Naturally
I pander to the birds. I headed out to the feedlot — the bird feedlot. I have a wild time feeding them. The crows felt an urge to crash the party and appeared to want to drink from a birdbath. I suppose they couldn't find a crowbar.
A hummingbird can drink its weight in nectar in a day. I tried that with red Kool-Aid once. I'm not sure what flavor it was; it never mattered as long as it was red. I drank until I sloshed when I walked, but I was no challenge to a hummingbird. A hummingbird's brain makes up 4.2% of its weight; a human's brain is 2% of body weight.
Blackbirds flock. Cowbirds could be members of those large congregations. A nest parasite, a cowbird has never had to secure a nest loan. A murmuration of starlings became a feathered face mask on the sky. I got a call from a jay. Blue jays make a series of sounds. Charles Flugum, in his wonderful book "Birding from a Tractor Seat," wrote this about the jays, "The flagrant rascal evidently enjoys hearing its own voice, putting forth its utmost effort to make the loudest possible noise."
There was still a splash of white and purple in asters, and yellow in goldenrods and sunflowers. Milkweed plants hosted insects. I realize that not everyone is happy to see them, but they are beautiful. Red milkweed beetles feed on leaves and buds, milkweed bugs (resemble boxelder bugs) eat seeds and oleander aphids feed on sap. The aphids produce a sticky substance called honeydew. Honeydew is sugary and something ants eat. Ants tend to them as shepherds care for sheep. Lady beetles prey upon aphids. Our yard is surrounded by soybeans this year, so it's filled with biting, foul-smelling, multi-colored Asian lady beetles. The walnut trees typically begin losing their leaves earlier than most other species.
A study by Science Advances estimated that the Milky Way is no longer visible to 80% of Americans.
Something bit me and there was nothing there. I'd fallen victim to a minute pirate bug often called a no-see-um. A tiny insect with a giant bite. Speaking of giants, I saw a giant water bug in August. It's the biggest bug in Minnesota at 2-inches long and an inch wide. It's in the insect order Hemiptera or true bugs. Nicknames include toe-biter, electric-light bug and alligator tick. Their strong attraction to lights brings them to parking lots and ballfields. They will bite in self-defense. I recall playing softball with many of these bugs on the field with me.
Q&A
Karen Wright of Mankato asked about a deer's eyesight. White-tailed deer have good eyesight and acute hearing but depend mainly on a sense of smell to detect danger. Their vision in low light is far superior to ours. University of Georgia research found deer see five times better than we do, but appear to be farsighted. They see shades of yellow and blue but have trouble seeing reds or greens. A deer’s eyes detect the slightest hint of movement. To get a 3D look at a stationary object that might be dangerous, a deer has to look at it from several angles. That’s why alert deer shift their heads from side-to-side and bob them up and down.
"How many kinds of spiders are there in Minnesota?" Two. Those that are indoors and those that are outdoors. My notes from 2015 say 466 species had been confirmed in the state.
"Beetle or bug?" Both are insects. Beetles have hardened forewings and may look as if they have a straight line down their backs. Beetles have chewing mouthparts with mandibles. True bugs have their forewings hardened at the base and are membranous at the end. This creates a triangular shape on their back. True bugs have beaklike, piercing-sucking mouthparts. A June bug is a beetle and a boxelder bug is a bug.
"What are good binoculars for birding?" The lens closest to the bird is the objective lens and determines how much light your binoculars gather and the brightness of the image. A rule of thumb is birding binoculars should have a ratio of 1 to 5 (objective lens diameter divided by magnification) such as 7x35, 8x40 and 10x50. Model 8x42 binoculars are somewhat brighter; and 10x42 and 8x32 models are a bit dimmer in low light levels. Hold your binoculars away from your eyes and you'll see a bright circle in the middle of each eyepiece. That's the light coming through the binoculars to your eyes and is called the exit pupil.
Thanks for stopping by
"Sing a song of seasons, Something bright in all, Flowers in the summer, Fires in the fall." — Robert Louis Stevenson
"I embrace the ordinary because it's extraordinary." — Al Batt
"History is a vast early warning system." — Norman Cousins
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Giant water bugs prey upon a variety of aquatic life, including tadpoles, insects, arthropods and small fish. Photo by Al Batt