Nature by the yard
Juncos are gray birds that brighten a gray day. A pine siskin wore the evidence of a correct weather forecast. The proof was a few snowflakes perched on the bird's back. Happiness is in the bag. Sunflower seeds. Chickadees moved to and from the feeders at the rate of the candy on an "I Love Lucy" TV episode, the one where Lucy and Ethel got jobs as candy makers at Kramer's Kandy Kitchen. They worked in the wrapping room assembly line where their task was to wrap every chocolate candy as it went by on a conveyor belt. The speed of the conveyor forced them to eat the candies or stuff the sweets into their hats and blouses.
A friend, Penny Jacobsen of Albert Lea, called to recommend the book, "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants" a nonfiction book by Robin Wall Kimmerer and published by Milkweed. It's a wonderful book I'd just started reading not long before her kind call.
I haven't seen a chipmunk in the yard since New Year's Day. Chipmunks hibernate in winter, but they don’t sleep through the season. Hibernation means something different to each species. Some call the chipmunk's a torpor. It's a restless hibernation. They retreat to their burrows and wake every few days to raise their body temperatures to normal, feed on stored food rather than fat reserves, and urinate and defecate. Their heart rate declines from about 350 beats per minute to four beats per minute. Body temperature may drop from 94° to the temperature of the burrow — as cold as 40°.
There were five pheasants and four fox squirrels foraging under the feeders. All was calm. Then another fox squirrel dropped from a feeder. Panic ensued. It became the Monty Python skit of the footrace for people with no sense of direction. I recalled a day years before when the house cat was birdwatching from a window holding a feeder attached by suction cups. As the feline watched, a squirrel dropped from the roof in a superhero attempt to find access to the feeder. The weight of the squirrel knocked the feeder from the glass. The cat's eyes grew larger as it turned and looked at me as if to say, "That's why I watch birds."
Eight pheasants became eight lumps in a bent tree in the gathering darkness. Roosting in trees is a predator-avoidance behavior.
My eyes produced tears as I walked into an east wind. The proverb says, "When the wind is in the east, 'tis neither good for man nor beast; when the wind is in the north, the skillful fisher goes not forth; when the wind is in the south, it blows the bait in the fishes' mouth; when the wind is in the west, then 'tis at the very best."
Carol Hegel Lang of Albert Lea, Jill Evans of Mankato and Tim Scott of Mankato all reported wintering Carolina wrens. I recall walking a trail in Columbia, Missouri, lost in my thoughts and delighting in the songs of the Carolina wren that followed me.
There was a spruce budworm outbreak across large portions of Quebec and Ontario the past several years. Because of the pandemic, areas of Quebec weren't treated with pesticides for budworm. Large sections of the boreal forests produced two excellent spruce cone crops during the last four years. These things led to a finch irruption event. Evening grosbeak, purple finch, and to a lesser extent, pine siskin, are spruce budworm specialists. There are spruce budworm warblers, too — Cape May, Tennessee and bay-breasted.
Q&A
"What can I feed wintering robins?" Place apple slices, raisins, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, cranberries, raspberries, cherries, small bits of suet or mealworms at ground level.
"How many snowy owls have been seen in Minnesota this winter?" As of Jan. 31 there had been 72 observations in 16 counties: Becker, Kittson, Marshall, Pine, Polk, St. Louis, Benton, Dodge, Hennepin, Lac qui Parle, Le Sueur, Martin, Rice, Stearns, Stevens and Watonwan.
"Where do the sandhill cranes from Minnesota go in winter?" Minnesota birds are short-distance migrants. Birds in eastern Minnesota migrate southeast to Georgia and Florida; birds in western Minnesota migrate south to the Gulf Coast of Texas.
"When are the mating seasons for coyotes and red foxes?" Coyotes mate at age two and may pair for life. The mating season begins in January and lasts through February. Five to seven pups are born in April. Red foxes mate at age one in February and 52 days later five to ten pups are born that are fully independent at seven months.
Thanks for stopping by
“If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." — Attributed to Napoleon Hill, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa
"When snow falls, nature listens." — Antoinette van Kleeff
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
I took this photo of a Carolina wren in Missouri, but people are seeing them in their Minnesota and Iowa yards this winter. Photo by Al Batt
I am nowhere near this place in Sitka, Alaska, but I still strive to be alert and make noise every day.