn't happen so quickly. There was a chill in the air and the mosquitoes had started wearing jackets. A pileated woodpecker flew as if swimming through the air. A flock of robins fed on the fruit of a hawthorn tree, a small tree (native to Minnesota) that has long and stout thorns. I've heard its red berries referred to as haws or thorn apples. The American robin’s scientific name is Turdus migratorius. I once called a friend named Robin "Turdus." It didn’t go over as well as I’d hoped. Northern flickers fed on earthbound ants.
Baltimore orioles had disappeared for a few days, but they kept this old bird herder company until Oct. 1. The last hummingbird was seen in my yard on Sept. 25. The purple finches showed up early this year. I’m sure their appearance isn’t meant to indicate a harsh winter because all our winters are harsh. Native sparrows migrated in — white-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos and Lincoln's sparrows. They were mere scraps of songs, but white-throated sparrows whistled while I worked. That was a fine thing.
A monarch butterfly showed up now and then. Some make a 3,000-mile journey to the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Monarchs have a life cycle that includes four generations each year. The fourth-generation monarchs are the ones that fly south.
The right amount of rain and sunshine allows trees to produce sugar, which leads to scads of red leaves. Albert Camus wrote, "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." Wind and rain could bring them all down in a huge leaf drop. Then I'll look for the reddest leaf.
The frost was hard on the plants. The flowers aren't doing well. Some are hooked up to an ivy. I cut down some buckthorn, a hardy deciduous shrub or small tree that keeps its leaves well into the winter. Reichard and Campbell (1996) documented that 85% of the invasive woody plants in the U.S. were originally introduced as ornamental plants and an additional 14% were introduced as agricultural plants. In general, native plants sustain other life forms more effectively than do nonnatives.
Q&A
Dennis Anderson of Hartland asks when pelicans leave. The fall migration for American white pelicans in Minnesota is late August to mid-November as lakes and rivers freeze. They winter along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Mexico.
"How often are cougars seen in Minnesota?" The DNR shows 31 confirmed sightings between 2004 and 2018. Other mountain lions have been verified since then.
"I think I heard a jay sounding like a hawk. Is that possible and, if so, why do they do that? Blue jays commonly impersonate red-tailed and red-shouldered Hawks. I’ve heard jays do broad-winged hawk and Cooper's hawk calls. The more I learn about birds, the more extraordinary they become. Only the jays know for sure why they are making the calls, but there are theories. When there are no theories, there are theories as to why there are no theories. I digress. One theory about jays impersonating hawks says they're trying to warn other birds of a hawk's presence. Another theory suggests jays strive to dupe other birds into thinking that a hawk is close, perhaps so the jays could gain unbothered access to a feeder. Yet another possible explanation is that jays merely mimic the sounds they hear.
Verna Erickson Hoppe wrote, "We have lots of blue jays. I noticed they eat black oilers whole and don't crack them. Is this OK? What happens to a stomach full of whole seeds? the feeder is empty in a few minutes." A blue jay stores the sunflower seeds in its throat and upper esophagus —an area called a gular pouch. It transports them in this distended throat and anterior esophagus to a secure spot where it coughs them up to eat or cache.
"Can garter snakes swim?" The common garter snake is a generalist, inhabiting a wide variety of habitats. It likes to be near water, and if threatened, will often flee into the water and is an excellent swimmer.
Thanks for stopping by
"There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be, because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring." — Evelyn Beatrice Hall
"I go down to the shore in the morning and depending on the hour the waves are rolling in or moving out, and I say, oh, I am miserable, what shall — what should I do? And the sea says in its lovely voice: Excuse me, I have work to do." — Mary Oliver
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Nature by the yard
Each day comes in bits and pieces. I try to hoard time. Staying close to where I am is soothing. Geese flew overhead in a ragged V, which made me wish the change of seasons didn't happen so quickly. There was a chill in the air and the mosquitoes had started wearing jackets. A pileated woodpecker flew as if swimming through the air. A flock of robins fed on the fruit of a hawthorn tree, a small tree (native to Minnesota) that has long and stout thorns. I've heard its red berries referred to as haws or thorn apples. The American robin’s scientific name is Turdus migratorius. I once called a friend named Robin "Turdus." It didn’t go over as well as I’d hoped. Northern flickers fed on earthbound ants.
Baltimore orioles had disappeared for a few days, but they kept this old bird herder company until Oct. 1. The last hummingbird was seen in my yard on Sept. 25. The purple finches showed up early this year. I’m sure their appearance isn’t meant to indicate a harsh winter because all our winters are harsh. Native sparrows migrated in — white-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos and Lincoln's sparrows. They were mere scraps of songs, but white-throated sparrows whistled while I worked. That was a fine thing.
A monarch butterfly showed up now and then. Some make a 3,000-mile journey to the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Monarchs have a life cycle that includes four generations each year. The fourth-generation monarchs are the ones that fly south.
The right amount of rain and sunshine allows trees to produce sugar, which leads to scads of red leaves. Albert Camus wrote, "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." Wind and rain could bring them all down in a huge leaf drop. Then I'll look for the reddest leaf.
The frost was hard on the plants. The flowers aren't doing well. Some are hooked up to an ivy. I cut down some buckthorn, a hardy deciduous shrub or small tree that keeps its leaves well into the winter. Reichard and Campbell (1996) documented that 85% of the invasive woody plants in the U.S. were originally introduced as ornamental plants and an additional 14% were introduced as agricultural plants. In general, native plants sustain other life forms more effectively than do nonnatives.
Q&A
Dennis Anderson of Hartland asks when pelicans leave. The fall migration for American white pelicans in Minnesota is late August to mid-November as lakes and rivers freeze. They winter along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Mexico.
"How often are cougars seen in Minnesota?" The DNR shows 31 confirmed sightings between 2004 and 2018. Other mountain lions have been verified since then.
"I think I heard a jay sounding like a hawk. Is that possible and, if so, why do they do that? Blue jays commonly impersonate red-tailed and red-shouldered Hawks. I’ve heard jays do broad-winged hawk and Cooper's hawk calls. The more I learn about birds, the more extraordinary they become. Only the jays know for sure why they are making the calls, but there are theories. When there are no theories, there are theories as to why there are no theories. I digress. One theory about jays impersonating hawks says they're trying to warn other birds of a hawk's presence. Another theory suggests jays strive to dupe other birds into thinking that a hawk is close, perhaps so the jays could gain unbothered access to a feeder. Yet another possible explanation is that jays merely mimic the sounds they hear.
Verna Erickson Hoppe wrote, "We have lots of blue jays. I noticed they eat black oilers whole and don't crack them. Is this OK? What happens to a stomach full of whole seeds? the feeder is empty in a few minutes." A blue jay stores the sunflower seeds in its throat and upper esophagus —an area called a gular pouch. It transports them in this distended throat and anterior esophagus to a secure spot where it coughs them up to eat or cache.
"Can garter snakes swim?" The common garter snake is a generalist, inhabiting a wide variety of habitats. It likes to be near water, and if threatened, will often flee into the water and is an excellent swimmer.
Thanks for stopping by
"There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be, because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring." — Evelyn Beatrice Hall
"I go down to the shore in the morning and depending on the hour the waves are rolling in or moving out, and I say, oh, I am miserable, what shall — what should I do? And the sea says in its lovely voice: Excuse me, I have work to do." — Mary Oliver
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
The White-throated Sparrow whistles while I work. I’m most appreciative. Photo by Al Batt
Posted 10-4-20
Naturally
I pander to the birds. I headed out to the feedlot — the bird feedlot. I have a wild time feeding them. The crows felt an urge to crash the party and appeared to want to drink from a birdbath. I suppose they couldn't find a crowbar.
A hummingbird can drink its weight in nectar in a day. I tried that with red Kool-Aid once. I'm not sure what flavor it was; it never mattered as long as it was red. I drank until I sloshed when I walked, but I was no challenge to a hummingbird. A hummingbird's brain makes up 4.2% of its weight; a human's brain is 2% of body weight.
Blackbirds flock. Cowbirds could be members of those large congregations. A nest parasite, a cowbird has never had to secure a nest loan. A murmuration of starlings became a feathered face mask on the sky. I got a call from a jay. Blue jays make a series of sounds. Charles Flugum, in his wonderful book "Birding from a Tractor Seat," wrote this about the jays, "The flagrant rascal evidently enjoys hearing its own voice, putting forth its utmost effort to make the loudest possible noise."
There was still a splash of white and purple in asters, and yellow in goldenrods and sunflowers. Milkweed plants hosted insects. I realize that not everyone is happy to see them, but they are beautiful. Red milkweed beetles feed on leaves and buds, milkweed bugs (resemble boxelder bugs) eat seeds and oleander aphids feed on sap. The aphids produce a sticky substance called honeydew. Honeydew is sugary and something ants eat. Ants tend to them as shepherds care for sheep. Lady beetles prey upon aphids. Our yard is surrounded by soybeans this year, so it's filled with biting, foul-smelling, multi-colored Asian lady beetles. The walnut trees typically begin losing their leaves earlier than most other species.
A study by Science Advances estimated that the Milky Way is no longer visible to 80% of Americans.
Something bit me and there was nothing there. I'd fallen victim to a minute pirate bug often called a no-see-um. A tiny insect with a giant bite. Speaking of giants, I saw a giant water bug in August. It's the biggest bug in Minnesota at 2-inches long and an inch wide. It's in the insect order Hemiptera or true bugs. Nicknames include toe-biter, electric-light bug and alligator tick. Their strong attraction to lights brings them to parking lots and ballfields. They will bite in self-defense. I recall playing softball with many of these bugs on the field with me.
Q&A
Karen Wright of Mankato asked about a deer's eyesight. White-tailed deer have good eyesight and acute hearing but depend mainly on a sense of smell to detect danger. Their vision in low light is far superior to ours. University of Georgia research found deer see five times better than we do, but appear to be farsighted. They see shades of yellow and blue but have trouble seeing reds or greens. A deer’s eyes detect the slightest hint of movement. To get a 3D look at a stationary object that might be dangerous, a deer has to look at it from several angles. That’s why alert deer shift their heads from side-to-side and bob them up and down.
"How many kinds of spiders are there in Minnesota?" Two. Those that are indoors and those that are outdoors. My notes from 2015 say 466 species had been confirmed in the state.
"Beetle or bug?" Both are insects. Beetles have hardened forewings and may look as if they have a straight line down their backs. Beetles have chewing mouthparts with mandibles. True bugs have their forewings hardened at the base and are membranous at the end. This creates a triangular shape on their back. True bugs have beaklike, piercing-sucking mouthparts. A June bug is a beetle and a boxelder bug is a bug.
"What are good binoculars for birding?" The lens closest to the bird is the objective lens and determines how much light your binoculars gather and the brightness of the image. A rule of thumb is birding binoculars should have a ratio of 1 to 5 (objective lens diameter divided by magnification) such as 7x35, 8x40 and 10x50. Model 8x42 binoculars are somewhat brighter; and 10x42 and 8x32 models are a bit dimmer in low light levels. Hold your binoculars away from your eyes and you'll see a bright circle in the middle of each eyepiece. That's the light coming through the binoculars to your eyes and is called the exit pupil.
Thanks for stopping by
"Sing a song of seasons, Something bright in all, Flowers in the summer, Fires in the fall." — Robert Louis Stevenson
"I embrace the ordinary because it's extraordinary." — Al Batt
"History is a vast early warning system." — Norman Cousins
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
I pander to the birds. I headed out to the feedlot — the bird feedlot. I have a wild time feeding them. The crows felt an urge to crash the party and appeared to want to drink from a birdbath. I suppose they couldn't find a crowbar.
A hummingbird can drink its weight in nectar in a day. I tried that with red Kool-Aid once. I'm not sure what flavor it was; it never mattered as long as it was red. I drank until I sloshed when I walked, but I was no challenge to a hummingbird. A hummingbird's brain makes up 4.2% of its weight; a human's brain is 2% of body weight.
Blackbirds flock. Cowbirds could be members of those large congregations. A nest parasite, a cowbird has never had to secure a nest loan. A murmuration of starlings became a feathered face mask on the sky. I got a call from a jay. Blue jays make a series of sounds. Charles Flugum, in his wonderful book "Birding from a Tractor Seat," wrote this about the jays, "The flagrant rascal evidently enjoys hearing its own voice, putting forth its utmost effort to make the loudest possible noise."
There was still a splash of white and purple in asters, and yellow in goldenrods and sunflowers. Milkweed plants hosted insects. I realize that not everyone is happy to see them, but they are beautiful. Red milkweed beetles feed on leaves and buds, milkweed bugs (resemble boxelder bugs) eat seeds and oleander aphids feed on sap. The aphids produce a sticky substance called honeydew. Honeydew is sugary and something ants eat. Ants tend to them as shepherds care for sheep. Lady beetles prey upon aphids. Our yard is surrounded by soybeans this year, so it's filled with biting, foul-smelling, multi-colored Asian lady beetles. The walnut trees typically begin losing their leaves earlier than most other species.
A study by Science Advances estimated that the Milky Way is no longer visible to 80% of Americans.
Something bit me and there was nothing there. I'd fallen victim to a minute pirate bug often called a no-see-um. A tiny insect with a giant bite. Speaking of giants, I saw a giant water bug in August. It's the biggest bug in Minnesota at 2-inches long and an inch wide. It's in the insect order Hemiptera or true bugs. Nicknames include toe-biter, electric-light bug and alligator tick. Their strong attraction to lights brings them to parking lots and ballfields. They will bite in self-defense. I recall playing softball with many of these bugs on the field with me.
Q&A
Karen Wright of Mankato asked about a deer's eyesight. White-tailed deer have good eyesight and acute hearing but depend mainly on a sense of smell to detect danger. Their vision in low light is far superior to ours. University of Georgia research found deer see five times better than we do, but appear to be farsighted. They see shades of yellow and blue but have trouble seeing reds or greens. A deer’s eyes detect the slightest hint of movement. To get a 3D look at a stationary object that might be dangerous, a deer has to look at it from several angles. That’s why alert deer shift their heads from side-to-side and bob them up and down.
"How many kinds of spiders are there in Minnesota?" Two. Those that are indoors and those that are outdoors. My notes from 2015 say 466 species had been confirmed in the state.
"Beetle or bug?" Both are insects. Beetles have hardened forewings and may look as if they have a straight line down their backs. Beetles have chewing mouthparts with mandibles. True bugs have their forewings hardened at the base and are membranous at the end. This creates a triangular shape on their back. True bugs have beaklike, piercing-sucking mouthparts. A June bug is a beetle and a boxelder bug is a bug.
"What are good binoculars for birding?" The lens closest to the bird is the objective lens and determines how much light your binoculars gather and the brightness of the image. A rule of thumb is birding binoculars should have a ratio of 1 to 5 (objective lens diameter divided by magnification) such as 7x35, 8x40 and 10x50. Model 8x42 binoculars are somewhat brighter; and 10x42 and 8x32 models are a bit dimmer in low light levels. Hold your binoculars away from your eyes and you'll see a bright circle in the middle of each eyepiece. That's the light coming through the binoculars to your eyes and is called the exit pupil.
Thanks for stopping by
"Sing a song of seasons, Something bright in all, Flowers in the summer, Fires in the fall." — Robert Louis Stevenson
"I embrace the ordinary because it's extraordinary." — Al Batt
"History is a vast early warning system." — Norman Cousins
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 9-27-20
Naturally A nature walk is my favorite reality show. I watched northern flickers feeding on the ground. They eat a lot of ants, none of which are deep-fried. Sally Seath of Cedar Rapids told me they ingest ant sushi. I saw the last Baltimore oriole of the year in my yard on Sept. 12. Charlene Nelson of Elbow Lake said she was still seeing one on Sept. 15. Jays, chickadees, nuthatches (white-breasted and red-breasted), goldfinches, woodpeckers and finches (purple and house) fed upon black oil sunflower seeds, the hamburgers of the bird feeder world.
I watched a wind turbine spin. It's 397-feet tall from the ground to the top of the turbine blade when it's pointed straight up. A recent study from a wind energy facility in Norway found that painting a single blade black on a white wind turbine significantly reduced bird mortalities due to collisions. This makes blades more visible as they spin, even at high speeds. It needs more study.
I watched squirrels busily gathering food. I've been trying to get my ducks in a row, but now I have squirrels everywhere. In 1807, the Ohio General Assembly demanded that citizens not only pay their regular taxes, but needed to add a few squirrel carcasses to them. Taxpayers had to submit a minimum of 10 squirrel scalps to the town clerk each year. Tennessee had similar laws, but it let people pay in dead crows if they couldn’t get enough squirrels.
A garter snake crawled across the lawn to a secure place. Most resources suggest it got its name because the snakes resemble garters, pieces of fabric fastened below the knee to keep a person's stockings from falling. According to a National Geographic article, an analysis of government records found that Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Michael Kors and other fashion companies have had thousands of items made from illegal wildlife products seized by federal law enforcement at U.S. ports of entry. Reptiles accounted for 84% of all items, many of which were belts, purses, shoes, wallets and watch bands.
A bald eagle flew overhead. A friend, Dave Olerud of Haines, AK, is the founder of the American Bald Eagle Foundation. He said that when he first moved from Minnesota to Alaska to teach, the superintendent of schools went out on weekends and shot bald eagles.
I checked on the busy lives on a dead tree. A dead tree can be a good thing. A snag is affordable housing for many creatures.
The 2020 Minnesota August Roadside Survey (ARS)
Since 1955, the DNR has conducted an annual ARS during the first two weeks of August throughout Minnesota’s farmland regions. The 2020 ARS consisted of 169 25-mile routes surveyed Aug 1–19. Observers drove routes starting at or near sunrise at 15-20 mph and recorded the number of pheasants, gray (Hungarian) partridge, eastern cottontail rabbits, white-tailed jackrabbits, white-tailed deer, mourning doves, sandhill cranes and other wildlife observed. Counts conducted on cool, clear, calm mornings with heavy a dew yield the most consistent results because wildlife (especially pheasants, partridge and rabbits) move to warm, dry areas such as gravel roads.
The 2020 range-wide pheasant index (53.5 birds/100 miles) increased by 42% from 2019. Favorable weather during the nesting season led to increased brood numbers. The indices for gray partridge and mourning doves also increased, while the white-tailed deer, eastern cottontail rabbit and sandhill crane numbers declined. White-tailed jackrabbit observations continued to be historically low. Incidental sightings recorded by observers included: Great egrets (Rice and Watonwan counties), prairie chickens (Clay County), red-headed woodpeckers (Mower, Redwood, Renville and Watonwan counties), sharp-tailed grouse (Red Lake, Roseau and Polk counties), trumpeter swans (Kandiyohi and Sibley counties), and upland sandpipers (Murray, Freeborn and Renville counties). American crows, Canada geese, American kestrels and wild turkeys were reported in multiple counties.
Q&A
"Why do deer change colors?" A deer’s coat is designed to provide thermoregulation and camouflage. Thin summer coats appear reddish. In the fall, triggered by hormonal changes that reflect the changing seasons, the reddish summer coat turns into a faded gray or brown color, which consists of thicker, longer and darker hairs called guard hairs and includes a thicker undercoat. Coat color, regardless of the season, tends to be darker in forested areas and lighter in agricultural areas where deer are exposed to more direct sunlight.
"How far can a hummingbird fly without stopping?" Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi found the average ruby-throated hummingbird has a flight range of 1,367 miles. Older birds and males were able to fly farther than younger birds and females.
Thanks for stopping by
"There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it." ― Charlotte Eriksson
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." — Mahatma Gandhi
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally A nature walk is my favorite reality show. I watched northern flickers feeding on the ground. They eat a lot of ants, none of which are deep-fried. Sally Seath of Cedar Rapids told me they ingest ant sushi. I saw the last Baltimore oriole of the year in my yard on Sept. 12. Charlene Nelson of Elbow Lake said she was still seeing one on Sept. 15. Jays, chickadees, nuthatches (white-breasted and red-breasted), goldfinches, woodpeckers and finches (purple and house) fed upon black oil sunflower seeds, the hamburgers of the bird feeder world.
I watched a wind turbine spin. It's 397-feet tall from the ground to the top of the turbine blade when it's pointed straight up. A recent study from a wind energy facility in Norway found that painting a single blade black on a white wind turbine significantly reduced bird mortalities due to collisions. This makes blades more visible as they spin, even at high speeds. It needs more study.
I watched squirrels busily gathering food. I've been trying to get my ducks in a row, but now I have squirrels everywhere. In 1807, the Ohio General Assembly demanded that citizens not only pay their regular taxes, but needed to add a few squirrel carcasses to them. Taxpayers had to submit a minimum of 10 squirrel scalps to the town clerk each year. Tennessee had similar laws, but it let people pay in dead crows if they couldn’t get enough squirrels.
A garter snake crawled across the lawn to a secure place. Most resources suggest it got its name because the snakes resemble garters, pieces of fabric fastened below the knee to keep a person's stockings from falling. According to a National Geographic article, an analysis of government records found that Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Michael Kors and other fashion companies have had thousands of items made from illegal wildlife products seized by federal law enforcement at U.S. ports of entry. Reptiles accounted for 84% of all items, many of which were belts, purses, shoes, wallets and watch bands.
A bald eagle flew overhead. A friend, Dave Olerud of Haines, AK, is the founder of the American Bald Eagle Foundation. He said that when he first moved from Minnesota to Alaska to teach, the superintendent of schools went out on weekends and shot bald eagles.
I checked on the busy lives on a dead tree. A dead tree can be a good thing. A snag is affordable housing for many creatures.
The 2020 Minnesota August Roadside Survey (ARS)
Since 1955, the DNR has conducted an annual ARS during the first two weeks of August throughout Minnesota’s farmland regions. The 2020 ARS consisted of 169 25-mile routes surveyed Aug 1–19. Observers drove routes starting at or near sunrise at 15-20 mph and recorded the number of pheasants, gray (Hungarian) partridge, eastern cottontail rabbits, white-tailed jackrabbits, white-tailed deer, mourning doves, sandhill cranes and other wildlife observed. Counts conducted on cool, clear, calm mornings with heavy a dew yield the most consistent results because wildlife (especially pheasants, partridge and rabbits) move to warm, dry areas such as gravel roads.
The 2020 range-wide pheasant index (53.5 birds/100 miles) increased by 42% from 2019. Favorable weather during the nesting season led to increased brood numbers. The indices for gray partridge and mourning doves also increased, while the white-tailed deer, eastern cottontail rabbit and sandhill crane numbers declined. White-tailed jackrabbit observations continued to be historically low. Incidental sightings recorded by observers included: Great egrets (Rice and Watonwan counties), prairie chickens (Clay County), red-headed woodpeckers (Mower, Redwood, Renville and Watonwan counties), sharp-tailed grouse (Red Lake, Roseau and Polk counties), trumpeter swans (Kandiyohi and Sibley counties), and upland sandpipers (Murray, Freeborn and Renville counties). American crows, Canada geese, American kestrels and wild turkeys were reported in multiple counties.
Q&A
"Why do deer change colors?" A deer’s coat is designed to provide thermoregulation and camouflage. Thin summer coats appear reddish. In the fall, triggered by hormonal changes that reflect the changing seasons, the reddish summer coat turns into a faded gray or brown color, which consists of thicker, longer and darker hairs called guard hairs and includes a thicker undercoat. Coat color, regardless of the season, tends to be darker in forested areas and lighter in agricultural areas where deer are exposed to more direct sunlight.
"How far can a hummingbird fly without stopping?" Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi found the average ruby-throated hummingbird has a flight range of 1,367 miles. Older birds and males were able to fly farther than younger birds and females.
Thanks for stopping by
"There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it." ― Charlotte Eriksson
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." — Mahatma Gandhi
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
A group of butterflies is called a swarm, rabble, kaleidoscope or flutter. I call this congregation of monarch butterflies jaw-dropping.
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 9-20-20
Naturally
A neighbor has begun hiding candy bars around his house in preparation for winter. He is scatter hoarding like a gray squirrel that buries acorns throughout its territory.
Swallows gathered on utility wires before becoming snowbirds without campers. I found a northern flicker feather flung in a flicker by a flicker. Warblers are beautiful birds looking as if they'd escaped from picture frames. It may be fall, but Blackburnian warblers are worth getting warbler neck. Yellow warblers, ovenbirds and Nashville warblers aren’t very big, but they are mighty birds. Migration is about normal. There are always variances in species and areas. A bird could be early here and late there or vice versa. Where have all the flowers gone? They've gone to hummingbirds, every one. Flowers and feeders were busily fueling the tiny birds, most of which are headed to Central America on wings beating up to 200 times per second. I need to add that the 200 is during courting displays. Maybe 50-80 times per second during migration. How many wing beats does it take to get to their winter home? Trying to determine that gives me a math headache. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm thinking it's a considerable amount. Many Baltimore orioles fed on the yard's offerings of nectar and jelly. Common nighthawks flew over. I took the camera for a walk so it could see some of the warblers. A red-breasted nuthatch entertained. I was a bit surprised to see so many purple finches. In these strange days, I'm blessed to be a birder.
Wood ducks floated on a pond made green by algae. Some people call it pond scum. I don’t. I’ve been called pond scum and it hurt. It was true, but it still hurt. Mourning doves feed crop milk or pigeon milk to their nestlings. I've been unable to find either of those at the local supermarket, so I’ll stick with cow and almond milk. I’ve milked many cows, but not one almond. The purple martins have flown the coop for greener pastures, or at least pastures with more insects. Craig Turner could have been wishing them well when he wrote, “So long, Farewell, To every passerbye, To you I hope the sun shines, And you enjoy a wonderful life.”
In "A Sand County Almanac," Aldo Leopold described migrating American white pelicans this way: "Let a squadron of southbound pelicans but feel a lift of prairie breeze… and they sense at once that here is a landing in the geological past, a refuge from that most relentless of aggressors, the future. With queer antediluvian grunts they set wing, descending in majestic spirals to the welcoming wastes of a bygone age." I've visited Leopold's Shack – a rebuilt (in 1935) chicken coop along the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, WI, which has become a metaphor for living lightly on the land. Leopold called for a "land ethic" – a caring, ethical relationship between people and nature. He died in 1948 from a heart attack while fighting a brushfire on a neighbor’s farm.
The woolly bear caterpillar or woolly worm is a famed weather prognosticator. The wider the rusty brown section, the milder the coming winter is supposed to be. The more black there is, the more severe the nearing winter. Orbweavers make my spidey senses tingle. Emerald ash borer larvae kill ash trees by tunneling under the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves nutrients up and down the trunk. According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota has approximately one billion ash trees, the most of any state. The insect is confirmed in 23 of 87 counties.
The butterfly effect is a phenomenon wherein a small change in conditions can lead to vastly different outcomes. I watched a butterfly flutter through the yard and imagined a shingle loosened on a roof in Pocatello, Idaho.
Q&A
Toni Perschbacher of Albert Lea asked how long a honeybee lives. An egg becomes a larva in three days. Drones (male bees) live for around eight weeks. Sterile worker bees tend to live up to six weeks during summer and six months in winter. A queen bee has an average productive lifespan of two to three years (some live as long as five), during which she lays up to 2,000 eggs in a day. The total time it takes to become an adult bee is about 21 days for workers, 24 days for drones and 16 days for queen bees. Queens develop faster due to a rich diet.
Thanks for stopping by
"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty." —John Muir
"To those who have not yet learned the secret of true happiness, begin now to study the little things in your own dooryard." — George Washington Carver
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
A neighbor has begun hiding candy bars around his house in preparation for winter. He is scatter hoarding like a gray squirrel that buries acorns throughout its territory.
Swallows gathered on utility wires before becoming snowbirds without campers. I found a northern flicker feather flung in a flicker by a flicker. Warblers are beautiful birds looking as if they'd escaped from picture frames. It may be fall, but Blackburnian warblers are worth getting warbler neck. Yellow warblers, ovenbirds and Nashville warblers aren’t very big, but they are mighty birds. Migration is about normal. There are always variances in species and areas. A bird could be early here and late there or vice versa. Where have all the flowers gone? They've gone to hummingbirds, every one. Flowers and feeders were busily fueling the tiny birds, most of which are headed to Central America on wings beating up to 200 times per second. I need to add that the 200 is during courting displays. Maybe 50-80 times per second during migration. How many wing beats does it take to get to their winter home? Trying to determine that gives me a math headache. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm thinking it's a considerable amount. Many Baltimore orioles fed on the yard's offerings of nectar and jelly. Common nighthawks flew over. I took the camera for a walk so it could see some of the warblers. A red-breasted nuthatch entertained. I was a bit surprised to see so many purple finches. In these strange days, I'm blessed to be a birder.
Wood ducks floated on a pond made green by algae. Some people call it pond scum. I don’t. I’ve been called pond scum and it hurt. It was true, but it still hurt. Mourning doves feed crop milk or pigeon milk to their nestlings. I've been unable to find either of those at the local supermarket, so I’ll stick with cow and almond milk. I’ve milked many cows, but not one almond. The purple martins have flown the coop for greener pastures, or at least pastures with more insects. Craig Turner could have been wishing them well when he wrote, “So long, Farewell, To every passerbye, To you I hope the sun shines, And you enjoy a wonderful life.”
In "A Sand County Almanac," Aldo Leopold described migrating American white pelicans this way: "Let a squadron of southbound pelicans but feel a lift of prairie breeze… and they sense at once that here is a landing in the geological past, a refuge from that most relentless of aggressors, the future. With queer antediluvian grunts they set wing, descending in majestic spirals to the welcoming wastes of a bygone age." I've visited Leopold's Shack – a rebuilt (in 1935) chicken coop along the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, WI, which has become a metaphor for living lightly on the land. Leopold called for a "land ethic" – a caring, ethical relationship between people and nature. He died in 1948 from a heart attack while fighting a brushfire on a neighbor’s farm.
The woolly bear caterpillar or woolly worm is a famed weather prognosticator. The wider the rusty brown section, the milder the coming winter is supposed to be. The more black there is, the more severe the nearing winter. Orbweavers make my spidey senses tingle. Emerald ash borer larvae kill ash trees by tunneling under the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves nutrients up and down the trunk. According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota has approximately one billion ash trees, the most of any state. The insect is confirmed in 23 of 87 counties.
The butterfly effect is a phenomenon wherein a small change in conditions can lead to vastly different outcomes. I watched a butterfly flutter through the yard and imagined a shingle loosened on a roof in Pocatello, Idaho.
Q&A
Toni Perschbacher of Albert Lea asked how long a honeybee lives. An egg becomes a larva in three days. Drones (male bees) live for around eight weeks. Sterile worker bees tend to live up to six weeks during summer and six months in winter. A queen bee has an average productive lifespan of two to three years (some live as long as five), during which she lays up to 2,000 eggs in a day. The total time it takes to become an adult bee is about 21 days for workers, 24 days for drones and 16 days for queen bees. Queens develop faster due to a rich diet.
Thanks for stopping by
"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty." —John Muir
"To those who have not yet learned the secret of true happiness, begin now to study the little things in your own dooryard." — George Washington Carver
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
The woolly bear caterpillar or woolly worm is a famed
weather prognosticator.
The wider the rusty brown section, the milder the coming
winter will be.
The more black there is, the more severe the coming winter.
This one shows there will definitely be a winter.
Posted 9-13-14
Naturally
Birds typically look well-dressed, but many are molting now and appear unkempt. Labor Day seems like the end of the summer. My ears gathered the limited birdsongs, the music of the world. Robins are in flocks. Their keen eyesight allows them to see worms, but their primary hunting technique might be their sense of hearing. A study concluded that robins successfully listen for prey, even if they can’t see the worms.
There are 45 species of goldenrod in Minnesota and many hybridize, making identification difficult. They host many insects. A National Geographic article said there are 10 quintillion insects on Earth. A butterfly landed on my arm and mud-puddled in my sweat. Autumn meadowhawks are the last species of dragonfly I see each year. I've found them at the end of October and beginning of November, as they are more tolerant of the cold than most odonates. They're a red or yellow species of late-season meadowhawks, identified by orange-tan legs that distinguish the species from other small, similar species with black legs. Green darner dragonflies are a major prey item for juvenile American kestrels, whose inexperience in catching birds and small mammals makes them more dependent on available darners. The young kestrels time their first migration to coincide with peak numbers of migrating green darners.
Roger Tory Peterson wrote "A Field Guide to the Birds." His favorite bird was the king penguin. He explained his fascination with birds: "They are attractive, they sound off with spirit, and they can fly wherever they choose, whenever they choose. The truth is, the birds could very well live without us, but many — perhaps all — of us would find life almost intolerable without the birds."
The leaves of white oaks tend to have rounded tips, whereas leaves of red oaks have pointed tips. Acorns of white oaks germinate in early autumn. Acorns of red oaks don't sprout until spring. Gray squirrels often eat white oak acorns as soon as they find them and store acorns from red oaks to eat during the winter or next spring. Some scientists believe squirrels choose to store the red oak acorns because of their higher tannin content. Others conclude that red oak acorns are better foods to bury because their winter inactivity makes them less likely to decay in the ground. They believe the reason squirrels consume acorns of white oaks immediately is because they germinate in the fall. They grow a thick taproot as they germinate that squirrels don't find appetizing.
Q&A
"Can owls see in the daytime?" They can. Their pupils don't constrict as much as ours do in bright light, so they close their eyes partially. They look sleepy when they're wide awake and alert. Some owls see better than we do in bright light.
Eric Annexstad of St. Peter wrote, "As we have been chopping corn silage we are swarmed by barn swallows. Are they catching bugs or just showing off their wings?" Barn swallows enjoy the company of farm implements, lawn mowers, cattle and anything else that flushes flying insects for them to eat on the go.
"I saw your photo of the beautiful garden spider, the Argiope aurantia. Is that what Charlotte was?" No. When E.B. White started writing "Charlotte's Web," he called the spider Charlotte Epeira because he'd misidentified the spider in his barn as a gray cross spider, Epeira sclopetaria. He contacted an expert at the American Museum of Natural History who identified the spider as Araneus cavaticus — the common barn spider. His spider was renamed Charlotte A. Cavatica. Charlotte said she ate, "flies, bugs, grasshoppers, choice beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, gnats, midges, daddy longlegs, centipedes, mosquitoes, crickets — anything that's careless enough to get caught in my web."
"Do we have chiggers here?" The chigger is a scourge of summer and there are always enough to go around. They're here, but aren't common in Minnesota. Chiggers are the larvae of trombiculid mites and are reddish, yellowish or orange, and nearly invisible. Chiggers are found in grassy, weedy and shrubby areas, especially in wet locations. Chiggers climb foliage and grab onto people or animals. Chiggers don't burrow into skin or feed on blood. They feed externally on liquefied skin cells broken down by their saliva. The itchy bites are common in areas where clothing is tight and skin is thin. The majority of chigger bites occur below the waist.
Thanks for stopping by
"What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism." ― Albert Einstein
"There are flowers enough in the summertime, More flowers than I can remember: But none with the purple, gold, and red That dyes the flowers of September!" — Mary Howitt
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
Birds typically look well-dressed, but many are molting now and appear unkempt. Labor Day seems like the end of the summer. My ears gathered the limited birdsongs, the music of the world. Robins are in flocks. Their keen eyesight allows them to see worms, but their primary hunting technique might be their sense of hearing. A study concluded that robins successfully listen for prey, even if they can’t see the worms.
There are 45 species of goldenrod in Minnesota and many hybridize, making identification difficult. They host many insects. A National Geographic article said there are 10 quintillion insects on Earth. A butterfly landed on my arm and mud-puddled in my sweat. Autumn meadowhawks are the last species of dragonfly I see each year. I've found them at the end of October and beginning of November, as they are more tolerant of the cold than most odonates. They're a red or yellow species of late-season meadowhawks, identified by orange-tan legs that distinguish the species from other small, similar species with black legs. Green darner dragonflies are a major prey item for juvenile American kestrels, whose inexperience in catching birds and small mammals makes them more dependent on available darners. The young kestrels time their first migration to coincide with peak numbers of migrating green darners.
Roger Tory Peterson wrote "A Field Guide to the Birds." His favorite bird was the king penguin. He explained his fascination with birds: "They are attractive, they sound off with spirit, and they can fly wherever they choose, whenever they choose. The truth is, the birds could very well live without us, but many — perhaps all — of us would find life almost intolerable without the birds."
The leaves of white oaks tend to have rounded tips, whereas leaves of red oaks have pointed tips. Acorns of white oaks germinate in early autumn. Acorns of red oaks don't sprout until spring. Gray squirrels often eat white oak acorns as soon as they find them and store acorns from red oaks to eat during the winter or next spring. Some scientists believe squirrels choose to store the red oak acorns because of their higher tannin content. Others conclude that red oak acorns are better foods to bury because their winter inactivity makes them less likely to decay in the ground. They believe the reason squirrels consume acorns of white oaks immediately is because they germinate in the fall. They grow a thick taproot as they germinate that squirrels don't find appetizing.
Q&A
"Can owls see in the daytime?" They can. Their pupils don't constrict as much as ours do in bright light, so they close their eyes partially. They look sleepy when they're wide awake and alert. Some owls see better than we do in bright light.
Eric Annexstad of St. Peter wrote, "As we have been chopping corn silage we are swarmed by barn swallows. Are they catching bugs or just showing off their wings?" Barn swallows enjoy the company of farm implements, lawn mowers, cattle and anything else that flushes flying insects for them to eat on the go.
"I saw your photo of the beautiful garden spider, the Argiope aurantia. Is that what Charlotte was?" No. When E.B. White started writing "Charlotte's Web," he called the spider Charlotte Epeira because he'd misidentified the spider in his barn as a gray cross spider, Epeira sclopetaria. He contacted an expert at the American Museum of Natural History who identified the spider as Araneus cavaticus — the common barn spider. His spider was renamed Charlotte A. Cavatica. Charlotte said she ate, "flies, bugs, grasshoppers, choice beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, gnats, midges, daddy longlegs, centipedes, mosquitoes, crickets — anything that's careless enough to get caught in my web."
"Do we have chiggers here?" The chigger is a scourge of summer and there are always enough to go around. They're here, but aren't common in Minnesota. Chiggers are the larvae of trombiculid mites and are reddish, yellowish or orange, and nearly invisible. Chiggers are found in grassy, weedy and shrubby areas, especially in wet locations. Chiggers climb foliage and grab onto people or animals. Chiggers don't burrow into skin or feed on blood. They feed externally on liquefied skin cells broken down by their saliva. The itchy bites are common in areas where clothing is tight and skin is thin. The majority of chigger bites occur below the waist.
Thanks for stopping by
"What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism." ― Albert Einstein
"There are flowers enough in the summertime, More flowers than I can remember: But none with the purple, gold, and red That dyes the flowers of September!" — Mary Howitt
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
The Albert Lea Audubon Society’s Purple Martins have flown the coop for greener pastures, or at least pastures with more insects. They are out of their gourds. It might be the election. Craig Turner could have been wishing PUMAs well when he wrote this, “So long, Farewell, To every passerby, To you I hope the sun shines, And you enjoy a wonderful life.”
Posted 9-6-20
Naturally
Walking is a great adventure. I watched a dog owner pick up his pooch’s poop from a trail. The man’s doo-doo diligence made my walk slightly less adventurous and I appreciated it.
I heard a pair of barred owls making the distinctive hooting call described as "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?" This rollicking duet carried well through the woods. The owls are most active at night, but do call and hunt in the daytime. The barred owl is smaller and less aggressive than the great horned owl, which is tough competition. Dylan Thomas wrote, "Do not go gentle into that good night." That's the way of great horned owls.
I found blue cohosh, a woodland plant preferring moist conditions. Cohosh is an Algonquin word likely meaning "gnarly root." Blue is a color found in the entry-level box of eight Crayola Crayons. Queen Anne's lace looked like doilies had been placed atop plant stems. Yellow bloomed in flowers. There must be a dozen species of goldenrod in the state and probably 10 wild sunflowers, which I suspect hybridize. Thistles bloom in a prickly and stubborn beauty. In the Winnie-the-Pooh books, thistles were the gloomy, stuffed donkey Eeyore's favorite food. Maybe goldfinches are all named Eeyore?
I put up a third hummingbird feeder to spread the hummingbird rage. Adult male ruby-throated hummingbirds have pointed rectrices (tail feathers) that are dark with no white tips; the tail is forked. Young males, like females of any age, have white tips on the outer three rectrices on each side; each feather is rounded and the tail is fan-shaped. My wife and I visited the Henderson Hummingbird Garden to meet friends and be amazed by the hummingbirds, which always hum on key. Brenda Kotasek is a great ambassador for that garden.
Each year, I enjoy watching Northwestern crows at The National Shrine of St. Thérèse in Juneau, Alaska. They are slightly smaller than our American crows, but a recent genetic study found the two species are the same. I've watched those crows drop mollusks onto rocks to expose the fleshy interiors or drop rocks to crack shells. It's a good strategy except some crows perched on the rocks and waited for others to do the work.
They are parking lot gulls more than they are seagulls. Seagull is an informal way of referring to any of the species that belong to the gull family Laridae. There isn't a single species called the seagull. Oh, I’ve seen them by sea, the Salton Sea, a big lake in California. Why are we always there to see them in a parking lot? They are opportunistic omnivores like most humans and like us, they are there for the food. A parking lot gives a full a good look at both food and predators. They prey upon french fries while calling "Mine, mine, mine" as in “Finding Nemo.”
Q&A
"Why am I seeing more pelicans than in the past?" The ban of DDT and the recognition of the importance of wetlands. Pelican chicks are altricial. They crawl, walk, swim, run, and flap wings before they can fly at 9 to 10 weeks of age. It might take 150 pounds of fish to get one to that point. Pelicans can have over 9-foot wingspans, with black tips on the wings. That melanin protects feathers from sun and salt damage. The bill is over a foot long and holds enough water for the equivalent of two toilet flushes, around 3 gallons. Three gallons equals 24 pounds, more than a pelican weighs, which could be 20 pounds. I say they are fish locators for cormorants, but I’m sure the cormorants chase up fish for the pelicans.
"What are the white caterpillars I see in my garden?" They are cabbage white butterflies. Its larval form, the cabbageworm, is a common pest on cultivated vegetables like cabbage, horseradish, kale, radish, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, broccoli, collards, turnips and cauliflower. Adults feed on the nectar of those plants as well as from dandelions, red clover, asters and mints.
"What do crickets eat?" Crickets are omnivores and eat just about anything. They eat plant decay, grass, fruits, vegetables, fungi, seedlings and insects.
"Is it a wasp or a bee?" Is it cute? If so, it's probably a bee. Wasps and hornets have some PR deficits. They look like pro wrestling villains. It says in Exodus, "I'll send hornets ahead of you and they'll drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you." Keep that in mind if you have some irksome Hivites.
Thanks for stopping by
"Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another." —Colossians
"When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love." — Marcus Aurelius
Do good.
©️ Al Batt 2020
Naturally
Walking is a great adventure. I watched a dog owner pick up his pooch’s poop from a trail. The man’s doo-doo diligence made my walk slightly less adventurous and I appreciated it.
I heard a pair of barred owls making the distinctive hooting call described as "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?" This rollicking duet carried well through the woods. The owls are most active at night, but do call and hunt in the daytime. The barred owl is smaller and less aggressive than the great horned owl, which is tough competition. Dylan Thomas wrote, "Do not go gentle into that good night." That's the way of great horned owls.
I found blue cohosh, a woodland plant preferring moist conditions. Cohosh is an Algonquin word likely meaning "gnarly root." Blue is a color found in the entry-level box of eight Crayola Crayons. Queen Anne's lace looked like doilies had been placed atop plant stems. Yellow bloomed in flowers. There must be a dozen species of goldenrod in the state and probably 10 wild sunflowers, which I suspect hybridize. Thistles bloom in a prickly and stubborn beauty. In the Winnie-the-Pooh books, thistles were the gloomy, stuffed donkey Eeyore's favorite food. Maybe goldfinches are all named Eeyore?
I put up a third hummingbird feeder to spread the hummingbird rage. Adult male ruby-throated hummingbirds have pointed rectrices (tail feathers) that are dark with no white tips; the tail is forked. Young males, like females of any age, have white tips on the outer three rectrices on each side; each feather is rounded and the tail is fan-shaped. My wife and I visited the Henderson Hummingbird Garden to meet friends and be amazed by the hummingbirds, which always hum on key. Brenda Kotasek is a great ambassador for that garden.
Each year, I enjoy watching Northwestern crows at The National Shrine of St. Thérèse in Juneau, Alaska. They are slightly smaller than our American crows, but a recent genetic study found the two species are the same. I've watched those crows drop mollusks onto rocks to expose the fleshy interiors or drop rocks to crack shells. It's a good strategy except some crows perched on the rocks and waited for others to do the work.
They are parking lot gulls more than they are seagulls. Seagull is an informal way of referring to any of the species that belong to the gull family Laridae. There isn't a single species called the seagull. Oh, I’ve seen them by sea, the Salton Sea, a big lake in California. Why are we always there to see them in a parking lot? They are opportunistic omnivores like most humans and like us, they are there for the food. A parking lot gives a full a good look at both food and predators. They prey upon french fries while calling "Mine, mine, mine" as in “Finding Nemo.”
Q&A
"Why am I seeing more pelicans than in the past?" The ban of DDT and the recognition of the importance of wetlands. Pelican chicks are altricial. They crawl, walk, swim, run, and flap wings before they can fly at 9 to 10 weeks of age. It might take 150 pounds of fish to get one to that point. Pelicans can have over 9-foot wingspans, with black tips on the wings. That melanin protects feathers from sun and salt damage. The bill is over a foot long and holds enough water for the equivalent of two toilet flushes, around 3 gallons. Three gallons equals 24 pounds, more than a pelican weighs, which could be 20 pounds. I say they are fish locators for cormorants, but I’m sure the cormorants chase up fish for the pelicans.
"What are the white caterpillars I see in my garden?" They are cabbage white butterflies. Its larval form, the cabbageworm, is a common pest on cultivated vegetables like cabbage, horseradish, kale, radish, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, broccoli, collards, turnips and cauliflower. Adults feed on the nectar of those plants as well as from dandelions, red clover, asters and mints.
"What do crickets eat?" Crickets are omnivores and eat just about anything. They eat plant decay, grass, fruits, vegetables, fungi, seedlings and insects.
"Is it a wasp or a bee?" Is it cute? If so, it's probably a bee. Wasps and hornets have some PR deficits. They look like pro wrestling villains. It says in Exodus, "I'll send hornets ahead of you and they'll drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you." Keep that in mind if you have some irksome Hivites.
Thanks for stopping by
"Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another." —Colossians
"When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love." — Marcus Aurelius
Do good.
©️ Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 8-30-20
Naturally
Much goes on while I'm indoors and many things can be camouflaged as nothing without investigation.
Swallows swept the sky. Dragonflies did some stunt flying. As the ruler does to other school supplies, the monarch butterfly ruled the other butterflies of the yard. A molt made a blue jay look as if it had a self-haircut.
Big bluestem was as common as sunlight on a prairie. I held a ladybug in my hand while making a wish. Some believe the direction that it flies points to where my luck will come. Wild cucumber, a native vine, is the poor man's kudzu. Green cloverworm moths (gray to dark brown) are numerous. The larval forms are found on alfalfa and soybean plants.
Observe nature long enough and you will expect the unexpected. I watched a Cooper's hawk fly over carrying a snake. The hawk wasn't the snake's Uber driver. A friend reported a less than bashful young red-tailed hawk in his yard. Young hawks don't have any online videos to watch and learn how to hunt, so they sometimes exhibit strange behavior. I examined many holes in the bark of an apple tree. The yellow-belled sapsucker feeds on tree sap and prefers pine, birch, maple and apple. Cormorants shadowed pelicans, which they considered to be fish locators.
Bald-faced hornets and yellowjackets attack honey bee colonies. Those two provide the worst stings in Minnesota. If you're stung by one and have any reaction away from the sting site, seek medical attention. A bald-faced hornet queen collects wood fiber to make a gray paper nest the size of a football or basketball suspended from a tree branch, eaves or other structure. The easiest way to collect a nest is to wait until the hornets have abandoned the nest in the fall (after the first hard freeze or by late October). Hornet nests are annual, lasting one summer and its occupants, except the fertilized queens that leave, die in the fall. If you're the cautious kind, slip a large plastic bag over the nest and tie it shut. It isn't necessary to treat the nest in any way. The nests make great conversation pieces and persist if suspended in a dry location where it won't be damaged by handling or vibration.
I was walking when something hit me in the chest. I grabbed it just as I saw two cicada killer wasps fly by. I hoped I hadn't grabbed a wasp. I'd never been stung by one and I didn't want to start. My capture was a cicada.
The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota
Rochester's Mayo Clinic has a nesting pair of peregrine falcons, Orton and Hattie. Orton was found injured in a parking lot and taken to TRC. He had a broken breastbone (keel) and required a month of care. Once the fracture healed and Orton had regained strength and stamina, he went home to Hattie.
Q&A
Bud Prescott at "Senior Perspective" in Glenwood asked about the ant-ics of ant swarms. The worker ants making up the majority of the colony are sterile. The other male and female ants are winged only during mating. In early spring and late summer, winged ants leave colonies to form mating swarms. Swarming often occurs in the afternoon or early evening, typically a day or two after a rain. Ants frequently swarm over prominent landscapes, such as trees or chimneys. This phenomenon is known as "hilltopping." When ants are swarming, it's not uncommon to see predators such as dragonflies, swallows and gulls feeding on the flying ants. I've watched jays and orioles eating the ants on the ground. When swarming ceases, the male ants die and mated females bite off their wings. Then she's off to establish her own colony. I find shed wings in the yard.
"Why are moths attracted to lights?" Scientists aren't certain. You've heard "like a moth to a flame" to describe a fatal attraction. That's a moth to a bug zapper. One idea is that some insects use the moon or bright stars as a compass and lights resemble the moon or stars. The lights might trick moths into seeing visual illusions of darker areas near the lights’ edges and moths fly toward these dark hiding places. Another idea supposes that lights at night blind moths by swamping the light receptors in their eyes and disorienting them. Another theory says that light sources which emit ultraviolet light attract moths that mistake them for flowers. Infrared radiation from light sources may look like the heat reflection from moth pheromones – chemicals released by insects to attract mates.
Thanks for stopping by
"Only in the last moment of human history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world." – E. O. Wilson
"The grass is greener when you get outside." – David Suzuki
Do good.
© Al Batt 2020
Naturally
Much goes on while I'm indoors and many things can be camouflaged as nothing without investigation.
Swallows swept the sky. Dragonflies did some stunt flying. As the ruler does to other school supplies, the monarch butterfly ruled the other butterflies of the yard. A molt made a blue jay look as if it had a self-haircut.
Big bluestem was as common as sunlight on a prairie. I held a ladybug in my hand while making a wish. Some believe the direction that it flies points to where my luck will come. Wild cucumber, a native vine, is the poor man's kudzu. Green cloverworm moths (gray to dark brown) are numerous. The larval forms are found on alfalfa and soybean plants.
Observe nature long enough and you will expect the unexpected. I watched a Cooper's hawk fly over carrying a snake. The hawk wasn't the snake's Uber driver. A friend reported a less than bashful young red-tailed hawk in his yard. Young hawks don't have any online videos to watch and learn how to hunt, so they sometimes exhibit strange behavior. I examined many holes in the bark of an apple tree. The yellow-belled sapsucker feeds on tree sap and prefers pine, birch, maple and apple. Cormorants shadowed pelicans, which they considered to be fish locators.
Bald-faced hornets and yellowjackets attack honey bee colonies. Those two provide the worst stings in Minnesota. If you're stung by one and have any reaction away from the sting site, seek medical attention. A bald-faced hornet queen collects wood fiber to make a gray paper nest the size of a football or basketball suspended from a tree branch, eaves or other structure. The easiest way to collect a nest is to wait until the hornets have abandoned the nest in the fall (after the first hard freeze or by late October). Hornet nests are annual, lasting one summer and its occupants, except the fertilized queens that leave, die in the fall. If you're the cautious kind, slip a large plastic bag over the nest and tie it shut. It isn't necessary to treat the nest in any way. The nests make great conversation pieces and persist if suspended in a dry location where it won't be damaged by handling or vibration.
I was walking when something hit me in the chest. I grabbed it just as I saw two cicada killer wasps fly by. I hoped I hadn't grabbed a wasp. I'd never been stung by one and I didn't want to start. My capture was a cicada.
The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota
Rochester's Mayo Clinic has a nesting pair of peregrine falcons, Orton and Hattie. Orton was found injured in a parking lot and taken to TRC. He had a broken breastbone (keel) and required a month of care. Once the fracture healed and Orton had regained strength and stamina, he went home to Hattie.
Q&A
Bud Prescott at "Senior Perspective" in Glenwood asked about the ant-ics of ant swarms. The worker ants making up the majority of the colony are sterile. The other male and female ants are winged only during mating. In early spring and late summer, winged ants leave colonies to form mating swarms. Swarming often occurs in the afternoon or early evening, typically a day or two after a rain. Ants frequently swarm over prominent landscapes, such as trees or chimneys. This phenomenon is known as "hilltopping." When ants are swarming, it's not uncommon to see predators such as dragonflies, swallows and gulls feeding on the flying ants. I've watched jays and orioles eating the ants on the ground. When swarming ceases, the male ants die and mated females bite off their wings. Then she's off to establish her own colony. I find shed wings in the yard.
"Why are moths attracted to lights?" Scientists aren't certain. You've heard "like a moth to a flame" to describe a fatal attraction. That's a moth to a bug zapper. One idea is that some insects use the moon or bright stars as a compass and lights resemble the moon or stars. The lights might trick moths into seeing visual illusions of darker areas near the lights’ edges and moths fly toward these dark hiding places. Another idea supposes that lights at night blind moths by swamping the light receptors in their eyes and disorienting them. Another theory says that light sources which emit ultraviolet light attract moths that mistake them for flowers. Infrared radiation from light sources may look like the heat reflection from moth pheromones – chemicals released by insects to attract mates.
Thanks for stopping by
"Only in the last moment of human history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world." – E. O. Wilson
"The grass is greener when you get outside." – David Suzuki
Do good.
© Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 8-26-20 A day brightener photo from Al
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 8-23-20
Naturally
I walked to the mailbox. There were butterflies puddling — obtaining sodium and other minerals concentrated in a moist spot on the sandy roadside. I often see sulphurs, cabbage whites, azures, swallowtails and red-spotted purple butterflies engaged in such an activity. Most are males seeking nutrients. They allow approach which leads to photo opportunities. Puddling stations can be made by filling a shallow pan or dish (pie tin, saucer, etc.) with sand and sprinkling salt on it or adding overripe fruit (bananas work well), stale beer, or leaf or manure compost. Water it to keep it moist.
I strive to wax eloquently on average observations. We can't love what we don't understand and we can't understand what we don't love. I love the natural world and want to learn more about it.
Old bird feeders never die, they're just duct taped. An oriole was jam up and jelly tight at a jelly feeder. It's Grey Poupon mustard and Grey Goose vodka, but it's a gray catbird. Eastern chipmunk populations are high in the yard. I don't drive around much, but some who do tell me thirteen-lined ground squirrel numbers are elevated. A hint of fall is in the red leaves of Virginia creeper twining around trees. Twin fawns are a kind of "terrible twos." Their gangliness will soon be replaced with fluidity and fleetness. I don’t think “gangliness” is a valid Scrabble word, but it fits them.
I checked the rain gauge. There was just enough rain to make it worth looking at. A fox squirrel walked up and smelled all my toes (she might have been counting them) made available by my sandals. She climbed the post hosting the rain gauge to say hello. It was a squirrel that my wife and I adopted from the good folks at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. The squirrel appeared well and prospering. Squirrels spend around 60% of their time sleeping. A study found they average 14.9 hours of sleep each day in a nest called a drey composed of twigs and sticks, and lined with moss, bark, grass and leaves. The nest is typically built at least 20 feet high in the fork of a tall tree. It’s common for squirrels to have second and third nests to use in an emergency to hide from a predator, as food storage or as a temporary rest stop.
Gulls flew over. Curt Nelson of Albert Lea was in Florida when he put his hearing aid on an outdoor table and a bird flew down and grabbed it. It never brought the hearing aid back. I suspect it had been a gull. They show little remorse.
Swallows and dragonflies fed on ant swarms over the yard. The famed swallow that returns to Mission San Juan Capistrano in California is the cliff swallow. When I was a dear boy, it was called a "bridge swallow" and returned to the dentist’s office once a year. The dentist thing is fake news. With the expansion of road infrastructure, the swallows adopted bridges, overpasses and culverts as colonial nesting sites. I've heard them called "jug swallows" because of the jug shape of their nests.
Q&A
Donna and Duane Swenson of Waseca wondered about a crane without a red cap. Sandhill crane juveniles are brownish, without the red crown. They acquire adult plumage during their second year.
Karen Wright of Mankato asked what the caterpillars of the small yellow butterflies feed upon. The sulphur butterflies use white clover, sweet clover, alfalfa, bird’s-foot trefoil, vetch and other plants in the pea family.
"Do Japanese beetle traps work?" Yes, but they may attract more beetles than they catch. They do give you the satisfaction of doing them in. Japanese beetles have been documented feeding on over 350 different plants. Adult Japanese beetles become active in Minnesota in late June/early July. Adults feed primarily in July and August, although some may be active into September.
"How long do cicadas live?" Dog day cicadas, also called annual cicadas, hatch from eggs laid in a slit of a tree twig. The tiny nymphs drop to the ground and burrow, where they live 2 — 5 years, sucking juices from plant roots. During the dog days of July and August, they claw to the surface, climb a tree and molt into a winged adult that might live 5 — 6 weeks. The shed skin remains behind, while the adults sing and mate. Some adults emerge each year and are most common in wooded areas, parks, and treed borders.
Thanks for stopping by
"If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself." ― Albert Einstein
"We cannot protect something we do not love, we cannot love what we do not know, and we cannot know what we do not see. And touch. And hear." – Richard Louv
Do good.
© Al Batt 2020
Naturally
I walked to the mailbox. There were butterflies puddling — obtaining sodium and other minerals concentrated in a moist spot on the sandy roadside. I often see sulphurs, cabbage whites, azures, swallowtails and red-spotted purple butterflies engaged in such an activity. Most are males seeking nutrients. They allow approach which leads to photo opportunities. Puddling stations can be made by filling a shallow pan or dish (pie tin, saucer, etc.) with sand and sprinkling salt on it or adding overripe fruit (bananas work well), stale beer, or leaf or manure compost. Water it to keep it moist.
I strive to wax eloquently on average observations. We can't love what we don't understand and we can't understand what we don't love. I love the natural world and want to learn more about it.
Old bird feeders never die, they're just duct taped. An oriole was jam up and jelly tight at a jelly feeder. It's Grey Poupon mustard and Grey Goose vodka, but it's a gray catbird. Eastern chipmunk populations are high in the yard. I don't drive around much, but some who do tell me thirteen-lined ground squirrel numbers are elevated. A hint of fall is in the red leaves of Virginia creeper twining around trees. Twin fawns are a kind of "terrible twos." Their gangliness will soon be replaced with fluidity and fleetness. I don’t think “gangliness” is a valid Scrabble word, but it fits them.
I checked the rain gauge. There was just enough rain to make it worth looking at. A fox squirrel walked up and smelled all my toes (she might have been counting them) made available by my sandals. She climbed the post hosting the rain gauge to say hello. It was a squirrel that my wife and I adopted from the good folks at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. The squirrel appeared well and prospering. Squirrels spend around 60% of their time sleeping. A study found they average 14.9 hours of sleep each day in a nest called a drey composed of twigs and sticks, and lined with moss, bark, grass and leaves. The nest is typically built at least 20 feet high in the fork of a tall tree. It’s common for squirrels to have second and third nests to use in an emergency to hide from a predator, as food storage or as a temporary rest stop.
Gulls flew over. Curt Nelson of Albert Lea was in Florida when he put his hearing aid on an outdoor table and a bird flew down and grabbed it. It never brought the hearing aid back. I suspect it had been a gull. They show little remorse.
Swallows and dragonflies fed on ant swarms over the yard. The famed swallow that returns to Mission San Juan Capistrano in California is the cliff swallow. When I was a dear boy, it was called a "bridge swallow" and returned to the dentist’s office once a year. The dentist thing is fake news. With the expansion of road infrastructure, the swallows adopted bridges, overpasses and culverts as colonial nesting sites. I've heard them called "jug swallows" because of the jug shape of their nests.
Q&A
Donna and Duane Swenson of Waseca wondered about a crane without a red cap. Sandhill crane juveniles are brownish, without the red crown. They acquire adult plumage during their second year.
Karen Wright of Mankato asked what the caterpillars of the small yellow butterflies feed upon. The sulphur butterflies use white clover, sweet clover, alfalfa, bird’s-foot trefoil, vetch and other plants in the pea family.
"Do Japanese beetle traps work?" Yes, but they may attract more beetles than they catch. They do give you the satisfaction of doing them in. Japanese beetles have been documented feeding on over 350 different plants. Adult Japanese beetles become active in Minnesota in late June/early July. Adults feed primarily in July and August, although some may be active into September.
"How long do cicadas live?" Dog day cicadas, also called annual cicadas, hatch from eggs laid in a slit of a tree twig. The tiny nymphs drop to the ground and burrow, where they live 2 — 5 years, sucking juices from plant roots. During the dog days of July and August, they claw to the surface, climb a tree and molt into a winged adult that might live 5 — 6 weeks. The shed skin remains behind, while the adults sing and mate. Some adults emerge each year and are most common in wooded areas, parks, and treed borders.
Thanks for stopping by
"If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself." ― Albert Einstein
"We cannot protect something we do not love, we cannot love what we do not know, and we cannot know what we do not see. And touch. And hear." – Richard Louv
Do good.
© Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt