Naturally

The signs spoke of rain. If birds fly low, then rain we shall know. The local atmosphere had sprung a leak. I moved under a large tree in an attempt to stay dry. I shifted slowly around the trunk as the rain tracked my current location. The mosquitoes were tolerable.

A red-eyed vireo sang incessantly. In 1952, Louise de Kiriline Lawrence counted the number of songs sung by a single red-eyed vireo on territory north of Toronto. He sang 22,197 songs in 14 hours. The "preacher bird" either repeatedly asks and answers its own question, counts the leaves, or says "look-up, over-here, see-me, up-here."

A red-bellied woodpecker fed on a feeder. The first confirmed sighting of this species in Minnesota was in the late 1800s. A Eurasian collared-dove fed below the feeder. This dove was introduced to the Bahamas in the 1970s, made its way to Florida by the 1980s, and then rapidly colonized most of North America. It has prominent white patches on the tail, dark-tipped wings, a black collar at the nape of the neck, and is chunkier than a mourning dove. The collared-dove’s mournful koo-KOO-kook call is shorter and more frequent than the mourning dove's. The Eurasian collared-dove’s species name, decaocto, comes from Greek mythology. Decaocto was a servant girl transformed into a dove by the gods to escape her unhappy treatment. They like millet. Studies on interactions between collared-doves and other species haven't yet shown a negative impact on populations of mourning doves.

Baby robins were on the lawn. Females build the nests and incubate the three to five eggs for 12-14 days. The male has no brood patch. The nestling stage is 13 days and they're able to fly in 14-16 days. They have two or three broods each year. They typically build a new nest, but if the first nest was successful, she'll often build a new floor for that nest to raise another brood.

Gunnar Berg of Albert Lea said he didn't remember seeing so many gray squirrels when he was growing up in Clarks Grove

and asked if his memory was faulty. Gray squirrel numbers have increased due to several things. The suburban sprawl in some areas and the squirrels' frequent visits to backyard bird feeders. Gray squirrels thrive where houses break up natural woodlands. They have proven to be adaptive and may have been helped by people who fostered squirrel populations by releasing them in public places.

Karen Wright of Mankato asked about the life cycle of toads. Female American toads lay up to 20,000 eggs which normally hatch within a week. Large schools of tiny, black tadpoles feed together along the edge of shallow wetlands, emerging as tiny toads in approximately six weeks. Maturity occurs in 2-3 years. During the winter, the American toad burrows beneath the ground (usually in sandy soils), typically just below the frost line.

"What do hummingbirds feed their young?" Tiny insects and spiders. They also feed nectar and pollen to the young birds.

"When can I expect to see baby mud turtles?" Painted turtles begin laying eggs in late May into early July. The eggs hatch in 72-80 days (late August into September). Some of the hatchlings overwinter in the nest and emerge next spring. Studies have shown that about 80% of the nests are destroyed by predation and only 5% of turtle eggs hatch.

"I saw a great blue heron kill and eat a chipmunk. Is this common?" I've seen them eat chipmunks, pocket gophers and a young muskrat. Their diet could be described as "varied." An interesting aside on that heron, when one catches its limit of fish, it has to stand on one leg. It's a requirement of its fishing license.

"How many birds are there in Minnesota?" There are 313 regular species, those seen here 9 out of 10 years. Around 240 species nest here and the total number of species documented in the state is 446.

Customer comments

Todd and Kelly Bram of Rushford heard an unusual and beautiful song outside on their porch. The unexpected visitor was a Carolina wren singing, “teakettle, teakettle, teakettle."

Brenda Kotasek of St. Peter took photos of a leucistic house finch in Ottawa. Leucism is an abnormal condition of reduced pigmentation that is marked by pale color or patches of reduced coloring caused by a genetic mutation which inhibits melanin and other pigments from being deposited in feathers. The finch had white feathers where it typically would have darker ones.

Thanks for stopping by

"Just as it is important to listen to one another, it is important to listen to the birds." — Al Batt

“99 percent of all statistics only tell 49 percent of the story.” — Ron DeLegge II

"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone." — Blaise Pascal

Do good.

©Al Batt 2020