Naturally
Crows relish their positions as prime annoyers. They were bothering something in the yard. The blue jays assumed the position of assistant annoyers. Crows are omnivores and will eat anything I’d eat plus most things I wouldn’t eat.
American goldfinches molt twice a year—once in late winter and again in late summer. The brightening yellow of male goldfinches each spring is a welcome sign.
Jack and Rita Korman of Alden saw a single robin on February 21. The resourceful robin can take the cold and snow as long as it can find food. The winter movement of the nomadic flocks of robins depends on weather and food supply. Fruit is the robin's prime winter food source. They find sustenance in ornamental fruit trees, hackberry trees, buckthorn and other sources. Migrating male robins typically arrive here before the females. Robins tend to follow the 37-degree average daily isotherm in spring migration. This is because their food becomes available and not because the robins themselves need warm temperatures. As the ground thaws in the spring, they switch to earthworms and insects. Most robins wait to sing until they arrive on their breeding territories. Although their return depends upon the weather, southern robins are usually here by mid-March.
Q&A
“What do mallards eat in the winter?” They are omnivorous and opportunistic. During the breeding season, they eat mostly animals—including insects, larvae, aquatic invertebrates (snails and freshwater shrimp) and earthworms. Otherwise, their diet plan is predominately seeds, acorns, aquatic vegetation and cereal crops. Agricultural foods dominate a mallard’s diet during autumn migration and in winter, depending on the relative availability of natural foods.
“I saw what looked like a fuzzy sock hanging from a branch of a cottonwood tree. I’m assuming it’s made by a bird but what kind?” It sounds like a Baltimore oriole nest. The female weaves a pouch-like, hanging nest from grass, bark, wool, fiber, hair and recycled nest materials. The nests, about four inches deep from stem to stern, are surprisingly durable structures.
“The cardinals in my yard look brighter than they did most of the winter. Are they molting?” Northern cardinals molt and grow new feathers in late summer to early fall. Many of the new feathers are tipped in gray. Those feather tips wear off over the fall and winter, revealing the brilliant red that male cardinals are famous for. A European starling loses its stars, which some say gives the bird its name, but I suspect its name derived from the star-shaped silhouette of the bird in flight—a little star. The stars are sprinkled over its winter plumage and the white tips dotting its feathers wear off with time.
Eric Steinmetz of Mankato asked if there are any lark species in the United States. There are two types of larks found in North America—the horned lark and the uncommon Eurasian skylark. Only the horned lark is a native lark and it’s found throughout the continent. The Eurasian skylark was introduced repeatedly to North America and a declining population is found on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and it’s a probable breeder in the western Aleutian Islands of Alaska. A group of larks is called a bevy, ascension, happiness and, most famously, an exaltation thanks to James Lipton’s book on collective nouns, “An Exaltation of Larks.” That book coaxed other books into carrying that title. Meadowlarks aren’t larks, but are members of the blackbird family.
The first national wildlife refuge
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, golden plovers were hunted with abandon and without restriction. In the spring of 1821, hunters near New Orleans shot about 48,000 of them in a single day. In the 1850s in Portland, Maine, hunters sold dead plovers for 25 cents a dozen, many of these splendid birds spoiling before being sold. Birds of all kinds needed places to hide. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt designated Florida's Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge as the first wildlife refuge. Today, there are 567 national wildlife refuges and 38 wetland management districts that make up 95 million acres of land. Thank goodness.
Thanks for stopping by
“The lasting pleasures of contact with the natural world are not reserved for scientists but are available to anyone who will place himself under the influence of earth, sea and sky and their amazing life.”—Rachel Carson.
“The mark of the educated man is not in his boast that he has built his mountain of facts and stood on the top of it, but in his admission that there may be other peaks in the same range with men on the top of them, and that, though their views of the landscape may be different from his, they are nonetheless legitimate.”—E.J. Pratt.
Do good.
©Al Batt 2022
The horned lark is at home on a flat, treeless terrain with short grass. Yet, I never saw a single one on “Gunsmoke.” They are frequently seen feeding on the graveled sides of rural roads. The gravel catches seeds for the birds to eat. Mighty nice of the gravel to do that. Photo by Al Batt
A Baltimore Oriole weaves a nifty nest with her beak, her feet and a set of architectural plans. Photo by Al Batt.
No nattering nabob of negativism, but a nattering nimrod of nature on the radio.
The Minnesota State Mavericks are going to the NCAA tournament. YAY!!!
The Minnesota State Mavericks on their way to Kansas.
The nation’s 4th-ranked Fort Hays State, playing at home, defeated Minnesota State 67-61. Joey Batt had 21 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, becoming the 5th Maverick in program history to score 20 points or more in an NCAA tournament game. Destinee Bursch scored 12 and Taylor Theusch added 11 points.