Naturally
A squirrel barked behind a tree full of leaves. It was hopped up on acorn juice and angry because I’d filed a restraining order against it, which said the squirrel must maintain a distance of at least 100 feet from my feeders.
I may wish upon a chickadee, but every bird is notable. A hairy woodpecker looks more like a woodpecker than a downy does. Mourning doves flew on the wings of a dove and robins were engaged in worm hunts. I watched a mini-murmuration of starlings. It was Daylight Starling Time. An American kestrel repeated "killy, killy, killy." Falcons are more closely related to parrots than they are to hawks and eagles.
I walked in the yard where insect bites, stings and nibbles were at a minimum, and a tiger swallowtail butterfly came within a coat of paint of landing on me. I was that close to becoming a wildflower. It was my happiest day since the two candy bars fell out of the vending machine at the same time. It may have been a butterfly, but it was the bee’s knees and it thrilled me as much as sinking a game-winning free throw during a basketball game. I have a kindly version of the chaos theory. A swallowtail flaps its wings in my yard and causes me to roll a smile out of my arsenal.
It was dinner theater. I made a great march to the Great Marsh of Myre-Big Island State Park. A fellow walker told me he’d shot a nuthatch when he was a boy and didn’t even know what it was. That act still bothered him. I watched a sit-and-wait predator, a green heron at a spot where small fish or frogs are. The heron remained still until it shot its head forward to grab prey with its dagger-like bill. A green heron sometimes picks up bait with its bill—a twig, feather, leaf or insect. The heron drops the bait into the water and waits for the fish to come to investigate.
It’s a seasonal convergence. Look for the common nighthawk migration in the sky on a warm evening in late August. Common nighthawks are 10-inch long, dark birds with long, pointed wings and white wing patches. They feed on flying insects while on their way to winter in South America. They nest on flat, gravel rooftops in cities.
The population of monarch butterflies in North America has declined 22% to 72% over 10 years, depending on the method of measurement. A male monarch can be distinguished from a female by a black scent gland on each hind wing of a male. Minnesota’s state butterfly nectars on swamp milkweed, butterfly weed, Joe Pye weed, bee balm, purple coneflower, asters, blazing stars, giant purple hyssop and Mexican sunflower (a native of Central America and Mexico). The monarchs here in late August and September fly to a small area of forested mountains in south-central Mexico, west of Mexico City, where they roost on oyamel fir trees. For many, their summer and winter homes are over 2,000 miles apart. The monarch migration west of the Rockies is a shorter one to the California coast.
Donald Mitchell, a noted hummingbird bander plying his trade at the Henderson Hummingbird Hurrah, said his favorite flower to attract hummingbirds is the cardinal plant, which is easy to grow, is tall, grows in soggy areas and tolerates shade. The hummingbird plant he favors for growing in a container is salvia.
Q&A
“What is a grinny?” A chipmunk.
“Other than monarchs, what butterflies migrate?” Other species believed to do some kind of migration include the painted lady, cloudless sulphur, gulf fritillary, American lady, red admiral, common buckeye, question mark and mourning cloak. The painted lady is the most widespread butterfly species, occupying all continents except Antarctica and Australia. The ones living in Southern Europe migrate to Africa each fall, crossing the Sahara on their journey. With a flight back to Europe, the roundtrip is an annual journey of about 7,500 miles. In the US, their migration patterns are irregular.
“Was the baseball team named after the Baltimore orioles or vice versa?” The MLB team adopted the bird’s name and colors, and the bird got its name from George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, a 17th-century nobleman whose coat of arms used the same colors.
“What eats acorns?” Squirrels, deer, blue jays, crows, wild turkeys, black bears, wood ducks, ruffed grouse, mice, chipmunks, rabbits, opossums, quail, raccoons and red-headed woodpeckers.
Thanks for stopping by
“Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”―Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
“Forgiveness is a gift of high value. Yet
its cost is nothing.”―Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Do good.
©Al Batt 2022
A red admiral butterfly. Photo by Al Batt
This is a painted lady, sometimes known as a thistle butterfly. Photo by Al Batt.
The Batt family money clip. I’ll be passing this precious heirloom onto my grandchildren.
