I lucked onto this handsome Harris’s Sparrow and spent so much time staring at its perfection, I was late getting to my next bird on the Albert Lea Christmas Bird Count. I convinced an innocent bystander, who was stumbling past, to look at the sparrow lovingly. He kindly obliged. Photo by Al Batt
Naturally
I’ve done many Christmas Bird Counts. A CBC is conducted on a single day from December 14 through January 5 each year in a 15-mile diameter circle. I count how many birds I see of each species. There are mysteries perched in trees and if I flip proverbial rocks, I find things. It’s fun even when the weather isn’t. The secret is to keep expectations high, never be disappointed and always be surprised. On a CBC, I visited an admirer of backyard birds who pointed at one of his feathered friends and said, “That’s my favorite bird. What kind is it?” Robert Frost would have answered, “They cannot look out far. They cannot look in deep. But when was that ever a bar to any watch they keep?”
I heard the spring song of a black-capped chickadee, a simple two or three-note whistled fee-bee or hey, sweetie. The whistled fee-bee is given mostly by males, although not exclusively. He’s advertising his territory and attempting to attract a mate. His vocalization is spurred on by lengthening daylight hours. Longer days make avian hormone levels surge, leading to courtship behaviors that induce hormone production. The combination of day length and courting behaviors work together to cause this tiny pile of feathers to whistle, “Spring’s here.”
I heard them in the far off. It was a flock of Canada geese. I stood in a parking lot in Fairmont as the flock turned into many flocks and the barking sounds intensified. The numbers and the honking were that of a spring migration, but it was January. The weather was imperfect, but not all flights had been canceled and the geese were headed to a watery bed after feeding in a harvested cornfield, enjoying man’s unintentional generosity.
I examined footprints in the snow—fragments of a dark night. A dog’s steps in the snow were evident. Coyotes typically walk in a straight line, with each paw print almost directly in front of the next and with few meandering lines. Dogs aren’t as worried about conserving energy, so they wander while investigating things, frequently crossing their own paths. As I examined the writings in the snow, crows offered critical comments. I watched a pair walk up the drive. There is nothing quite like the swagger of a crow. Daniel Otten of Hayward sent me photos from otterspace. Something had been sliding on the snow along a river—river otters. Why do otters do that? Because it’s fun.
When hunting, rough-legged hawks frequently face into the wind and hover, scanning the ground below for small mammal prey. I saw light morphs doing this near Albert Lea and Fairmont, and a dark morph roughie using this hunting technique outside Blue Earth.
Q&A
“When do coyotes and red foxes breed?” 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. When they're eight to 12 weeks old, the female teaches them to hunt. From autumn until mid-winter, the pups leave the den and search for territories. Red foxes mate at one year, breed in February and 52 days later five to 10 young are born. The kits, cubs or pups nurse for 10 weeks and are independent at seven months. Breeding occurs in late winter and gestation is about two months. Litter size averages four, and the young stay with their mother until fall. Red and gray foxes don’t hybridize.
“Do crows and gulls have landfill breath?” Yes.
“Are shrews carnivores?” The ones in my yard eat meat, but they’re omnivores. They eat insects, worms, spiders, mice and other small mammals, plant material (like the seeds under my feeders)—anything to stoke their high metabolic rate.
“Do snow buntings dive into the snow to sleep?” They roost in slight scrapes in the snow in open areas. Extreme cold might cause one to roost behind a snowbank. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, extreme conditions of -35°C might cause them to burrow into the snow.
“Is it a good idea to trap squirrels and haul them elsewhere?” Not without asking permission of the owner of the land where you are depositing the bushytails. The owner might not want more squirrels. Relocating squirrels creates an opening for other squirrels to fill and they are always looking for a good territory to move into. It might be easier to deal with the squirrels you know than have to negotiate bird feeder battles with new squirrels with new notions and clever tricks.
Thanks for stopping by
“There's only one age: alive.”—Agnes Varda.
“The most important discoveries will provide answers to questions that we do not yet know how to ask and will concern objects we have not yet imagined.”—John N. Bahcall.
Do good.
©Al Batt 2022
Phish has a song about cluster flies.
Bloviating about birds and nattering about nature on the radio.
This temperature feels warmer than it used to. Wind is a key factor and clothing has improved, but I think it’s because my winter chores have diminished with time. I was once in love with snowballs. I threw a snowball on this gelid day. That might have warmed me.
My yard is crammed with Common Redpolls and I couldn’t be happier. It’s as if I’d driven the entire yard to a gas station and said, “Fill ‘er up with redpolls,” which is impossible because there are no full-service gas stations anywhere in my realm.
Pogo (creator Walt Kelly) said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” The local opossums might consider winter an antagonist.
Minnesota State defeated UMary 74-60. Maddy Olson led the scoring with 15 and had 3 steals, Joey Batt had 13 points plus 3 assists & 3 steals, Destinee Bursch added 11 points and Molly Ihle had 4 assists, 3 steals and pulled down 5 rebounds.