Naturally
I watched through my binoculars as a crow flew down to a rural road and picked up a McDonald’s bag and flew away with it. I hoped it was a gift-wrapped french fry. Earlier, I’d seen a pair dive-bombing a squirrel carrying food. The crows wanted the squirrel to become a bird feeder.
I was watching a chickadee drink water from the tip of a melting icicle hanging from a shed’s metal roof on a sunny day when a murmuration of starlings flew over. It’s called a murmuration because of the collective sound produced by the flock’s wingbeats.
A woman at First Presbyterian in Mankato told me a David and Goliath story. A pileated woodpecker was dining at a feeder when a tiny downy woodpecker flew in, pecked in the general direction of the big woodpecker, which flew away.
During a Christmas Bird Count, a feeder of birds said, “Stupid birds don’t know enough to go south for the winter.” My smile might have been too wide. “I know,” he said. “They’re no smarter than I am.
National Geographic writer Doug Chadwick’s book, “Four-Fifths a Grizzly” reinforces humanity’s fundamental relationship with, and reliance on nature, plus the close relationship between human DNA and that of grizzly bears, with whom we share 80% of our DNA. We’re 60% similar to a salmon and 40% the same as many insects.
Q&A
“What time of the year do squirrels breed?” Fox squirrels breed from December to February and June through July, eastern gray squirrels from December to February and/or June through August, flying squirrels in early spring and red squirrels in late winter. The Ojibwe call red squirrels "ajidamo." Black squirrels are a melanistic color phase of the gray. According to a 1990 study, black squirrels were the dominant color of the eastern gray squirrel prior to European settlement. As the country grew along with increased hunting pressure (black squirrels were easier for hunters to spot than the gray), the population became grayer. Gray squirrels inhabited large tracts of woodland and forest in the eastern U.S. but by the 1870s, they were introduced to American parks to provide people with a wildlife experience. According to the DNR, a gray squirrel can hide 25 nuts in 30 minutes and can find roughly 80% of them later.
“Why is it called Kitty Hawk?” I’ve worked in North Carolina's Outer Banks and visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial. The area was chosen for its high, treeless hills ideal for launching the glider and broad sand beaches for soft landings. Orville made the first successful flight on December 17, 1903, but Wilbur had won the coin toss on December 14 for who’d make the first attempt. Wilbur's effort was unsuccessful, so when they tried again on December 17, it was Orville's turn. Most people agree the Native American name for the place appeared on English settlers’ maps as Chickehawk, Chickahawk or Chickenhauk in the 1700s. Settlers, confounded by the spelling, filed land deeds referencing Kittyhuk, Kittyhark, KittyHawk, and Kitty Hawk. Kitty Hawk is credited as the home of the Wright Brothers’ first flight, but it took place in neighboring Kill Devil Hills, which wasn’t incorporated until 50 years later.
Mike Rucker of Lake Wilson asked how many female songbirds sing and how many nesting bald eagles there are in Minnesota. For a long time, birdsong was considered a male trait. It’s true that in some species, only male birds sing, but in others, both sexes sing. In research done in 2014, 71% of the females (of the 323 songbird species studied) sang. Males are often louder and more observable. Some common female birds that sing include the cardinal, rose-breasted grosbeak, American goldfinch, Baltimore oriole, junco, house wren, house finch and barn swallow. I don’t have the total nesting pair count for 2021, but I have other years. In the 1960s, there were about 100 pairs of nesting bald eagles in Minnesota. In 1972, DDT was banned. In 1973, there were 149 nesting pairs, 181 in 1980, 1312 in 2005, 2300 in 2007, and 2017 showed 9800 nesting pairs of eagles.
Thanks for stopping by
“I would not enter on my list of friends, / (Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense, / Yet wanting sensibility) the man / Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.”—William Cowper.
“If a man would register all his opinions upon love, politics, religion, learning, etc., beginning from his youth and so go on to old age, what a bundle of inconsistencies and contradictions would appear at last!”—Jonathan Swift.
Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

This photo was posted in an earlier column, asking which accipiter it is. Is it a Cooper’s or sharp-shinned hawk? Coop’s have sturdy legs with large feet seeming capable of breaking pencils. Sharpies have legs as thin as pencils. A sharpie’s eyes are in the middle of its head, giving it a bug-eyed look. A Coop’s eyes are nearer to the front of its head. Juveniles of both species have yellowish eyes, adults red. A safe answer might be to say it’s either a shooper’s hawk or a carp-shinned hawk, but it’s a young Cooper’s hawk. Photo by Al Batt

Hadley Batt tossed in 21 points to lead New Ulm JV to a victory over St. James.

Short-handed Minnesota State led by seven points, but St. Cloud State finished the game on a 33-12 run to claim a 66-52 victory. Maddy Olson led the Mavericks with 20 points, Destinee Bursch added 11 points and Joey Batt had 8 points, 4 assists and 4 steals.

This might be my favorite T-shirt to wear while birding.

Be polite, ask a squirrel if it wants to move to a new address; winter is for the birds or at least some of them; and telling shooper’s hawks from carp-shinned hawks. Nature talk on the radio.

Minnesota State defeated Bemidji State 72-68 to retain first place. Joey Batt (#1) led the Mavericks with 22 points and 5 assists. Maddy Olson and Destinee Bursch added 13 points each, and Mikayla Nachazel had 7 rebounds.

Minnesota State defeated Bemidji State 72-68. Joey Batt (#1) led the Mavericks with 22 points and 5 assists. Maddy Olson and Destinee Bursch added 13 points each, and Mikayla Nachazel had 7 rebounds.