Naturally
The snowplow had gone by twice, but enough snow remained on the road to muffle the sounds of cars.
The season is backward or forward, I'm not sure which. I walked 8 miles looking for birds on a Christmas Bird Count (CBC), always needing to see one more bird for good luck. Trees swayed and things lurked. Crows watched me intently. They believe all living things merit further study. I follow the Dr. Seuss school of doing a CBC. He wrote this in "Oh, The Places You’ll Go!" "You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left." I've done many counts. I know what I’m missing.
Goldfinches had become coldfinches at temperatures well below zero. I didn't see a popinjay. It's an insulting word for a vain or conceited person, one given to pretentious displays. It was also, at one time, the name for a parrot.
I put peanuts in the shell for the jays. I imagine them saying, "Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now. Just now I found a peanut, found a peanut just now.” A happy blue jay is a blue jay weighing a peanut just as a bowler does when searching for the perfect heft to a bowling ball filled with strikes.
Q&A
"Why do spiders have eight legs and insects only six?" Because if spiders had only six legs, they'd be insects. There probably isn't any definitive reason spiders have eight legs and insects six. Scorpions, harvestmen, ticks and all arachnids have four pairs of legs.
"I received a Christmas card with an English robin on it. Is it related to our robins?" A European legend says on the night Jesus was born, a robin heard Mary's plea to keep the fire from going out. The robin fanned the embers with its wings until they glowed red and tossed twigs into the fire. The flames singed the robin's white breast, turning it red. European settlers to North America gave the name robin to the red-breasted songbird they saw here — the American robin. Bluebirds were sometimes called robins by the British, towhees were ground robins and Baltimore orioles were golden robins. The two robins aren't closely related. The larger American robin is a member of the Turdidae or thrush family that includes the wood thrush and eastern bluebird, and the European robin (robin redbreast) is a flycatcher-thrush in the Muscicapidae family with nightingales and chats. Robin is an Old French diminutive of Robert.
"How many crane species are there?" There are 15 in the world. The U.S. has the most abundant (sandhill crane) and the most endangered (whooping crane). The International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis., is the only place on Earth where you can see all 15 of the world’s crane species. Its mission: The International Crane Foundation works worldwide to conserve cranes and the ecosystems, watersheds and flyways on which they depend. The Foundation will open on May 1.
"When do the cranes visit Nebraska's Platte River?" I tell myself the sandhill cranes arrive by Valentine's Day, reach peak numbers on St. Patrick’s Day, and are gone by Tax Day, but this varies from year to year. Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary near Minden and Gibbon (in the Kearney area) offers blinds March 6 — April 11. The Crane Trust near Wood River (closer to Grand Island) has blinds available from March 1 to April 1. These are subject to change. Neither are far from I-80 and both morning and evening blinds are available to see some of the 600,000 cranes. The fall migration doesn't offer huge gatherings of cranes. Rowe's phone number is 308-468-5282and Crane Trust's is 308-382-1820.
Thanks for stopping by
"I part the out thrusting branches and come in beneath the blessed and the blessing trees. Though I am silent there is singing around me. Though I am dark there is vision around me. Though I am heavy there is flight around me." — Wendell Berry
"For a large and growing number of people, birds are the strongest bond with the living world of nature. They charm us with lovely plumage and melodious songs; our quest of them takes us to the fairest places; to find them and uncover some of their well-guarded secrets we exert ourselves greatly and live intensely. In the measure that we appreciate and understand them and are grateful for our coexistence with them, we help bring to fruition the agelong travail that made them and us. This, I am convinced, is the highest significance of our relationship with birds." — Alexander E. Skutch
Do good.
©Al Batt 2020
Contrary to popular belief, the sandhill cranes in Nebraska aren’t all Cornhusker fans. Photo by Al Batt