When opossums travel in hay bales, they don’t go first class

Naturally

 I saw an old movie where a bald eagle was producing  the call of a red-tailed hawk. I suspect it was because the hawk’s call sounded fiercer than an eagle’s, was easy to dance to, and was undoubtedly more recognizable than the giggles and screams of a bald eagle.
 There is a legend of the bald eagle that says back when the world was new, the eagle had the voice of a symphony, an aria and a rock concert all rolled into one song. When the eagle sang, the world stopped to listen—mesmerized by the beauty of the song. The problem was when the eagle was quiet, the world became too quiet. The gods formed a committee, and after only 173 meetings, the gods decided the eagle's voice should be shared with all the other birds. Because lawyers had yet to be invented, the eagle had no choice but to comply with their wishes. One by one, every bird got a voice. After all the birds had received their own voices, eliminating the world's awkward silences, the bald eagle was left with its current vocals. It’s the voice that sounds as if it’s lamenting the loss of its powerful, enthralling song. And why shouldn’t it complain?

Q&A

 “My uncle told me that opossums came to Minnesota in giant hay bales. Is he correct?” Uncles are seldom, if ever, correct about anything. I know because I am one. Did your uncle ever travel in a giant hay bale? It’s no place for anyone suffering from hay fever, and there’s no first-class section. They don’t even offer those crummy, tiny bags of pretzels. I’ve heard that tale of opossums hitchhiking in hay bales a couple of times. The opossums allegedly caught rides on trucks hauling big hay bales northward to the Gopher State, where they would be served in school lunch programs to students serving detention. Something like that could happen occasionally, but it wouldn’t be a dependable means of travel for the mammals. Few opossums drove those trucks, as arcane laws make it difficult for opossums to obtain driver’s licenses. Why did a plodding mammal that is slow in processing information and not dressed for a Minnesota winter end up here? They don’t stockpile food or accumulate layers of fat. Farms and cities proliferated along the roads and rivers, offering easier paths for travel and free food for opossums. Cities added a bonus as they’re warmer because sunlight reflects off hard surfaces, and cities burn various fuels. Climate change likely played a role as Minnesota’s annual average temperature has risen since the 1980s.
 “When I visited Texas, I was told that everything in Texas either sticks, pricks, stings or bites you. Why is that?” You’ll find that particularly true if you insist on going barefooted. It’s the Texas version of the Welcome Wagon. Texas has a warm and welcoming climate that encourages year-round insect activity, fosters the growth of thorny vegetation and is hospitable to other high-strung things that fly, crawl, slither or swim.
 “What’s the difference between a rabbit and a hare?” Minnesota is home to one rabbit species (eastern cottontail rabbit) and two hare species (white-tailed jackrabbit and snowshoe hare). Hares are precocial, meaning they’re born furred with their eyes open and capable of locomotion. They require little parental care. Rabbits are born hairless, blind and helpless. Rabbits are smaller, have shorter ears than hares, and prefer to hide from predators rather than depending upon their speed to run to safety like hares. And hares are harder to pull out of a hat.
 “What drinks are named after birds?” Liquor: Wild Turkey, Old Crow, Redbreast, The Famous Grouse and Grey Goose. Cocktail: Passenger Pigeon, White Pelican, Blue Bird, Crow, Albatross, Bird of Paradise, The Bird is the Word, Cardinal, Swan Song and Flamingo. Beer: Warbler Ale, Nemesis Bird, Barn Owl Bitters and Old Speckled Hen. Wines: Burrowing Owl, Barn Owl Red, The Goose, Grey Duck, Cooper’s Hawk and Eagle’s Nest. The list is far from all-inclusive, and some names were given to me by a retired bartender I birded with in California. I’d think Prairie Chicken would be an excellent name for a bottled libation. The ghostly sounds produced by prairie chickens are reminiscent of the wind blowing across the top of a bottle.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.”–W. Somerset Maugham.
 “My faith demands – this is not optional – my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”—Jimmy Carter.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

The Minnesota Breeding Trumpeter Swan Survey, conducted in 2022, estimated the statewide population at 51,860. Many of those swans winter in Minnesota, where they find open water and an abundant food supply. This photo showcases the difference in sizes between Trumpeter swans, Canada geese and mallards. Photo by Al Batt.

Canada geese flew over, sounding as if they were playing vuvuzelas



Naturally

 I whistled while I walked.
 Or it might have been caused by my breathing through the icicles that had formed in my nostrils.
 It was below zero as I tiptoed through the little remaining snow. There was a slight breeze that enhanced the winter experience for me. The weather folks used to toss out the term “windchill factor” to make us feel more uncomfortable in our minds than we were in our bodies. They don’t use that phrase much anymore, and I don’t miss hearing it. It brings back painful and cold memories. It’s true the weather doesn’t always agree with me, but it isn’t the weather’s job to agree with me.
 Canada geese flew over, sounding as if they were playing vuvuzelas. Other birds joined me on the raw January day. I heard no complaints from any of them, and I marveled at every feather I saw. Birds dare to be great. They need to be great in order to survive. I watched chickadees and blue jays cache seeds for the next day. Their preparations reminded me of “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” one of Aesop's Fables. That fable describes how a hungry grasshopper begged for food from an ant when winter came. The ant refused to share. The tale sums up moral lessons about the virtues of hard work and planning for the future. I’ve seen the food storage behavior often with those two, as well as done by nuthatches and squirrels. No matter. I love being surprised by the things I expect to see. This leaves me in a perpetual state of astonishment. It’s a wonderful state to be in.
 Back in the house, where there was a minor windchill factor, the bird clock did the call of the eastern screech-owl because it was 9 o’clock. Life was good.

Q&A

 This is a slightly edited version of what Mike Rucker of Lake Wilson had sent, “I have a bird feeder question for you. I picked up a new bird feeder and filled it two months ago. Not one bird has touched it yet, not even a sparrow, and we have hundreds of them. And you know sparrows, they're smart and opportunists when it comes to food. But no, they haven't touched it either. We don't have any finches, I think maybe they would use it. The old feeder is empty every other day, the new feeder has never been touched. Just curious to see what you think.” I advise everyone to give a new feeder 3-4 weeks to allow the feeder birds time to adjust to a new feeder, but your patience has far exceeded that. There can be several reasons for the new feeder being shunned: A lack of appealing food, a feeder with moldy seed, a blockage that restricts any food from being released, a poorly placed feeder exposed to predators, an abundance of natural food sources, or a change in the local bird population. Essentially, the birds might not find the feeder safe, accessible, or offering food they like. Because the other feeder is being patronized, I’d suspect the seed is the problem. Any seed that has gotten wet is no longer a draw. If there is any moldy smell, wash the feeder and replace the seed. Until the birds become accustomed to it, place only a small amount of seed in the feeder and change it regularly so it remains fresh. That amount can be increased once the feeder builds a regular clientele. You might try black-oil sunflower seeds if the feeder ports will accommodate them. The birds we like to see find that food enticing. I hope the feeder becomes a flourishing eatery. 
 “How many litters does a rabbit have each year?” An eastern cottontail rabbit has a home range of 5 acres or fewer and gives birth to three or four litters annually with four to six kits in each litter.
 “Do spiders often bite people, and do I really swallow eight spiders a year while I sleep?” Spiders don’t waste their time biting us. Unless threatened, such a hostile reaction would be pointless. A study found that of Southern California patients seeking medical treatment for spider bites, only 3.8% had actual spider bites. What are the chances of an eight-legged arachnid crawling across your pillow and jumping into your mouth while you sleep is unlikely. Spiders want nothing to do with us. Our open, moist mouths are unappealing to spiders. Snoring would frighten them away. The chances of you chowing down on spiders while you’re sleeping are like winning the lottery.  

Thanks for stopping by

 “Stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.”—Leo Tolstoy.
 “It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention.”—Mary Oliver.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

How do birds survive winter? They fluff up their feathers, trapping warm air between the feathers to create insulation. Birds could seek shelter in cavities, under the eaves of houses, on the protected sides of trees or in brush piles. Some eat more high-fat food to maintain their metabolism or lower their body temperature to save energy. Photo by Al Batt.

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Did the jay hit the finch with a snowball or was it Colonel Mustard?

 Naturally

 The bison is the national mammal, the rose is the national flower and the oak is the national tree, but we had no national bird. That situation has been remedied. The bald eagle is now officially our national bird after President Biden signed it into law on Christmas Eve. My gratitude goes out to many, but I’d like to give a special nod to a friend named Preston Cook of Wabasha, who was the driving force behind the bald eagle being able to fly to this lofty position. Preston had a vast collection of over 40,000 eagle items (from coins to belt buckles to hood ornaments to two 2,500-pound granite eagles) that he donated to the National Bald Eagle Center in Wabasha. Preston was inspired by Murray Burns, a character in the film “A Thousand Clowns” Preston saw in 1966, who said, “You can’t have too many eagles.”
 A female downy woodpecker tried to land on me twice while I stood peering through my binoculars as I counted American tree sparrows. Apparently, in my dotage, I’ve come to resemble a lanky bird feeder with numerous construction flaws. I was pleased to have been mistaken for something useful.
 Seeing and hearing birds is a gift. Crows are birds. Therefore, crows are a gift. The first bird I saw in the new year was a crow, and I hadn’t been that excited about seeing a crow since the last crow I’d seen.
 There are so many things to see. Bald-faced hornet nests, looking like a gray something or another between a football and a basketball, are seen dangling unoccupied from tree branches.
 Watch for birds pecking at goldenrod galls. Chickadees and downy woodpeckers find the galls a reliable provider of food in the form of larvae. Some ice fishermen use the larvae as bait.
 Great horned owl pairs engage in duet calling during courtship. The male has a lower voice. The great horned owl is a big owl, but the thick feathers for insulation from Arctic cold make the snowy owl North America’s heaviest owl, typically weighing about a pound more than a great horned owl and twice the weight of a great gray owl, which is North America’s tallest owl.
 I walked along the edge of a frozen lake and saw a mink cross the trail. A mink doesn’t change the color of its coat in winter, so it stood out like a sore thumb against the background of snow. Trumpeter swans linger wherever there is open water and blend in with the snow, but their sonorous bugling gives their location away.
 Cedar waxwings stripped the hawthorn and crabapple trees. Cedar waxwings have yellowish bellies, while Bohemian waxwings, which show up in northern Minnesota, have gray bellies.
 Willows and dogwoods become more colorful. Willow trees yellow, and dogwoods redden into perfect subjects for Christmas cards. I love seeing the redbirds on conifers gracing the front of Christmas cards. Cardinals used to be a southern bird, but have moved north thanks to bird feeders, human development and rising temperatures.

Q&A

 “Most winters, I see a muskrat wandering around. What’s going on there?” It's hard for a muskrat to forage for aquatic vegetation if its pond freezes all the way down or the mammal runs out of food in a pond. This forces muskrats to move overland on roads or trails to find food in deeper waters.
 “What do shrews eat?” Shrews belonged to an abandoned order called Insectivora, meaning "insect eater," but shrews are omnivores, eating whatever they can find. They remain active all winter, with a high metabolic rate that causes them to always be in a hurry because they feed voraciously night and day. They eat more than their weight each day and I’ve read that their metabolism is 60 times the rate of a human’s. They eat insects, worms, spiders, centipedes, salamanders, voles, mice, snakes, small rabbits, the nestlings of ground-nesting birds and even other shrews. Unique among mammals, the bite of the short-tailed shrew contains venom that paralyzes or kills its prey.
 “I see rodents scurrying across the walk. How can I tell if they are mice or voles?” Voles are rotund, and their tails are significantly shorter than the long tails of deer mice and white-footed mice.
 “When snowy owls come down here from the tundra in the winter, what do they eat?” Snowy owls prey upon mice, voles, shrews, rabbits, pigeons, weasels, muskrats, waterfowl (ducks and geese), gulls and other targets.

Thanks for stopping by

 "By the age of 70, he who doesn’t read will have lived only one life. He who reads will have lived 5000 years. Reading is immortality working backwards."—Umberto Eco.
 “Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”—Desmond Tutu.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2024

An American goldfinch wearing its winter disguise. The drab plumage didn’t prevent the finch from being hit in the face with a tiny snowball, likely thrown by a blue jay. Photo by Al Batt.

Never judge a day by its weather



Naturally

 The day was not strikingly perfect, but it was the best day available. Dick Van Dyke said, “We should never judge a day by its weather.” That’s good advice, but advice that’s not always easily taken.
 Three young opossums fed on snow-covered ground on a gelid day. Opossums are omnivores and eat eggs, grains, nuts, fruit, birds, snakes, frogs, mice, carrion, berries, garbage, insects, crustaceans, pet food and bird seed. Claims of them eating large numbers of ticks are dubious at best. A group of opossums is called a passel. I cracked open a window of the house and tossed an apple gently in their direction. The apple hit the frozen ground and took a big hop before rolling into one of the three animals. After being bumped, the opossum jumped into the air and, upon returning to Earth, scrambled off into the woods. The second opossum sniffed the apple and then ran away to safety. The third grabbed the apple with some of its 50 teeth and, smiling like an opossum eating an apple, ran off to that secret hiding place where it goes to eat apples. The three different reactions by the opossums remind me that not everyone wants the same present. None of the opossums wanted money or gift cards.
 I saw a muskrat. Muskrats don’t hibernate or cache food, so they feed all winter. They spend much of their time in a sleeping lodge, which they often dig into a steep bank with an underwater entrance. In early winter, muskrats create small shelters called push-ups by chewing holes in the ice and covering them with a mound of mud and plant debris. These mounds are often 3 feet high and up to 300 feet from the main lodge. Muskrats can stay underwater for about 10 minutes and use the push-ups to catch their breath out of the weather and away from predators. Muskrats have stiff fur around their back feet and toes, which works like webbing to propel them through the water. Their front feet are smaller, and they hold them under their chins while swimming.
 I had detected the hooting of owls during the night. A pair of great horned owls exchanging “Who's Awake? Me too” calls. A great horned owl doesn’t build its own nest and isn’t a significant remodeler of purloined nests. An owl can turn its head 270 degrees.
 I watched a rough-legged hawk balancing in the air. It was hovering. Rough-legged hawks are circumpolar birds that breed in the arctic tundra and have feathered legs that help conserve heat. Rough-legged hawks hover in stationary flight while searching the treeless tundra for prey and continue that practice when they show up here in the winter. They are similar in size to a red-tailed hawk but have smaller bills and feet. Red-tailed hawks can wind stall, remaining steady in the air by using an oncoming wind to accommodate hovering. Rough-legged hawks soar and glide with their wings held in a dihedral or “V” shape. If you see a hawk perched on the tip-top branch of a tree surveying the land for prey, it’s likely a rough-legged hawk. Red-tailed hawks prefer lower and larger perches for hunting. Rough-leggeds primarily prey on shrews, mice and voles during the winter.
 A sharp-shinned hawk hit the window of our house while pursuing a songbird. It didn’t survive the collision. Aptly named, its shins were sharp. The small accipiter had a square-tipped tail. Its yellow eyes identified it as an immature bird.
Getting to know your local birds is rewarding (sad in the case of that accipiter), but it’s good to look at birds while traveling. I watched ravens pulling discarded food items out of trash containers near a McDonald’s in Juneau, Alaska. One freed a paper bag filled with french fries. It was a nest of fries raided by a raven.

Q&A

 “Are ants found on every continent?” Ants are found almost everywhere. The only areas that don't host populations of ants are Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland and some island nations. What? No ants in Antarctica? Most ant species live in soil, leaf litter or decaying plants.
 “How can I tell the leaves of white oaks from those of red oaks? Red oaks have pointed leaf tips, and white oaks have rounded leaf tips.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel. By virtue of this curious loophole in the rules, any clodhopper may say: Let there be a tree and there will be one.”—Aldo Leopold.
 “No one can look at a pine tree in winter without knowing that spring will come again in due time.”—Frank Bolles.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

Robins depend upon fruit and berries for food in the winter. They gather in flocks that don’t have frequent meetings with required attendance. A flock enhances an individual’s ability to find food and spot predators. Robins are hardy survivors that can take the cold as long as they eat right. They dress for a frigid day by fluffing their feathers. Photo by Al Batt.

Finding a cardinal feather in a place almost as good as on the bird



Christmas Naturally

 I remember being a Christmas tree wrangler. The tree had been hog-tied and brought home on the roof of our Pontiac. My job was to carry the conifer into the house and place it into a red tree stand with green legs. I tightened screw bolts to hold the tree’s trunk firmly in place. The stand also acted as a watering bowl to prevent excessive needle drop. “Excessive” meant it dropped every single needle. It looked like a rescue tree, but when it was tinseled and precious ornaments from the Ben Franklin store put in place, it’d be a beauty.
 I stepped back to admire my work, something done often by those who do little work worth admiring. It was then that I saw it. A red feather, tinged with gray, stood at attention as if someone had purposely placed it there. It was from a cardinal. We didn’t have a cardinal on the farm. We bought the tree from a tree lot, but I didn’t know where the tree had originated.
 The feather was a choir of angels singing without the choir of angels or the singing, but it was close.
 I can’t give all the credit to a single feather of a handsome redbird, but I can’t deny its complicity in making it a most memorable Christmas. I wish you simple pleasures. Merry Christmas.

Wabi-sabi pheasants and deer

 Wabi-sabi is a Japanese concept that directs us to search for beauty in imperfection and accept the more natural cycle of life. Welcome to wabi-sabi winter weather.
 Rarely does a pheasant die of old age. Its average life expectancy is less than 1 year as a result of being a prey species. Pheasants Forever offered these figures: Survival Rate—Mild winter, good habitat: 95% survive. 
Survival Rate—Severe winter, good habitat: 50%.
Survival Rate—Mild winter, poor habitat: 80%.
Survival Rate—Severe winter, poor habitat: 20%.
 State Farm estimated there were over 1.8 million animal collision insurance claims in the U.S. between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024. These states have the highest risk of animal collisions: West Virginia (1 in 40 chance of a driver hitting an animal in a year), Montana (1 in 54), Michigan (1 in 59), Pennsylvania (1 in 61), Wisconsin (1 in 63), Mississippi (1 in 65), Iowa (1 in 68), South Dakota (1 in 69), Virginia (1 in 73), and Rhode Island (1 in 75). Minnesota is 11th with 1 in 79 odds. The animals most often involved in animal collisions are deer, followed by unidentified animals (maybe Sasquatch). Most deer-vehicle accidents happen at dawn and dusk, between 5 and 8 in the morning and in the evening. The most dangerous months for animal collisions are, in order, November, October and December.

Q&A

 Ken Nelson of Clarks Grove asked when deer came to Minnesota. The white-tailed deer's original range was limited to the hardwood forests and prairies of southern Minnesota. In pre-settlement times, white-tailed deer were present throughout the wooded river valleys and woodlands of central and southern Minnesota, and most abundant in the hardwood forests (maple, basswood, oak). The cutting of the hardwood forests, the development of agriculture and year-round hunting following the rapid settlement of southern Minnesota were primarily responsible for the decline in deer populations. By 1880, deer had become rare in their original range. The state’s attempts to regulate hunting failed, leading to a ban on hunting in southern Minnesota in 1923. The conifer forests of the north were a haven for moose and caribou and unfavorable to white-tailed deer because the lack of undergrowth in there meant little food and cover for deer. When tree cutting flourished in northern Minnesota, so did deer. By 1950, deer inhabited all 87 counties.
 “When do owls nest in Minnesota?” Here are the nesting times of the three most common owls in the state. The great horned owl is Minnesota's earliest nesting bird, some laying eggs in January. Barred owls and eastern screech owls begin nesting in March. Only two of our Gopher State owls have brown eyes: the barred owl and the uncommon barn owl. A great horned owl weighs 3-5 pounds and has eyes about the same size as ours. If that owl were the size of a human, its eyes would be the size of oranges. Enormous eyes help owls see in near darkness, and one of its ear holes is higher than the other, helping it identify the source of a sound.

Thanks for stopping by

 “The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them.”—Turkish proverb.
 Spider Grandmother’s Two Rules in Hopi mythology are: Don’t go around hurting each other. Try to understand things.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2024

This peregrine falcon has a second job as an education bird. It’s a teacher whose first job is being a peregrine falcon, which may reach speeds of 200 mph during a hunting stoop. The name derives from "falco peregrinus"—"pilgrim falcon" in Medieval Latin. Photo by Al Batt.

Don’t eat the blue snow

Naturally 

 Why did the chicken cross the road? To show the opossum it could be done. Opossums frequently sing ”On the road again.”
 Don’t eat the blue snow. When eastern cottontail rabbits eat buckthorn, they excrete a chemical from the plant in their urine that turns blue in sunlight. 
 Snow buntings look like snow drifting upwards. John Burroughs, a naturalist of the late 1800s, wrote: “The only one of our winter birds that really seems a part of winter, that seems to be born of the whirling snow, and to be happiest when storms drive thickest and coldest, is the Snow Bunting, the real snowbird, with plumage copied from the fields where the drifts hide all but the tops of the tallest weeds, large spaces of pure white touched here and there with black and gray and brown. Its twittering call and chirrup coming out of the white obscurity is the sweetest and happiest of all winter bird sounds. It is like the laughter of children. The fox-hunter hears it on the snowy hills, the farmer hears it when he goes to fodder his cattle from the distant stack, the country schoolboy hears it as he breaks his way through drifts toward the school. It is ever a voice of good cheer and contentment.”
 Pine siskins are charming winter residents that look as if they’re wearing pajamas. They resemble our winter American goldfinches but have streaky breasts. Goldfinch breasts are unmarked.

Q&A

 “Do we have crossbills?” I have some bills that make me cross, but if you’re referring to the birds, we have two crossbills in North America—the red crossbill and the white-winged crossbill. Crossbills have an overlapping arrangement of the upper and lower bills, with one bill crossing over the other. This odd bill is needed because crossbills are specialists in conifer seeds. A crossbill inserts its bill between two scales of a cone and uses the bill as a wedge, allowing the bird’s tongue to remove the seeds. Crossbills aren’t adept at eating food other finches readily eat, such as thistle seeds. The red crossbill has the larger and longer bill of the two and is more likely to feed on pine seeds. White-winged crossbills feed on smaller cones like spruce. Cone production is notoriously variable. Some years, cone production is negligible, which causes crossbills to wander in search of food.
 “Why do so many white birds have black feathers on the trailing edges of their wings?”    Gulls, pelicans, storks, geese and ibises are examples of those birds. The black feathers protect the wing from wear and tear. Black feathers contain melanin, which makes feathers stronger. Feathers with melanin have a tougher layer of keratin—the same substance found in human fingernails—compared to feathers without melanin.
 “Thoreau wrote about a ‘night-warbler,’ but he didn’t identify the bird. What do you think it might be?” Thoreau told Ralph Waldo Emerson about the unidentified bird. Emerson advised him not to try to identify the bird because it was essential to leave some mystery in nature. Those two gents didn’t let all birds remain unknown. Emerson's favorite bird was the black-capped chickadee, which he appreciated for its Yankee industriousness. I agree with Emerson. The chickadee is also my favorite bird. Thoreau's favorite avian critter was the wood thrush because it sang freedom. Hearing the thrush’s flute-like “Frit-0-lay” song never fails to thrill me. I’ve read a lot about the night-warbler and have seen speculation that the mystery singer was the common yellowthroat or the ovenbird. Unless we perfect a time machine that allows us to spend time in Thoreau’s company, that bird will remain a mystery. Perhaps that’s the best thing. It gives us something to wonder about.
 “What is the hawk they talk about in Chicago?” It could be the nickname of Ken Harrelson, called the Hawk because of his distinctive profile. Ken Harrelson spent 33 years as the play-by-play announcer on the Chicago White Sox broadcast. It could be Harrelson, but I doubt it. I suspect the "hawk" you’re hearing about refers to the icy-cold, damp winds that blow off Lake Michigan in the winter. It got the name because the bone-chilling winds are as fast as a flying hawk, and the biting cold is as sharp as a hawk's talons. Ken Harrelson said “dadgummit” often and was known for calling bloop hits that landed between fielders "duck snorts." He might have watched the TV show "The Real McCoys," starring Walter Brennan as Grandpa Amos, for whom "dadgummit" was his hayseed catchphrase.

Thanks for stopping by

 "To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold."—anonymous. Aristotle is often credited for this aphorism. I never heard him say it. I doubt he did.
 "When snow falls, nature listens." — Antoinette van Kleef.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

When you see a cardinal, it might take your breath away. A cardinal is said to bring hope or good luck. When you see a cardinal, it tells you that an angel is near. When you see a cardinal, it means you have just received a Christmas card. Photo by Al Batt.

Was Rocky the Flying Squirrel the size of a chipmunk?

Naturally 

 If you have a birdfeeder, watch for motionless woodpeckers, with their bodies held parallel to a tree or feeder, waiting for a predator to pass. That’s a red alert pose. I try to imagine what the bird is going through. I want to put myself in its feathers, but I can’t, but I keep trying. I anthropomorphize to demonstrate kinship. 
 Red or Norway pines have two needles per bundle. White pines have five needles per bundle, matching the number of letters in the word "white."

Q&A

 “Is there a conifer that loses its needles each year?” The tamarack tree, a Minnesota native, is a deciduous conifer with bright green needles that turn yellow in the fall and drop off.
 “Is a flying squirrel the size of a chipmunk, and how does it fly?” It has a membrane that connects its front and back legs called a patagium. Spreading its limbs allows it to glide, not fly, between trees. Minnesota has two species of flying squirrels, not counting Rocky. The northern flying squirrel weighs 2 to 4.4 ounces and is 10 to 12 inches long (tail included). The southern flying squirrel is 8 to 10 inches in length and weighs 1.6 to 2.2 ounces. Minnesota has two species of chipmunks. The least chipmunk is 7.2 to 8.5 inches long and tips the scale at 1.1 to 1.8 ounces in weight. The eastern chipmunk can be 11 inches long (including the tail) and weigh up to 4.4 ounces. So, yes, they are around the size of a chipmunk.
 “How far do bucks travel during a rut?” For three years, scientists at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute in Kingsville, Texas, tracked over 60 white-tailed deer bucks with GPS collars that recorded a buck’s location every 20 minutes from the beginning of November through the end of February, encompassing the peak of the rut in the South Texas study area. The analyzed data found that the home range of these deer during the 4-month monitoring period averaged 2,967 acres. Although home ranges of over 4.5 square miles seemed large, the smallest home range was 332 acres and the largest 13,648 acres. There was a general decrease in home range size as deer aged from yearlings to 3 years of age and then an increase for mature bucks. Daily movements in November averaged just less than 3 miles per day. That movement rate jumped to over 5 miles a day during December and over 6 miles per day at the peak of the rut. There was a great deal of variation amongst individual bucks. During December, daily movement ranged among bucks from 2.5 miles to over 8 miles per day. It makes sense that habitat and population density could have a significant effect on the movements.
 “I walked with you along a lake and you told me how to tell a dabbling duck from a diving duck by how they fly, but I can’t remember how.” A dabbling duck (mallard, wood duck and teal are prime examples) takes to the air more easily, springing straight up from the water like a rocket because of its larger wings. A diving duck (like canvasback, redhead and ring-necked duck) needs to run on the water’s surface to gain enough speed for takeoff because of its smaller wings and body designed for diving, requiring a longer runway to become airborne. Dabblers are slower flyers with feet centered on their bodies, which makes it easy to walk on land. Divers, with legs further back on the body and larger feet used for powering a dive, which makes them awkward when walking on land.
 “What can you tell me about crab spiders?” Crab spiders resemble tiny crabs, holding their front pair of legs in a manner reminiscent of pincers, and scuttle sideways, forward and backward. They come in many colors that help them remain camouflaged on flowers, and can change colors to match the background. A crab spider is an ambush predator that preys on insects. The goldenrod crab spider is the one most commonly encountered. 
 “Last spring, I heard some ducks on a lake that sounded like rubber duckies. What were they?” Some people call the American wigeon “baldpate” because of the male’s white cap and forehead. It produces a wheezy, high-pitched whistle that sounds like a rubber ducky in a tub.

Thanks for stopping by

 “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”—Jimi Hendrix.
 "You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing - that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”—Richard P. Feynman.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

This black squirrel is an eastern gray squirrel. The black color in gray squirrels is called melanism. Some scientists have surmised that black squirrels thrive where it’s colder because their dark fur absorbs more heat from the sunlight, giving them an increased tolerance for the cold. Photo by Al Batt.

How many leaves could a squirrel chuck if a squirrel could chuck leaves?

Naturally

 The wild turkey hen in my yard chases squirrels, rabbits, crows and blue jays. She pursues the crows into the branches of trees. I figure the turkey is exercising in the hopes of losing weight before Thanksgiving.
 It won’t be long before cheery Christmas cards appear in our mailboxes. Many of them will feature a photo or a painting of male cardinals turning a conifer into a burning bush just by perching in it. I love those cards. A woman told me she was motoring down a highway when a bald eagle flew low over her car. She told me she’d ducked when the big bird went over. That image probably won’t make it onto a Christmas card.
New eagle nest to be on Minnesota DNR EagleCam
 A new camera will focus on the nesting behavior of a breeding pair of bald eagles that have successfully nested in the area for at least four years. You can watch an eagle soap opera (drama, humor and warmth) at the DNR website (mndnr.gov/eaglecam) or the DNR YouTube channel (youtube.com/channel/UCkibG4ONyUmGlnOR3F3qq6Q). Bring popcorn.

Q&A

 “How many leaves are in a squirrel’s nest?” They may look like haphazard clumps of leaves, but they have a complex construction with layers of different materials. Leaf nests (dreys) are made from twigs, leaves, mosses and other material. Green twigs (often with leaves attached) are woven together to create the floor of the nest. The squirrels pack soft and compressible materials like damp leaves and moss on top of the floor to reinforce the structure. The squirrel weaves a spherical frame of twigs and vines around the base, creating an outer shell to the insulated core. The final touches involve stuffing in leaves, mosses, shredded bark, twigs or things like paper to line the inner cavity. Squirrels take advantage of locations offering built-in support, like the fork of branches. Some squirrels build nests in tree cavities rather than high in branches. In his fascinating book, “Winter World,” Bernd Heinrich found many dreys were “piles of junk” and suggested they may have been fake nests built to distract predators. Others were well-engineered. He counted 26 layers of flattened, dried green oak leaves in one nest and discovered the multiple sheets of leaves served as watertight interlocking shingles because the nest was dry inside. To address your question, I don’t know how many leaves go into the making of a nest. Squirrels don’t rake the leaves into a pile first, where I might have the chance to count them. I’d say hundreds. I recall reading 500 somewhere, but I’m unable to find a source. I suspect that was a wild guess. Speaking of leaves, I caught three falling leaves before they hit the ground this autumn. Folklore says that if you catch a falling leaf, you will have 12 months of happiness. A leaf is good fortune tumbling from the sky. Corralling a dancing leaf brings good luck and might require good luck. Catch a falling leaf before it touches the ground and then make a wish. I did that after I caught the first leaf. I wished I’d catch two more leaves and my wish came true.
 “How can I stop the squirrels from raiding my backyard feeders?” The easiest way is to move the feeders to the front yard; then, the 800-pound gorillas disguised as squirrels will have no backyard feeders to raid. There is a 5-7-9 rule that could ruin a mischief-making squirrel’s day. The feeder should be 5 feet off the ground, 7 feet away from the nearest tree, and at least 9 feet below any overhanging branches. Squirrel baffles have proven helpful in my yard, caged bird feeders work, and bird seeds the squirrels don’t enjoy slow the onslaught (safflower, white millet and nyjer seed). Some squirrel-proof feeders can be challenging for the mammals, and providing food for the squirrels away from the bird feeders can lessen the crowd. I’ve had little success with seeds laced with cayenne pepper.
 “Why are three straight strikes in bowling called a turkey?” The feat is named a turkey because bowling alleys once offered a free live turkey to those who rolled three consecutive strikes.
 “What eats rose hips?” Tea drinkers, deer, squirrels, rabbits, mice, raccoons, bears and many species of birds, including grouse, waxwings, thrushes, blackbirds and others.

Thanks for stopping by

 “No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed, and love of power.”—P.J. O'Rourke.
 "As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see."—Vincent Van Gogh.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

I get many reports of this raptor hunting the bird feeders. This is an adult Cooper’s hawk. Adults are blue-gray above with pale barring below, and have orange to red eyes. Immature Cooper's hawks have brown backs with brown streaks on the breasts, and have yellow eyes. Photo by Al Batt.

A caws of crows

Naturally

 I love watching the snowbirds (dark-eyed juncos) with their white outer tail feathers that are indistinct when the birds are at rest but make for a prominent signal when they flash in flight. Those white feathers present a marked contrast to the dark ground.
 While on the subject of white feathers, keep an eye out for tumbling flocks of snow buntings foraging for seeds in fields and on roadsides. The restless birds flash white and black as they fly, and don't stay in one spot for long. They have feathers covering their ankles, and when the cold gets serious, snow buntings bury themselves in snowdrifts for warmth. They are bigger than a junco, but smaller than a robin. They are also smaller than an ostrich.
 There is a group of raccoons who hang around the yard, hoping to become emotional support raccoons. I shine a flashlight and catch a raccoon looking back at me with its reflective red eyes. The eyes of raccoons have a structure called a tapetum lucidum that reflects light, allowing them to see well in the dark. The reason raccoons tend to gaze at humans who are confronting them is probably that they are nearsighted. They have a remarkable ability to discern movement, as do many predators. Their eyeshine may be the reason I use gaze as the collective noun for raccoons. Gaze is a suitable moniker, but mostly I call them too many raccoons. 
 The odor of skunk spray hung heavy in the air. It was so strong, I could nearly hear it.
 A Cooper’s hawk took a house sparrow out to lunch. The Coop’s is a frequent flier in yards and hunts by ambush. Its tail is rounded at the tip. The sharp-shinned hawk looks similar, but has a squared tip of the tail, a smaller head and pencil-thin legs. The females of both species are significantly larger than the males.
 I heard an owl in the dark of night. At this time of the year, listen for the mating duets of great horned owls. "Who's awake? Me, too," they call, checking to make sure the other hadn’t nodded off. The males have a deeper voice than the females. They nest in January and February using old nests of other animals, tree cavities or the ledges of cliffs. So, if your name is Cliff, watch your step.
 Look for rough-legged hawks perched on posts and poles near fields and other open areas. The bird faces into the wind and hovers while scanning the ground in search of small rodents. The name “rough-legged” refers to the feathering that extends down to the base of the toes.

Q&A

 “Why is a group of crows called a murder?” Because there is probable caws. I call it a flock. The crow's association with death as a result of its tendency to scavenge on the battlefield probably led to the sinister term “murder of crows.” Another possible reason is the belief that crows come together to decide the capital fate of another crow. A caws of crows sounds better. A caucus of crows sounds, too, but crows aren’t much interested in politics.
 Jennifer, Lilly and Duncan asked why beetles die on their backs. There are several reasons insects like boxelder bugs or lady beetles go belly up. Boxelder bugs fold their legs as if someone had placed them in a casket. Weight distribution is a factor. Beetles are top-heavy and subject to the laws of physics. When one is dying or has died, it cannot maintain tension in its leg muscles and falls into a state of relaxation. Blood flow to the legs ceases, causing them to contract. A beetle is typically capable of righting itself should it inadvertently wind up on its back. A weakened beetle might be unable to flip itself over and consequently succumbs. It had fallen and it can’t get up. 
 “What is the difference between a deer scrape and a deer rub?” Deer scrapes are on the ground, where bucks court and hope to impress females by depositing urine and pheromones. Deer rubs are on vertical surfaces like trees, where bucks rub the velvet off their antlers. Some are aggressive rubs, made by a buck with an attitude, requiring an anger management class, and never visited again. Other rubs are signpost rubs, where bucks torment the same scarred tree to leave glandular scents from their foreheads, leaving olfactory-based text messages.

Thanks for stopping by

 “If you think the worst and get the worst, you suffer twice. If you think the best and get the worst, you only suffer once.”—Loretta LaRoche.
 "All my life I have risen regularly at four o’clock and have gone into the woods and talked with God. There he gives me my orders for the day. Alone there with things I love most I gather specimens and study the great lessons Nature is so eager to teach us all.” --George Washington Carver.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

Purple finches aren’t purple. House finches don’t live in your house. This purple finch male is cranberry- or raspberry-red, perhaps magenta. A house finch male is a brick-red. A young male purple finch has a whitish stripe above the eye, as does the female. The male purple finch has more red on its face than a house finch. Both species enjoy sunflower seeds. Photo by Al Batt.

Murmuring about murmurations and other things

Naturally

 I watched ribbons of blackbirds and murmurations of starlings traverse the countryside. Marvels of the universe.
 One of my favorite writers, John Updike, wrote this bit of poetry about a starling flock, “The Great Scarf of Birds.” “And as I watched, one bird, prompted by accident or will to lead, ceased resting; and, lifting in a casual billow, the flock ascended as a lady’s scarf, transparent, of gray, might be twitched by one corner, drawn upward and then, decided against, negligently tossed toward a chair: the southward cloud withdrew into the air. Long had it been since my heart had been lifted as it was by the lifting of that great scarf.”
 Jim Knutson of Hartland showed me a video of two bald eagles that had followed Jim’s combine during harvest. The eagles hunted the rabbits the combine rousted from the field. In the video, an eagle with bits of white on its head caught a rabbit, only to have the prey item pirated from it by a younger, browner eagle. The younger bird steals prey from another because it’s better at pirating than it is at hunting or fishing.
 A nomadic flock of cedar waxwings flew in to feed on the fruit of the yard’s hawthorn tree. Their appearances are irregular as they respond to the availability of fruits and berries, which are the mainstays of their diet, but they are also adept at catching insects. They nest late (mid-June to mid-August) to take advantage of the fruits and berries found on mountain ash, crabapple, dogwood, cedar, serviceberry and mulberry.
 In my house’s version of the wild kingdom, multi-colored Asian beetles abound. They eat soybean aphids. I wonder if they ever suffer from aphid reflux?
 The cloudiest months in Minnesota are November and December, with an average of 18 cloudy days. Thomas Hood wrote, “No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, no fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!” I find solace in the fact there is no cover charge. On average, November averages five days with clear skies and December averages six. Enjoy each one of them. I reckon the balance of days are partly cloudy.

A Chickadee-person

 Frank B. Linderman wrote this in “Plenty Coups Chief of the Crows.” "Listen, Plenty-Coups,” said the voice. “In that tree is the lodge of the Chickadee. He is least in strength but strongest of mind among his kind. He is willing to work for wisdom. The Chickadee-person is a good listener. Nothing escapes his ears, which he has sharpened by constant use. Whenever others are talking together of their successes or failures, there you will find the Chickadee-person listening to their words. But in all his listening he tends to his own business. He never intrudes, never speaks in strange company, and yet never misses a chance to learn from others. He gains success and avoids failure by learning how others succeeded or failed, and without great trouble to himself. Develop your body, but do not neglect your mind, Plenty Coups. It is the mind that leads a man to power, not strength of the body."

Q&A

 “I know buckthorn is a bad thing, but what’s bad about it?” It competes with native plants for light, moisture and nutrients, and reduces the species diversity of plants and songbirds in forests. This destroys wildlife habitat and limits fruit types for songbirds when other native foods have diminished. Buckthorn seeds remain viable for 6 years, and their messy fruits stain decks, cars and sidewalks. Buckthorn tolerates shade, full sun, drought and poor soils, and lacks any natural control by insects and diseases. It hosts crop pests—crown rust fungus and soybean aphid.
 “Do muskrats hibernate?” They don’t. Muskrats don't cache food for the winter like beavers, so must find food in the roots, stems and leaves of fresh aquatic plants (like cattails and bulrushes) under the ice, snacking occasionally on small fish, clams, snails and turtles. Muskrats build lodges out of cattails, rushes, grasses and mud for protection from predators and for shelter during the winter. They also construct push-ups at intervals from the lodge to a favorite feeding spot by chewing holes in the ice and covering them with a mound of mud and plant debris. Muskrats can stay underwater for about 10 minutes and use the push-ups to catch their breath. Trappers have told me they estimate muskrat populations by figuring there are five in each lodge.

Thanks for stopping by

 “And this, our life, exempt from public haunts, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”—William Shakespeare.
 “In November the trees are all standing all sticks and bones. Without their leaves, how lovely they are, spreading their arms like dancers. They know it is time to be still.”—Cynthia Rylant.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

At this time each year, I begin to miss seeing things like bluets, damselflies that John Acorn called “floating neon toothpicks.” Damselflies tend to be slimmer and smaller than dragonflies, with eyes on the sides of their heads like hammerhead sharks and wings held over their backs at rest. Perched dragonflies hold their wings out like an airplane. Photo by Al Batt.

What are rain owls and bottom owls?

Naturally

 Every day is a secret to be sussed out by observation and exploration, which leads to learning. It all adds up to awe.
 During the night, I was an earwitness, listening to an owl. In the morning’s light, there were purple finches in the yard. I expect pine siskins before long. These beautiful birds are fondly called winter finches. Their appearances are one of the best things about winter.
 Squirrels drank from the birdbath, probably because they couldn’t find any squirrel grey tea.
 There were at least three Eurasian tree sparrows hanging around with a flock of house sparrows, often called English sparrows in the past. This is because the first house sparrows released in the US (Brooklyn) in 1851 were from England. In late April 1870, a shipment of European birds from Germany was released in St. Louis to provide familiar bird species for newly settled European immigrants. The shipment included Eurasian tree sparrows, which prospered. Unlike its relative, the house sparrow, it’s not a bird of the cities, preferring farms and treed residential areas. 
 A bald eagle flew over the yard, drumming up support to become the official national bird. It is our national symbol and emblem, but not our national bird. This country doesn’t have a national bird. The American bison is our national mammal, the rose our national flower and the oak tree our national tree. The bald eagle would be perfect as our national bird because everyone has an eagle story.

Q&A

 Jennifer, Lillie and Duncan wrote, “Do we have any animals here that aren't found anywhere else?” I can’t think of any animals, but we have a plant, the dwarf trout lily, that’s endemic to Minnesota and occurs worldwide only in Rice, Goodhue and Steele counties.
 “What percent of birds migrate?” At least 20 to 40% of bird species worldwide migrate in some manner. Migration covers a spectrum that wanders from a long journey to a short meander. Most migrating birds fly, but some walk or swim. In North America, about 75% of birds migrate.  
 “How long does it take a ruby-throated hummingbird to fly across the Gulf of Mexico?” It takes 18 hours to cross the Gulf of Mexico if the weather is good and 24 hours if the weather is bad. Hummingbirds don’t fly very high during their migration, maybe up to 500 feet or so.
 “What bird flies the highest?” A Ruppell's vulture holds the record for the highest-flying bird in the world, reaching a height of 37,100 feet. The debate is whether this was a one-off or an occasional flight. Other high-flying birds include the common crane (33,000), whooper swan (29,000 feet), bar-tailed godwit, Andean condor, alpine chough, bar-headed goose, bearded vulture, black kite, greater white-fronted goose, golden eagle and mallard (21,000 feet). 
 “What is a rain owl and a bottom owl?” The barred owl is also known as the hoot owl, swamp owl, striped owl, eight hooter, round-headed owl, laughing owl, crazy owl, wood owl, old-folks owl and rain owl. I hear it say, "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?” It has at least eight known songs, calls and vocalizations, earning it the nickname of eight hooter. Why the rain owl? It’s because it calls loudly before or after a rainstorm. And every hoot brings rain—or not.
 I heard a man in Yuma, Arizona, call a burrowing owl the bottom owl. It made sense, as the owl nests in underground burrows and spends most of its time on the ground or on low perches like fence posts. It hunts close to the ground by swooping down from a perch, hovering over fields or walking and running along the ground before clutching prey in its talons. I’ve also heard burrowing owls called howdy owls because of their habit of bobbing up and down in a bowing motion, a behavior that allows them various viewpoints to determine distance.
 Knock, knock. "Who's there?" Owl. "Owl, who?" Owl be seeing you.
 “Where do Minnesota’s mourning doves migrate to?” The mourning dove likely gets its name from its haunting, mournful "hula, hoop, hoop, hoop" call. Doves have a unique structure in their throats, which they use to produce food for their young. It’s called pigeon milk or crop milk, which resembles cheese. In winter, most mourning doves migrate south, but some can be seen year-round in Minnesota, particularly in the southern part of the state. They take their understated plumage and strong whistling flight to winter in the Gulf Coast states, and south into Mexico and Central America.

Thanks for stopping by

 “You meet saints everywhere. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an indecent society.”—Kurt Vonnegut.
 “If you want light to come into your life, you need to stand where it is shining.”—Guy Finley.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

A Eurasian tree sparrow is lower and to the left, and a house sparrow is upper and to the right in the photo. Male and female Eurasian tree sparrows look similar. The broken branch it perched upon makes it appear the male house sparrow should cut back on the junk food. Photo by Al Batt.

Who is that hollering, “Que-bec. Que-bec”?

Naturally

 Some of our fair-weather friends have flown. Birds, especially insectivores, must stay ahead of the weather in order to guarantee that food will be available. The residents and those migrating bring me joy with their company. Suet feeders and birdbaths are busy places. Robins, blue jays, sparrows and cardinals take dips. It wasn’t a feeding frenzy; it was a bathing frenzy. The wet birds flew from the water to a sumac, a hawthorn and an ash to dry. Trees give us beauty, depth and dimension. They give birds comfort and food. The robins fed upon the haws (berries) of the hawthorn. Each day, I’m given the gift of wonder.
 I watched one blue jay engaging in some form of strutting goofiness. I figured it must have been a male—one who thinks he’s all that and a bag of chips. Why do birds do what they do? Birds never have anything better to do.

The 26th Annual Winter Finch Forecast 

 Tyler Hoar compiles this forecast based on cone crops producing in cycles, with some years having heavier crops than others. What does this have to do with birds in Minnesota? Winter finches (purple finches, white-winged crossbills, red crossbills, redpolls, evening grosbeaks, pine grosbeaks and pine siskins) move according to this variable food supply. Essentially, if there isn’t enough food in Canada, they move south, and if there is ample food up north, they remain there. The cone crop in the boreal forest this year is mainly influenced by two important finch food sources: white spruce and tamarack. White birch and balsam fir also contribute to the food supply. One of those reporting on the cone crop said, “Basically, any plant with a berry produced this year.” Extensive areas of the boreal forest have an excellent berry crop for many species, including mountain ash. As the season progresses, significant winter storms and/or freezing rain events may be necessary to nudge some bird species out of the boreal forest this winter. 

A big bird book

 I keep “The Breeding Birds of Minnesota: History, Ecology, and Conservation” by Lee A. Pfannmuller, Gerald J. Niemi and Janet C. Green handy. It’s a shelf in itself at 11.5 inches by 11.5 inches and is a 2-inch deep, comprehensive, detailed, illustrated history of Minnesota’s breeding birds. It includes identification clues, color illustrations, location information and conservation commentary. Minnesota is unique among North American states, sitting at the convergence of four major ecological biomes: aspen parklands, prairie grasslands, deciduous forest and boreal forest. This book isn’t a field guide. It weighs over 8 pounds, which can be helpful for weightlifting. The book is based on data sampled from over 98% of the state’s townships and includes 9,100 10-minute point counts.

Q&A

 A reader asked what the noise was that she’d heard in her yard in the dark of night. She sent me a recording she’d made with her phone. Some people might feel the identity of the whateveritis is no one’s business other than the noisemaker and the dark, but I’m not one of those. It’s an immature great horned owl that fledged earlier this year and it’s screaming because it wants its parents to feed it. Henry David Thoreau wrote in “Walden,” “I rejoice that there are owls.” So do I.
 Mark Malepsy of Albert Lea asked how often a hummingbird’s wings beat. A ruby-throated hummingbird’s wingbeats are 50 to 80 beats per second in routine flight and up to 200 in a courtship display. It weighs .1 to .2 ounces, which is less than one large marshmallow. I had one land on my finger while I was puttering around the bird feeders. My finger felt lighter than it had before the bird landed. Its heart beats 250-1200 times per minute. If humans had the metabolism of a hummingbird, we’d need to consume approximately 150,000 calories a day. 
 “Why did the woolly bear caterpillar cross the road?” It was looking for a place to hunker down for the winter. A sheltered location found under plant debris fits the bill.

Thanks for stopping by

 “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”―Margery Williams Bianco, “The Velveteen Rabbit.”
 “The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.”—Laura Ingalls Wilder.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

Guinea fowl, native to Africa, are often referred to as guinea hens and make good “watchdogs” by issuing loud warnings when a stranger, the UPS guy or a walnut falling from a tree is spotted. The hen makes “buckwheat, buckwheat,” “put-rock, put-rock,” or “Que-bec, Que-bec” sounds. A group of guineas is called a mob, and the lovely polka-dotted feathers of pearl guineas are used for crafting, jewelry and fly fishing. Photo by Al Batt.

Don’t forget to look up.

And always remember to laugh when given the opportunity.

Old Sven Peterson, Peterson, Peterson



Naturally

 Many robins fed on the berries of the hawthorn tree. I called it a flock, but I’ve heard other collective nouns such as dawn, melody, carol and spring.
 I welcomed Harris’s sparrows, a heartening eyeful with their handsome black bibs and pink bills, even though their presence meant time was speeding by. John J. Audubon named the bird after his friend Edward Harris, who collected a specimen in 1843. Audubon didn’t know Thomas Nuttall had collected the bird in 1834 and had named it the mourning finch. The Harris's sparrow is the only North American songbird that breeds in Canada and nowhere else in the world. 
 Four young opossums (joeys) fed under the bird feeders. They were cute, and they had 50 teeth each, more than any other American mammal. Opossums are omnivores and eat just about anything, even mustard and sugar sandwiches. I don’t know for sure that they’ll eat those sandwiches, but I bet they would. The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial native to North America. The famous act of playing possum is an involuntary response to potential predators. An adult opossum weighs 4-14 pounds, and the opossums are found from Costa Rica to Ontario and British Columbia.
 White-throated sparrows whistled, “Old Sven Peterson, Peterson, Peterson” less eloquently than they had earlier in the year. In its scientific name, Zonotrichia albicollis, albicollis comes from the Latin, meaning “white neck.” White-crowned sparrows joined them in feeding on the ground with some other sparrows like juncos. White-throated and white-crowned sparrows can be told apart by the absence of a white throat on the latter. The white-crowned looks as if it’s wearing a football helmet.
 My socks appeared to need a shave. Bidens fondosa, a member of the aster family, a plant commonly called devil's beggarticks or devil's pitchforks, has orange-yellow flowers. It also has flat, brown, 1/4- to 1/3-inch-long seeds with two barbed awns at the tips that latch onto clothing or fur. They find my socks the perfect taxi.

Q&A

 “Why do birds migrate north to nest?” The northern spring offers an abundance of protein-rich insects and budding plants to feed chicks, and more nesting sites are available. The long summer days provide more time for birds to feed their young and to spend time with Minnesotans.
 “Why do hummingbirds hum and other birds don’t?” That’s because the other birds can remember the words to their songs. Most birds flap their wings up and down, and the downstroke creates a pressure wave, producing a whooshing sound. Hummingbirds don’t flap up and down. Instead, they flap their wings back and forth in a figure-8 pattern. This pushes against the air during both parts of the stroke, each of which produces a humming sound.
 Jennifer, Lilly and Duncan asked if it’s OK to put out pet fur for birds to use in building their nests. Birds frequently gather animal fur to use in their nests. It makes a soft, warm cushion for eggs and baby birds. Pet fur is often chemically treated with flea dips and other flea and tick treatments, as well as shampoos, conditioners and powders. Just as those toxins are lethal to unwanted pests, they’re also highly toxic and poisonous for birds. If your pet doesn’t undergo chemical treatments, its fur could be good for nesting birds, especially as the pets shed their thicker winter coats just in time for birds to use in their nests.
 Karl of Morristown asked if skunk spray has phosphorescence. I’ve been sprayed a few times. A skunk’s only crime is that it’s good at what it does. Cartoons depict a green puff coming out of an animal’s bottom, but skunk spray is actually a yellowish, oily liquid that comes from glands near the tail. When sprayed, it can appear as a fine mist or stream, depending on the skunk's aim and the distance to the target. The spray contains sulfur-based compounds called thiols, which cause a potent and long-lasting odor. I didn’t notice any phosphorescence, probably because my eyes watered. Skunk spray has a powerful odor often compared to burnt rubber, rotten eggs, garlic or onions because of its sulfur compounds. Tomato juice isn’t helpful in eliminating the odor. It changes the smell to rotten eggs floating in tomato juice.
 “What is a rain crow?” In the Midwest, it’s the yellow-billed cuckoo whose croaking cough of a call on hot days that often presages rain or thunderstorms. 

Thanks for stopping by

 “I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”—Ernest Hemingway.
 “The mouse is a sober citizen who knows that the grass grows in order that mice may store it as underground haystacks, and that snow falls in order that mice may build subways from stack to stack.”―Aldo Leopold.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

The white-crowned sparrow sings with a whistle and a buzz, “Who me—busy, busy, me?” or “See me, pretty, pretty me.” The black-and-white racing stripes on its head make this bird stand out from the flock. I hope to see one as often as possible. Emily Dickinson wrote, “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers—That perches in the soul.” A thing with feathers and a crown with bold black and white stripes. Photo by Al Batt.

Why does that flamingo stand on one leg?

Naturally

 An eastern towhee and a fox sparrow showed up in the yard and joined the white-throated sparrows and dark-eyed juncos in finding food on the ground with a forward hop and backward hop sparrow scratch routine. Black-capped chickadees, blue jays, white-breasted nuthatches and house finches became more frequent guests at the feeders. Any day I see a chickadee is a good day.
 Silver maple is a fast-growing, common tree in southern Minnesota. The upper surface of its leaf is bright green and the lower surface is silvery white. The pale undersurface gives the tree a "silvery" appearance in a breeze when seen from a distance. 
 Research from Texas has shown cattle prefer to graze where prairie dogs live, refuting persistent beliefs. Prairie dogs prevent larger plants from encroaching on grasslands by nibbling on woody shrubs to prevent a prairie dog’s teeth from growing too long and to keep predators from having a perching place. The mammal’s constant digging aerates the soil, and its scat returns nutrients to the ground.

Q&A

 “Why do flamingos stand on one leg?” It's easier. When the birds fall asleep while standing on one leg, they swayed less than when awake and standing on two legs. The way its legs work permits a flamingo to rest all its weight on one side without having to use its muscles to maintain balance.
 “What are wireworms?” They’re the larvae of several species of click beetles. Click beetles flip into the air with an audible click to right themselves when overturned. Wireworm larvae feed on beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, corn, grasses, lettuce, onion, ornamentals, peas, potatoes and radishes. Wireworms are thin, shiny, jointed, yellow to reddish-brown, 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch long, worm-like larvae resembling mealworms. Adult wireworms (click beetles) don’t cause plant damage. 
 “What are Labor Day ants?” Also known as the cornfield ant, turfgrass ant or nuisance ant, it’s a species of ant that’s usually light brown, with a slightly darker head, with a worker being 1/8 inch long. Colonies have a nuptial flight near Labor Day. 
 “How old are pelicans when they breed?” American white pelicans reach sexual maturity at three years of age.
 “Are hummingbirds seen in the winter in Minnesota?” It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. The latest a ruby-throated hummingbird was seen was on Dec. 24, 2020, in Scott County. Some rare-for-Minnesota hummingbirds have made appearances. The latest dates for them are: Anna’s on Dec. 26, 2001, in Hennepin County, calliope on Dec. 5, 1994, in Hennepin County and a rufous on Dec. 4, 2021, in St. Louis County.
 “What do peregrine falcons prey upon?” Peregrine falcons, which weigh up to 3.5 pounds, eat primarily other birds, with about 450 North American species documented as prey. Perhaps its most famous hunting technique is the dive. To pull this off, a peregrine falcon flies high into the sky, using its keen eyesight to locate birds flying below. When it finds its target, the falcon folds its wings and falls into a nosedive, or stoop, hitting speeds over 200 mph. The falcon closes its feet and uses them to knock the prey out of the sky. When not stooping after prey, peregrine falcons pursue their quarry in a swift aerial chase, flapping their wings furiously in a hot chase for a meal. They have taken birds as large as sandhill cranes and geese, and as small as hummingbirds. Their typical prey items include shorebirds, ducks, grebes, gulls, pigeons and songbirds. Additionally, they feed on bats, with pigeons being their preferred prey in cities.
 “How can I tell male ruby-throated hummingbirds from females?” An adult male has a metallic ruby-red throat (gorget) and a forked tail with feathers pointed and all dark (no white tips). An adult female has a white throat with an occasional faint tan streaking and a fan-shaped tail with rounded feathers and white tips on the outer three feathers on each side. An immature male looks identical to an adult female, including the white tips to a fan-shaped tail, except he has a noticeably streaked throat. A juvenile female looks similar to an adult female.
 “How do homing pigeons use magnets to find their way home?” Homing pigeons can detect magnetic fields and their impressive navigation skills no doubt rely on the tiny magnetic particles in their bills.

Thanks for stopping by

 “The humblest individual exerts some influence, either for good or evil, upon others.”—Henry Ward Beecher.
 “The best motto to think about is not to waste things. Don’t waste electricity; don’t waste paper; don’t waste food. Live the way you want to live but just don’t waste. Look after the natural world and the animals in it and the plants in it too. This is their planet as well as ours. Don’t waste them.”—David Attenborough.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2024

The strikingly marked eastern towhee male has a sooty black head, throat, back, wings and long tail, a white belly, red eyes and rufous sides. This female replaces the black with a dead-leaf brown. Once called a  rufous-sided towhee, it’s more often heard than seen, making a musical whistle (“drink your tea”) and calling “chewink” or “towhee.” It scratches in leaf litter with a forward and backward hop. Collective nouns are tangle or teapot. Photo by Al Batt.

Do house sparrows smoke cigarettes?

Naturally

 When the wildflowers have gone to seed, monarchs and hummingbirds book flights south. On Oct. 4, I completed my hummingbird chores for 2024. I thanked the feeders for their fine service and put them away.
 At the rear of the warbler parade in my yard are palms, orange-crowns and butterbutts. No horses. Juncos, and white-throated, Lincoln’s and song sparrows fill any empty spaces.
 It’s difficult to keep an opinionated blue jay a secret. Blue jays have an impressive vocal repertoire and they’re not afraid to use it. Jays are excellent mimics that impersonate red-tailed, red-shouldered and broad-winged hawk calls. I heard one doing a broad-winged. Why? The jay may have been trying to warn other birds of a hawk’s presence, or was trying to trick other birds into thinking that a hawk was nearby, which allowed the jay access to a feeder that lacked a crowd. Or maybe it did the call just because it could.
 Great horned owl fledglings scream in the darkness. That’s not dipping into a reservoir of charm. They aren’t screaming for ice cream, but they are screaming for food. They want their parents to feed them. Mortality is high for the immature owls endeavoring to find their place on the planet.
 Orb web spiders regularly take down and eat their webs to recycle the silk proteins. As I admired a web’s engineering, a dried raspberry cane snagged my pantleg and held on for dear life. “The Giving Tree“ is a lovely book by Shel Silverstein that teaches generosity and unselfishness. It’s a story of a tree willing to do anything for the boy it loved. Maybe I’d encountered “The Giving Raspberry Cane.” Later, I ran into “The Giving Burdock,” which generously endowed me with its Velcro-like burs.
 Oak, maple, basswood, poplar, aspen, birch, ironwood and willow leaves turn yellow.

Q&A

 “How do mourning cloak butterflies survive the winter?” Adults fly early in the spring while there’s still snow on the ground. They hibernate through the winter as adults, under bark or in other small crevices.
 “Do grasshoppers have ears on their legs?” Grasshoppers have short antennae, auditory organs (tympanal organs) on their abdomens and call (stridulate) by rubbing their hind legs against their forewings. Crickets and katydids have long antennae, auditory organs on their forelegs and stridulate by rubbing their forewings together.
 “Is a vulture a raptor?” Certain physical traits are common to raptors: keen vision, curved beaks and sharp talons. The word raptor refers to a broad group of birds of prey–eagles, falcons, hawks, kites and owls. Raptors can capture and rip prey apart with their powerful talons. Vultures cannot do this. So, by that standard, vultures aren’t raptors.
 “What’s it called when a possum plays dead?” Thanatosis is nature’s ultimate bluff used as a survival strategy. In response to danger, some animals enter a state of immobility, mimicking death to evade predators that prefer live prey. This behavior is also called apparent death or playing possum. Opossums aren’t thespians. They have no conscious control.
 “Who is the Cooper’s hawk named for?” William Cooper was a naturalist in the early 19th century, one of the founders of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and known for his study of mollusks.
 “Where can I see monk parakeets in the US?” Monk parakeets, noisy and colorful, are native to South America, but can be found in New York City, Chicago, Portland (Oregon), San Antonio, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Austin and Miami, where escapees or releases of this popular caged bird have started feral populations. Also known as Quaker parrots, these blue-jay-sized birds are named for their gray forehead, face and breast, evoking a monk's hood or the colonial-era clothing of Quakers. They nest in trees, building a stick nest that resembles a small beaver dam.
 “I found a cigarette butt in a house sparrow nest. Why would a bird put it there?” They aren’t smokers, but some birds don’t care what they use for nest materials, but research suggests birds might incorporate cigarette butts into their nests as an aid in repelling insects and parasites. Nicotine is the tobacco plant’s defense against herbivores. A study found house sparrow and house finch nests containing filters from smoked cigarettes had fewer parasites than those without. The study didn’t investigate whether the chemicals in the filters negatively affected the health of chicks in the nest.

Thanks for stopping by

 “You meet saints everywhere. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an indecent society.”—Kurt Vonnegut.
 “A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.”—Jimmy Carter.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

Snowy tree crickets make sleigh bell-like sounds, a quintessential background music heard on a late summer evening. It’s likely to be found along woodland edges and is sometimes called the “temperature cricket” because the warmer the night, the faster it chirps. You can approximate the temperature in Fahrenheit by adding 40 to the number of snowy tree cricket chirps heard in 13 seconds. Photo by Al Batt.

I think young opossums are cute. My father used to read the Pogo comics to me when I was a small boy.

I paused here and heard house finches and American robins. It was a good deal.

Virginia creeper creeping along in Wisconsin. Virginia creeper has five leaves, and poison ivy has three. “Leaves of three, let it be. Leaves of five, let it thrive.”

Jumping spider, grasshopper plagues and birds named for women

Naturally

 There was something in the mailbox, but it wasn’t a bill. It was a jumping spider, which doesn’t spin webs to catch prey. Jumping spiders construct small tent-like silks under rocks, logs, on plants and, in this case, a mailbox, which they use at night and to lay eggs in. Jumping spiders are most active during the day, enjoy sunshine, and stay in their retreats on cloudy or rainy days. Jumping spiders turn and face humans and may even advance towards them, as this one jumped at me. Jumping spiders have four pairs of eyes with a large principal pair, which gives them better vision than other spiders. They feed primarily on insects, but will eat other spiders, actively stalking prey instead of snaring it in a web. They steal insects snared by the webs of other spiders. The one I saw was a bold jumper. It had short legs, the front part of its body and abdomen was black with white spots and covered with short white hairs, giving it a fuzzy appearance. 

Q&A

 “Why do the leaves of trees show their undersides?” I see oaks, maples and poplars flipping their leaves when there is a change in the prevailing wind, an increase in humidity levels or low moisture. Leaf flipping is usually a sign that rain is imminent, when the leaves change position because of weather conditions that typically develop before rain moves in. As summer rains move in, gusty winds often precede them, causing leaves to flip over and show their silvery sides. Tree leaves typically grow in accordance with the prevailing wind in an area. Winds from incoming storms usually go against the prevailing wind, and the force of the wind causes the leaves to flip. 
 “How did the wren become king of the birds?” It’s because the wren was the hero of an ancient fable. The legendary Greek writer Aesop wrote of the wren pitted against the eagle to see which bird could soar the highest. The wren rested on the eagle’s back as the eagle flew higher. When the eagle became exhausted, the wren flew from its back and climbed higher as the eagle plummeted to the ground. Proving that cleverness is better than sheer strength, the wren became the king of birds. The German name for a wren is Zaunkönig, which means king of the fence or hedge.  
 “When did the Grasshopper Plague happen in Minnesota?”  It occurred in 1873–1877, beginning when farmers in the southwestern part of the state saw what looked like a snowstorm coming from the west. Then they heard the roar of grasshopper wings. Grasshoppers destroyed wheat, oat, corn and barley fields. In 1876, grasshoppers visited 40 Minnesota counties and destroyed 500,000 acres of crops. Scientists called them Rocky Mountain locusts. Farmers destroyed grasshopper eggs, beat the grasshoppers with flails, dragged heavy ropes through their fields, plowed and burned fields, raised chickens to eat the grasshoppers, dug ditches they hoped grasshoppers would be unable to jump over, and filled those ditches with coal tar and set them on fire, hoping the smoke might drive the grasshoppers away. Farmers made hopper dozers of sheet metal covered in coal tar or molasses, which they dragged through the fields. County governments made efforts to rid the state of grasshoppers, but rural counties were less prepared to help people experiencing poverty than cities were. Under governors Horace Austin and Cushman K. Davis, the state provided small sums of state-funded relief, but focused their efforts on encouraging charitable giving. Governor John S. Pillsbury didn’t call for direct, state-funded relief for farmers, believing poverty was a fact of life on the frontier and providing relief would make farmers dependent on the state. Pillsbury focused efforts on eradicating the grasshoppers, which included a bounty measure requiring every able-bodied man in affected counties to destroy grasshopper eggs for one day a week for five straight weeks. In the summer of 1877, the grasshoppers left as quickly as they had arrived. An April snowstorm damaged their eggs, but many attributed the end of the plague to divine intervention since Pillsbury had proclaimed April 26a day of prayer. The grasshopper plagues left a mark on Minnesota culture, inspiring fiction like Laura Ingalls Wilder's “On the Banks of Plum Creek” and Ole Edvart Rølvaag's “Giants in the Earth.” There is a Grasshopper Chapel outside Cold Spring. The species, Rocky Mountain locust, is apparently extinct. The last recorded sighting of a live specimen was in 1902 in southern Canada.
 “Are there any birds named after women?” Here are some: Lucy’s warbler, Grace’s warbler, Blackburnian warbler (either named after Anna Blackburn or her brother Ashton), Anna’s hummingbird, Virginia's warbler and  Zenaida dove.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Pay attention to where you pay attention.”—Howard Rheingold.
 “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”—Socrates.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2024

A yellow-rumped warbler (butterbutt) was banded at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge in September. Why band birds? Birds are environmental indicators. This is from the Bird Banding Laboratory: “Bird banding data are useful in both scientific research and management and conservation projects. Individual identification of birds makes possible studies of dispersal and migration, behavior and social structure, life-span and survival rate, reproductive success and population growth.” Photo by Al Batt.

Seen in Riverside Park in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Fruit trees are natural bird feeders.

What happens to a man when he spends too much time on social media.

I paused here and heard house finches and American robins. It was a good deal.

Virginia creeeper creeping along in Wisconsin.

The kookaburra in Australia was so loud it could be heard in Africa

Naturally 

 I grew up with an outhouse. When nature called, it called me to the outdoors because that’s where the outhouse was. And that’s where nature was, so it all worked out. I think about the old outhouse nestled in the woods more often than I ever thought I would. Birding involves eyeballs and ear holes. I walked in the darkness, not to get to an outhouse, but because it was a good night for a walk. I heard an owl call. Does that make me a birder or a bird watcher? I couldn’t watch any birds, so I reckon I was a birder. Folks are free to call themselves a birder, a birdwatcher or a feather fan. A friend tells me that she loves blue jays because when she sees one, she doesn’t need to consult a bird book to identify it. She’s a blue jayer. It’s all good.
 BirdCast, produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and partner organizations, uses weather radar to observe and forecast the migratory movements of birds. Go to https://dashboard.birdcast.info and you’ll discover migration forecast maps of bird movements, a dashboard summarizing the stats for birds currently migrating where you are, maps displaying real-time data for bird migration, and local migration alerts to let you know when birds are moving. You can enter your county and be prepared for lots of avian company when a north wind blows. It causes me to giggle.
 I was gawking at the leaf color. That wonderful person named Anonymous, who has said about half of everything ever said, said, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” Leaf color leaves me breathless. Mary Oliver, who said things we all wish we’d said, wrote, “The leaf has a song in it.”
 As I watched the leaves bring a brilliance to my world, I saw a mourning cloak butterfly flutter by. It’s a large insect with velvety dark red/brown wings with yellow edges, which add to the loveliness of the trees around it. A meadowhawk dragonfly darted past and snatched a small moth from the air.
 It was a good day for everyone—except the moth.

The kookaburra in Australia was so loud it could be heard in Africa

 I watched an old movie recently, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948), starring Humphrey Bogart, where I heard a kookaburra calling in Mexico. That Australian bird has been used as a stock background noise for jungle scenes in films. I’ve heard it calling in Tarzan movies. Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by great apes; created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in the novel “Tarzan of the Apes” published in a magazine in 1912 and in a book in 1914. Tarzan was the son of a British lord and lady marooned on the coast of Africa by mutineers. When Tarzan was an infant, his mother died, and his father was killed by Kerchak, leader of the ape tribe who adopted Tarzan. Tarzan lived in Africa, but those who watched his movies heard a kookaburra from Australia. The kookaburra was working remotely.

Q&A

 “How are pheasant and duck populations doing?” According to the DNR, pheasant numbers in the 2024 Minnesota August Roadside Survey were similar to those in 2023 and 19% above the 10-year average. The statewide pheasant index was 52 birds per 100 miles of road driven compared to 51 birds in 2023. The Minnesota DNR’s 2024 Waterfowl Breeding Population Survey estimated the population for total ducks at 445,000, which was 10% below 2023 and 34% below the 10-year average. The estimate for mallards was 141,000, 37% lower than 2023 and 38% below the 10-year average. The blue-winged teal population was 160,000, 26% higher than the 2023 estimate and 23% below the 10-year average. The population of Canada geese was 106,000, 7% below last year’s estimate and 31% below the 10-year average.
 “How many species of birds are there?” The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World shows 11,017 species and the HBW/BirdLife International checklist lists 11,524.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on "I am not too sure." -H.L. Mencken.
 “Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”—Robert Brault.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

An Argiope is also called a black-and-yellow garden spider, yellow garden spider, corn spider, scribbler spider, signature spider or writing spider. It’s an orb weaver whose web often has an area with a zigzag pattern called a stabilimentum, which resembles dental floss. This structure’s purpose is up for conjecture. Folklore says that in 1896, one predicted the U.S. presidential election by weaving McKinley's name in her stabilimentum. Photo by Al Batt.

Know which cicada is calling you before you answer the phone

Naturally

 A long line of birds perched on a utility wire. One of them sat uncomfortably in the middle seat. Cicadas complained in a high-pitched whine. Gulls frequented the landfill. They love junk food. I saw a bird in a lumberyard. No surprise. It would have been a surprise if the bird had been flying away with a board. That bird would be the best nest builder in town.
 The northern house wren is a singer. Notice the change in the tiny bird’s name. When you next hear the cheerful twittering of birds, stop and listen. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf have shown that birdsong reduces anxiety and irrational thoughts. The scientists published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports.
 Folklore says a narrow orange band on a woolly bear caterpillar means a hard winter, and a wide orange band means a mild winter. The truth is that the wider the orange band, the older the woolly bear (woolly worm or hedgehog caterpillar).
 I visited Marysville, Kansas, which established itself as the “Black Squirrel City” in 1972 and celebrates a Black Squirrel Night celebration in late October each year. The melanistic eastern fox squirrels are protected by a local ordinance stating that black squirrels are granted “the freedom to trespass on all city property, immunity from traffic regulations, and the right of first choice to all black walnuts growing within the city.” Businesses sponsored 34 5-foot tall “Black Squirrels on Parade” sculptures around town. I see the gray squirrel version of black squirrels in my neck of the woods.
They're like mini-bisons grazing the land. According to Texas A&M University, "The main factor affecting grasshopper populations is the weather. Outbreaks, or exceptionally large populations, are usually preceded by several years of hot, dry summers and warm autumns. Dry weather increases the survival of nymphs and adults. Warm autumns allow grasshoppers more time to feed and lay eggs." Moisture encourages fungal pathogens that limit populations. Differential grasshoppers are 1 ½ – 1 ¾ inches long and olive green to grey. The femur of the jumping leg bears distinct black chevrons. Carolina grasshoppers are cryptically colored at rest and reveal black wings outlined in yellow in flight. The males have a hovering flight over bare patches of ground. They crepitate, making a clicking or snapping noise with their wings when in flight, during courtship, in territorial encounters or when disturbed.
 They were my constant companions in Texas. A Mexican legend says the great-tailed grackle had no voice, so he stole seven songs from the sea turtle, leaving the turtles silent and himself bursting with chatter. This grackle has a rare skill—each eye can independently view its surroundings for food and predators, seeing two different images simultaneously—a talent thought to be the chameleon’s alone.
 I watched a northern jacana in Costa Rica. It’s a bird with the longest toes, relative to its body size, of any bird. Jacanas can’t walk on water, but their elongated toes allow them to walk on emergent and floating vegetation, giving them the nicknames of Jesus bird, lotus bird and lily trotter. 

Q&A

 “What kind of duck is a bootlips?” Northern shovelers are also known as bootlips, spoonies, spoonbills or smiling mallards because of their conspicuous spatula-like bill. 
 “What bird has the most feathers?” Generally, the bigger the bird, the more feathers. An emperor penguin has around 80,000 feathers. That’s nearly 60 per square inch. A ruby-throated hummingbird has approximately 1,000.
 “Where can I go to learn the calls of the cicadas?” Check out the dog-day (annual) and scissors-grinder cicada voices on “Songs of Insects” by Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger. It’s a helpful site found at http://songsofinsects.com/thumbnail-guide-to-species
 Jan and Larry Hoffman of Janesville wrote, “Sitting in our back yard looking over our bee-friendly garden, we’re seeing what looks like giant dragonflies. At first we thought they might be hummingbirds. They seem to be that big. They’re flying high in the air. What could they be?” A common green darner dragonfly is three inches long and has a bright green thorax. The male's abdomen is an intense blue, and the female's is reddish brown. It’s a skilled aerial predator that eats flying insects, including flies, mosquitoes, gnats, moths, butterflies, mayflies, damselflies, swarming ants and smaller dragonflies. They leave Minnesota in July through October to go south, where they lay eggs and die. A new generation makes its way north in the spring. Some of the green darners overwinter as naiads in frozen ponds and emerge as adults in the spring.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Birds are the most vivid expression of life.”—the epitaph Roger Tory Peterson chose for his tombstone.
 “Read to children. Vote. And never buy anything from a man who's selling fear.”—Mary Doria Russell.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

They may look like a wasp or bee that hovers, but hover flies are beneficial insects, sometimes called flower flies. They cannot sting. Hover flies have only one pair of wings, whereas bees and wasps have two pairs. Hover flies have very short antennae. Bees and wasps have elbowed antennae that are easily seen. Photo by Al Batt.

A bison at Minneopa State Park outside Mankato, Minnesota, had cleverly hidden behind some prairie vegetation.
Photo by Al Batt.

Our yard’s jelly feeder became a dining hotspot for Tennessee Warblers this September. There were lines to get a place at the trough. Photo by Al Batt.

Owls are flying rat traps



Naturally

 Great blue lobelia and Jerusalem artichokes! Blooming flowers!
 Turkey vultures, appearing unflappable, glided overhead.
 There was a flock of robins in my yard and then there wasn’t a single robin. What happened? Was the local grocery store holding a sale on earthworms? At this time of the year, robins congregate and become nomadic. They take a fly-about, searching for their favorite foods, which means certain berries are devoured hungrily.
 I filled the feeders for my fine feathered friends. They are certainly worth the price of admission. It is an enjoyable daily chore. The birds take my breath away. I take the feeders in each night to keep them from becoming raccoon feeders. I don’t use any milo. Birds don’t care for it. I had a friend named Milo Madson. He was a great guy. Milo Madson was good; milo in a bird feeder is bad.
 I watched a hummingbird buzz around a male cardinal. I suppose the tiny bird was checking to see if the cardinal was a sugar water provider. No matter when I take in the feeders (I like to do that when there is some light remaining so the boogeties don’t get me), a hummingbird circles around where the feeder had been. 
 The blue jays lifted the peanuts in a shell to find a heavy, meaty one. They’re like me picking up watermelons in an attempt to discover melon perfection. Blue jays are beautiful, but don’t lend them any money.
 Chipmunks filled their cheek pouches with fallen seeds under the feeders.
 Barred owls called. Flying rat traps.
 Deer begin a process of molting in August and September, which is triggered by hormonal changes that reflect the changing seasons. The reddish summer coat turns into a faded gray or brown color as the winter coat grows.
 Jewelweed or spotted touch-me-not blooms in late summer, signaling the beginning of hummingbird migration. The stems and leaves of jewelweed have clear sap that’s soothing to minor skin rashes and insect bites. That’s a good thing because jewelweed hangs out in the same places that poison ivy and stinging nettle do. Jewelweed can ease the itch caused by poison ivy and stinging nettles.
 William Shakespeare wrote, "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

Q&A

 “Why do starling flocks perch on utility wires?” Those wires are a part of the modern landscape. Birds naturally incorporate them into their daily lives. Power lines offer convenient places for birds to perch, particularly where no tall trees are around. Starlings use the wires for resting and for flocking.
 “Am I seeing a swallow or a swift?” If you notice much color, it’s a swallow. Chimney swifts are dark brown cigars with wings—short bodies with long skinny wings and almost no tails. Swallows have tails. Swifts flap their stiff wings incredibly fast, and swallows bend their wings in a graceful flight. If the bird perches or lands on the ground, it’s a swallow. Swifts fly high when they forage; swallows pursue insects closer to the ground or water.
 “Why do birds mob hawks and owls?” It may seem as if fools are rushing in, but it’s a defense mechanism. Songbirds hope predators leave once their cover has been blown. They use alarm calls that attract a mixed species of birds that set aside their differences to confront a common enemy. Adults might demonstrate correct behavior to immature birds or it might be an opportunity for a bird to impress potential mates. 
 “Where do frogs spend the winter?” Some dig down below the frost line, while other species spend winters brumating (similar to hibernating) on the bottom of lakes, rivers and ponds. They don’t sleep but do become less active. The spring peeper, boreal chorus frog, wood frog and treefrogs crawl under leaf litter and freeze. Glycerol protects their cells from rupturing.  
 “Do penguins live in both hemispheres?” Penguins live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. The rest live in from Antarctica to the southern coasts of Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South America.
 “How can I help native bees?” Around 70% of our native solitary nesting bees use tunnels in the ground to lay their eggs and the other 30% use hollowed-out plant stems or tunnels in dead trees or fallen logs. Leave patches of bare soil in your garden for ground-nesting bees, leave plant stems standing and keep dead trees or fallen logs.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Ten times a day something happens to me like this—some strengthening throb of amazement—some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.” – Mary Oliver.
 “The bird feeder is a premium channel.”—Jim Shea.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2024

There was a long line to the birdbath, rivaling the length of the one to get Peachey’s Baking Company’s Amish Donuts at the Minnesota State Fair. The robins made sounds I assumed meant, “Jump in! Best water ever.” I’ve never seen a robin do a cannonball, but I keep watching. The robins splished and they splashed. They still got their work done. Photo by Al Batt.

I never knew Martha, but I loved her anyway

Naturally

 I narrated a cruise on the Pelican Breeze, a lovely tour pontoon that floats upon Albert Lea Lake, where everyone sits in the good chair and troubles melt like lemon drops. The boat was filled to capacity with a flock of fine folks. Hundreds of pelicans loafed on a spit of land while a mature bald eagle fed on a fish at the top of a snag. It was a fabulous photo opportunity for many.
 Syrphid flies hovered around my front door. Also known as hover or flower flies, the adults resemble wasps or bees, but don’t bite or sting. They have only one pair of wings, while wasps and bees have two pairs. The larval stage is an aphid predator. Flower flies often hover in the same place for a few seconds. Hover flies have short antennae. Bees and wasps have elbowed antennae that are easily seen.
 A report from a select committee of the Ohio Senate in 1857 on a bill proposed to protect the passenger pigeon read, “The passenger pigeon needs no protection. Wonderfully prolific, having the vast forests of the North as its breeding grounds, traveling hundreds of miles in search of food, it is here today and elsewhere tomorrow, and no ordinary destruction can lessen them, or be missed from the myriads that are yearly produced.” Martha, the last known member of that species, died in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo on Sept. 1, 1914.

Q&A

 Doug Ruble of Albert Lea commented on the swallows gathering on utility wires. He added that his farm quiets when those birds leave. Peak swallow migration is in August and September. Swallows flock after they disperse from the nest site. Barn swallows migrate to wintering areas in Central and South America. Tree swallows begin migrating south in July and August to winter in Florida and Central America. Cliff swallows migrate at a leisurely pace to South America. Purple martin migration begins in July and reaches its peak in August. During this time, the martins gather in large roosts before journeying to their winter homes in South America.
 Doug Ruble also mentioned that when headed to the barn at 2 or 3 in the morning, he hears pheasants crow. Ring-necked pheasant roosters crow loudly in spring and summer, especially at dawn and dusk, but they can be heard throughout the year. A loud, rapid beating of the wings often follows the crowing.
 Carl and Chery Beckendorf of Fairmont found 24 monarch butterfly caterpillars on one milkweed plant and had questions. An egg is about the size of a pinhead and the butterfly usually lays a single egg on a plant, but egg dumps where many eggs are laid on one plant have been observed. Some butterflies don’t get a chance to lay all their eggs. The eggs hatch in about four days (can be three to eight). Dr. Karen Oberhauser, former director of both the Monarch Lab at the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, said she had a captive female that laid 1179 eggs in its lifetime, but the average is around 700. That number varies from one year to the next, with fewer eggs laid during hot, dry summers. Oberhauser reported one captive female laying 205 eggs in one day. Monarchs have four or five generations a year, with only one migrating.
 “I found a decapitated rabbit inside my fenced-in yard. Whodunit?” The great horned owl deals with large prey by beheading the victim and taking the head to its nest or noshing perch. That owl is the only wild predator that regularly kills skunks. 
 “How far does a honey bee travel during a foraging trip?” A bee could travel as far as 5 miles from the hive, but typically forages closer to home. A single bee could visit 50 to 100 flowers of the same species unless there is a scarcity.
 “How many seeds can a cottonwood tree produce?” A female eastern cottonwood tree, which brings forth the cotton, could produce 48 million seeds and remember all their names.
 “Where do our native bees nest?” About 70% are ground nesting and among the earliest pollinators to emerge in the spring, making them valuable in the production of tree fruits. The other 30% of the population are cavity-nesting, laying their eggs in beetle holes in dead wood or creating nesting chambers in hollow or pithy stems. 

Thanks for stopping by

 “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.”—Jane Wagner.
 "One hardly knows what quality to admire most in the Barn Swallow. All the dear associations of life at the old farm come thronging up at sight of him. You think of him somehow as part of the sacred past; yet here he is today as young and as fresh as ever, bubbling over with springtime laughter."—William L. Dawson.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2024

The Cape May warbler breeds in boreal forests and winters in the West Indies. It doesn't spend much time in its namesake locale. Then why the name? Famed ornithologist Alexander Wilson first described this striking species in 1911 in Cape May, New Jersey. The Cape May warbler is feisty and enjoys a good chase around a jelly feeder. A fall Cape May warbler photo by Al Batt.

Big Mouth Billy Bass sings “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin and “Take Me to the River" by Al Green.