Naturally
I saw several inert bodies of wild turkeys hit by cars. The big birds can be stubborn when it comes to surrendering a road. I’ve fond memories of spreading my fingers and outlining them in pencil on construction paper to create a make-believe turkey in grade school.
Northern shrikes migrate south from the arctic to Minnesota for the winter. Slightly smaller than a blue jay, it has a distinctive black mask and noticeable white patches on the wings in flight. Shrikes are predatory songbirds, catching insects, small birds, small mammals and reptiles. They impale their prey on the thorns of trees.
A chipmunk appeared to have impacted wisdom teeth. A chipmunk’s cheek pouches are like cargo pants and can expand up to three times their normal size to allow the chipmunk to carry food. National Geographic reports that a hardworking chipmunk can gather 165 acorns in a single day. In his book “Winter World,” Bernd Heinrich counted 60 sunflower seeds packed into one cheek pouch. In a good year, one 4-ounce chipmunk can stockpile 8 pounds of food and do it without renting a single storage unit. Caching food allows an industrious chipmunk to snack while watching Netflix on nasty winter days. I’ve heard from a reader who reported one chipmunk stuffing 31 corn kernels before taking its food to go. An interesting fact: Most chipmunks are named Chip, Dale, Alvin, Simon or Theodore.
A New York Times article said scientists at the University of Hong Kong published the most complete census of ants ever assembled. The study estimated there are at least 20 quadrillion—20,000,000,000,000,000—ants on Earth, about 2.5 million ants for every human.
The Thanksgiving opossum
It was a beautiful photo that had outgrown its frame. Three deer and a Virginia opossum showed up under the feeders. The opossum is nearsighted, suffers in cold weather (tail and ears are subject to frostbite) and plays dead or ‘possum for up to 4 hours when threatened. It’s an omnivore with 50 teeth that eats ticks, slugs, mice and rats. I love seeing an opossum, often called a ‘possum, because it’s one more interesting thing for me to look at and I’m thankful for that.
Q&A
“Are bluebirds here in the winter?” Eastern bluebirds are occasionally present in the winter months, primarily in the central and southern regions of Minnesota. The Iowa DNR said up to a third of its bluebirds stay in Iowa. Red cedar, Virginia creeper, sumac, bittersweet, hackberry and hawthorn are native plants that feed wintering bluebirds.
Jena Kauffmann asked for advice on safe bird feeders to make at home—Pinecones with peanut butter? Is lard a safe alternative? Anything harmful we should know? Pinecone feeders are great. Feeders made from cans, milk cartons or jugs, orange halves, etc. are limited only by the imagination. Make homemade suet with equal parts lard and peanut butter, melting and mixing them over low heat. You could add a variety of ingredients to this mixture: Black-oil sunflower seeds, unsalted nuts, dried fruit, peanut butter, cornmeal or flour, other kinds of birdseed or rolled oats. Avoid bacon grease, table scraps, meat, salted nuts and sugar. Keep the blend refrigerated until you’re ready to use it.
Arlene Kjar of Northfield suggested I write about discerning house finches from purple finches. The two closely related species are sparrow-sized with stout bills. I could fill a column on this subject, but I’ll go with what I hope proves useful. Most males can be distinguished by the shade of red, with a house finch tending to have an orangish tint and a purple finch appearing wine-red. This can be helpful, but ambiguous. Females can be distinguished by the contrasting dark and light markings on purple finches, including a light eyebrow stripe, and the muted gray-brown coloration on house finches. Look for a slight headband effect (peak) on the head of a purple finch and a smoothly rounded head on a house finch. A purple finch has a distinct notch at the tip, while a house finch has a longer tail that is slightly notched. A purple finch has a broad-shouldered look and a house finch looks slimmer. A good method of telling the male finches apart is to look at the birds’ lower flanks (below the wings to the tail). If the flanks are streaked with brown, it’s a male house finch. If the flanks are white with a hint of pink, it’s a male purple finch, which has a cloudy white belly. To my mind, purple finches are calmer at the feeders.
Thanks for stopping by
“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”—Robert Lynd.
“Modern man has lost the option of silence.”—William S. Burroughs.
Do good.
©️Al Batt 2022
I think the Virginia opossum is cute. I don’t hold the majority opinion. Photo by Al Batt.