Who is that hoot owl?

Naturally
 It's sprinter. Part spring, part winter.
 Chickadees, nuthatches, jays and some woodpeckers cache food. The success of this scatter-hoarding depends on the birds' spatial memories to find cached food.
 I'll miss being along the Platte River in Nebraska for the sandhill crane migration this year. It's the greatest wildlife spectacle I've ever witnessed. Rowe Audubon Sanctuary in Minden and the Crane Trust in Wood River are marvelous resources. The crane counts by the Crane Trust are found at https://cranetrust.org/ and a crane cam at Rowe can be accessed at
https://explore.org/livecams/national-audubon-society/crane-camera
 The light was fading as I noticed from my window how the sun had warmed the dark bark of trees enough to cause the snow to melt in a circle around the trunk of each tree. There was an incident at dusk under a bird feeding station in my yard. A raccoon, likely a kit (cub) from last year, became inquisitive about a skunk. The skunk gave a proper warning. It arched its back, raised its tail high like a flag, turned sideways, hopped and stamped its front feet. The raccoon must have thought it was playtime or the skunk was oddly behaving food. It got too close. I watched from my office window and was about to bang on the glass to scare them off, but I couldn't stop watching. I became a gawker. The skunk sprayed and the raccoon lumbered off. The putrid odor found entry into the friendly confines of my office. There was an opossum nearby, but it wasn't involved in the hostilities. Neither raccoons nor skunks are hibernators, but sleep through the coldest weather.
 A small flock of rusty blackbirds showed up in the yard. Johnny Cash should have thrown a bit of brown into his wardrobe because that color combination sure looks good on a rusty. The birds slogged through wet areas at the edge of our woods, searching for food. I don't imagine they're picky when peckish in March.
Q&A
 "How can I exclude bats from my house without harming them?" To the Navajos, the bat is an intermediary bridging the supernatural distance between men and gods. The bats most commonly found in homes are the little brown bat and the big brown bat. The big brown weighs less than an ounce and has a wingspan of 13 inches. Big brown bats tolerate colder winter temperatures and are active later in the fall than little browns, which are likely to hibernate in caves where the temperatures stay above freezing. Big brown bats successfully hibernate in caves or buildings. Examine your home for holes that might allow bats entry into your living quarters. Drape bird netting or plastic screen or sheeting over the outside entry points. The netting should extend several inches above, 1 foot to the sides and 2 feet below the opening. Tape or staple the top and sides of the netting to the structure, leaving the bottom open, allowing bats to crawl out. Don't stretch the netting too taut or the bats won't be able to leave. When the bats return from feeding, they'll land on the netting close to the hole but can't enter. Bats won't chew through the netting. Leave the netting in place for a week before caulking any openings larger than a quarter-inch by a half-inch. Avoid doing this from May through August because of the possibility of there being young bats.
 "Thank you for identifying the bird for me. How did a Eurasian collared-dove end up in my yard?" The sandy brown bird with a black collar was brought to the Bahamas in the 1970s. Escapees from pet shops there found their way to Florida in 1982. Their goal was to make it to your yard. They were first seen in Minnesota in 1998 and were in Alaska by 2006.
 "What is a hoot owl?" I reckon it could be any owl that gives a hoot. The distinctive call of the barred owl is "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?" It's commonly called a hoot owl.
 "Why is the bufflehead called the spirit duck?" It came from the bufflehead’s ability to dive to safety as soon as it saw the flash of an old muzzleloader. A. C. Bent wrote in his "Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl" in 1925, “It can often succeed in diving at the flash of a gun and thus escape being shot.”
 "Why are beaver teeth orange?" It's not from eating Cheetos. Beaver have long incisors that are orange from an iron-rich protective coating of enamel. 
 "Where are your favorite birding places?" My yard, local parks, trails and preserves, nature centers and Sax-Zim Bog.
Thanks for stopping by
 "To see things in the seed, that is genius." – Lao Tzu
 "Whenever you’re wrong, admit it; whenever you’re right, shut up." — Ogden Nash
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2021

 

A rusty blackbird looks like a blackbird that is rusty. Photo by Al Batt

A rusty blackbird looks like a blackbird that is rusty. Photo by Al Batt

Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska.

Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska.

Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska.

Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska.

Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska.

Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska.

The naked, silent trees have taught me this

Naturally
 I survived the stretch of -20° weather and it looks as if you did, too. That's good news. Those kinds of temperatures are the ones we'll be telling someone about this summer.
 I hear little about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb or vice versa. Maybe it comes in like a cardinal? There were four cardinals in a hawthorn tree in my yard. I'm still celebrating. I've seen more than that in a tree before, but never at my place.
 I saw robins. The vast majority of robins move south in the winter. However, some stick around — and move around. Fruit is the robin's winter food source. As the ground thaws in the spring, they switch to earthworms and insects. While robins may arrive when the average daily temperature isotherms reach 37°, it's because their food becomes available, not because the robins need warm temperatures. Because some overwinter here, they might not be a true harbinger of spring, but I do enjoy seeing them bob, bob, bobbing along.
 I spotted a muskrat doing a walkabout. Perhaps it had run out of food and was forced to venture from its house. Muskrats aren't rats and they (2 to 4 pounds) are much smaller than beavers (30-70 pounds).
 I looked at a garden catalog that came in the mail and pictured the birds a garden brings with it. It seems as if every garden has a song sparrow to keep it company. E. B. White wrote, "The song sparrow, who knows how brief and lovely life is, says, Sweet, sweet, sweet interlude; sweet, sweet, sweet interlude."
 A sign of spring is the sight of a killdeer. Killdeer are shorebirds that don't need a beach. They call out their names. Another sign is the return of the red-winged blackbirds. I love hearing the males singing "Look-at-meee" from a preferred, prominent perch. Their songs remind me of Simon & Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound," "Home where my thought's escaping. Home where my music's playing. Home where my love lies waiting, silently for me." And the females are silent because they generally return later than the males.
 I rarely see gray or Hungarian partridges near my home anymore. Once a year is about average. Sometimes they're in my yard. Years ago, there was a chukar, an escapee from a game farm, in my yard following a pair of gray partridges around. The chukar isn't a native to North America and the other partridges were the closest things to itself that it could find. I named it Chubby Chukar. I had to.
 I filled the seed dispensary units with sunflower seeds. These small vending machines dispense bird food when in the company of a bird. Native Americans domesticated the sunflower around 1000 BC. About 75% of the North American sunflower seed is produced in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. 
Sad news
 The number of monarch butterflies at their winter roosting grounds in central Mexico decreased by about 26% this year after many trees were lost to illegal logging, drought and other causes. The butterflies’ population covered 5.2 acres in 2020, compared to 6.9 acres in 2019 and 14.95 acres in 2018. Monarchs cluster densely in pine and fir trees, making it easier to count them by area than individually. Scientists estimate 15 acres of forest canopy is needed to sustain the monarch population. 
Q&A
 "Do voles come into houses?" Voles want to stay outside, prefer eating plant materials and don't do well indoors. They rarely enter houses. 
 "Why are they called ruffed grouse?" The name "ruffed" came from the long, shiny, black- or chocolate-colored neck feathers most prominent on the male. 
 "Does a bird have a voice box?" A bird has a syrinx, a sound-producing organ, that's the equivalent of a voice box. It's at the junction of the two bronchi or air tubes leading to the lungs. This gives the syrinx two potential sound sources, one in each bronchus. The separate membranes on each bronchus produce independent sounds, which can be mixed to produce a variety of sounds.
 "Why are the squirrels removing bark from a tree in my yard?" Squirrels strip the bark from thin-barked trees because that bark is easier to remove than thick bark. The squirrels might use the bark to line their nests. Bark removal exposes a tree's cambium layer, which holds nutrients and sugars produced by the tree. That provides food for hungry squirrels in winter and early spring when other food sources are less readily available. Chewing on the bark of a tree helps keep squirrels' teeth in good shape.
Thanks for stopping by
 "The naked, silent trees have taught me this, the loss of beauty is not always loss!"
– Elizabeth Drew Stoddard
 "Laws are like cobwebs which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through." — Jonathan Swift
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2021

 

I hope the sight of this robin brings you good luck. Photo by Al Batt

I hope the sight of this robin brings you good luck. Photo by Al Batt

A nuthatch stalking the wild goober peas.

A nuthatch stalking the wild goober peas. White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees and Blue Jays love peanuts. If goober peas need to be boiled to be goober peas, these are not goober peas.

A nuthatch stalking the wild goober peas. White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees and Blue Jays love peanuts. If goober peas need to be boiled to be goober peas, these are not goober peas.

I told this American Goldfinch that meteorological spring began today. It was stunned by the news.

I told this American Goldfinch that meteorological spring began today. It was stunned by the news.

A nuthatch regularly caches seeds in bark crevices and local community banks.

A nuthatch regularly caches seeds in bark crevices and local community banks.

An LBJ or an LBB?

An LBJ or an LBB?This Little Brown Job or Little Brown Bird is a Lincoln’s Sparrow.

An LBJ or an LBB?

This Little Brown Job or Little Brown Bird is a Lincoln’s Sparrow.

Naturally
Another day of snow and tell. When it’s frigid, birds become puffier. It helps to be fluffy. Watching birds is a fabulous experience. The wonders of the universe unfold before my eyes. The birds enjoy curbside service. I filled feeders and a chickadee checked out the vending machines. A hairy woodpecker put sunflower seeds into the bark of a tree and hammered them open. This activity attracted the interest of a blue jay curious to see what the woodpecker was up to. It's like one of our species back when we filled restaurants. We looked around to see what looked good going into other people's mouths.
I have window feeders. They are great for birds and for folks prone to stir-craziness. They adhere to the window via suction cups. The window needs to be clean and it helps the suction if the glass is warm. Spread vegetable oil lightly on the suction cup rims to enhance adherence. I have a heated birdbath, a recycled dog food dish. Birds can use snow and ice as a source of water but it expends precious energy to convert it to water. Heated birdbaths don't create warm water, but keep it from freezing. If you don't have a heated birdbath, you could offer fresh water in the early morning and right before dark. Those are the popular times birds want water.
A ring-necked rooster pheasant found something to crow about. The roosters crow throughout the year. I've been grounded like everyone else, but I've been fortunate to speak at birding things in Alabama, Connecticut, Alaska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc. via Zoom because roosters need to crow.
A mourning dove pair fed on fallen safflower seeds under the feeders. In ancient Greek mythology, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was depicted by doves. Early European superstition held that the devil and witches could turn themselves into any bird shape except the dove. In Hinduism, the dove is an emblem of the spirit and its infinite capacity for love. Ancient Aztecs believed Xochiquetzal, the mother of humanity, arrived as a dove after the great flood. Native Americans associated a dove with the Great Spirit. In the Old Testament, Noah released a dove after the great flood to search for land. It returned with an olive branch to show that the Biblical flood had receded.
At this moment in Minnesota, great horned owls are incubating eggs. A parent, typically the female, must keep them warm to prevent them from freezing. This early nesting
gives the owlets a head start in the spring and extra time to learn how to be a good great horned owl. The young aren't free of parental care until in October. Great horned owls have the most diverse diet of all North American raptors. Their principal prey items are rabbits, mice, voles, hares and coots, but their menu is substantial. They occasionally hunt in broad daylight and may walk on the ground to stalk small prey.
Nature news
Railroad crews used explosives to provoke small avalanches in British Columbia when an onlooker noticed an elk engulfed in a wave of white. The man and a friend went to help the elk and found its face peering out from the snow, immobilized by the weight of the avalanche. The men dug the elk free and it walked away. No tip was requested.
A two-headed bird (a ruffed grouse) was spotted in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The bird eats with both beaks and can fly.
The world’s oldest known wild bird is a mother once again. Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, hatched a chick on Feb. 1 on Midway Atoll. Wisdom is approximately 70 years old and has hatched 30-36 chicks.
Q&A
Jay Gregerson of Albert Lea sent a photo of a house finch with an elongated bill and wondered about the cause. Many factors have been implicated in causing bird bills to grow abnormally — disease, parasites, nutritional deficiencies, genetic defects, extreme heat, environmental contaminants and structural damage caused by a collision or other trauma.
"Do feeders help birds survive winter?" Stanley Temple, a University of Wisconsin professor studied this (1982-85) and found, on average, 69% of banded chickadees with access to a feeder survived the winter (October through April) compared to 37% without supplemental food.
"There is a downy woodpecker that appears to be healthy but sometimes remains motionless at the suet feeder or on the trunk of a tree. What's it doing?" Woodpeckers aren’t the fastest flyers, which means the downy’s best defense is to freeze in place to escape an accipiter's notice.
Thanks for stopping by
"The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings." — Wendell Berry
"When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind." — C.S. Lewis
Do good.

©Al Batt 2021

Sometimes I look at a chickadee and I feel good about everything. Photo by Al Batt

Sometimes I look at a chickadee and I feel good about everything. Photo by Al Batt

The House Finch’s song often ends in a slur as if the bird was asking a question or had forgotten its song.

The House Finch’s song often ends in a slur as if the bird was asking a question or had forgotten its song.

The House Finch’s song often ends in a slur as if the bird was asking a question or had forgotten its song.

The rooster pheasant crows all year, which has to be exhausting.

The rooster pheasant crows all year, which has to be exhausting.

Growing up, I wasn’t the black sheep of the family. I was the black squirrel of the family.

Growing up, I wasn’t the black sheep of the family. I was the black squirrel of the family.