Posted 1-17-21
Naturally My morning started out with a shower. I hoped to clear the cobwebs from my mind. The invigorating stream of water hadn't been hitting me for long before I noticed I wasn't alone in the shower. What does a spider think when it finds a man in its shower? I can only know what I think and did. I said, "Good morning, spider, I hope you'll have a pleasant day."
A friend sent me an email saying, "To hear a duck quacking is a most fortunate omen, indicating the coming of prosperity." I enjoy hearing from pals, but this forward was much more appreciated than the tired political ones and gave me high hopes for everyone's economy.
Once my morning ablutions had been completed, I went for a walk. During these times and all others, I find comfort in birds. Some snowy days, they all become snowbirds. A blue jay flew into the feeder, selected a peanut in the shell and flew to a tree. It flew back to the feeder with the peanut still in its bill. It dropped the goober onto the feeder and took another peanut more to its liking. I don't think I've ever had a bird return food before. I suppose the best-if-used-by date of the peanut had expired. A house finch makes a wonderful neighbor. It beautifies the neighborhood, sings songs I enjoy hearing and borrows no tools. I spotted a brown creeper, white-winged crossbill and Eurasian collared-dove.
Nature gives me bearings and values. Birds brighten my days. A new birdie's headlights illuminated a recent morning. It was a stranger to my yard. The chestnut-capped and white-cheeked visitor was slightly smaller than a house sparrow. A Eurasian tree sparrow was hanging around with a gang of house sparrows in my yard. They are related species. The bird was a lovely surprise. I’d not seen one in my county before. In Eurasia, this species is widespread and abundant. I saw them when I've worked there and I've seen some in this country. There is a small population in the United States derived from a shipment of songbirds (bullfinches, chaffinches, greenfinches, linnets and Eurasian tree sparrows) brought from Germany and released in St. Louis in April 1870. Introducing the songbirds was meant to enhance the native avifauna and provide familiar bird species for newly settled European immigrants. The Eurasian tree sparrow population took hold and the birds are now found in parts of Missouri, Illinois and southeastern Iowa, but are fairly local. The tougher house sparrow, more aggressive and adaptable, may keep them out of areas. This tree sparrow isn't a bird of cities, preferring farms, lightly wooded residential areas and other more natural places than the house sparrow that is at home with pavement and concrete. The welcome visitor found sustenance in the seeds from my feeders. I was as happy as a lark to see that sparrow.
Q&A
"Why do cardinals arrive so early and stay so late at my bird feeders?" Because that's when the seed prices are lowest. Those redbirds never miss taking advantage of a sale. The male is a dandy. His red plumage is bright and distinct in daylight and attracts attention (both wanted and unwanted). His bright color diminishes in dim light. That makes male cardinals as inconspicuous as their mates at twilight and less easily seen by predators like cats. And avian predators like Cooper’s hawks are inactive at dawn and dusk. Cardinals often live year-round near bird feeders. They have a short commute. They can stay later because their flight home is a brief one. Cardinals feed at dawn and dusk because they have less competition at feeders in low light. That means they don't have to wait behind birds who have clipped a ton of coupons.
"What is a jack snipe?" The jack snipe is a small wading bird native to parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. It's the world’s smallest snipe. A brown marsh bird with a long bill. This country has its relative, the Wilson's snipe. I've heard a pectoral sandpiper called a jack snipe. When called that, it doesn't come any closer. Have you been one of the lucky ones who went on a snipe hunt as a youngster? If so, I hope you're not still holding that bag you're supposed to stuff with the snipe you'd catch. I further hope they didn't drench you in snipe spit, which is purported to be a never-fail snipe lure.
Thanks for stopping by
"Black are my steps on silver sod; Thick blows my frosty breath abroad; And tree and house, and hill and lake, Are frosted like a wedding cake." — Robert Louis Stevenson
"You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need." — The Rolling Stones
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Naturally My morning started out with a shower. I hoped to clear the cobwebs from my mind. The invigorating stream of water hadn't been hitting me for long before I noticed I wasn't alone in the shower. What does a spider think when it finds a man in its shower? I can only know what I think and did. I said, "Good morning, spider, I hope you'll have a pleasant day."
A friend sent me an email saying, "To hear a duck quacking is a most fortunate omen, indicating the coming of prosperity." I enjoy hearing from pals, but this forward was much more appreciated than the tired political ones and gave me high hopes for everyone's economy.
Once my morning ablutions had been completed, I went for a walk. During these times and all others, I find comfort in birds. Some snowy days, they all become snowbirds. A blue jay flew into the feeder, selected a peanut in the shell and flew to a tree. It flew back to the feeder with the peanut still in its bill. It dropped the goober onto the feeder and took another peanut more to its liking. I don't think I've ever had a bird return food before. I suppose the best-if-used-by date of the peanut had expired. A house finch makes a wonderful neighbor. It beautifies the neighborhood, sings songs I enjoy hearing and borrows no tools. I spotted a brown creeper, white-winged crossbill and Eurasian collared-dove.
Nature gives me bearings and values. Birds brighten my days. A new birdie's headlights illuminated a recent morning. It was a stranger to my yard. The chestnut-capped and white-cheeked visitor was slightly smaller than a house sparrow. A Eurasian tree sparrow was hanging around with a gang of house sparrows in my yard. They are related species. The bird was a lovely surprise. I’d not seen one in my county before. In Eurasia, this species is widespread and abundant. I saw them when I've worked there and I've seen some in this country. There is a small population in the United States derived from a shipment of songbirds (bullfinches, chaffinches, greenfinches, linnets and Eurasian tree sparrows) brought from Germany and released in St. Louis in April 1870. Introducing the songbirds was meant to enhance the native avifauna and provide familiar bird species for newly settled European immigrants. The Eurasian tree sparrow population took hold and the birds are now found in parts of Missouri, Illinois and southeastern Iowa, but are fairly local. The tougher house sparrow, more aggressive and adaptable, may keep them out of areas. This tree sparrow isn't a bird of cities, preferring farms, lightly wooded residential areas and other more natural places than the house sparrow that is at home with pavement and concrete. The welcome visitor found sustenance in the seeds from my feeders. I was as happy as a lark to see that sparrow.
Q&A
"Why do cardinals arrive so early and stay so late at my bird feeders?" Because that's when the seed prices are lowest. Those redbirds never miss taking advantage of a sale. The male is a dandy. His red plumage is bright and distinct in daylight and attracts attention (both wanted and unwanted). His bright color diminishes in dim light. That makes male cardinals as inconspicuous as their mates at twilight and less easily seen by predators like cats. And avian predators like Cooper’s hawks are inactive at dawn and dusk. Cardinals often live year-round near bird feeders. They have a short commute. They can stay later because their flight home is a brief one. Cardinals feed at dawn and dusk because they have less competition at feeders in low light. That means they don't have to wait behind birds who have clipped a ton of coupons.
"What is a jack snipe?" The jack snipe is a small wading bird native to parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. It's the world’s smallest snipe. A brown marsh bird with a long bill. This country has its relative, the Wilson's snipe. I've heard a pectoral sandpiper called a jack snipe. When called that, it doesn't come any closer. Have you been one of the lucky ones who went on a snipe hunt as a youngster? If so, I hope you're not still holding that bag you're supposed to stuff with the snipe you'd catch. I further hope they didn't drench you in snipe spit, which is purported to be a never-fail snipe lure.
Thanks for stopping by
"Black are my steps on silver sod; Thick blows my frosty breath abroad; And tree and house, and hill and lake, Are frosted like a wedding cake." — Robert Louis Stevenson
"You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need." — The Rolling Stones
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 1-10-21
Naturally
My first bird of the year was a cardinal. A white-throated sparrow found food on the ground on New Year's Day. The Christmas chipmunk joined it. The night before, I'd wondered how many stars there were in the sky.
A drive to drop off of Christmas things directed my eyes to house sparrows. They were abundant around livestock. Their numbers were greater when considerable food was available in cities because of horses. House sparrows feed on spilled grain and undigested seeds in manure.
I spotted a Baltimore oriole nest still hanging on. The female chooses the site. She generally builds the nest, a hanging pouch firmly attached to a fork of a slender branch in the upper branches of a deciduous tree (especially cottonwoods, maples and elms). It's tightly woven of plant fibers, strips of bark, grapevines, grass, yarn, string, plant down and hair.
I drove by muskrat mounds (lodges and push-ups). An old trapper told me to count lodges and multiply by five to get the muskrat population of a wetland.
While walking on a Christmas Bird Count, I saw some black knot, a widespread fungal disease that attacks trees of the genus prunus, like plum and cherry trees. The hard, uneven, black galls appear to enwrap twigs and branches. Some trees tolerate black knot while others are stunted or killed.
Voles prefer a white Christmas. They love to be under the snow for Christmas. They prosper in the subnivean zone, the area between the surface of the ground and the bottom of the snowpack. Mice and shrews also retreat there for protection from cold temperatures, bitter winds and hungry predators. Food is available there. It takes about 6 inches of snow to provide the critters with a sturdy roof and roomy living quarters. A bit more snow and the subnivean zone remains near 32° regardless of the temperature above the snow.
Q&A
A St. Peter reader asked what he should do with his bird feeders when he heads south for the winter. The best option would be to ask a kind friend, someone you can blackmail, a family member, a friendly neighbor or someone you could pay a princely sum to fill your feeders while you’re away. The good news is that your birds will do fine while you're gone. Birds adjust and they don't become dependent on a single food source. They will continue to patronize other food sources and find new ones. To prepare for your departure, slowly lessen the amount of food offered in your feeders so your avian amigos won't be shocked when they find the feeders are empty or removed. Even if you remove your feeders, the birds will come back. When you return home and have restored and filled the feeders, it might take a few days for the birds to find the food. When that happens, there is a chance of a tearful reunion. And don't worry, we, the stubborn or stupid who remain in Minnesota all winter, will continue to have nothing but good things to say about you.
"What do beavers eat?" The beaver is the largest rodent in North America weighing 40 to 70 pounds and eats bark, buds, stems, twigs, grasses, mushrooms, leaves, ferns and the roots of aquatic plants.
“How do I know what winter finches from the north might visit my yard?” The movement of some finches and other birds into Minnesota is based on the abundance of food in Canada. Pine grosbeaks might not be traveling much as the mountain ash fruit crop was good in the northern coniferous forests this winter. Pine siskins were reported at many feeding stations in 2020. They feed on spruce seeds in Canada and finch seed at our feeders. Red and white-wing crossbills feed primarily on conifer seeds. Purple finches show up most years and feed on the sunflower seeds we offer. Common redpolls (a redpoll weighs slightly more than four pennies) feed on birch and alder seeds. They eat nyjer seed at feeders. A caller said she'd spotted the largest goldfinch she'd ever seen. I want to see one of those evening grosbeaks in my yard, too. They feed on box elder, maple, ash and locust seeds. They're prodigious eaters of sunflower seeds. Red-breasted nuthatches aren’t finches but depend on conifer seeds when wintering in the north.
“Where does the name sandpiper come from?” I suspect the derivation is due to a combination of a piping cry coming from a bird on the sand.
Thanks for stopping by
"Ring out false pride in place and blood, the civic slander and the spite; ring in the love of truth and right, ring in the common love of good." — Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter. One is the January thaw. The other is the seed catalogs." — Hal Borland
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
My first bird of the year was a cardinal. A white-throated sparrow found food on the ground on New Year's Day. The Christmas chipmunk joined it. The night before, I'd wondered how many stars there were in the sky.
A drive to drop off of Christmas things directed my eyes to house sparrows. They were abundant around livestock. Their numbers were greater when considerable food was available in cities because of horses. House sparrows feed on spilled grain and undigested seeds in manure.
I spotted a Baltimore oriole nest still hanging on. The female chooses the site. She generally builds the nest, a hanging pouch firmly attached to a fork of a slender branch in the upper branches of a deciduous tree (especially cottonwoods, maples and elms). It's tightly woven of plant fibers, strips of bark, grapevines, grass, yarn, string, plant down and hair.
I drove by muskrat mounds (lodges and push-ups). An old trapper told me to count lodges and multiply by five to get the muskrat population of a wetland.
While walking on a Christmas Bird Count, I saw some black knot, a widespread fungal disease that attacks trees of the genus prunus, like plum and cherry trees. The hard, uneven, black galls appear to enwrap twigs and branches. Some trees tolerate black knot while others are stunted or killed.
Voles prefer a white Christmas. They love to be under the snow for Christmas. They prosper in the subnivean zone, the area between the surface of the ground and the bottom of the snowpack. Mice and shrews also retreat there for protection from cold temperatures, bitter winds and hungry predators. Food is available there. It takes about 6 inches of snow to provide the critters with a sturdy roof and roomy living quarters. A bit more snow and the subnivean zone remains near 32° regardless of the temperature above the snow.
Q&A
A St. Peter reader asked what he should do with his bird feeders when he heads south for the winter. The best option would be to ask a kind friend, someone you can blackmail, a family member, a friendly neighbor or someone you could pay a princely sum to fill your feeders while you’re away. The good news is that your birds will do fine while you're gone. Birds adjust and they don't become dependent on a single food source. They will continue to patronize other food sources and find new ones. To prepare for your departure, slowly lessen the amount of food offered in your feeders so your avian amigos won't be shocked when they find the feeders are empty or removed. Even if you remove your feeders, the birds will come back. When you return home and have restored and filled the feeders, it might take a few days for the birds to find the food. When that happens, there is a chance of a tearful reunion. And don't worry, we, the stubborn or stupid who remain in Minnesota all winter, will continue to have nothing but good things to say about you.
"What do beavers eat?" The beaver is the largest rodent in North America weighing 40 to 70 pounds and eats bark, buds, stems, twigs, grasses, mushrooms, leaves, ferns and the roots of aquatic plants.
“How do I know what winter finches from the north might visit my yard?” The movement of some finches and other birds into Minnesota is based on the abundance of food in Canada. Pine grosbeaks might not be traveling much as the mountain ash fruit crop was good in the northern coniferous forests this winter. Pine siskins were reported at many feeding stations in 2020. They feed on spruce seeds in Canada and finch seed at our feeders. Red and white-wing crossbills feed primarily on conifer seeds. Purple finches show up most years and feed on the sunflower seeds we offer. Common redpolls (a redpoll weighs slightly more than four pennies) feed on birch and alder seeds. They eat nyjer seed at feeders. A caller said she'd spotted the largest goldfinch she'd ever seen. I want to see one of those evening grosbeaks in my yard, too. They feed on box elder, maple, ash and locust seeds. They're prodigious eaters of sunflower seeds. Red-breasted nuthatches aren’t finches but depend on conifer seeds when wintering in the north.
“Where does the name sandpiper come from?” I suspect the derivation is due to a combination of a piping cry coming from a bird on the sand.
Thanks for stopping by
"Ring out false pride in place and blood, the civic slander and the spite; ring in the love of truth and right, ring in the common love of good." — Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter. One is the January thaw. The other is the seed catalogs." — Hal Borland
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 1-3-21
Naturally
The snowplow had gone by twice, but enough snow remained on the road to muffle the sounds of cars.
The season is backward or forward, I'm not sure which. I walked 8 miles looking for birds on a Christmas Bird Count (CBC), always needing to see one more bird for good luck. Trees swayed and things lurked. Crows watched me intently. They believe all living things merit further study. I follow the Dr. Seuss school of doing a CBC. He wrote this in "Oh, The Places You’ll Go!" "You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left." I've done many counts. I know what I’m missing.
Goldfinches had become coldfinches at temperatures well below zero. I didn't see a popinjay. It's an insulting word for a vain or conceited person, one given to pretentious displays. It was also, at one time, the name for a parrot.
I put peanuts in the shell for the jays. I imagine them saying, "Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now. Just now I found a peanut, found a peanut just now.” A happy blue jay is a blue jay weighing a peanut just as a bowler does when searching for the perfect heft to a bowling ball filled with strikes.
Q&A
"Why do spiders have eight legs and insects only six?" Because if spiders had only six legs, they'd be insects. There probably isn't any definitive reason spiders have eight legs and insects six. Scorpions, harvestmen, ticks and all arachnids have four pairs of legs.
"I received a Christmas card with an English robin on it. Is it related to our robins?" A European legend says on the night Jesus was born, a robin heard Mary's plea to keep the fire from going out. The robin fanned the embers with its wings until they glowed red and tossed twigs into the fire. The flames singed the robin's white breast, turning it red. European settlers to North America gave the name robin to the red-breasted songbird they saw here — the American robin. Bluebirds were sometimes called robins by the British, towhees were ground robins and Baltimore orioles were golden robins. The two robins aren't closely related. The larger American robin is a member of the Turdidae or thrush family that includes the wood thrush and eastern bluebird, and the European robin (robin redbreast) is a flycatcher-thrush in the Muscicapidae family with nightingales and chats. Robin is an Old French diminutive of Robert.
"How many crane species are there?" There are 15 in the world. The U.S. has the most abundant (sandhill crane) and the most endangered (whooping crane). The International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis., is the only place on Earth where you can see all 15 of the world’s crane species. Its mission: The International Crane Foundation works worldwide to conserve cranes and the ecosystems, watersheds and flyways on which they depend. The Foundation will open on May 1.
"When do the cranes visit Nebraska's Platte River?" I tell myself the sandhill cranes arrive by Valentine's Day, reach peak numbers on St. Patrick’s Day, and are gone by Tax Day, but this varies from year to year. Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary near Minden and Gibbon (in the Kearney area) offers blinds March 6 — April 11. The Crane Trust near Wood River (closer to Grand Island) has blinds available from March 1 to April 1. These are subject to change. Neither are far from I-80 and both morning and evening blinds are available to see some of the 600,000 cranes. The fall migration doesn't offer huge gatherings of cranes. Rowe's phone number is 308-468-5282 and Crane Trust's is 308-382-1820.
Thanks for stopping by
"I part the out thrusting branches and come in beneath the blessed and the blessing trees. Though I am silent there is singing around me. Though I am dark there is vision around me. Though I am heavy there is flight around me." — Wendell Berry
"For a large and growing number of people, birds are the strongest bond with the living world of nature. They charm us with lovely plumage and melodious songs; our quest of them takes us to the fairest places; to find them and uncover some of their well-guarded secrets we exert ourselves greatly and live intensely. In the measure that we appreciate and understand them and are grateful for our coexistence with them, we help bring to fruition the agelong travail that made them and us. This, I am convinced, is the highest significance of our relationship with birds." — Alexander E. Skutch
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
The snowplow had gone by twice, but enough snow remained on the road to muffle the sounds of cars.
The season is backward or forward, I'm not sure which. I walked 8 miles looking for birds on a Christmas Bird Count (CBC), always needing to see one more bird for good luck. Trees swayed and things lurked. Crows watched me intently. They believe all living things merit further study. I follow the Dr. Seuss school of doing a CBC. He wrote this in "Oh, The Places You’ll Go!" "You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left." I've done many counts. I know what I’m missing.
Goldfinches had become coldfinches at temperatures well below zero. I didn't see a popinjay. It's an insulting word for a vain or conceited person, one given to pretentious displays. It was also, at one time, the name for a parrot.
I put peanuts in the shell for the jays. I imagine them saying, "Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now. Just now I found a peanut, found a peanut just now.” A happy blue jay is a blue jay weighing a peanut just as a bowler does when searching for the perfect heft to a bowling ball filled with strikes.
Q&A
"Why do spiders have eight legs and insects only six?" Because if spiders had only six legs, they'd be insects. There probably isn't any definitive reason spiders have eight legs and insects six. Scorpions, harvestmen, ticks and all arachnids have four pairs of legs.
"I received a Christmas card with an English robin on it. Is it related to our robins?" A European legend says on the night Jesus was born, a robin heard Mary's plea to keep the fire from going out. The robin fanned the embers with its wings until they glowed red and tossed twigs into the fire. The flames singed the robin's white breast, turning it red. European settlers to North America gave the name robin to the red-breasted songbird they saw here — the American robin. Bluebirds were sometimes called robins by the British, towhees were ground robins and Baltimore orioles were golden robins. The two robins aren't closely related. The larger American robin is a member of the Turdidae or thrush family that includes the wood thrush and eastern bluebird, and the European robin (robin redbreast) is a flycatcher-thrush in the Muscicapidae family with nightingales and chats. Robin is an Old French diminutive of Robert.
"How many crane species are there?" There are 15 in the world. The U.S. has the most abundant (sandhill crane) and the most endangered (whooping crane). The International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis., is the only place on Earth where you can see all 15 of the world’s crane species. Its mission: The International Crane Foundation works worldwide to conserve cranes and the ecosystems, watersheds and flyways on which they depend. The Foundation will open on May 1.
"When do the cranes visit Nebraska's Platte River?" I tell myself the sandhill cranes arrive by Valentine's Day, reach peak numbers on St. Patrick’s Day, and are gone by Tax Day, but this varies from year to year. Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary near Minden and Gibbon (in the Kearney area) offers blinds March 6 — April 11. The Crane Trust near Wood River (closer to Grand Island) has blinds available from March 1 to April 1. These are subject to change. Neither are far from I-80 and both morning and evening blinds are available to see some of the 600,000 cranes. The fall migration doesn't offer huge gatherings of cranes. Rowe's phone number is 308-468-5282 and Crane Trust's is 308-382-1820.
Thanks for stopping by
"I part the out thrusting branches and come in beneath the blessed and the blessing trees. Though I am silent there is singing around me. Though I am dark there is vision around me. Though I am heavy there is flight around me." — Wendell Berry
"For a large and growing number of people, birds are the strongest bond with the living world of nature. They charm us with lovely plumage and melodious songs; our quest of them takes us to the fairest places; to find them and uncover some of their well-guarded secrets we exert ourselves greatly and live intensely. In the measure that we appreciate and understand them and are grateful for our coexistence with them, we help bring to fruition the agelong travail that made them and us. This, I am convinced, is the highest significance of our relationship with birds." — Alexander E. Skutch
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 12-27-20
Naturally
I heard a bird singing merrily on high. It was a crow.
It was 30 years ago. I still played basketball. After a hard-fought battle on the hardwood, I stopped at a supermarket to make my shopping list happy. There was a stack of heated dog dishes by the door. They were not big sellers as they'd been reduced to $2. I bought one as any big spender would have. I should have bought the entire stack, as I used it as a bird waterer until it became dog-tired. It worked well and didn't spin the electric meter. A birdbath with a built-in heater draws birds to a backyard. Birdbaths can sit on the ground as my dog dish did or be mounted on a pole or deck railing. There are heaters that can be added to a birdbath to keep the water open all winter. I have a new dog dish. It cost way more than $2. It's popular because the birds think it's a bird dish.
I saw a red fox on the road. A red fox has a white-tipped tail and is seen in forests and fields, often in the open. Gray foxes have black-tipped tails and are found in forests and forest edges, not likely seen in open areas. Gray foxes can climb trees. Because they prey upon small mammals, a healthy population of foxes tends to lower the incidence of Lyme disease.
A bird feeder and a state park sticker are splendid gifts. They keep on giving. The blue jays in the yard appreciated the gift of peanuts in the shell. It was fun making them happy. The Christmas chipmunk made its appearance. Chipmunks aren't true hibernators. Instead, they enter a torpid state, in which their body temperature and heartbeat decrease, but they wake every few days to feed on stockpiled food and to defecate. A chipmunk's burrow system has an entrance hole about 2 inches in diameter and goes down around 2 feet before paralleling the surface for up to 10 feet. Chambers for sleeping, storing food, defecating and giving birth are excavated to the side of the tunnel. Chipmunks love tomato juice — when tomatoes ripen, chipmunks eat holes in the bottoms to get the juice. Despite the propensity to attack my tomatoes, I gave the Christmas chipmunk some peanuts. It made the chipmunk happy. And me, too. Merry Christmas.
Q&A
"How long do bald eagles feed their young?" Eaglets are nestlings for 10 to 12 weeks and are fully grown at 9 weeks. They are fed raw meat directly one to eight times a day, receiving no regurgitated food as some other birds do. The male provides most of the food for the first two weeks. After 3 or 4 weeks the female provides as much food as the male and by the late nesting period, the female is providing most of the food. The parents will continue to provide food for some time after fledging as the newly flighted birds hone their hunting and flying skills. It takes 4-12 weeks on average for young eagles to hunt successfully. Fully refined, specialized hunting skills probably take years to develop.
"Are flying eagles courting when they interlock talons?" They could be, but talon-grappling and tumbling have been observed behaviors in all combinations of eagles. Four possible reasons for such actions are pair-bonding, aggression, learning and play.
"What are two porcupines called?" A prickly pair.
Marian Bahl of Faribault wrote, "Where are the finches? Nothing is eating at my thistle seed feeder!" I’ll send some goldfinches your way. It might take a couple of days, what with it being near Christmas and all. The pine siskins blew through some yards. Their winter movements are erratic and depend partly on the state of cone crops in northern North America. The weather has been kind to finches and they are finding plenty of natural foods to eat. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, they’ll be back.
"I raise chickens. I watched roosters preening before a fight. What's going on there?" Displacement behavior occurs when an animal performs an act that's irrelevant to the behavioral context. It includes self-grooming, touching or scratching displayed when an animal has a conflict between two motivations, such as the desire to fight another while being afraid of that opponent.
"Do robins reuse nests?" Not typically. Old nests crumble during winter, parasite eggs or larvae may overwinter in a nest and attack nestlings, and female robins have a powerful impulse to build a new nest each year.
Thanks for stopping by
"Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white.'" — Bing Crosby
"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together." — Garrison Keillor
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
I heard a bird singing merrily on high. It was a crow.
It was 30 years ago. I still played basketball. After a hard-fought battle on the hardwood, I stopped at a supermarket to make my shopping list happy. There was a stack of heated dog dishes by the door. They were not big sellers as they'd been reduced to $2. I bought one as any big spender would have. I should have bought the entire stack, as I used it as a bird waterer until it became dog-tired. It worked well and didn't spin the electric meter. A birdbath with a built-in heater draws birds to a backyard. Birdbaths can sit on the ground as my dog dish did or be mounted on a pole or deck railing. There are heaters that can be added to a birdbath to keep the water open all winter. I have a new dog dish. It cost way more than $2. It's popular because the birds think it's a bird dish.
I saw a red fox on the road. A red fox has a white-tipped tail and is seen in forests and fields, often in the open. Gray foxes have black-tipped tails and are found in forests and forest edges, not likely seen in open areas. Gray foxes can climb trees. Because they prey upon small mammals, a healthy population of foxes tends to lower the incidence of Lyme disease.
A bird feeder and a state park sticker are splendid gifts. They keep on giving. The blue jays in the yard appreciated the gift of peanuts in the shell. It was fun making them happy. The Christmas chipmunk made its appearance. Chipmunks aren't true hibernators. Instead, they enter a torpid state, in which their body temperature and heartbeat decrease, but they wake every few days to feed on stockpiled food and to defecate. A chipmunk's burrow system has an entrance hole about 2 inches in diameter and goes down around 2 feet before paralleling the surface for up to 10 feet. Chambers for sleeping, storing food, defecating and giving birth are excavated to the side of the tunnel. Chipmunks love tomato juice — when tomatoes ripen, chipmunks eat holes in the bottoms to get the juice. Despite the propensity to attack my tomatoes, I gave the Christmas chipmunk some peanuts. It made the chipmunk happy. And me, too. Merry Christmas.
Q&A
"How long do bald eagles feed their young?" Eaglets are nestlings for 10 to 12 weeks and are fully grown at 9 weeks. They are fed raw meat directly one to eight times a day, receiving no regurgitated food as some other birds do. The male provides most of the food for the first two weeks. After 3 or 4 weeks the female provides as much food as the male and by the late nesting period, the female is providing most of the food. The parents will continue to provide food for some time after fledging as the newly flighted birds hone their hunting and flying skills. It takes 4-12 weeks on average for young eagles to hunt successfully. Fully refined, specialized hunting skills probably take years to develop.
"Are flying eagles courting when they interlock talons?" They could be, but talon-grappling and tumbling have been observed behaviors in all combinations of eagles. Four possible reasons for such actions are pair-bonding, aggression, learning and play.
"What are two porcupines called?" A prickly pair.
Marian Bahl of Faribault wrote, "Where are the finches? Nothing is eating at my thistle seed feeder!" I’ll send some goldfinches your way. It might take a couple of days, what with it being near Christmas and all. The pine siskins blew through some yards. Their winter movements are erratic and depend partly on the state of cone crops in northern North America. The weather has been kind to finches and they are finding plenty of natural foods to eat. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, they’ll be back.
"I raise chickens. I watched roosters preening before a fight. What's going on there?" Displacement behavior occurs when an animal performs an act that's irrelevant to the behavioral context. It includes self-grooming, touching or scratching displayed when an animal has a conflict between two motivations, such as the desire to fight another while being afraid of that opponent.
"Do robins reuse nests?" Not typically. Old nests crumble during winter, parasite eggs or larvae may overwinter in a nest and attack nestlings, and female robins have a powerful impulse to build a new nest each year.
Thanks for stopping by
"Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white.'" — Bing Crosby
"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together." — Garrison Keillor
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 12-20-20
Naturally
I walked Kaplan’s Woods in Owatonna and saw beguiling birds. One was a barred owl. Barred owls eat small animals, including squirrels, chipmunks, mice, voles, rabbits, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and crayfish. They hunt by sitting and waiting on an elevated perch while scanning for prey. Sometimes they temporarily store prey in a nest, in the crook of a branch or at the top of a snag to eat later. A barred owl has one ear higher than the other. Hearing from two different angles helps it pinpoint the location of prey.
I walked among the evergreens. White pine (W-H-I-T-E) has five needles per bundle, while Norway (red) pine has two needles (Nor-way).
I've not seen a snowy owl this fall. It's a prime spark bird. A spark bird is the bird that sparks a person's interest in birding. It opens eyes to the incredible beauty and mystery of birds. The snowy owls visiting here have proven to be more nocturnal and healthier than originally thought. While in Minnesota, they feed on voles, rabbits and waterfowl.
I didn't see Thomas Jefferson — I saw swans
Each winter, I stop in Monticello, Minnesota, where for 35 winters, trumpeter swans have been fed along the bank of the Mississippi River. Swan Park offered an artificial corn-feeding program started by Sheila Lawrence in the 1980s and continued by her husband Jim after her death in 2011. This program has ended. Jim Lawrence, the City of Monticello, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department, the Minnesota DNR and the Trumpeter Swan Society hope to preserve the long-term health of the migratory birds by encouraging the swans to remain wild and to forage naturally for food. There are 30,000 swans in Minnesota.
An owl picked him
Thanks to the International Owl Center in Houston, I heard David Johnson, director of the Global Owl Project, speak. He became enchanted with owls when he was 11 years old after an eastern screech owl landed on David's canvas pup tent and called for 20 minutes. David took it as a special message. "I didn't pick owls. They picked me," he said. David is studying the myth and culture of owls around the world. He found that the role of grandmothers is important in the transmission of culture as those women have the time and experience.
Q&A
"When is the best time to see eagles at Hawk Ridge?" Eagles: Bald: Sept. - Oct.; Golden: late Oct. - Nov. Rough-legged Hawks: mid-Oct. - early Nov. Red-tailed Hawks: early Oct. - early Nov. Broad-winged Hawks: Sep. 10 - Sep. 25. Sharp-shinned Hawks: mid-Sep. - early Oct. The average number of raptors counted each year at Hawk Ridge is 76,000. The numbers from the past fall: Broad-winged hawk 32,920, sharp-shinned hawk 13,595, bald eagle 5,300, red-tailed hawk 4,720, rough-legged hawk 1,948 and golden eagle 208.
"What bird call do you receive the most questions about?" I get the most about two birds. One is from people who miss hearing the songs of meadowlarks. The other wonders what is producing the song of the black-capped chickadee, a simple two-note whistled fee-bee.
"What is the best thing to feed birds?" You can't go wrong with black oil sunflower seeds.
"What ate most of a mouse caught in a trap?" Mice could cannibalize another. It could have been a rat. I can hear you shudder at that possibility. A shrew, a venomous mammal, is a likely predator. Shrews have long pointed noses, dense velvety fur, black beady eyes and lack visible ears. They have an incredibly fast metabolic rate that requires them to feed voraciously, night and day. They eat earthworms, small mammals (mice and voles), centipedes, snails, slugs, beetles, spiders, grasshoppers, crickets and plant matter.
"Do goldfinches migrate?" Northern populations of American goldfinches are short-distance migrants that winter in the southern United States and northern Mexico; southern populations are year-round residents. Females winter farther south than males and young males farther north than adults. Irregular in migration, more remain here in winters with good food supplies. Banding shows wintering site fidelity is low. Some goldfinches are present year-round in Minnesota and are likely permanent residents. The goldfinches we see in the winter tend to be young birds, those hatched just months earlier, and are nomadic. The goldfinches we have at our feeders now could be locals or from Canada.
Thanks for stopping by
"I heard a bird sing In the dark of December A magical thing And sweet to remember. ‘We are nearer to Spring Than we were in September.’ I heard a bird sing In the dark of December." — Oliver Herford
"You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment." — Annie Dillard
We fish ewe a mare egrets moose, we fish ewe a mare egrets moose, we fish ewe a mare egrets moose, and a hippo gnu deer!
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
I walked Kaplan’s Woods in Owatonna and saw beguiling birds. One was a barred owl. Barred owls eat small animals, including squirrels, chipmunks, mice, voles, rabbits, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and crayfish. They hunt by sitting and waiting on an elevated perch while scanning for prey. Sometimes they temporarily store prey in a nest, in the crook of a branch or at the top of a snag to eat later. A barred owl has one ear higher than the other. Hearing from two different angles helps it pinpoint the location of prey.
I walked among the evergreens. White pine (W-H-I-T-E) has five needles per bundle, while Norway (red) pine has two needles (Nor-way).
I've not seen a snowy owl this fall. It's a prime spark bird. A spark bird is the bird that sparks a person's interest in birding. It opens eyes to the incredible beauty and mystery of birds. The snowy owls visiting here have proven to be more nocturnal and healthier than originally thought. While in Minnesota, they feed on voles, rabbits and waterfowl.
I didn't see Thomas Jefferson — I saw swans
Each winter, I stop in Monticello, Minnesota, where for 35 winters, trumpeter swans have been fed along the bank of the Mississippi River. Swan Park offered an artificial corn-feeding program started by Sheila Lawrence in the 1980s and continued by her husband Jim after her death in 2011. This program has ended. Jim Lawrence, the City of Monticello, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department, the Minnesota DNR and the Trumpeter Swan Society hope to preserve the long-term health of the migratory birds by encouraging the swans to remain wild and to forage naturally for food. There are 30,000 swans in Minnesota.
An owl picked him
Thanks to the International Owl Center in Houston, I heard David Johnson, director of the Global Owl Project, speak. He became enchanted with owls when he was 11 years old after an eastern screech owl landed on David's canvas pup tent and called for 20 minutes. David took it as a special message. "I didn't pick owls. They picked me," he said. David is studying the myth and culture of owls around the world. He found that the role of grandmothers is important in the transmission of culture as those women have the time and experience.
Q&A
"When is the best time to see eagles at Hawk Ridge?" Eagles: Bald: Sept. - Oct.; Golden: late Oct. - Nov. Rough-legged Hawks: mid-Oct. - early Nov. Red-tailed Hawks: early Oct. - early Nov. Broad-winged Hawks: Sep. 10 - Sep. 25. Sharp-shinned Hawks: mid-Sep. - early Oct. The average number of raptors counted each year at Hawk Ridge is 76,000. The numbers from the past fall: Broad-winged hawk 32,920, sharp-shinned hawk 13,595, bald eagle 5,300, red-tailed hawk 4,720, rough-legged hawk 1,948 and golden eagle 208.
"What bird call do you receive the most questions about?" I get the most about two birds. One is from people who miss hearing the songs of meadowlarks. The other wonders what is producing the song of the black-capped chickadee, a simple two-note whistled fee-bee.
"What is the best thing to feed birds?" You can't go wrong with black oil sunflower seeds.
"What ate most of a mouse caught in a trap?" Mice could cannibalize another. It could have been a rat. I can hear you shudder at that possibility. A shrew, a venomous mammal, is a likely predator. Shrews have long pointed noses, dense velvety fur, black beady eyes and lack visible ears. They have an incredibly fast metabolic rate that requires them to feed voraciously, night and day. They eat earthworms, small mammals (mice and voles), centipedes, snails, slugs, beetles, spiders, grasshoppers, crickets and plant matter.
"Do goldfinches migrate?" Northern populations of American goldfinches are short-distance migrants that winter in the southern United States and northern Mexico; southern populations are year-round residents. Females winter farther south than males and young males farther north than adults. Irregular in migration, more remain here in winters with good food supplies. Banding shows wintering site fidelity is low. Some goldfinches are present year-round in Minnesota and are likely permanent residents. The goldfinches we see in the winter tend to be young birds, those hatched just months earlier, and are nomadic. The goldfinches we have at our feeders now could be locals or from Canada.
Thanks for stopping by
"I heard a bird sing In the dark of December A magical thing And sweet to remember. ‘We are nearer to Spring Than we were in September.’ I heard a bird sing In the dark of December." — Oliver Herford
"You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment." — Annie Dillard
We fish ewe a mare egrets moose, we fish ewe a mare egrets moose, we fish ewe a mare egrets moose, and a hippo gnu deer!
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 12-13-20
Naturally
The first day of meteorological winter hit on December 1. December is the darkest month. The proverb says, "If December be changeable and mild, the whole winter will remain a child." Each day will continue to be a weather event.
Fox squirrels chased one another. They mate twice a year, typically from December to February and June through July.
I heard great horned owls softly hooting in the night as part of their courtship. The most common owl in Minnesota calls hoo-h’HOO-hoo-hoo before nesting begins in January or February.
I watched and listened to outraged birds. Chickadees, nuthatches, jays and a downy woodpecker flushed a Cooper's hawk from a tree. Four uncharacteristically quiet crows sat out the vocal mobbing, concentrating instead on chasing the flying raptor as it retreated from the yard. The gang of house sparrows perched in arborvitae stayed out of it. Life isn’t perfect but I saw birds. Sometimes that’s enough.
The Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union's Paper Session was virtual
Notes from "Climate Change and Forests" by Lee Frelich, Director, University of Minnesota Center for Forest Ecology. Drought, insect infestation, wind and fire will accompany climate change. There is more of a treed climate in southwest Minnesota now than at the time of European settlement when it was more favorable to the prairie.
High temperatures in March 2012 caused magnolias to bloom in Minnesota. (This writer remembers 81° on March 17 and 80° on March 18 in Rochester). If climate change isn't mitigated, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area will have the climate of Granite Falls by 2070 due to higher temperatures. Deer will replace moose, bobcats will replace lynx, and red-bellied woodpeckers will replace black-backed woodpeckers. Red-bellies are being seen in Ely now. Frelich said, "We have a perfectly good Kansas now. We don't need a second one in Minnesota."
Notes from "Eagles as Ambassadors" by Scott Mehus, Education Director at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha. Scott started the Wintering Golden Eagle Survey in 2005. On the third Saturday of January each year, volunteer citizen scientists drive over 40 counties (5,801 total miles this year) in the blufflands of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, straddling the Mississippi River from the Hastings-Stillwater area to Dubuque. They counted 119 golden eagles in 2020, 145 in 2019, 62 in 2018, and 44 in 2017. Golden eagles aren't found near water. Scott has found only one golden eagle within 30 feet of the Mississippi River. They feed on rabbits, squirrels and wild turkeys. They survey other birds, too. There were 1,403 bald eagles seen in 2020, 1,392 in 2019, 1,202 in 2018, 893 in 2017, and 1,515 in 2016. Red-tailed hawks: 461 in 2020, 583 in 2019, and 747 in 2018. Rough-legged hawks: 127 in 2020, 124 in 2019, and 131 in 2018. American kestrels: 89 in 2020, 64 in 2019, and 141 in 2018. There were 60 unidentified eagles and 19 red-headed woodpeckers seen in 2020. The golden eagles like goat prairies, which are dry, upland bluff prairies where thermal give lift to eagles saving them energy and haste altitude gain. The goat prairies, named because goats fed on them while cows grazed lower hillsides, also offer access to prey. Red cedar trees have invaded many of the goat prairies. Where do the golden eagles counted by Scott and the squad go? They breed in northern Canada. If you are interested in volunteering for the 2021 Wintering Golden Eagle Survey on Saturday, Jan. 16, email golden@nationaleaglecenter.org.
Q&A
"There was a rather nondescript bird in my yard this summer that wagged its tail when perched. Why did it do that?" It sounds like an eastern phoebe, a flycatcher that is dull in coloration and without bold markings. Gregory Avellis, a California scientist, studied black phoebes to determine if the tail pumping was related to balance, territorial aggression, foraging or predators. It was found the tail fidgeting was a message to predators, letting them know that they'd been spotted and eliminating the element of surprise. A playback of the calls of a Cooper's hawk, a raptor that preys on birds, caused a phoebe's tail-pumping rate to triple.
Thanks for stopping by
"It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so." — accredited to Mark Twain, Josh Billings, Artemus Ward, Kin Hubbard and Will Rogers
"I do not know terns anymore than I know myself. They keep leading me toward any number of questions to which I only receive tangential answers. Still, they have enlarged my sight, my aspirations, my grasp of the earth's great distances. What more do we need to know than that the truth lies not in us alone, but with every other form of life, no matter how insignificant it may seem." — John Hay
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
The first day of meteorological winter hit on December 1. December is the darkest month. The proverb says, "If December be changeable and mild, the whole winter will remain a child." Each day will continue to be a weather event.
Fox squirrels chased one another. They mate twice a year, typically from December to February and June through July.
I heard great horned owls softly hooting in the night as part of their courtship. The most common owl in Minnesota calls hoo-h’HOO-hoo-hoo before nesting begins in January or February.
I watched and listened to outraged birds. Chickadees, nuthatches, jays and a downy woodpecker flushed a Cooper's hawk from a tree. Four uncharacteristically quiet crows sat out the vocal mobbing, concentrating instead on chasing the flying raptor as it retreated from the yard. The gang of house sparrows perched in arborvitae stayed out of it. Life isn’t perfect but I saw birds. Sometimes that’s enough.
The Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union's Paper Session was virtual
Notes from "Climate Change and Forests" by Lee Frelich, Director, University of Minnesota Center for Forest Ecology. Drought, insect infestation, wind and fire will accompany climate change. There is more of a treed climate in southwest Minnesota now than at the time of European settlement when it was more favorable to the prairie.
High temperatures in March 2012 caused magnolias to bloom in Minnesota. (This writer remembers 81° on March 17 and 80° on March 18 in Rochester). If climate change isn't mitigated, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area will have the climate of Granite Falls by 2070 due to higher temperatures. Deer will replace moose, bobcats will replace lynx, and red-bellied woodpeckers will replace black-backed woodpeckers. Red-bellies are being seen in Ely now. Frelich said, "We have a perfectly good Kansas now. We don't need a second one in Minnesota."
Notes from "Eagles as Ambassadors" by Scott Mehus, Education Director at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha. Scott started the Wintering Golden Eagle Survey in 2005. On the third Saturday of January each year, volunteer citizen scientists drive over 40 counties (5,801 total miles this year) in the blufflands of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, straddling the Mississippi River from the Hastings-Stillwater area to Dubuque. They counted 119 golden eagles in 2020, 145 in 2019, 62 in 2018, and 44 in 2017. Golden eagles aren't found near water. Scott has found only one golden eagle within 30 feet of the Mississippi River. They feed on rabbits, squirrels and wild turkeys. They survey other birds, too. There were 1,403 bald eagles seen in 2020, 1,392 in 2019, 1,202 in 2018, 893 in 2017, and 1,515 in 2016. Red-tailed hawks: 461 in 2020, 583 in 2019, and 747 in 2018. Rough-legged hawks: 127 in 2020, 124 in 2019, and 131 in 2018. American kestrels: 89 in 2020, 64 in 2019, and 141 in 2018. There were 60 unidentified eagles and 19 red-headed woodpeckers seen in 2020. The golden eagles like goat prairies, which are dry, upland bluff prairies where thermal give lift to eagles saving them energy and haste altitude gain. The goat prairies, named because goats fed on them while cows grazed lower hillsides, also offer access to prey. Red cedar trees have invaded many of the goat prairies. Where do the golden eagles counted by Scott and the squad go? They breed in northern Canada. If you are interested in volunteering for the 2021 Wintering Golden Eagle Survey on Saturday, Jan. 16, email golden@nationaleaglecenter.org.
Q&A
"There was a rather nondescript bird in my yard this summer that wagged its tail when perched. Why did it do that?" It sounds like an eastern phoebe, a flycatcher that is dull in coloration and without bold markings. Gregory Avellis, a California scientist, studied black phoebes to determine if the tail pumping was related to balance, territorial aggression, foraging or predators. It was found the tail fidgeting was a message to predators, letting them know that they'd been spotted and eliminating the element of surprise. A playback of the calls of a Cooper's hawk, a raptor that preys on birds, caused a phoebe's tail-pumping rate to triple.
Thanks for stopping by
"It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so." — accredited to Mark Twain, Josh Billings, Artemus Ward, Kin Hubbard and Will Rogers
"I do not know terns anymore than I know myself. They keep leading me toward any number of questions to which I only receive tangential answers. Still, they have enlarged my sight, my aspirations, my grasp of the earth's great distances. What more do we need to know than that the truth lies not in us alone, but with every other form of life, no matter how insignificant it may seem." — John Hay
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
Posted 12-6-20
Naturally
There was a soft wind as I looked out a window and paid attention.
Birds are a way to experience joy and wonder. They are adorable and outdoorable. I watched a brown creeper fly from the base of one tree to the next, foraging upward each time. A nuthatch moves up, down and sideways on a tree. A fox with a plush nose warmer (tail) ran past. Ironwood and red oak demonstrated marcescence, meaning having withered, persistent leaves. Ironwood makes great tool handles and posts.
There were four chickadees on one platform feeder on Thanksgiving. There are few things more cheering than a chickadee, but I seldom see four of the hyper-vigilant birds on a single feeder. Starling and house sparrows were present in good numbers. Some people consider them the lima beans of birds. Dark-eyed juncos were here and there. They're called snowbirds. John James Audubon wrote, "So gentle and tame does it become on the least approach of hard weather, that it forms, as it were, a companion to every child. Indeed, there is not an individual in the Union who does not know the little Snow-bird, which, in America, is cherished as the Robin is in Europe." A vinaceous (of the color of red wine) purple finch male joined the day and an opinionated blue jay piped up.
I used to wish for a snow day, now I wish for a snowy owl
Thanks to the International Owl Center in Houston, Minn., I listened to Roar Solheim, the Senior Curator of Zoology at the Natural History Museum at Agder University in Norway. Solheim has been studying owls for over 50 years after a pygmy owl inspired his interest. He spoke of snowy owls. Solheim said snowy owls don't mate for life, and it's difficult to tell the sexes apart. The male becomes paler with age. The owls typically weigh about 4 pounds and are agile enough to catch birds in the air. Solheim told of one catching a pigeon in flight. They prey primarily upon mammals like lemmings and voles but take waterfowl, ptarmigan and other prey. Solheim called snowy owls critically endangered with only 14,000 breeding pairs in the world. A clutch is generally six to eight eggs, with the possibility of an owl living 20-25 years.
The Feather Thief
I read an interesting book titled, "The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century" by Kirk Wallace Johnson who stumbled upon a story about a feather underground that refused to adhere to the law. Johnson investigated an unlikely ornithological crime caper, the theft of 299 rare bird skins from a British Natural History Museum in Tring, which has a collection of over 750,000 bird skins. Johnson dove into a culture of rare and exotic bird trafficking, and the insular world of fly-tying enthusiasts. There is a certain community of flytiers with an unquenchable thirst for feathers from the Indian crow, king bird-of-paradise, blue chatterer (cotinga), the resplendent quetzal, bowerbird and others to be used to recreate outlandish Victorian salmon flies, some of which used the feathers from 15 species. They collect rare and valuable bird feathers and pay exorbitant prices for the most exotic ones to use in the art of making intricate fishing lures. Edwin Rist, an accomplished student musician (a flutist) and avid flytier, stole the rare bird skins worth $1 million. He wasn't a fisherman. Johnson said salmon couldn't care less about the absurd architecture of the flies. One bird skin, not necessarily stolen from the Tring, sold for $6000 on the black market.
Johnson touched on another abuse of feathers. At one time, 200 million birds were killed each year for the millinery trade. It took as many as 1000 snowy egrets to yield a kilo (approximately 2.2 pounds) of feathers. In 1886, an ounce of snowy egret mating plumes fetched $32. Gold was under $20 an ounce. Conservation groups railed against this abuse, and the feather trade and its lobbyists ran a campaign filled with animosity and half-truths while denigrating their opponents. It led to a ban on such use of feathers and it was determined that wildlife should be preserved in their natural state.
Q&A
"I saw a hawk with feathered legs. What kind was it?" It was a rough-legged hawk. "Rough-legged" refers to those feathered legs. It, the ferruginous hawk and the golden eagle are the only American raptors to have legs feathered to the toes.
Thanks for stopping by
"Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand." — Emily Kimbrough
"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." ― John Ruskin
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
There was a soft wind as I looked out a window and paid attention.
Birds are a way to experience joy and wonder. They are adorable and outdoorable. I watched a brown creeper fly from the base of one tree to the next, foraging upward each time. A nuthatch moves up, down and sideways on a tree. A fox with a plush nose warmer (tail) ran past. Ironwood and red oak demonstrated marcescence, meaning having withered, persistent leaves. Ironwood makes great tool handles and posts.
There were four chickadees on one platform feeder on Thanksgiving. There are few things more cheering than a chickadee, but I seldom see four of the hyper-vigilant birds on a single feeder. Starling and house sparrows were present in good numbers. Some people consider them the lima beans of birds. Dark-eyed juncos were here and there. They're called snowbirds. John James Audubon wrote, "So gentle and tame does it become on the least approach of hard weather, that it forms, as it were, a companion to every child. Indeed, there is not an individual in the Union who does not know the little Snow-bird, which, in America, is cherished as the Robin is in Europe." A vinaceous (of the color of red wine) purple finch male joined the day and an opinionated blue jay piped up.
I used to wish for a snow day, now I wish for a snowy owl
Thanks to the International Owl Center in Houston, Minn., I listened to Roar Solheim, the Senior Curator of Zoology at the Natural History Museum at Agder University in Norway. Solheim has been studying owls for over 50 years after a pygmy owl inspired his interest. He spoke of snowy owls. Solheim said snowy owls don't mate for life, and it's difficult to tell the sexes apart. The male becomes paler with age. The owls typically weigh about 4 pounds and are agile enough to catch birds in the air. Solheim told of one catching a pigeon in flight. They prey primarily upon mammals like lemmings and voles but take waterfowl, ptarmigan and other prey. Solheim called snowy owls critically endangered with only 14,000 breeding pairs in the world. A clutch is generally six to eight eggs, with the possibility of an owl living 20-25 years.
The Feather Thief
I read an interesting book titled, "The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century" by Kirk Wallace Johnson who stumbled upon a story about a feather underground that refused to adhere to the law. Johnson investigated an unlikely ornithological crime caper, the theft of 299 rare bird skins from a British Natural History Museum in Tring, which has a collection of over 750,000 bird skins. Johnson dove into a culture of rare and exotic bird trafficking, and the insular world of fly-tying enthusiasts. There is a certain community of flytiers with an unquenchable thirst for feathers from the Indian crow, king bird-of-paradise, blue chatterer (cotinga), the resplendent quetzal, bowerbird and others to be used to recreate outlandish Victorian salmon flies, some of which used the feathers from 15 species. They collect rare and valuable bird feathers and pay exorbitant prices for the most exotic ones to use in the art of making intricate fishing lures. Edwin Rist, an accomplished student musician (a flutist) and avid flytier, stole the rare bird skins worth $1 million. He wasn't a fisherman. Johnson said salmon couldn't care less about the absurd architecture of the flies. One bird skin, not necessarily stolen from the Tring, sold for $6000 on the black market.
Johnson touched on another abuse of feathers. At one time, 200 million birds were killed each year for the millinery trade. It took as many as 1000 snowy egrets to yield a kilo (approximately 2.2 pounds) of feathers. In 1886, an ounce of snowy egret mating plumes fetched $32. Gold was under $20 an ounce. Conservation groups railed against this abuse, and the feather trade and its lobbyists ran a campaign filled with animosity and half-truths while denigrating their opponents. It led to a ban on such use of feathers and it was determined that wildlife should be preserved in their natural state.
Q&A
"I saw a hawk with feathered legs. What kind was it?" It was a rough-legged hawk. "Rough-legged" refers to those feathered legs. It, the ferruginous hawk and the golden eagle are the only American raptors to have legs feathered to the toes.
Thanks for stopping by
"Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand." — Emily Kimbrough
"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." ― John Ruskin
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt - taken in Alaska
Posted 11-29-20
Naturally
I watched a nuthatch take peanuts from a feeder. It was a white-breasted peanuthatch. A grumpy-looking bird, either the bluebird of crankiness or the bluebird of Minneapolis perched nearby. I studied squirrels gathering leaves at the tops of the trees. They were nest contractors.
This is an irruption year for finches. Pine siskins have been numerous and we’ll likely be seeing common redpolls. I'm keeping sharp eyes out for evening grosbeaks. I've had four people in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa tell me they'd seen these beautiful yellow, black and white birds. The birds are good eaters and when they visit a feeder, they're like hogs at a trough. There was a good crop of spruce budworms in the north this year. Those are prime food for the grosbeak nestlings and produced a good crop of grosbeaks.
I've been a member of the board of the American Bald Eagle Foundation (ABEF) in Haines, Alaska, for a goodly number of years. Each year, we hold a festival where people come from all over to see the eagles and other wildlife. Smithsonian Magazine did an article recently titled, "Behold the Largest Congregation of Bald Eagles in the United States." The subtitle was, "Every November, hundreds if not thousands of the birds of prey gather in Haines, Alaska, to feast on salmon." The festival was canceled this year because of COVID-19 and the Canadian border being closed. A friend, Cheryl Roberts of Haines, drove the route along the Chilkat River where the birds typically congregate and counted 25 eagles. Another friend, Dave Olerud of Haines, drove the same road and counted 20 eagles. If there was a festival this year, we'd have had to put up cardboard cutouts of eagles. Low salmon runs are believed to be the cause for the poor eagle crowd and combined with a poor berry season has caused bears to seek other food sources. Add that the local landfill has become more secure and you have bears raiding things like garages in search of food. At least 40 brown bears were killed, some to protect property, in Haines during the regulatory year running July — June. Those numbers are unprecedented as the previous high was 22. Residents were cautioned to do a better job securing bear attractants. In other sad news, a wild brown bear broke in and killed Caesar, a 16-year-old alpaca and unofficial mascot of the zoo in Anchorage. Wildlife officials euthanized the bear.
At the ABEF, a magpie got into the mew of Bella, a bald eagle. There was no damage done to either bird and the two were seen perched on the same roost.
Q&A
"What is the chicken hawk?" The misleading moniker is typically applied to three raptors. The Cooper's hawk is the one I first think of. It's also nicknamed big blue darter, hen hawk, quail hawk, striker or swift hawk. The sharp-shinned hawk is also called bird hawk, bullet hawk, little blue darter or slate-colored hawk. The red-tailed hawk is the other bird of prey.
"How many bald eagles spend the winter in Minnesota?" I don’t know the number. The eagle is a regular in winter in southeastern Minnesota and other parts of Minnesota where there is open water. Wabasha, Read's Landing, Camp Lacupolis and the surrounding riverfront areas hold lovely viewing spots for wintering bald eagles. The birds overwinter in the Red Wing and Wabasha areas near the Mississippi River, where the current of the inflowing Chippewa River maintains open water.
Susan Wegner of Maine wrote, "Here is a bird plumage question for you. After watching the gyrations of little birds at the feeders, I became aware of the white-breasted nuthatch’s chestnut-colored "undergump" as the Norwegians say. Or undertail coverts as my 1980 Peterson says. So, rather than ask the "source of all knowledge" (internet through google search), I thought I would ask you, humorous human source of bird knowledge. So why the colors down under?" It's related to courtship. Arthur Cleveland Bent wrote in 1948, "Standing back to her, he bows slowly downward as he sings, then in the interval before another song he straightens up, then bows as he sings again. The songs come with perfect regularity over and over again and can thus be recognized even in the distance as the courtship song. We may imagine what a changing color scheme is presented to the female bird, if, as his song invites her to do, she glances his way — the black of his crown and his rough raised mane, then the blue-gray of his back, then the variegated black and white pattern of his expanded tail, then, perhaps, at the end of his bow, a flash of ruddy brown."
Thanks for stopping by
"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." ― G.K. Chesterton
"Be curious, not judgmental." — Walt Whitman
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Naturally
I watched a nuthatch take peanuts from a feeder. It was a white-breasted peanuthatch. A grumpy-looking bird, either the bluebird of crankiness or the bluebird of Minneapolis perched nearby. I studied squirrels gathering leaves at the tops of the trees. They were nest contractors.
This is an irruption year for finches. Pine siskins have been numerous and we’ll likely be seeing common redpolls. I'm keeping sharp eyes out for evening grosbeaks. I've had four people in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa tell me they'd seen these beautiful yellow, black and white birds. The birds are good eaters and when they visit a feeder, they're like hogs at a trough. There was a good crop of spruce budworms in the north this year. Those are prime food for the grosbeak nestlings and produced a good crop of grosbeaks.
I've been a member of the board of the American Bald Eagle Foundation (ABEF) in Haines, Alaska, for a goodly number of years. Each year, we hold a festival where people come from all over to see the eagles and other wildlife. Smithsonian Magazine did an article recently titled, "Behold the Largest Congregation of Bald Eagles in the United States." The subtitle was, "Every November, hundreds if not thousands of the birds of prey gather in Haines, Alaska, to feast on salmon." The festival was canceled this year because of COVID-19 and the Canadian border being closed. A friend, Cheryl Roberts of Haines, drove the route along the Chilkat River where the birds typically congregate and counted 25 eagles. Another friend, Dave Olerud of Haines, drove the same road and counted 20 eagles. If there was a festival this year, we'd have had to put up cardboard cutouts of eagles. Low salmon runs are believed to be the cause for the poor eagle crowd and combined with a poor berry season has caused bears to seek other food sources. Add that the local landfill has become more secure and you have bears raiding things like garages in search of food. At least 40 brown bears were killed, some to protect property, in Haines during the regulatory year running July — June. Those numbers are unprecedented as the previous high was 22. Residents were cautioned to do a better job securing bear attractants. In other sad news, a wild brown bear broke in and killed Caesar, a 16-year-old alpaca and unofficial mascot of the zoo in Anchorage. Wildlife officials euthanized the bear.
At the ABEF, a magpie got into the mew of Bella, a bald eagle. There was no damage done to either bird and the two were seen perched on the same roost.
Q&A
"What is the chicken hawk?" The misleading moniker is typically applied to three raptors. The Cooper's hawk is the one I first think of. It's also nicknamed big blue darter, hen hawk, quail hawk, striker or swift hawk. The sharp-shinned hawk is also called bird hawk, bullet hawk, little blue darter or slate-colored hawk. The red-tailed hawk is the other bird of prey.
"How many bald eagles spend the winter in Minnesota?" I don’t know the number. The eagle is a regular in winter in southeastern Minnesota and other parts of Minnesota where there is open water. Wabasha, Read's Landing, Camp Lacupolis and the surrounding riverfront areas hold lovely viewing spots for wintering bald eagles. The birds overwinter in the Red Wing and Wabasha areas near the Mississippi River, where the current of the inflowing Chippewa River maintains open water.
Susan Wegner of Maine wrote, "Here is a bird plumage question for you. After watching the gyrations of little birds at the feeders, I became aware of the white-breasted nuthatch’s chestnut-colored "undergump" as the Norwegians say. Or undertail coverts as my 1980 Peterson says. So, rather than ask the "source of all knowledge" (internet through google search), I thought I would ask you, humorous human source of bird knowledge. So why the colors down under?" It's related to courtship. Arthur Cleveland Bent wrote in 1948, "Standing back to her, he bows slowly downward as he sings, then in the interval before another song he straightens up, then bows as he sings again. The songs come with perfect regularity over and over again and can thus be recognized even in the distance as the courtship song. We may imagine what a changing color scheme is presented to the female bird, if, as his song invites her to do, she glances his way — the black of his crown and his rough raised mane, then the blue-gray of his back, then the variegated black and white pattern of his expanded tail, then, perhaps, at the end of his bow, a flash of ruddy brown."
Thanks for stopping by
"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." ― G.K. Chesterton
"Be curious, not judgmental." — Walt Whitman
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Photo by Al Batt
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