Naturally
Birds are meant to invoke awe and wonder. A love of birds is a reason to go outside. I'm constantly amazed as I watch birds trying to make a living. No bird carries a wallet or a purse. They survive without a credit card. It was -19° and the house sparrows were chirping merrily. It invigorated this listener. When I was a lad, hawks were called chicken hawks, including the beautiful red-tailed hawk. I ate more chickens than any red-tailed hawk ever did. The hawk's diet varies with availability, season and location, but mammals such as voles, mice, rats, rabbits and ground squirrels are major prey items. Tree squirrels and chipmunks are less important prey to this hawk, which is generally brown above and whitish below.
I watched a strange cat sneak through the yard at -19° with a windchill I didn't want to know. Cats want to be outdoors. Humans want to use hard drugs, eat too much and drive too fast. Being outdoors is as bad for a cat as those other things are for us.
I saw an American kestrel on a utility wire. The mourning dove-sized bird had slate-blue wings that identified it as a male. The female's wings are rusty. A kestrel often bobs its tail while perched.
The news had a couple of odd nature-related things. A call to save an injured goose on the Raisin River in Detroit caused a fire rescue crew to suit up and crawl onto the treacherous ice. Once close, they discovered the goose was a decoy. Officials considered it an unexpected training session.
Gray squirrels are an invasive species in the UK and the government there is trying to lure the squirrels into feeding boxes with small pots containing hazelnut spread spiked with an oral contraceptive. Prince Charles played a key role in setting up the UK Squirrel Accord, which aims to manage the negative impacts of invasive gray squirrels in the UK.
I watched the fox squirrels in my yard. They survive our cantankerous winters because they keep working at it.
Q&A
"What does beaver scat look like?" Beaver scat isn't often seen because beavers typically defecate in the water. Beaver scat is predominantly wood material. Their feces disintegrate quickly in water because they're mostly wood pulp in either a round or elongated pellet up to an inch in diameter. The scat resembles wood chips or sawdust glued together and is usually a light brown to tan color. The Beaver Institute says the preferred tree species of beavers include alder, aspen, apple, birch, cherry, cottonwood, poplar and willow. Aspen, poplar and cottonwood are their favorites. If the supply of their preferred trees is low they will harvest oaks and maples. Conifers are their least favorite. I see them gnawing on ash trees and enjoying the bark of willows.
"Why don't the feet of birds freeze?" Bird feet are little more than bone, sinew and scale, with few nerves. A countercurrent heat exchange system means the arteries that transport blood to the legs lie in contact with the veins that return blood to the bird’s heart. The warm arteries heat the cooler veins. Because the veins also cool the arteries, the bird’s feet are closer to the environmental temperature and don’t lose as much heat as they would if they were at body temperature.
This system isn’t as effective in mourning doves and their feet are prone to freezing. Pigeons and chickens suffer frostbite. Frostbitten feet on other birds aren’t an impossibility. On a barely related note, the rock pigeon, the pigeon we see in farm and city, was trained for communication by the United States Army Pigeon Service or Signal Pigeon Corps. During WWII, this force consisted of 3,150 soldiers and 54,000 pigeons. Over 90% of Army messages sent by pigeons were received. The pigeon named G.I. Joe received the Dickin Medal for gallantry that saved at least 1,000 lives. From 1917 until 1957, the US Army Pigeon Breeding and Training Center was based at Fort Monmouth, N.J.
"Do raccoons wash their food before eating?" They aren't germaphobes. It's a myth. When they find something that might be food, they roll it around in their front paws to determine what it is. If a raccoon encounters a likely item at a distance from water, they will roll it around in their paws without involving any water. Research has determined that wetting the paws increases their sensitivity. Their scientific name, Procyon lotor, means "washing bear." Raccoons typically weigh 14 to 40 pounds, sometimes more. If raccoons had opposable thumbs, they might be our overlords.
Thanks for stopping by
"You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment." — Annie Dillard
"When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package." — John Ruskin
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
A fox squirrel hard at work making a living during the winter. Photo by Al Batt