For the Birds: Butterflies populating gardens
By Al Batt
For the Birds in The Caledonia Argus
Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting
I tried your advice on fixing my lawn mower.
Did it work?
No.
That doesn’t surprise me. It never works for me either.
Driving by Bruce’s drive
I have a wonderful neighbor named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: Some years ago, as luck would have it, I found myself in Luck, Wisconsin.
It was my good luck or good Luck to be working in the “Yo-Yo Capital of the World.” In 1946, Duncan started manufacturing yo-yos in Luck, producing as many of 3,600 of them in an hour. Kids had yo-yos instead of video games in those bygone days.
Napoleon and his army were said to have relaxed with yo-yos before the Battle of Waterloo.
I don’t have video games or a yo-yo. I have Zoom. I taught a class on Zoom recently. I’ve taught writing, birding, journaling, storytelling, etc. classes, but always in person.
I did the first few minutes of teaching trying to emulate my good teachers before I realized that my video screen had cut off my head. It wasn’t Zoom’s fault, it was mine. I’ve been married long enough to know when there’s a problem — I’m it. My only excuse was that I had none. The class expected a brainless instructor, but they got a headless one, too. I should have used a yo-yo.
A good stick
I went for a walk. I looked for a stick. A good stick is a walking stick, cane, pointer and sword. A bad stick can be all of those things, too, but not as good. When I was a boy, it wasn’t a day without a good stick made from a maple branch or sapling. I could toss an acorn into the air and hit it with the stick as if the combination were a baseball and a bat.
Somebody told me that Minnesotans and Iowans are good at milling about. As a kid, I walked about, but I called it “walking around.” At a fair, I’d declare to my parents, “I’m going to walk around.” I did the same thing in a store or at Allis-Chalmers Days or John Deere Days. I still do that — with or without a good stick.
Nature notes
A sulphur butterfly landed on me. I hoped it brought good luck. Butterflies and fireflies are people pleasers. The neighbor’s rooster crowed as no politician or pundit could. Bee balm or wild bergamot (Monarda), a native plant, bloomed. It’s attractive to bees and butterflies. The bergamot oil added to Earl Grey tea comes from an entirely different plant. Mints bloomed on square stems. Ponds were covered with duckweed, a tiny, flowering plant. Barn swallows gathered on utility wires. They are the swallow species with what we think of as swallow tails.
Naturally
If there is a low-pressure area or storm in the region the winds will blow day or night. Windy nights are more common in the cold season. The night wind, as strong as the growing corn, had blown in a genial day. Each day, the weather answers our questions from the day before.
My day’s goal had been to not upset the blue jays. A lot of things irritate them and my wife has told me that if I don’t know what the problem is, it’s me. One day, I saw the source of their outrage had a yellow bill and black eyes. It wasn’t me glaring at an ancient invoice. It was a barred owl.
Butterflies filled the yard. It was their home, I was just walking through it. The air was made of painted ladies, red admirals, sulphurs, cabbage whites, monarchs, question marks and azures.
My wife said it was the butterfly version of the movie “The Birds.” It was in a believable and benign way. Yellow was the predominate color of the insects. It was just another day at the sulphur butterfly factory.
Butterflies don’t have lungs. They breathe through tiny openings on the sides of their bodies called spiracles that carry the oxygen through tubes to their bodies.
Frass is the excrement produced by insects. I don’t know why I added the part about frass, but it makes a worthy replacement word for any reader who has a penchant for creative cussing. Just remember, bears do not frass in the woods.
Cicadas called. Folklore says that cicadas start singing six weeks before a frost and their singing heralds warm, dry days ahead. Their heads-up frost warnings aren’t known for their accuracy. When I was growing up, cicadas were called locusts. They aren’t. Locusts are a type of grasshopper, while cicadas are related to crickets. Cicadas typically sing from July to the first frost.
During the late summer, small, obscure insects known as insidious flower bugs or minute pirate bugs make their presence known in a convincing manner by biting with an impact out of proportion to their size. They are small enough people call them no-see-ums and can make them disappear by removing their eyeglasses — from their faces, not the insects’. They can be an annoyance, but I remain thankful that raccoons can’t fly.
Q&A
“Does anything eat the berries of the jack-in-the-pulpit?” In autumn, the plant bears a cluster of bright red berries. Few mammals feed on this plant as it contains calcium oxalate crystals that could burn the mouth, which makes the plant unpalatable and poisonous. Some birds, including wild turkeys and pheasants, eat the berries.
“I heard a female cardinal sing. She was good. Do many female songbirds sing?” A female cardinal sings a similar song to the male. A 2016 study found that in a sample of over 1,000 songbird species from around the world, 64% had females that sing.
“Why is it called a whooping crane?” The name probably originated from the loud, single-note vocalization given repeatedly by the cranes when they are alarmed.
“Are rattlesnakes poisonous or venomous?” Poisonous is used for anything that poisons (unloads its toxins) you if you ingest it. Venomous is used for anything that poisons (injects toxins) you if it bites or stings you. Rattlesnakes are venomous.
Meeting adjourned
Staying positive doesn’t mean being happy all the time. It means that on hard days you know there are better ones coming. Be kind.
Thanks for stopping by
“Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved.” - Jane Goodall
Do good.
© Al Batt 2020
The American Goldfinch — the king of the gapes.
When I was a dear boy, I called the Painted Lady a “thistle butterfly.” Thistles are host plants for the caterpillars.
A pheasant fellow told me that a Ring-necked Pheasant may not travel over more than 700 acres. No Disneyland for this rooster.
The American Bison has a shaggy coat that is so well insulated that snow could settle on its back without melting.