This white stork in Hungary delivered its own babies.
Just the thing for when you have company.
A seat of learning at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in Iowa.
Letting Red-headed Woodpeckers know they are welcome.
The Ebony Jewelwing is a damselfly of incredible beauty.
The Ebony Jewelwing is a damselfly of incredible beauty.
An oriole reads the label before eating grape jelly.
An oriole reads the label before eating grape jelly.
It was too hot to be in the hot tub.
A wasp flew a katydid to death’s screen door.
They are Minnesota Twins, too.
They are Minnesota Twins, too.
The goldfinches came for lunch, stayed for dinner.
A female Rose-breasted Grosbeak doesn’t worry about her big bill for lunch.
The red and black of the milkweed beetle may be aposematic (a warning coloration), advertising the beetle as something a predator might not want to eat.
A Red-winged Blackbird singing overtime.
Nothing runs like two deer.
This Tree Swallow is remarkably well-behaved. It hasn’t swallowed a single tree in my yard.
This youngster will soon learn that every groundhog has its day.
As an old basketball player, I try to never miss a bunny — even a lawn bunny like this one.
Things, including House Finches, are looking up.
Things, including House Finches, are looking up.
There is something about upward-curving bills like this one of an American Avocet that intrigues me greatly.
Al Batt: Different things keep birds away from feeders
Al Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society. Email him at SnoEowl@aol.com.
My neighbor Crandall stops by.
“How are you doing?” I ask.
“Everything is nearly copacetic. I’m still living a kale-free existence, but I came down with a nasty cold, as opposed to the good kind of cold. Everyone tells me it’s a terrible time to catch a cold. There is no time to catch a cold that isn’t terrible. For the better part of a week, I slept 16 hours a day! That wasn’t a bad thing. I may not have gotten much work done, but it sure cut down on the number of mistakes I normally make.”
Naturally
A turkey stopped in the middle of the road, appearing to motion that my car should go around. I went around. I’d just heard from a friend who told me that a collision with a raccoon had resulted in $5,600 damage to a car.
The grass whipped in the wind as if it were trying to free itself from its roots. A leggy fawn fought the furious wind. The wind subsided and I listened to a trio of marathon singers — brown thrasher, gray catbird and red-eyed vireo. They may be repetitive, but I never grow weary of hearing them. They are no whip-poor-wills, nocturnal birds with loud, distinctive voices, that can be heard singing long in the night in parts of Minnesota. It’s not uncommon for a “whip” to chant its name 100 times without break.
I watched a groundhog kit and a cottontail rabbit eating dandelions on the lawn. The rabbit was larger than the young woodchuck. Suddenly, the baby groundhog raised up on his rear legs like a miniature grizzly and looked menacingly at the bunny. The rabbit ignored it. The groundhog charged the rabbit. The last I saw of the two is when they were headed around a pass between shrubs and trees.
A rose-breasted grosbeak, American goldfinch and white-breasted nuthatch sunned themselves on a feeder attached to a window. A man told me that in his retirement, he spends more time with his small dog. He and the dog spend 15 minutes each morning staring out the window. The dog points things out with its eyes. They particularly enjoy watching the crows. Crows are always up to something.
American white pelicans flew overhead. Their 9-foot wingspans carry them unusually long distances to forage for food. Fishing trips of 30 miles one-way aren’t uncommon. A man from Clearwater, told me that he’d vacationed in San Diego. He didn’t think he could have ever tired of the nice weather there. He was enjoying an adult beverage at a table outside a cafe, when a brown pelican flew over and made a deposit directly into the man’s glass. Direct deposits aren’t always pleasant things.
I find great joy in seeing Canada anemone, a North American native perennial growing in moist meadows, along wet wood edges, in road ditches and along stream banks. Its white flowers have showy yellow center stamens on long, stalked branches.
June brings summer and is our wettest month of the year. Summer coaxes flowers from the woods to bloom in the open. June is typically when I first see flashing fireflies. Some years, I see them in May, but from the middle of June through July is when I see them most often.
Adult dragonflies on wing become numerous after emerging from their larval stages in the water. I noticed small masses of sticky, frothy bubbles at leaf nodes of plants. The white foam blobs are produced by the nymphs of spittlebugs, which are small insects getting their name from the globs of foamy spit they create along the stems of plants. The foam serves a number of purposes: Protecting the nymph from predators as well as providing the tender nymph with insulation from temperature extremes and low humidity.
Q&A
“Why are there so few birds at my feeders?” If the food isn’t fresh, they stay way. A cat or accipiter (hawk) can keep birds away for short stretches. Typically, what happens this time of year is once the eggs have hatched, the parents of many species move to a high protein diet of insects and other small invertebrates to feed the nestlings. This change in diet eliminates many feeder visits.
“I stopped by a stream in southeastern Minnesota and heard an odd sound that reminded me of a bad banjo player. What could it have been?” It was a green frog. It’s the second largest frog in Minnesota. Only the bullfrog, the largest frog in North America, is larger. The green frog makes a sound like someone plucking a single banjo string.
Thanks for stopping by
“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” — Helen Keller
“Life is a long lesson in humility.” — James M. Barrie
Do good.
This drawing of the Ol’ Birdbrain, also known as Al Batt, was done by Joe Engesser of Red Wing.
The American Robin is a handsome bird.
A red-winged blackbird turns the world into his song
A red-winged blackbird turns the world into his song.#birding
It’s a good thing coots don’t wear shoes, because they would have trouble finding some in their size.
A Turkey Vulture flashes its movie-star good looks.
This African bird, a Cape Thick-knee, was seen at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.
A Golden-breasted Starling seen at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska.
A Golden-breasted Starling seen at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska.
How much wood could a pair of wood ducks chuck if a pair of wood ducks could chuck wood?
How much wood could a pair of wood ducks chuck if a pair of wood ducks could chuck wood?
The female wood duck makes a loud "oo-eek" call when startled.
A goose with a toothache.
You can call it the turtle dove, but the Mourning Dove won’t call you back.
She’s beautiful, but she’s the worst bricklayer I’ve ever hired.
The aftermath of a fateful encounter between a Blue Jay and a Cooper’s Hawk.
It’s 5 a.m. and time to begin my Breeding Bird Survey.
A fawn seen on my oceanfront property here in Minnesota.
He is not only handsome, the male American toad is quite a singer, capable of trilling a lovely tune.
He is not only handsome, the male American toad is quite a singer, capable of trilling a lovely tune.
I’m thankful for many things. One is that a tree swallow accepts this as a tree.#birdwatching
This might be the Ed Grimley of tree swallows.
Ed Grimley was a Martin Short character on SNL.
The world could use more North Dakota.
Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It's the truth, it's "actch'll"
Everything is "satisfactch'll"
From “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.”
The nest of Cedar Waxwings.
A couple of signs that indicate I’d like this neighborhood.
A couple of signs that indicate I’d like this neighborhood.
It’s no bluebird, but seeing an Indigo Bunting makes for a bluebird day.
A baby groundhog at that cute stage — the same stage that every other living thing finds itself.
A Baltimore Oriole is a whistling stunner.
Sarus Cranes at International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Al Batt: June brings with it earliest sunrise and latest sunset of the year
Al Batt: June brings with it earliest sunrise and latest sunset of the year
By Al Batt
Published 9:00 am Saturday, June 15, 2019
Al Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society. Email him at SnoEowl@aol.com.
My neighbor Crandall stops by.
“How are you doing?” I ask.
“Everything is nearly copacetic. I’ve been walking a mile each day. That may not seem like much, but it means I’m doing more than a marathon each month. Yay me.”
Naturally
I walked between stops at blooming flowers. I thought they would never blossom, but they did. I need to maintain the faith of the flowers. A multitude of loud motorcycles motored by. Once they had gone past, I heard the snort of a deer. A doe had been spooked from its hiding place. The deer forcibly expelled air through its nostrils. It does this when it detects danger. I watched a flock of Canada geese flying north. I see them on this molt migration during late May and early June each year. The geese, too young to mate or without goslings, fly northward to safe places where they undergo an eclipse molt that includes the loss of flight feathers, which grounds the birds for four or five weeks.
June brings us the earliest sunrise and latest sunset of the year, according to Sunrise-Sunset. On June 14 the sunrise is at 5:32:15. The latest sunset is on June 26 at 8:59:14.
Q&A
“What are some plants that grow under a walnut tree?” Black walnuts produce a chemical called juglone, which occurs in all parts of the tree. Plants with some tolerance to juglone include: serviceberry, dogwood, arborvitae, barberry, sumac, black raspberry, elderberry, onion, beet, melon, squash, carrot, beans, corn, plum, yarrow, hosta, hollyhock, Jack-in-the-pulpit, iris, wild ginger, shasta daisy, aster, lobelia, begonia, Virginia bluebell, monarda, daffodil, primrose, spring beauty, crocus, phlox, Dutchman’s breeches, Mayapple, Solomon’s seal, purple coneflower, bloodroot, sedum, gentian, geranium, spiderwort, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, trillium, tulip, violet and zinnia.
“I saw mallards in temporary wetland in a field. Why were they all drakes?” It’s because the hens are incubating eggs. The males offer no assistance to their mates.
“Why shouldn’t I use red dye in hummingbird nectar?” I’m not sure there is solid research proving that red dye is harmful to hummingbirds, but hummingbird feeders have red parts that attract the birds, so red dye is unnecessary and potentially harmful pending ongoing studies. If your feeder has no red color, tie a red ribbon to it. Four parts water to one part white sugar makes a suitable homemade nectar.
“How fast can a rabbit run?” The eastern cottontail can run at speeds around 20 mph. Each year about 80 percent of Minnesota’s cottontail population dies from weather, predators or disease. The remaining 20 percent repopulate the state. Rabbits feed on the young leaves of the milkweeds growing in our yard. That behavior is very un-Easter Bunny-like. But then E.B., that’s what his friends call him, is the most famous rabbit.
Rosemary Ludowese writes that there were so many birds in her yard and wondered why. I spend a lot of time at airports. When bad weather hits, people mill around the airport, eating and waiting for the weather gods to smile upon them so they could fly again. I think birds were under the same conditions this spring.
“How much does weather affect insect numbers?” What impacts insect populations isn’t so much how cold winter gets, but spring’s nastiness. Some migrate, but most insects overwinter as eggs, larvae, pupae or adults in microhabitats. If the temperature warms early, insects get a fast start. If cold temperatures persevere into spring, insects miss some population cycles.
Albert Lea Audubon Preserve
I birded the preserve at the end of Oregon Street in Albert Lea. The birding was good, it always is. It was so good, I was five minutes late getting to an Audubon meeting. Albert Lea Audubon began in 1948. Charter members were: Clayton Wulff, Mrs. Chauncy Carlson, Millicent Kelts, Mr. & Mrs. Frank Barlow, Mrs. Charles Vanderberge, Mr. & Mrs. M. Emanuel, Vankirk Carlson, George Palmer, Maude Koevening and Charles Flugum. Olive Johnson joined soon after. In 1987, the Joyce Petersen estate bequeathed a 10-acre former apple orchard to Albert Lea Audubon. Audubon purchased six lots to add to the Preserve in 1989. Members of the initial Preserve committee were: Skipper Berg, Mary Ann Dixon, Dorothy Wedge, Bill and Arlene Bryson, and Arne Aakre. Take a walk at the Preserve. No charge. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll see.
Birding with Batt
Please join me for some nature talk every Tuesday at 10 a.m. on KMSU radio, 89.7 on the FM dial in Mankato or 91.3 in Austin — also heard on the TuneIn app. Past shows are available at soundcloud.com/kmsu.
Thanks for stopping by
“The place to observe nature is where you are; the walk to take today is the walk you took yesterday. You will not find just the same things: both the observed and the observer have changed.” — John Burroughs
“Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.” — Isak Dinesen
Do good.
© Al Batt 2019
The orchard oriole is the smallest of the North American oriole species.
A thoughtful male Northern Flicker. At least I think he’s being thoughtful.
All hail the mighty sunflower seed.
A day without a chickadee is like a day without a chickadee. I couldn’t think of anything else it would be like being without.
Blue-winged teal are generally the first ducks heading south in the fall and the last arriving in the north in the spring.
Blue-winged teal are generally the first ducks heading south in the fall and the last arriving in the north in the spring.
Flamingo dancers.
A catbird has a sweet beak.
A Black Crowned Crane enchanting visitors to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Blue Cranes looking out for one another at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.#birds
I got the look from a Black-necked Crane at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Rain falls on everything, even Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.
Rain falls on everything, even Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.
An orchard oriole enjoys a bit of grape jelly.
May brings the Harris’s Sparrows. Yet another reason to love that month.
The catbird begins singing outside my bedroom at 4 each morning.
A tree swallow peers at the sky for prey and predator.
A tree swallow peers at the sky for prey and predator.
Fake owls frightened together by real ducks.
A red-winged blackbird tries to eat and sing at the same time.
This yellow-headed blackbird found something for lunch.
A Great Horned Owl nest in April.
Whooping Crane at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
This house wren just dropped a nesting-material stick.
Tree Swallows will use large feathers in their nests.
A thirsty deer.
A tree swallow peers at the sky for prey and predator.
A tree swallow peers at the sky for prey and predator.
It’s a bluebird day.
A Great Horned Owl nest in April.
Proud of Joey Batt
As seen on a hoodie.
Rock on!
The new neighbors (tree swallows) seem nice.
A catbird dances to music only it can hear.
A raccoon is a trash-diving omnivore extraordinaire.
This Great Crested Flycatcher makes a call that sounds as if it’s accusing me of being a creep. I hope the bird isn’t a keen judge of character.
This Great Crested Flycatcher makes a call that sounds as if it’s accusing me of being a creep. I hope the bird isn’t a keen judge of character.
This red-tailed hawk makes sure every vole comes to a complete stop.
A fawn hiding in plain sight.
Sunny days are made for squirrel naps.
I had no frog in my throat, but there was a frog on my forefinger.
Al Batt: How old do deer fawns need to be before they can learn to walk?
by Al Batt, albertleatribune.com
June 8, 2019 09:00 AM
Al Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society. Email him at SnoEowl@aol.com.
My neighbor Crandall stops by.
“How are you doing?” I ask.
“Everything is nearly copacetic. I haven’t eaten any black jelly beans or eye of newt recently and the zombies have left me alone. I have a diversified investment portfolio — debt and lottery tickets. I went to Mel’s Repair, where all cars will be Mel adjusted. It was Brake Pad Day. That’s quite a celebration. Mel talked me into joining Bump Whistlebritches in entertaining at The Home. I played my guitar and yodeled a bit. Afterwards, I talked to a lady there who was ailing. I told her that I hoped she’d get better. She replied, ‘I hope you get better, too.’”
Naturally
In the dooryard, I watched warblers feed on caterpillars feeding on leaflets as toads trilled the background music. I appreciated the blooms of wild plum, lilac, serviceberry (Juneberry), cherry and crabapple. I saw the silken nests of eastern tent caterpillars in the forks of the branches of apple, chokecherry, crabapple, plum and cherry trees in May and June. The larvae feed on leaves, sometimes defoliating trees, but generally don’t affect tree health. The hairy larvae have blue, black and orange markings, a white stripe down the back, and a series of hairs sticking out from the sides of their bodies. Two inches long when fully grown, eastern tent caterpillars feed on tree leaves during the day and remain in their tents at night and during rainy weather.
A catbird, slim and slate-gray, produced jumbled songs that mimicked other birds. I heard a robin caroling. Donald Kroodsma, in his book “The Singing Life of Birds,” wrote, “Anyone who listens thoughtfully to robins can’t help but bubble with questions about why robins are the way they are.” Kroodsma found that each male robin has 10 to 20 different, whistled “caroling” phrases and 75-100 varied, high-pitched “hisselly” phrases. The familiar daytime song consists of caroling phrases that sound like, “Cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up.” At dawn and dusk, the bird often tosses in hisselly phrases.
I watched an American redstart female gather plant fibers for nesting material along Albert Lea Lake. A boy told me redstarts were junior orioles. A correspondent from Mankato told me about a shopper at Aldi’s who had bought three cases of grape jelly. The orioles in that person’s neighborhood were eating well.
I attended an outdoor church service at a state park when a hooded warbler landed on one of the pews. It was the first time I’d gone to church with a hooded warbler. Hallelujah!
The gnats have been terrible. Vanilla extract or vanilla essentials oil seem to repel the little buggers. Some people mix it with water and use it in a spray bottle. The gnats will leave you alone, but people will be attracted to you because they think you’ve been baking.
I watched birds at Myre-Big Island State Park, Afton State Park, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Cheyenne Bottoms, Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, Hamden Slough National Wildlife Refuge, Switzer Ranch, Buffalo River State Park, Geneva Lake, Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area, Rasmussen Woods, Albert Lea Lake, Steinberg Nature Center, Walnut Lake State Wildlife Management Area, etc. I birded so much, I feel incomplete without binoculars hanging around my neck.
Q&A
Harp Bartness of Hartland asked how old a fawn is before it can walk. Fawns are able to stand within 10 minutes of birth and can walk in 7 hours. They are left alone daily while their mothers go off to forage. Fawns stay with their mother through the winter.
Daniel Otten of Hayward asked what birds feed on orange halves.
Baltimore orioles, gray catbirds, red-bellied woodpeckers, brown thrashers, scarlet tanagers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, house finch and others.
Customer comment
Mark Christenson of Columbia Heights wrote, “When the Smothers Brothers were on TV, they had Pat Paulsen as a candidate for the presidency. His best line was, ‘I’m not right winged or left winged, I’m kind of like I’m in the middle of the bird.’”
Pelican Breeze
Please join me as I host cruises on Albert Lea Lake on the prepossessing Pelican Breeze boarding at Frank Hall Park Boat Landing in Albert Lea. The cruises are at 1:30 p.m. June 23, July 28, August 25 and September 29. For more information, call 507-383-7273.
Thanks for stopping by
“I should dearly love that the world should be ever so little better for my presence. Even on this small stage we have our two sides, and something might be done by throwing all one’s weight on the scale of breadth, tolerance, charity, temperance, peace, and kindliness to man and beast. We can’t all strike very big blows, and even the little ones count for something.” — Arthur Conan Doyle
“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.” — Hal Borland
Do good.
(c) Al Batt
Purple martins and fashionably up-to-date gourds.
Purple martins and fashionably up-to-date gourds.
“The sunsets come, the sunsets go.
The clouds pile high, the air moves slow.
And the young bird’s eyes do always know.”
Lyrics by It’s A Beautiful Day.
It’s always a plumb pleasure for me to see a cedar waxwing.
An oriole and an orange go together like copy and paste.
The bill color difference between a drake and a hen mallard is striking.
The bill color difference between a drake and a hen mallard is striking.
A jelly jar feeder is a popular item.
Tiger beetles are fast runners and amazing sights.
John Burroughs, a great American naturalist and writer, compared columbine to flowers of flame.
A Jack-in-the-pulpit grows the imagination.
The berries from a chokecherry (or bitter-berry) make a great jelly.
This chipmunk was chipping as if it had chopped down the tree.
Al Batt: Slugs part of diet for several creatures (not including naturalists)
Al Batt: Slugs part of diet for several creatures (not including naturalists)
Al Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society. Email him at SnoEowl@aol.com.
My neighbor Crandall stops by.
“How are you doing?” I ask.
“Everything is nearly copacetic. I stopped at a cafe in Iowa. It has great food, but I hadn’t been there for a long time. I told the waitress that it’d been over five years since I’d first come in there. She said, ‘I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait your turn. I can wait on only one table at a time.’”
Naturally
I smelled the lilacs. I love the smell of lilacs in the morning. It has weight. Some find the fragrance cloying, but I find it heavenly and memory-producing. I try to inhale lilac scents each day they are in bloom. I was pleased that so many birds decided to spend time in my company. Animated birds fed with a vigor larger than their size. Small things are a big part of my life.
I watched a raccoon eat under a bird feeder. A catbird landed on the shepherd’s hook holding the feeder and pooped. Everyone has to go. Its aim was excellent. It was a direct hit on the raccoon, which wasn’t bothered in the least.
It was nice to see dragonflies. I strolled past ferns, recalling transplanting some in the past. That’s best done when new growth first begins to emerge. Dandelion and violet flowers blared silently.
As each year, I saw many yellow-rumped warblers this spring. Autocorrect wants them to be yellow-rumpled warblers. I heard the song of the bobolink. The bird sounded pleased with the world. I saw a good number of black-winged redbirds. Scarlet tanagers. The bird of happiness comes in many colors. As a tanager fed on a window feeder, I made a wish. It seemed like the right thing to do.
An April wind blew hard enough to gnaw rock. The blizzard/ice storm (named Ice Storm Ichabod) knocked down some of our trees. A tree is a bed and breakfast for birds. Trees with architectural problems fell and smashed a number of faithful bird feeders. Replacements were secured. It will be good, but different.
Leading a bird hike at Afton State Park, I saw a pair of ravens. I’d never seen them in that park before.
Paula Comeau, naturalist at Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area near Glyndon, told me that coyotes love to eat wild plums.
A good friend, Carrol Henderson, retired director of the Nongame Wildlife Program of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, is a wonderful guy. He was birding in Guatemala, Columbia or Costa Rica (I’m pretty sure it was one of them, but in this report, it doesn’t matter which one it was) and having an amazing time. He’d just bought a new camera and found it much to his liking. He gave his previous camera, a perfectly good DSLR, and its accompanying tripod to his guide. It made two people very happy.
Q&A
“What eats slugs?” Not me. Things that dine on slugs include: toads, snakes, frogs, ground beetles, turtles, firefly larvae, ducks, chickens and some songbirds.
“How far can Japanese beetles travel?” Japanese beetles can fly in from as far away as five miles.
“I walked in a forest at daybreak. How do birds decide who sings first?” Birds at the top of the forest canopy would sing first during the dawn chorus because the light reaches them first. Birds with the largest eyes would be the first to sing at all the levels, as the big eyes let more light in allowing them to see better in low light.
“Why do we feed just grape jelly to the orioles?” Orioles aren’t very picky when it comes to jelly. I’ve been told that Baltimore orioles enjoy the grape flavor because it tastes similar to the dark, ripe fruits they eat. Jelly feeders attract other birds: gray catbirds, woodpeckers, scarlet tanagers, house finches, rose-breasted grosbeaks and others. Orioles eat orange marmalade, apricot preserves or cherry, strawberry, apple and raspberry jams or jellies. Jellies and jams are both made of fruit, sugar and pectin. In jelly, the fruit is in the form of juice. Jam is a chunkier form containing pulp or crushed fruit. I stopped at a store to get grape jelly. The grape jelly shelves were bare and the back room lacked any. I was in a bit of a rush, so I bought the only jelly they had available — strawberry. I put it into the feeders and the birds snarfed it down in record time.
Thanks for stopping by
“Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art.” — Izaak Walton
“A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.” — Alexander Pope
Do good.
A black-winged redbird perches on a branch. - Al Batt/Albert Lea Tribune
I put the snow shovel away. Winter is officially over.
The Rolling Stones sang, “Little girls, and boys come out to play
Bring your dandelions to blow away
Dandelion don't tell no lies
Dandelion will make you wise
Tell me if she laughs or cries
Blow away dandelion, blow away dandelion.”
Orange plus grape jelly equals scarlet tanager.
An American Redstart — the Halloween Bird.
An American Redstart — the Halloween Bird.
Blue on green.
Indigo Bunting.
Flowers enough to make a bee smile.
Flowers enough to make a bee smile.
Thanks to signage, identification was made easy.
Wilson’s Phalaropes at a spin class. The females are more colorful than the males. They spin in circles to create whirlpools that suck food to the water’s surface.
Wilson’s Phalaropes at a spin class. The females are more colorful than the males. They spin in circles to create whirlpools that suck food to the water’s surface.
Karate class for geese.
I canoed the Missouri River. My alarm clocks were the Western Kingbirds. They had no snooze alarms to punch.
Sunrise on a Kansas swamp.
Black-bellied Whistling-ducks I enjoyed seeing in Kansas.
