Naturally
In another time, I traveled around one day a week taking photos and peering at birds. No birds were harmed in the process. My faithful Chihuahua companion Sancho accompanied me. He got his name because of the book I was reading at the time I brought the puppy home in my coat pocket. Sancho Panza was Don Quixote’s squire in the novel “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote represented illusion, Sancho Panza represented reality. The canine Sancho was a good friend. A good listener to my quixotic ideas.
Such undertakings built a thirst and I’d swing into the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant to get a cup of iced tea. This was Sancho’s favorite part of birding and photography. He perked up when he saw the person at the restaurant’s window and immediately looked his sweetest. “Oh, your dog is so cute. Would it be OK if I gave him a little bit of hamburger?” said the worker. It was OK with Sancho.
Bluebird blues
Keith Radel of Faribault maintains 175 sites for bluebird nest boxes and told me bluebird numbers in those boxes were down 53% from last year. Many of his birds winter in Arkansas, Texas or Oklahoma and winter storms were hard on them. The best year Keith has had fledging bluebirds was in 2012. A nasty spring here dropped that number 53% in 2013. The availability of houses has led to double the number of chickadees nesting in them this year. He has two chickadee pairs nesting 10 feet apart and has noticed no disputes among them.
President of birding
President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most powerful voices in the history of American conservation. After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt established 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks and 18 national monuments on over 230 million acres of public land. He identified 91 bird species he saw or heard on the White House lawn.
Hummingbird highlights
When the Spanish first encountered hummingbirds, they called them resurrection birds—believing something that shining must die each night and be reborn the next morning. Spanish missionaries used hummingbirds to explain the resurrection. Male Anna's hummingbirds dive at speeds of 385 body lengths per second according to a study in the U.K. journal “Proceedings of the Royal Society B.” Mayan legend said the first two hummingbirds were created from small feather scraps left over from the construction of other birds. Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red. That includes parked cars, lipstick and hats.
Guy wires
Bob Janssen of Golden Valley told me he and Ray Glassel were birding years ago when they found 978 dead birds (including two yellow rails) near a communications tower by Lewisville. Guy wires can be bird-killers in a fog.
Q&A
“What is your favorite raptor?” I think the American kestrel is the most beautiful. The northern harrier, once called a marsh hawk, kept me company when I was a mere stripling along Mule Lake. The peregrine falcon because its TV channel kept me entertained when I was hospitalized. And the merlin because I can’t help but watch one when I see one. My least favorite is a Toronto Raptor.
“Does any bird have a beak longer than its body?” The sword-billed hummingbird is the only bird to have a beak longer than its body.
“Will barn swallows reuse nests?” They may use nests from previous years, but avoid those heavily infested with mites or other parasites. When reusing nests, they clean out old feathers and add new mud to the nest’s rim. They put their cup-shaped nests on upright surfaces like docks, bridges, barns and the eaves of other buildings. The nests are built of mud reinforced with grass and lined with feathers and fine grasses.
“How many nests does a cardinal have each year?” Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) commonly raise two broods in Minnesota. When the first brood fledges, the father takes care of the fledglings as the mother builds a second nest, and lays and incubates eggs.
“Do dragonflies eat many mosquitoes?” Not nearly as many as I wish they did because adult dragonflies and mosquitoes can keep different hours, but the carnivorous dragonfly nymphs devour mosquito larvae.
Thanks for stopping by
“The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”—Henry Beston
“And since all this loveliness can not be Heaven, I know in my heart it is June.”—Abba Gould Woolson
Do good.
©Al Batt 2021
There are OK crested flycatchers and there are good crested flycatchers, but this is a great crested flycatcher. Photo by Al Batt