Do mothballs keep mice away?

Naturally

A thirsty red-bellied woodpecker bellied up to the birdbath. The chipmunks had taken a winter break into their burrows where they had stored food.
I saw Lapland longspurs and horned larks flying alongside roads. Look for snow buntings on roadsides and in fields. The “snowflakes” that are birds flash white in flight. They can be spellbinding.
I like window platform feeders attached to the glass via suction cups. I love seeing birds close and I hope the feeders might prevent some window strikes. When frightened, the birds can’t achieve sufficient velocity when flying from the feeder into the glass to do themselves much harm. A feeder on a crank-out window allows filling on a day with cranky weather. One feeder fell from the window on a 20° day. I put it back up, and with a brazen display of overconfidence, I went indoors and took off my coat. It stayed adhered to the glass. A chickadee was the first to land on it, then a goldfinch, a blue jay, a red-breasted nuthatch and a cardinal. Gloriosky!
Some oak and ironwood trees hang onto their brown and curling leaves in winter. This is called marcescence and usually occurs on the parts of the tree that hadn’t yet formed flowers. Commonly, trees exhibit marcescence when young, but lose this characteristic when older and usually leaves remain on the branches closest to the ground. Younger oaks may keep a full complement of dead brown leaves. People speculate the retained leaves may deter browsing animals, such as deer. The dried leaves may conceal buds from browsers or make them difficult to nip from the twig. Research has found the dried leaves less nutritious. Another reason trees might give for holding their leaves is it allows them to keep and recycle their nutrients themselves. Marcesent leaves provide shelter for wintering birds perching among the rattling leaves, away from winter’s wind.

Nature news

A juvenile bar-tailed godwit has flown 8,435 miles from Alaska to the Australian state of Tasmania without stopping, appearing to set a new world record for marathon bird flights. Satellite data showed it didn’t stop during its flight of 11 days and one hour.
As of December 20, 2022, the manufacture and import for sale in Canada of plastic checkout bags, cutlery, food service ware, stir sticks and straws will be prohibited. Ring carriers surrounding cans or bottles will be added to that list on June 20, 2023.
Research done at the University of Oldenburg in Germany found the barn owl suffers no meaningful hearing loss as it ages. In contrast, a human loses more than 30 decibels of sensitivity to high-sound frequencies by the age of 65. Understanding the preservation of hearing in birds could lead to new treatment options for deaf humans. If you spot a great horned owl, what appear to be ears are tufts of feathers. The ear openings are on the sides of the head, one slightly higher than the other. The offset ears are most pronounced in night-hunting owls and permit an owl to position its head so sound reaches both ears simultaneously and it can pinpoint prey.

Q&A

“Why are they called cobwebs?” Cobwebs are tangles of the silken threads of spiderwebs covered with accumulated dirt and dust. Another name for a spider was atorcoppe, from ator- “poison, venom” plus copp “top, summit,” which by extension meant “head.” Atorcoppe meant “poison head.” J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in “The Hobbit” that when the dwarves were captured by a colony of spiders, Bilbo Baggins sang to anger the spiders and draw them away from his friends. “This is what he sang: Old fat spider spinning in a tree! Old fat spider can’t see me! Attercop! Attercop! Won’t you stop, stop your spinning and look for me?” It worked because Tolkien added, “no spider has ever liked being called Attercop.” Atorcoppe was shortened to coppe and a spider’s web called a coppewebbe. This word underwent spelling and pronunciation changes that turned it into cobweb in the 16th century. A cobweb is a “head-web.”
“Do mothballs keep mice away?” A mothball is a toxic pesticide and can be dangerous to people and pets. Fumes from mothballs kill clothes moths, their eggs and their larvae that eat natural fibers. People use mothballs to keep rats, mice and squirrels away. People are exposed to the chemicals in mothballs by inhaling the fumes. If you smell mothballs, you’re exposed to these chemicals. Children or pets sometimes mistake mothballs for food or candy, which can cause serious effects. Please read the warnings on the packages.

Thanks for stopping by

“I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.”—Woody Allen.
“I feel a very unusual sensation—if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude.”―Benjamin Disraeli.
Do good.

©️Al Batt 2022

I’m afraid it’s not the best photo, but it is a snow bunting. Snow buntings breed in the high Arctic where their plumage blends in with the landscape. Photo by Al Batt.

An Eastern Chipmunk doing some last-minute shopping. Its cheek pouches expand to three times their size, eliminating the chipmunk’s need to use a plastic bag.

Watkins no longer sells products via their door-to-door sales model, but it has a museum in Winona, Minnesota.

Watkins no longer sells products via their door-to-door sales model, but it has a museum in Winona, Minnesota.

Joey Batt was presented with a commemorative basketball for scoring 1000 points by Coach Emilee Thiesse of the Minnesota State Mavericks. Swishes do come true.

Will we get a lot of snowy owls this year?

Naturally

It was a chilly day with edges softened by a diminished wind. No leaves were leaping, but a lovely young opossum drank from the birdbath.

Q&A

Jack May of Mankato wrote, “When I was a kid, we would plow our land with a moldboard plow. Gull-like birds would flock behind the plow. You could distinctly see them pluck earthworms from the ground. It never seems as dramatic these days, but this is a little reminiscent of those days. Any thoughts?” In my youth, a small, black-headed gull of the prairies, the Franklin’s gull, was a common sight behind farm implements exposing earthworms, grubs, insects and mice. I called them “prairie doves.” Another common gull that feeds behind the plow is the ring-billed gull. It isn’t black-headed, is larger than a Franklin’s, and has a ring around its yellow bill. Franklin’s nest primarily at Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge in Marshall County. Estimates show a drop in nesting populations due to unfavorable water levels. The ring-billed gull population has increased in Minnesota, thanks to an omnivorous diet and adaptability to human-modified landscapes, including feeding at landfills and parking lots. I see more ring-billeds shadowing the implements of husbandry today in my neck of the woods, but they don’t appear to be the tractor aficionados the Franklin’s gull was. There is a lot of harvesting done during the hours when gulls aren’t working.
Micah Nettekoven wrote, “Is it true a woodpecker’s tongue wraps around its brain?” A bird’s tongue is called the hyoid apparatus and is how woodpeckers extend their tongues to reach insects deep inside the holes they’ve drilled. A woodpecker’s tongue is long and the bird needs a place to put it. This hyoid apparatus of a woodpecker travels below the jaw, wraps around the back of the head and runs toward the nostrils. Scientists think the hyoid apparatus acts like a seatbelt and provides extra cushioning of the head during pecking.
“I heard bucks don’t eat during rut. Is that true?” Are they too obsessed with breeding to eat? Bucks lose weight during the rut, but it’s from burning calories. Bucks eat during the rut, just not as much because of their hectic schedule. A deer’s diet consists of a variety of crops, grasses, vegetation, acorns and nuts. The browse of deer on twigs can look similar to the browse made by rabbits. Deer have incisors only on their lower jaw and this requires them to tear off their food. Rabbits make sharp, clean cuts at an angle, as they have incisors on both upper and lower jaws.
“Why do birds migrate?” The two primary reasons are food and nesting locations. Birds migrate to move from areas of low or decreasing resources to areas of high or increasing resources. Here’s more about how migration evolved. Birds nesting in the Northern Hemisphere tend to migrate northward in the spring to take advantage of burgeoning insect populations, budding plants and an abundance of nesting locations. As winter nears and the availability of insects and other food drops, the birds move south. Migration can be triggered by changes in day length, lower temperatures, changes in food supplies, and/or genetic predisposition.
“What are the close relatives of a cardinal?” Molecular phylogenetic analyses for 832 species show the closest relatives to the northern cardinal to be the pyrrhuloxia and vermilion cardinal with these three species being closely related to some grosbeaks (including rose-breasted, brown-headed and crimson-collared), This differs from an earlier study using morphological characters. Colloquial names for a cardinal include cardinal-bird, cardinal grosbeak, cardinal redbird, common cardinal, crested redbird, top-knot redbird, Virginia nightingale and Virginia redbird.
“Will we get a lot of snowy owls this year?” Predicting the movements of snowy owls is difficult due to limited information on prey availability and nest success at their remote breeding sites in the Arctic. Some snowy owls migrate south every winter. Every three to five years, a spike in the population of lemmings, their chief food source, results in a larger number of surviving owl chicks. Adult owls chase young owls from territory. The owls aren’t coming south because they’re hungry. Peaks in lemming numbers cause a boom in snowy owls. Large numbers of owls force the lemming population down. With fewer lemmings around the next year, snowy owl numbers fall. Fewer owls mean lemming numbers rise and the cycle repeats.

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“A gull, up close, looks surprisingly stuffed. His fluffy chest seems filled with an inexpensive taxidermist’s material rather lumpily inserted. The legs, unbent, are childish crayon strokes—too simple to be workable. And even the feather-markings, whose intricate symmetry is the usual glory of birds, are in the gull slovenly, as if God makes too many to make them very well.”—John Updike.
“Even stones have a love, a love that seeks the ground.”—Meister Eckhart.
Do good.

©️Al Batt 2022

The call of the red-breasted nuthatch is a nasal, tinny yank-yank that is higher-pitched than the white-breasted nuthatch. There is a "tin horn" quality to its call. This nuthatch can be quite tame. Photo by Al Batt.

The “Little Kids First Nature Guide to BUGS” is a wonderful book. Its wonderful information and impressive photographs have made this a book for kids of all ages. Better yet, it has turned me into an appreciative Little Kid.

One of the many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving is the wonderful collection of National Geographic Kids books. They are superb. And they are great for those of us masquerading as adults.

How can I tell a downy woodpecker from a hairy woodpecker?

Naturally

  Birds that had completed their molts appeared impeccably dressed. On a day filled with fur and feathers, and covered in colorful fall leaves, I watched a fox sparrow sort through the fallen leaves in search of sparrow chow.
  I eliminated some common burdock plants. In my walks over the years, I have encountered a kinglet, goldfinch and hummingbird that had been killed after becoming entangled in a burdock. The birds had become caught by the hooked bracts surrounding the flower heads and seed heads. The more a bird struggled, the more ensnared it became. Other small bird species have been reported to have succumbed this way after seeking insects or seeds. These include gnatcatchers, nuthatches, chickadees, warblers and siskins.
 I watched a fluffy (furry) moth shiver to warm itself enough to be able to fly.

Q&A

  “What percent of birds migrate?” I attended a Bell Museum Master Class presented by a representative of the National Audubon Society who said 19% of global bird species and 70% of North American birds migrate. He added that 80% are nocturnal migrants and 96% of land birds feed insects to their chicks. According to a large-scale analysis of data gathered by 21 bird observatories from northern Europe and Canada on nearly 200 species, birds have advanced the timing of their migration by an average of just over a week since the late 1950s and early 1960s. Short-distance migratory birds start their migrations by 1.5 to two days sooner per decade on average. Long-distance migrants start 0.6 to 1.2 days earlier. The change is more pronounced in the spring migration than in the fall.
  “What’s a good tree to plant for birds?” Trees that provide nuts and berries for food, and feed caterpillars are great. Doug Tallamy, professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware and author of  numerous books found that oaks support 557 species of caterpillars, black cherry supports 456 species and maples support up to 297 species of caterpillars. Tallamy made it simple: “No insects, no baby birds.”
  “I heard you mention Bergmann’s rule on the radio. What is it?” Bergmann's is an ecogeographical rule that states within a broadly distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species of a larger size are found in colder environments, while populations and species of a smaller size are found in warmer regions. This is because larger animals have a lower surface area to volume ratio than smaller animals and radiate less body heat per unit of mass and therefore stay warmer in cold climates. The higher surface area-to-volume ratio of smaller animals in hot and dry climates facilitates heat loss through the skin and helps cool the body.
  “Where do birds sleep?” Diurnal birds find places safe from predators and sheltered from the weather. Depending on the species, these roosts could be in dense foliage, in cavities, perched high in trees or close to tree trunks holding the warmth of the day’s sun. The downwind side of a tree trunk might be a bird’s choice. Some birds spend the night on the ground, facing into the wind. Other birds might use buildings. Waterfowl sleep floating in the water. Wading birds like herons and egrets sleep standing in water or on land.
  “How can I attract goldfinches to my yard?” Goldfinches are granivores, so provide nyjer seed and/or black oil sunflower seed, and water. Good choices for your garden are sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, asters, cosmos, milkweed, Joe Pye weed, cleome and native thistles.
  “How can I tell a downy woodpecker from a hairy woodpecker?” The hairy is much larger, but that can be difficult to discern when you’re not seeing both species at the same time. The male of each species has a red nape spot, which is lacking on the female. A diagnostic feature is the bill. The downy has a short, stubby bill. The hairy has a bill nearly as long as its head. If it’s dinky, it’s a downy. If it’s huge, it’s a hairy.
  “What’s the difference between a horn and an antler?” Antlers grow as an extension of an animal’s skull and are generally found only on males of the deer family. However, female caribou do have antlers. Horns are made of compressed keratin growing from a bony core and are never shed. These permanent cranial appendages can be found on both male and female bighorn sheep, cattle (there are naturally polled breeds), bison and others. Antlers are seasonal, shed and regrown yearly while horns are permanent. An exception is the pronghorn, whose horns are shed annually.

Thanks for stopping by

  “There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking.”—Alfred Korzybski.
  “When life gives you rain, jump in the mud puddles.”
  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2022

River otters eat fish, clams, crayfish, mussels, amphibians, aquatic beetles, bird eggs, fish eggs, turtles, injured or molting ducks and geese, muskrats and small terrestrial mammals (chipmunks, mice and young rabbits). Photo by Al Batt.

In September, I was a teller at the Moonshell Storytelling Festival at Mahoney State Park in Nebraska. It was a blast, as was the company of this lovely creature.

A thirsty red-bellied woodpecker bellies up to the birdbath.

I saw a skunk spitting out honey bees

Naturally

  I was on a trail of discovery as I walked toward the delicious colors of a sunset. I appreciate things in the hopes of being a responsible ancestor. The leaves and the trees have had a falling out. Once, when I was a boy, I thought I saw a mosquito wearing a parka, refusing to give up. I have no photo to document that sighting because I had no camera.

Odds, ends and wonderments

  Puffins sound like mini-chainsaws.
  The California quail’s main call consists of three syllables and sounds like the bird is saying “Chi-ca-go.” 
  The collective noun for dippers is a ladle—I guess.
  A boreal chickadee sounds like a black-capped chickadee with a head cold.
  A bird’s mothering instinct will overcome the scent of a human, no matter when that human last bathed.
  The blue-gray gnatcatcher eats spiders, steals insects from spider webs and uses the webs as nesting material.
  A fossorial animal is one adapted to living underground, often by digging a burrow and/or tunnel. Examples of fossorial animals are earthworms, ants, moles and pocket gophers. Insects are the most diverse group of animals and many are fossorial.
  The Canary Islands weren’t named after the birds; the birds were named after them. Their label comes from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning "Islands of the Dogs." The story is that a Mauretanian king sent an expedition there that found multitudes of large dogs. The Canary Islands had a teeming colony of monk seals known as “sea wolves” by sailors and might have morphed into “sea dogs.”
  Iowa State became the Cyclones after the Chicago Tribune noted on September 29, 1895: Struck by a Cyclone It Comes from Iowa and Devastates Evanston Town. “Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone as with the Iowa team it met yesterday. At the end of 50 minutes’ play, the big husky farmers from Iowa’s Agricultural College had rolled up 36 points while the 15-yard line was the nearest Northwestern got to Iowa’s goal.”

Q&A

  “What are some predators of the honey bee?” I watched a skunk feed at a hive. Skunks are insect eaters by nature and a bee is a sweet delicacy. When a skunk finds a hive, it scratches at the entrance, causing the bees to come out to investigate. When they do, the skunk snatches them up as a tasty treat. You’ll know skunks have been visiting your hives when you see scratches on the lower parts of the hive and find remnants of bees lying on the ground outside the hive. This is because skunks often suck on a bee, drawing out the bee’s juicy inner parts, and then spitting out the exoskeleton. Skunks also dig up yellowjacket nests to eat larvae and adults. Skunks are able to bear the pain of the stings. Putting a fence around a hive discourages skunks as they aren’t skilled climbers.
  Yellowjackets and bald-faced hornets eat dead bees, live bees and honey. Varroa mites, bears, praying mantises, dragonflies, ambush bugs, spiders and many others are predators of honey bees.
  “Are coyotes pack animals?” Coyotes may live as solitary individuals, in pairs or in small family groups, both in rural and urban areas. Their packs are typically much smaller than wolf packs and most often include only family members.
  “Where do spiders go in winter other than into my basement?” In Minnesota, the adults of most spider species die at the end of the summer, while the eggs or immature spiders overwinter. Of the species that overwinter as adults, the largest is the wolf spider.
  “I see swellings on goldenrod stems. What’s going on there?” The round gall is readily seen during the fall and winter, and occurs on several species of goldenrods in Minnesota. The goldenrod gall-fly female punctures the bud of a goldenrod plant and deposits one egg, which hatches and the larva begins to feed. The plant forms a gall in response. In September and October, the larva bores a tunnel from its central cavity to the outer epidermis, leaving a thin skin of tissue in place (this eases the exit of the adult) and then returns to the central cavity where it spends the winter. Pupation occurs during April and the adult fly emerges during the latter half of May to the first part of June and lives 8 to 10 days. The white grubs make excellent bait for ice fishing, and chickadees and downy woodpeckers feed on the larvae.

Thanks for stopping by

  “It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood.”—Karl Popper.
  “Someone needs to explain to me why wanting clean drinking water makes you an activist and why proposing to destroy water with chemical warfare doesn't make a corporation a terrorist.”—Winona LaDuke.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2022

Bobcats are long-legged animals with bobbed tails. They have a white patch on the back of their ears. Photo by Al Batt.

Did the bird lose its tail in a poker game?

Naturally 

  Crows announced my arrival.
  I followed trembling leaves down a trail while leading a nature walk. As I pontificated to those nice enough to join me, house finches sang. The birds are permanent residents, but some undergo a short-distance migration south. Males sing throughout the year, except during a period of molt (late July to October). I spotted a hermit thrush on a picnic table near the trail. Considered by many to have the most beautiful song of all birds, its soul-stirring sound is flute-like and ethereal, and led to it being nicknamed the “American nightingale.” It doesn’t do much vocalizing during migration.
  At home, there were playground scuffles among the native sparrows scratching beneath the feeders. I saw a white-throated sparrow without a tail. When a hawk or cat tries to capture a songbird, the songbird has a trick called a fright molt, which is what it’s called when a bird loses feathers due to sudden stress. This usually involves feathers near the tail or rump, where birds are likely to be attacked as they flee. It can be a lifesaving technique when a bird is about to be caught—similar to a lizard dropping its tail. There is a downside to having your tail scared off. A tail assists the bird in turning and balancing in flight, but if dropping feathers allows the bird to fly another day, it’s worth it. It will make do until a new tail grows back.

Q&A

  “How rapid are a hummingbird’s wingbeats and heartbeats?” On average, a hummingbird flaps 60-80 times per second in normal flight and up to 200 per second at top speed, and its heart beats 250 times per minute when at rest and up to 1,220 beats per minute when flying. 
  “A meme claims ravens have one more flight feather (pinion) than crows, making the difference between the two birds a matter of a pinion. Is that true?” Both birds have the same number of primaries (10), but crows have five evident finger feathers, whereas ravens have but four. So in flight, the difference between the two could be a matter of a pinion according to Kaeli Swift, Ph.D. and her corvid research.
  “When do deer carry antlers?” A white-tailed buck’s antlers begin growing in late April and usually reach full size by mid-August. While they’re growing, the antlers are covered with velvet, a fuzzy layer of flesh that supplies blood to the bony growths. Once the antlers are fully grown, the velvet dries and the deer removes it by rubbing his antlers against a tree. The main shedding period in Minnesota is around mid-January to mid-February.
  “Gray fox or red fox?” Gray foxes have black-tipped tails, while red fox tails are tipped in white. 
  “How do native bees survive winter?” Native bees hibernate and overwinter as fully formed young adults in their cocoons or as diapause larvae, emerging as adults the following spring or summer. They may live in the ground or in cavities of hollow plant stems or holes in wood left by wood-boring beetles. Only the new bumblebee queens survive by wintering underground and nonnative honey bees overwinter in their hive or nest.
  “I saw civet cats when I was a boy in Minnesota. Are they related to raccoons?” I saw them, too. Those were spotted skunks. Minnesota has two skunk species, the striped skunk and its smaller and less common relative, the increasingly rare eastern spotted skunk. Skunks and raccoons are from different family groups. Skunks are from the family Mephitidae, which consists of skunks and stink badgers. Raccoons are from the family Procyonidae, which is a New World family including ringtails, olingos,  olinguitos and others. The spotted skunk is also called a civet cat, but this mammal isn’t closely related to the true civets of the Old World. The prevalence of small farms in the early 1900s may have been a factor in facilitating the range expansion of the eastern spotted skunk, which was once common around farms, where it denned under houses or outbuildings and fed on stored crops, rodents attracted to stored grain and small farm animals such as chickens and their eggs. 
  “How big is a cardinal’s breeding territory?” Studies found it could be as much as 6.4 acres.
  “How much bigger are ravens than crows?” On average, our largest songbird, the common raven (croak) is about half again the size of an American crow (caw).

Thanks for stopping by

  “Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher standard of living is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free.”—Aldo Leopold.
  “To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.”—Aldo Leopold.
 Do good.

© Al Batt 2022

The voice of an eastern screech-owl, a bird about the size of a pop can, features whinnies and soft trills. The descending, horse-like whinny is used to defend territories and the extended trill is used to attract mates and maintain contact. They produce soft hoots; sharp barking calls indicating alarm or agitation; screeches when defending nests or fledglings; a chuckle or rattle denoting annoyance (as when being mobbed); a clacking sound made by snapping the bill when annoyed; and a hiss as part of a threat display. Photo by Al Batt.

A podcast about nature.

I love the leaves of dead nettle.

What is a collective noun for vultures and what’s a jayhawk?

Naturally

  Lovely leaves slipped through the fingers of the trees. Colorful leaves make it impossible not to notice nature. Lemony yellow-colored grape leaves demand attention. No season makes any promises, but most of ours deliver wind. Aeolus, the god of the winds in Greek mythology, gave a bag of wind to help with Odysseus’s sailing. Today, we have politicians doing much of that work. Watch for storms when clouds are more wide than tall.
  A long, twisting flock of blackbirds traveled across a field. The cacophonous flock could contain red-winged blackbirds, grackles, starlings, cowbirds, Brewer’s blackbirds and/or rusty blackbirds.
  I watched a red-bellied woodpecker take a position at one end of a platform feeder and a pair of blue jays at the other end. It was a showdown. One jay flew first. The woodpecker grabbed as much food as it could and left. I’m sure the remaining blue jay declared itself the winner.

Q&A

  “Do blue jays mate for life?” Blue jays are monogamous and pairs may mate for life.
  “What is a group of vultures called?” A group of turkey vultures on a carcass is called a wake, a group roosting in trees is called a committee, venue or volt, and a group that is soaring is called a kettle.
  “What is determining the age of trees by counting their rings called?” The science of dating events and variations in the environment by the comparative study of growth rings in trees and aged wood is dendrochronology.
  “Can a great blue heron swim?” I’ve seen them swim with apparent grace and comfort despite the lack of webbing between their toes.
  “Why are vultures sometimes called buzzards?” When the early European colonists  saw vultures flying high in the sky, they noticed a resemblance to the broad-winged, dark-feathered birds of prey from back home—buzzards, which are members of the genus Buteo. In America, Buteos are hawks, with the red-tailed hawk being a prime example.
  “How do squirrels find the acorns they have buried?” They use a combination of landmarks, cues, memory and a sense of smell to narrow their search. They are good at locating buried foods.
  “How many birds do wind turbines kill?” Estimates vary, but according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, wind turbines kill 140,000 to 500,000 birds in the U.S. annually. Cats kill between 1.3 and 4 billion birds annually. Buildings and glass kill 365 to 988 million, vehicles kill 89-340 million, electric lines between 8 and 57 million, and oil pits kill 500,000 to 1 million birds each year. 
  “Why do turkeys spend so much time on the roads?” Wild turkeys use roads and roadsides as courtship areas in late winter and flocking areas before spring breakup. Juvenile and adult hens use roads most frequently in early spring because green forage, seeds and insects are more abundant in open, sunny habitats. Some turkeys, especially in spring and early summer, choose to stand, walk or pace back and forth on busy highways, dodging vehicles and blocking traffic. The reasons for this peculiar behavior aren’t fully understood. Highway turkeys aren’t easily dispersed. Turkeys of a feather flock together in the fall. Hens live in flocks with their female offspring, sometimes in large numbers. Hens that weren’t successful at hatching chicks may form smaller flocks with other lone hens. Male turkeys also form flocks, which might be segregated by age classes. Young male turkeys (jakes) band together and older males (toms) form their own flocks. In the fall, all these groups are drawn to the short-cropped grass and food that is left over for them. Grain and other seeds often collect on the graveled roadsides.
  Jennie Sorensen of Fairmont saw a bald eagle do a barrel roll and wondered why it does such a maneuver. Eagles flip as part of a mating ritual, to make a sudden dive when they spot food lurking beneath the surface of the water, to pirate (steal) a fish from another bird or as an act of aggression. 
  “How can I tell a dragonfly from a damselfly?” When perched, a dragonfly's wings stick straight out, perpendicular to its body like an airplane's wings. A damselfly's wings fold back in line with its body, giving it a more sleek, slender appearance. The name Odonata, the order of insects containing the dragonflies and damselflies, derives from the Greek, meaning tooth, referring to the strong teeth found on the insects’ mandibles. 
   “What is a jayhawk?” The term Jayhawk combines two birds: the blue jay, noisy and quarrelsome, and the sparrowhawk, a stealthy hunter, according to a University of Kansas  website.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.”―Emily Bronte.
  “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”―F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby.”
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

The dark-eyed junco is called a snowbird because it seems to bring snow as it migrates. Photo by Al Batt

The birds and the bees on the radio.

Picnic wasps are responsible for most “bee” stings

Naturally

 A red-breasted nuthatch nearly landed on me while I filled a bird feeder. There are two nuthatches seen regularly in Minnesota and both species of nuthatches have dark blue-gray upper sides, short tails, sharp bills and black crowns. The white-breasted nuthatch has a white face and white in the breast that tapers to a grayish belly and chestnut undertail and the red-breasted nuthatch has a bold face pattern with a white eyebrow above a thick black eye line bordered underneath by more white. The rest of its underparts from its throat to its undertail are peachy-orange. Both species produce nasal calls, with the red-breasted’s sounding distinctly higher-pitched than the white-breasted’s. The red-breasted nuthatch is just over 4 inches long and the white-breasted nuthatch is 5.5 inches. Nuthatches have a habit of clinging upside down on tree trunks and limbs. By creeping down a tree, they’re able to find invertebrates undiscovered by woodpeckers or other birds moving up a tree. Like chickadees, they don't linger at a feeder. They grab a seed and go. White-breasted nuthatches are found year-round in wooded areas throughout Minnesota, favoring deciduous trees over conifers. Red-breasted nuthatches prefer conifers and are common in the northern half of the state. Red-breasted nuthatches are partial migrants, meaning they are seen in the southern half of the state after the breeding season. 
 Picnic wasps (yellowjackets) are responsible for most “bee” stings during outdoor dining events. Honey bees are fuzzy. Yellowjackets are not. Yellowjackets feed insects to their young. Many of these are harmful insects that might damage trees or crops. They devour many houseflies. Shakespeare wrote in “The Taming of the Shrew,” “If I be waspish, best beware my sting.” Pope Paul VI said, “Anger is as a stone cast into a wasp's nest.” In the Bible, God said he would send hornets to pursue the Canaanites and drive them from the Promised Land. He might have been willing to call upon swarms of stinging wasps or have been speaking symbolically for a plague of another kind. 
 Flower flies mimic bees and wasps, and don’t sting. Flies have only two wings. Bees and wasps have four membranous wings.
 Dark-eyed juncos are lovely little sparrows that flash white tail feathers in flight. A crow thinks it is something to crow about.

Q&A

 Vicki Lauruhn of Mankato asked what could be done to keep birds from flying into windows. Here are some suggestions. One-eighth-inch-diameter nylon cords that dangle about 4 inches apart on a window’s exterior. Insect screens are effective at reducing the reflectiveness of glass and offering a buffer between the bird and the glass. A bird screen designed to go on the exterior of windows and prevent bird collisions. A curtain of taut monofilament lines spaced 3 inches apart on a window’s exterior. Dot stickers applied to the outside of windows in a 2-inch by 2-inch grid are effective and our eyes quickly adjust to them. Translucent bird tape applied directly to the glass, produced by the American Bird Conservancy. Solyx Bird Safety Window Films applied to a window’s exterior. Use a highlighter to draw a grid on the interior glass or a bar of soap to draw a pattern on a window. Paint the outside of the glass with tempera paint. Decals (it doesn’t matter if they’re shaped like hawks), liquid or coated glass that reflect ultraviolet light. White window chalk. Close window shades or blinds and turn off lights at night. Plastic owls don’t work. 
 “How long do hummingbirds live?” Most hummingbirds die during their first year, but the average lifespan is 3-5 years. According to the Bird Banding Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, the oldest banded ruby-throated hummingbird was at least nine years and one month old. 
 “Do both male and female chickadees incubate the eggs?” Both members of a pair excavate a nest cavity, but only the female black-capped chickadee builds the nest and incubates the eggs. 
 “What percentage of cardinal nests raises young?” Cardinals have a low rate of nesting success. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, less than 40% of their nests fledge at least one young.
 “We forgot to take down a Christmas wreath on a door we seldom use. Birds nested in it. What kind would they be?” The house finch is famous for doing that.
 “How can I keep wasps out of my mailbox?” Bar soap rubbed inside a mailbox can cause wasps to look elsewhere. It also works in a nest box. The soap creates a slippery surface difficult for a wasp nest to stick to it.

Thanks for stopping by

 “I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness—it's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude.”―Brené Brown.
 “When we heal the world, we heal ourselves.”–David Orr.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

Purple martins leave Minnesota in September. They roost and migrate together on their way to Brazil for the winter. Purple martins begin returning to Minnesota in April. Photo by Al Batt.

This woodpecker packed a punch.

I miss the hummingbirds. I hope they will drop me a postcard from warmer climes.

The low temperatures might have wiped out the white-faced meadowhawks here for this year, but I often see this dragonfly into November.

A fritillary seen in Colorado.

Why are there so many crickets this year?

Naturally

It was a morning easy to embrace with its soft clouds and tenderhearted breezes. October brings blue jay and yellow-rumped warbler migration, starling murmurations and many meadowhawk dragonflies, which I see into November some years.
I watched lovely Franklin’s gulls. Only three large wetlands have been used repeatedly as nesting sites in Minnesota over the past 100 years: Agassiz NWR and Thief Lake WMA in Marshall County, and Heron Lake in Jackson County. Breeding adults have black heads with white crescents above and below the eyes. The upperparts are dark gray; the legs and bill are reddish. In non-breeding plumage, the black heads reduce to a patchy black to gray hood covering the top of the head and neck. The forehead and throat become white and the legs and feet turn nearly black, as does the bill, which retains a reddish tip. Named after the Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and originally called Franklin's rosy gull for its rosy-colored breast and belly, early settlers called it the prairie dove.
I walked for the joy of it when something fell in front of my nose. Then something else dropped near my ear. I stepped to the side and peered upwards into a birch tree where a fox squirrel was hulling a walnut. Why it wasn’t doing that in a walnut tree, I don’t know. I don’t think it was trying to hit me, but I can’t say for sure. A fellow in Fargo returned home after a trip to discover his parked Chevy pickup truck near a walnut tree had become a storage pantry for walnuts, thanks to a busy fox squirrel. The man removed 42 gallons of black walnuts stowed in his truck’s engine compartment, under the hood and around the fenders. The buckets averaged 26 pounds of walnuts. Walnuts fall from the trees encased in a fragrant green husk that helps protect the meat. The most notable consumer of the nut is the fox squirrel, with as much as 10% of its diet being walnuts. I watched a video of a red squirrel taking 8 minutes to hull a walnut.
According to the Finch Forecast, there will be no bumper crop of birch seed in North America this winter, giving the potential for a moderate to good flight south of redpolls. Look for them on birches, in weedy fields and at bird feeders offering nyjer and black oil sunflower seeds.
A study published by BirdLife International shows that 49% of the roughly 11,000 bird species in the world are in decline and one in eight is currently threatened with extinction. BirdLife found 21-32 bird species would have gone extinct since 1993 without conservation work.

Q&A

“Why are there so many crickets this year?” The largest cricket (and grasshopper) outbreaks occur during years with dry springs and summers. There is less fungal disease during dry weather.
Janine Schendel Aaker saw thousands of birds swarming, swooping and soaring over Albert Lea Lake at sunset and wondered what kind they were. I’m glad she got to see the aerial spectacle performed by avian tornadoes. They were tree swallows, which migrate during the day and feed on the wing. They prefer to roost near water, ensuring a ready supply of insects. At dusk, the sky fills with the swallows as they finish feeding and swirl into a roost in the reeds, producing a sound as if their sharp wings were tearing the air.
“Were Canada geese nearly extinct?” Canada geese were in decline at the beginning of the 20th century because of unregulated hunting. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 established regular hunting seasons, but by 1962, the drainage of wetlands brought them to the brink of extinction in the eastern US. Efforts by conservationists helped re-establish Canada goose populations.
“What insect is a prairie alligator?” A walkingstick is called a prairie alligator, stickbug, specter, stick insect, devil's horse, witch's horse or devil's darning needle.
“How many kinds of gulls nest in Minnesota?” I watched a gull with a fish being chased by other gulls. Gulls are practitioners of kleptoparasitism, the act of one animal stealing food from another. There are 52 species of gulls worldwide, 19 seen in Minnesota and three species breeding here: ring-billed gull, Franklin's gull and herring gull.
“Why do cranes dance?” They dance to communicate. Dancing allows competitors to assess one another and contributes to pair bonding. Parents teach their colts to dance. Juvenile cranes practice dancing for years before they select a mate. Cranes dance to express aggression and excitement, declare territory or just because they can. Cranes are accomplished dancers.

Thanks for stopping by

“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.”—Jeremy Irons.
“Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever.”—Lord Chesterfield.
Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

A problem with second-generation rodenticides is they persist in dead and dying animals. When a poisoned mouse or rat is eaten by an owl, the poison can kill the owl. It could poison cats, dogs, hawks and any other animal feeding on the rodents. The barn owl pictured here is the likely source of the banshee myth. Photo by Al Batt.

Cathryn and John Sill are wonderful people.

A no-see-um bit me. I didn’t see that coming.

Naturally

 I endeavor to be a relentless witness to nature. It brings me wonder and joy. To a small child, most things feel like magic. I try to see the beauty that surrounds me through the eyes of a small child. In the named and the nameless, there is magic to be found.
 Weather folklore abounds. Rain before 7, done by 11. When the dew is on the grass. Rain will never come to pass. When grass is dry at morning light, look for rain before the night.
 Crickets provided sassy music in the evening. This is the time of the year that nature’s landscape designers show up. Raccoons and skunks dig up the lawn looking for delicious grubs in the lawn.
 Chipmunks chipped repeatedly. The sounds are emitted in the presence of a mammalian predator. The small animals also make a “chunk” sound in the presence of an aerial predator. The chipmunk is usually on an elevated surface when producing this sound. Some studies have determined chipmunks might also chip when an aerial predator is near.
 A no-see-um bit me. I didn’t see that coming. There are several barely visible insects that carry the nickname “no-see-um,” but the tiny biters tormenting me are minute pirate bugs (insidious flower bugs), good guys that sample me with a bite that far exceeds its weight class.
 Sanford Health News says that, on average, American children spend less than 10 minutes a day in unstructured outdoor play compared to seven hours in front of a screen. Going outdoors and finding astonishment in nature opens spaces in us, which fill with wonder and joy. Being outside provides an ad-free version of a day.
 White-throated sparrows, whistlers extraordinaire, have joined the flickers in gleaning the ground for foodstuffs. The omnivorous bird is a short-distance migrant that winters in the southeast, northeast, and lower midwest and as far west as Arizona and the Pacific Coast. The major breeding range of this species in Minnesota is in the northeastern and north-central parts of the state.
 The cardinal is the state bird of seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.

Q&A

 “When are those huge wasps that kill cicadas around?” Cicada killer adults are active in July and August. Cicadas are present from July to early September.
 “Why do some birds migrate at night?” The majority of songbirds migrate at night. These include warblers, sparrows, orioles, flycatchers, thrushes and cuckoos. Most of these birds are denizens of woods and other sheltered habitats and aren’t agile fliers. They use those dense habitats to avoid bird predators. Migration at night has its advantages. Birds don’t have to worry about falcon or hawk attacks. The air is usually less turbulent than during the day and cooler at night. A migrating bird produces excess heat that needs to be released. Most of the heat is lost from their unfeathered legs. The colder the air temperature, the quicker that heat can be lost. Some species of birds migrate during the day. These include hummingbirds, pelicans, hawks, falcons, swifts, and swallows. These birds are strong fliers. The larger birds take advantage of thermals that develop during the day. Swifts and swallows feed on the wing during the day as they migrate. Common nighthawks migrate both day and night, but the largest flights occur within two hours of sunset, with the highest numbers at dusk. They will detour to chase flying insects, swooping erratically on deep wing beats. It resembles the flight of a bat and the nighthawks can produce a booming sound from their wings as they pull up from a dive. This is the reason nighthawks are sometimes called “bullbats.”
 “Why are there so many grasshoppers this year?” The major factor affecting grasshopper populations is the weather. Outbreaks or exceptionally large populations are usually preceded by several years of hot, dry summers and warm autumns. Dry weather increases the survival of nymphs and adults. Warm autumns allow grasshoppers more time to feed and lay eggs. Dry weather (drought) likely meant we had a large grasshopper population going into this year, and the dry weather some parts of Minnesota experienced meant the population continued to grow. The reason we don’t have large grasshopper populations during rainy years is that wet weather promotes the development and spread of a grasshopper-killing fungus. This fungus infects grasshoppers, hijacking their bodies. If you see an unmoving grasshopper high on a plant, you are likely seeing a grasshopper that has been attacked by the fungus.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it.”—Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld.
 “Mistakes are part of the dues that one pays for a full life.”—Sophia Loren.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

The Swainson's hawk is close in size and shape to the red-tailed hawk. Rodents and other small mammals form the bulk of its diet during the breeding season; insects at other times, especially grasshoppers. This gave the hawk its nickname, the “grasshopper hawk.” It also preys upon dragonflies and crickets. Nearly the entire population of Swainson’s hawks migrates to Argentina. Photo by Al Batt.

October 8!

Barn owls in Minnesota and the Yampa Valley Crane Festival

Naturally

Flickers migrated through the yard. The handsome brown woodpeckers with a white rump fed upon ants on the ground. I saw many flower flies mimicking bees or wasps and lots of flying ants.
I watched American kestrels perching on utility wires. Falcons have small bony protuberances in their nostrils that baffle air flow and allow them to breathe while flying at high speeds.
I saw leopard frogs hopping across the road. They live in wet meadows and open fields near wetlands. In the fall, they move to the bottoms of lakes and ponds to spend the winter.
Flashes of red leaves dot the countryside. It sounded like a toy tinhorn, but it was a red-breasted nuthatch, smaller than the white-breasted nuthatch, and a permanent resident most abundant in northeastern and north-central Minnesota and is considered a partial migrant. Northern populations appear to move south each year, while southern populations demonstrate irruptive movements that may be in response to winter food shortages. Reports of breeding far south of the species’ primary range aren’t uncommon in summers following large winter movements.
Pheasant numbers in Minnesota increased 18% from 2021 and exceeded the 10-year average by a similar amount, according to the Minnesota DNR’s annual roadside pheasant survey.

Yampa Valley Crane Festival

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.”
Thanks to the craniacs of the Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition, I spoke, led a birding trip, was a traveler and a tourist at the Yampa Valley Crane Festival in Steamboat Springs. The Coalition is made up of people who care about wildlife. Sandhill cranes live 25 years (one lived 37 years) and are monogamous as long as they produce young. The most numerous seen at the Platte River in Nebraska, is the lesser sandhill crane, the smallest subspecies; the Canadian, or intermediate, sandhill crane makes up about 15%; and the greater sandhill crane approximately 5%. There are three nonmigratory subspecies—Mississippi, Florida and Cuban. Lesser sandhill cranes breed in the Arctic; the greater sandhill crane breeds in the northern U.S. Adults are gray birds stained brown by iron-rich mud. They don’t have feet for perching, so if you see a crane in a tree, it’s a heron or an egret. Cranes roost in shallow water. The Colorado sandhill cranes are greaters and migrate to New Mexico, Texas or Arizona. The male is called a roan, the female a mare and the young colts. Cranes are known for their dancing skills and colts walk 8 hours after hatching. Cranes fly 25-35 mph.

International Owl Center

Karla Bloem, Executive Director of the International Owl Center in Houston, Minnesota, wrote about using passive acoustic recording devices to detect barn owls in southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin. She was surprised and delighted to find them almost everywhere they put recorders in suitable habitats. They found a deceased barn owl south of Houston, a trail cam photo showed a live one north of Houston and another photo featured one roosting in a shed near La Crescent. Nests were documented in La Crosse and Wabasha. They documented 29 detections of barn owls in Minnesota on different dates/locations in 2021 and 2022.

Q&A

Rick Mammel of Albert Lea and Ken Nelson of Clarks Grove asked when hummingbirds leave. They migrate south as early as mid-August and most leave the state by the end of September—although stragglers are found well into October most years.
“How do bumble bees survive the winter?” Bumble bees don’t maintain colonies over the winter. The last brood of the summer colony contains a number of queens. Each queen mates and then finds a safe place (a small hole in the ground or another protected spot just big enough for her) to hibernate until spring. The rest of the colony dies. A colony of honey bees could live throughout the entire winter, actively keeping the nest warm and safe. Although a winter colony is smaller than a summer colony, it’s as busy as a bee all winter, an activity that requires a cache of stored food.
Beth Knudson of Albert Lea asked how to tell male and female mourning doves apart. Male and female mourning doves look similar. An adult male is slightly more colorful than a female, with a pale rosy breast versus the tannish female breast. A male’s head has a bluish crown and nape, the female’s is brownish.

Thanks for stopping by

“Whenever 'A' attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon 'B,' 'A' is most likely a scoundrel.”—H.L. Mencken.
“Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”—Sydney J. Harris.
Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

A white-lined sphinx moth. In poor light, it could easily be mistaken for a hummingbird. Its caterpillars shouldn’t worry gardeners. Photo by Al Batt.

Sandhill Cranes near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Chimney Swift tower at Osprey Wilds ELC near Sandstone, Minnesota. It’s an incredible place.

Purple Martin house and gourds at Osprey Wilds ELC.

In 2017, teetering after surgeries, a lengthy hospital stay and buckets of chemotherapy, I’d climbed this tower at Mahoney State Park near Ashland, Nebraska. I needed to just because. They were small steps and they were big steps. It was easier to reach the top in 2022.

I tried to walk high enough outside of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, so I could see the entire world. I couldn’t do it, but I came close.

An Osprey nest.

The Blue Jay had either a bad barber or a molt.

A Bald-faced Hornet nest is a structure that none of the Three Little Pigs considered.

Why do bald eagles in the old movies sound like hawks?

Naturally

I cannot not look at a chickadee. It’s my favorite bird. You should look for a chickadee. If you see one, the endearing creature might become your favorite bird. If you can see birds, look at birds. It’s an easy way to achieve an enhanced existence. William Ruckelshaus wrote, “Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.”
I don’t have a least favorite bird (all are lovely), but another one that brings me great joy to see or hear is the wood thrush. It flies 200 to 300 miles during a nightly migration, yet it’s still often referred to as a chunky songbird. Its haunting, flute-like “Frito-Lay” song gives my ear an exciting experience.
The sky was electric. A river of birds stretched across it. A cloud of feathers flew over—a flock of pelicans beautifying the air. It was a glorious sight and an amazing sound. On a windless morning, I could hear the wings of the pelicans. American white pelicans look big enough in the air that they have been reported as UFOs. Closer to the ground, I saw messy songbirds in molt. None of them preferred a chocolate molt. They were the young and the crestless.
I see many vultures. In this country, a vulture is sometimes called a buzzard. In much of the rest of the world, a vulture is a vulture and a buzzard is a hawk. The popular theory is that the interstate highway system increased the availability of food in the form of roadkill and allowed the turkey vulture to extend its range northward. Every driver will see these large, dark birds circling high on warm air thermals.
Joanne Phillips of Hartland spotted a red fox with mange. The sarcoptic mange can be episodic in area foxes. The cause of this mange is a tiny mite, Sarcoptes scabei, nearly invisible to the human eye. Mites are eight-legged creatures that are related to ticks. Thousands of species of mites exist in the world, including the ubiquitous house dust mite that eats flakes of dead skin. Most mites are benign and aid in the decomposition of plant and animal material. Some are agricultural pests or parasites, such as the mites that can decimate honeybee colonies or those that can raise havoc with poultry. Sarcoptes scabei are passed from animal to animal by close contact or in bedding. Male and female mites meet on the animal’s skin and mate. The male mites soon die, while the females burrow into the outermost layer of skin, creating a maze of tunnels and feeding on the fluids oozing from wounds. As they burrow, they lay eggs. The females die and the eggs soon release larvae that work their way to the skin’s surface and move to new sites, make other burrows and go through a series of molts before adulthood. Males find females and the cycle starts anew. During the process, mites deposit excrement that causes an intense immune response, an itchy inflammation. The fox scratches and bites at the irritation, often breaking the skin and allowing various types of bacterial infections. The scratching removes fur, worsening the situation because mites prefer hairless skin. The animal moves incessantly, becoming sleepless and exhausted, and eventually dies from multiple stresses—hypothermia, infection or starvation.
The U.S Fish & Wildlife Service published its 2022 breeding duck population survey. Breeding ducks were 4% below the long-term average (since 1955). The mallard population was down 9% from the long-term average, gadwalls were up 30%, American wigeon -19%, green-winged teal no change, blue-winged teal +27%, northern shoveler +15%, northern pintail -54%, redhead +36%, canvasback -1%, and scaup -28%. Mallards far outnumber any other of the duck species monitored. The last FWS duck breeding population survey was released in 2019.

Q&A

“Do owls migrate?” Some do—short-eared owls, northern saw-whet owls, snowy owls and burrowing owls. Not every bird of an owl species undertakes such a journey and the lengths vary.
“How many wild hogs are there in Texas?” Texas is home to over three million feral hogs and they cause $500 million in property and agricultural damage each year. Feral hogs cause more than $1.3 million in damage to Texas golf courses each year.
“I watched an old movie on TV in which a bald eagle sounded like a red-tailed hawk. Why did they change the calls of our national bird?” Bald eagles produce high-pitched giggles and weak screams. These sounds were deemed unimpressive by Hollywood sound editors who dubbed them with calls they found more imposing, such as those of the red-tailed hawk.

Thanks for stopping by

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”—Walt Kelly.
“You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment.”—Annie Dillard.
Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

Red foxes can run 31 mph, jump over 6 foot high fences and can swim. ​That makes them triathletes. The males are called dog foxes (or dogs), the female vixens and the young are kits, pups or cubs. Photo by Al Batt.

Could I hire a turkey vulture to build my house?

Naturally

  Blue jays aren’t afraid to toss their bluster around, but I watched them pick up peanuts in the shell from a feeder and toss some aside as if they were trying to determine the best watermelon to buy in a supermarket. They don’t thump the peanuts, but go by weight. They want the heavier peanuts because that means more nut meat.

  Color-coded Baltimore orioles sparred for positions at the jelly feeder. Males, females and young. Barn swallows were voyagers on the air. I saw a perched eastern screech owl about the size of a pop can, being mobbed by songbirds. The birds were looking for trouble and they found it. The owl was looking for a nap.

  Differential grasshoppers are typically a light green or yellow color and have black chevron markings on their hind legs. I heard a gray tree frog call. These weren’t breeding calls, but likely older frogs telling young ones a territory was taken.

  A spider tightroped between goldenrod and thistle. Hot dog grass is what I called cattails when I was a precious child. Cattail duff is one good wind away from being gone.

  A rabbit’s eyes are placed high on the head. This lateral placement is common in prey animals. Rabbits can see behind, up, down, on both sides and ahead. Rabbits have monocular vision and can see two different objects at one time since their eyes are pointed in two different directions. They can see predators at impressive distances.

  On August 28, two flocks of common nighthawks flew over the yard. A sound of a warm summer evening heading south—way south. I had no camera as I worked in the yard, but I can find the lovely sight in my mind. Common nighthawks travel to their wintering grounds in southern South America. 

  Deer tiptoed through the yard. Unguligrade species walk on their tiptoes, often on hooves. Deer and horses are examples. Plantigrade is “whole foot” locomotion. When humans walk, they plant the heel of the foot, roll forward the length of the foot, and then push off with the toes, creating a track that shows the heel, sole and toes. Digitigrade species walk with most of the length of their digits, but not the soles of their feet, in contact with the ground. Dogs and cats are examples.

Q&A

  “What North American mammal has the most teeth?” The Virginia opossum has 50 teeth. Most bears, coyotes and foxes have 42 teeth.

 “How did weeping willows get their name?”Native to Asia, weeping willow trees get their common name from how rain looks like tears when it's dripping off the curved branches. The roots often lie close to the soil surface, causing bumps in the lawn, which interferes with mowing. They can lift cement patios. Weeping willow tree roots can also damage underground water, sewer and plumbing lines.

  “Do turkey vultures build nests?” No, they lay their eggs in dark recesses in ledges, caves, crevices and hollow logs, and on the ground. They might nest in the abandoned stick nests of birds, in mammal burrows or abandoned buildings. Pairs often remain together all year and both parents incubate the two eggs for about 5 weeks. The young fledge in 60-80 days.

  “When do goldfinches nest in Minnesota?” Goldfinches are the latest nesting songbird in Minnesota. Unlike most songbirds, they don’t feed their young insects or larvae as their diet is strictly vegetarian. Goldfinches delay nesting until milkweed, thistle and other plants produce seeds to ensure that there will be plentiful food sources to feed their young. Parents feed the chicks a regurgitated porridge of seeds. The female builds a tightly woven nest made of small roots and plant fibers, lined with plant down, often thistle seed down. In Minnesota, nesting begins in late June, with most nesting done in July and August. The female incubates 2-7 pale blueish (sometimes with faint brown spots on the larger end) eggs for 12-14 days. Once the young hatch, they stay in the nest for 11-17 days. Goldfinches flock to feed on sunflower, black-eyed Susan, monarda, liatris, aster, sedum, Joe-pye weed, coreopsis and coneflower seeds.

  “Where do my purple martins go?” They make a long migration to South America. Most martins overwinter in Brazil, in large urban roosts. 

  “When did the opossum first arrive in Minnesota?” Opossums arrived in southeastern Minnesota sometime around 1900. They aren’t equipped to survive cold winters as their fur coats aren’t warm, and their thin ears and hairless tails make opossums vulnerable to frostbite when temperatures dip below freezing. They don’t hibernate. 

Thanks for stopping by

  “Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.”― Clive James.

  “Laughing stock: cattle with a sense of humor.“—Steven Wright.

  Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

Eating can be contentious when Baltimore orioles discuss politics at the bird table. Photo by Al Batt

I had the honor of speaking in Mona, Iowa. The memory makes me smile.

Did Ted Floyd, editor of ABA’s Birding Magazine, discover a new species, the Lilliputian Burrowing Owl, at the Yampa River Botanic Park (Steamboat Springs)? We’ll see.

A view of the braided flow of the Platte River, which encourages sandbars, as seen from the Walter Scott Jr. Observation Tower at Nebraska’s lovely Mahoney State Park.

Photographic proof that there is a caterpillar larger than the state of Minnesota.

Donald Mitchell banding hummingbirds at the wonderful Henderson Hummingbird Hurrah in Henderson, Minnesota.

The caged apparatus is for trapping the tiny birds.

A favorite hangout for pelicans, the Loafing Bar.

Keeping an eagle eye on pelicans.

The woolly bear caterpillar watch has begun.

Naturally

 The woolly bear caterpillar watch has begun. Folklore says if its rusty band is wide, it will be a mild winter. The more black there is, the more severe the winter. Most scientists discount woolly bear predictions.
 Red leaves are on the sumac and goldenrods have become insect zoos. Some blue jays have become bald because of a molt. I watched someone bale hay. I’ve never baled hay just to listen to the meadowlarks, but it would have been worth it. Hummingbirds worked around the bees at feeders.
 I marveled at the persistent beauty of black-eyed Susans and spotted bee balm (horsemint). Soldier beetles gather on this bee balm, which is drought tolerant. Soldier beetles, sometimes called leatherwings, are relatives of fireflies and a soldier beetle’s larvae look like tiny alligators.
 There was the first record of a swallow-tailed kite at Hawk Ridge in Duluth. A Mississippi kite was also seen there. A Mississippi kite’s nest may be located next to or contain a wasp nest, which might help protect the chicks against climbing predators. Other bird species—mockingbirds, blue jays and house sparrows—may nest near or on kite nests, coexisting peacefully with the kites.

Q&A

 “How far north do Baltimore orioles nest?” They breed from Louisiana through central Canada.
 “I’ve noticed that the cardinals are the last to leave the feeders at the end of the day. Do you know why?” Cardinals are among the earliest visitors in the morning and the last to leave the feeders at dusk. Why they like the day’s edges is a good question. They might feel safer then as Cooper’s hawks aren’t active at either dawn or dusk. Maybe they don’t like crowds or the feeder offers specials then. The male's bright plumage appears dark in the dim light of dusk. This makes him a bit more inconspicuous. Cardinals often live close to feeders, which means they have a short commute home and face less competition at the feeders at dusk.
 “Do squirrels ever fall out of trees?” Gravity can occasionally overpower one, especially when aided by a squirrel’s injury or illness. I came out of a church in Iowa just in time for a squirrel to fall to the ground nearby from a tall tree. It bounced and ran away, appearing to have been unharmed. Its misstep might have been caused by another squirrel chasing it.
 “Why do ruffed grouse drum in the fall?” For a while, the spring and the fall daylight are about the same. Perhaps the grouse are tricked by the photoperiod and that triggers their drumming. Or maybe they drum in the autumn to ward off potential competitors for their territory.
 “Why do our oaks produce so many acorns one year and so few another?” Bur oaks are white oak trees (leaves have rounded lobes) and have a fruiting cycle analogous to an apple tree. Every spring, blooming female oak flowers are fertilized by the pollen from male flowers growing on the same tree or nearby trees of the same species. If conditions are favorable, the female flowers set acorns, which mature over the summer and drop in the fall. Red oak trees (the lobes of their leaves are pointed) develop acorns the same way white oaks do, but the nuts remain stunted woody knobs into the following spring. In their second spring, these acorns begin growing again and drop as mature acorns in the fall. Although red oak trees require two years to produce an acorn crop, but could produce a crop of acorns every year as long as the conditions for fruit-set are favorable. This is because of the different fruiting schedules of individual trees. An oak tree's health, vitality, genetics, age and resources can affect acorn numbers. A late spring frost can blight flowers, which prevents acorn development. Drought, flood and insects play important roles. Oaks have irregular cycles of boom and bust. Boom times, called “mast years,” occur every few years. A mast year isn’t a predictor of a severe winter. Oak trees might practice “predator satiation.” In a mast year, predators (chipmunks, squirrels, turkeys, blue jays, deer, bears, etc.) can’t eat all the acorns, so some germinate. Years of lean acorn production keep predator populations low, meaning there are fewer animals to eat the acorns in a mast year.
 “When are young opossums independent?” Opossums that are at least 7 inches long, not counting the tail, are old enough to survive on their own.

Thanks for stopping by

 “If an animal does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing for the same reason, we call it intelligence.”—Will Cuppy.
 “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”—E. F. Schumacher.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

Spotted bee balm (horsemint) tolerates dry conditions and amorous soldier beetles. Photo by Al Batt.

It was my great pleasure to ingest a crane cookie at the Yampa Valley Crane Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The Festival was a delight.

Craniacs at the Yampa Valley Crane Festival doing what craniacs do—look at cranes.

Craniacs at the Yampa Valley Crane Festival doing what craniacs do—look at cranes.

A great place to stay in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

A great place to stay in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Where to find books, scones and friends in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. And coffee, if you’re into that sort of thing.

More craniacs at the Yampa Valley Crane Festival.

At Rotary Park in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

What is a grinny?

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.

Do opossums use their tails to carry stuff?

Naturally

 I watched a flock of American white pelicans flying overhead. The flock twisted as it moved through the sky. That movement caused them to look like white birds, then black birds and then disappear. It was magic.
 Chickadees look ratty as they go through a molt. August is a common time for the replacement of feathers.
 The Carolina grasshopper is a banded-winged grasshopper with mainly black hindwings and could be mistaken for a mourning cloak butterfly as it flutters. It’s also called the Carolina locust or butterfly grasshopper, it congregates in areas of bare ground and is commonly seen on school playgrounds, ballfields, dirt roads, gravel driveways, vacant lots and similar conditions where its coloration allows it to blend in. It crepitates, making a crackling sound as it flies.
 The yard’s feeders were busy. In the movie “Field of Dreams,” Iowa farmer Ray (Kevin Costner) hears a mysterious voice in his cornfield saying, "If you build it, he will come." Despite taunts of lunacy, Ray builds a baseball diamond on his land, supported by his wife, Annie (Amy Madigan). The ghosts of great players started coming from the field to play ball, led by Shoeless Joe Jackson. When it comes to birds, if you feed and water them, they will come.
 The striking orange and black painted lady is one of the most common butterfly species in the world, inhabiting every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Unlike many butterflies, it doesn’t become dormant during the winter and cannot survive heavy frosts. It migrates to warmer climates in winter. Host plants for the caterpillars include thistle, mallows, hollyhock, legumes and others. This charismatic butterfly feeds on nectar from the flowers of thistles, red clover, asters and many other plants. The painted lady is called the thistle butterfly and is known for its impressive migrations, which unlike many other migratory species, don’t follow a seasonal pattern. Perhaps their migratory patterns are influenced by heavy rains like El Niño, which impact the abundance of their larval host plants. In North America, the painted lady butterflies migrate in a northwestern direction in spring and sometimes a second migration back southward in the fall. Their migrations span multiple generations.
 I’m seeing wild cucumber, a native, annual vine with star-shaped leaves. In August, conspicuous small white flowers on long stalks grow skyward, turning the plant into a conspicuous large vine noticeable along roadsides.
 I’ve seen crab spiders. They are usually yellow or white, but can be brown. Their first four legs are longer than the back four and are held out to the sides, giving a crab-like appearance. They are most common on yellow or white flowers and are beneficial predators of insects. They don’t harm people.
 Joe Pye weed is blooming beautifully. Remember, it’s the ragweed and not the goldenrod that activates your hay fever.

Q&A

 “What eats grape jelly?” It’s enjoyed by orioles, catbirds, woodpeckers, house finches, tanagers, robins, yellow-rumped warblers, grosbeaks, Cape May warblers, brown thrashers and mockingbirds. Hummingbirds will drink the juice. Chipmunks, raccoons and squirrels will eat it.
 “Do opossums dig and can they use their tails to carry things?” Opossums have soft, delicate paws with nails that are easily damaged. They aren’t capable of doing a lot of digging. Opossums den where it’s dry, sheltered and safe. This includes burrows dug by other mammals, rock crevices, hollow stumps, wood piles and spaces under buildings. They gather twigs, leaves, grass and trash with their mouths and pass the items through their front legs and pack them into their curled tail for transport to their dens.
 “When do the loons leave?” In September, Minnesota's adult loons travel to their winter home along the Atlantic coast from North Carolina south to Florida, or on the Gulf of Mexico. The parents leave before the chicks can fly. The young loons follow about a month later. In Minnesota, the peak is in mid-October. The bones of most birds are hollow and light, but loons have solid bones. The extra weight helps them dive as deep as 250 feet for food. They can stay underwater for five minutes. Because their bodies are heavy relative to their wing size, loons need a long runway to take flight from a lake. Minnesota supports the largest U.S. breeding population south of Alaska.
 “How much honey can a honey bee produce?” According to The American Bee Journal, the average honey bee makes one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime and honey bees fly up to 15 mph.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason.”—Henry Fielding.
 "It is not half so important to know as to feel."—Rachel Carson.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

This lovely cedar waxwing seemed surprised to see me on a wuthering day. Photo by Al Batt

Children’s books about nature rock.

I watch birds.

Red Admiral caterpillars feed on nettles.

I see Silver-spotted Skippers most often on red, purple and pink flowers.

The Ebony Jewelwing makes a magnificent damselfly.

My wife’s favorite bird, the Indigo Bunting, as painted by a friend, Rory Mattson. It made my gift-buying experience an easy one.

Birds. Book. Scott Weidensaul. Great.

A mourning dove called, its voice sounding sad and distant.

Naturally

 A mourning dove called, its voice sounding sad and distant. An eastern kingbird, Tyrannus tyrannus, patrolled the yard. A chipmunk raided the grape jelly feeder. It looked like a chipmunk clown with its red lips.
 I enjoy hearing the sleigh bell-like sounds on summer evenings (July to frost). Snowy tree crickets make the sounds but are perhaps best known as nature’s thermometer because the rate of their chirping correlates with temperature. The formula (depending on whom you ask) is to count the number of chirps in 13 seconds, then add 40 to find the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. The insects get the name “snowy” because of their pale coloration.
 Hover flies (or flower flies or syrphid flies in the family Syrphidae) are common and important natural enemies of aphids and other small, slow-moving insects. The adults resemble bees or wasps and are often seen visiting flowers, hovering over the flowers and darting about. I’m seeing cicada killer wasps. I love seeing them and had a chuckle when I saw them described as “satan’s nightmares.”

Q&A

 “What birds in the US are brood parasites?” Many birds occasionally lay eggs in the nests of other birds, but our only obligate brood parasites are the brown-headed cowbird and the bronzed cowbird. They don’t build nests. The European cuckoo of Europe and Asia (winters in Africa), lays eggs only in the nests of other birds and they make the call featured in cuckoo clocks. It’s doubtful that the brown-headed cowbird once followed the great bison herds. The cowbirds are territorial and aren’t likely to travel much during the breeding season.
 Vicki Lauruhn of Mankato asked for a good place to see sandhill cranes in southern Minnesota and wondered when the colts can fly. Sandhill cranes lay eggs in April, incubation takes about a month and a colt takes its first flight when it’s 65-75 days old. The young remain with their parents for 9-10 months, accompanying them in migration. There are three (not all in Minnesota) wonderful places to see them. The wetlands at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, a 30,700-acre refuge north of the Twin Cities, provide prime habitat for 50 pairs of nesting sandhill cranes and in September and October, thousands of cranes gather at the refuge before migrating. Thousands of greater sandhill cranes gather at Crex Meadows near Grantsburg, Wisconsin, in October and early November, where they feed in the crop fields during the day and roost in the sedge marshes at night. The International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, is the only place in the world where visitors can see all 15 species of cranes. It’s open from May 1 to October 31.
 Ryan Rasmussen of Clarks Grove hasn’t seen many toads this year and wondered why. Toads watch the weather reports and pay particular attention to the temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and barometric pressure. Toads love to come out in the rain because they prefer a wet, dark environment. After a steady rain, the area is usually cloudy, cool and moist, the right conditions for a traveling toad. It’s also a good time to find food as earthworms are plentiful after a big rain. Water puddles can be refreshing for toads. In some areas, many small woodland ponds dried up this year and that likely led to fewer toads. Toad populations are localized.
 Mark Sauck of Truman wrote that he’d stepped on a cricket and a black parasitic worm almost half the size of the cricket crawled out. He wondered what it was. It was a horsehair worm, an internal parasite of crickets. Adult horsehair worms are free-living in fresh water and damp soil. Parasitized crickets seek water because they are thirsty and this allows the horsehair worm to emerge from the insect's body and swim away in the water. Horsehair worms squirm and twist in the water, knotting themselves into a loose, ball-like shape resembling the "Gordian Knot." Another name for the horsehair worm is a gordian worm. These internal parasites of insects don’t parasitize other animals or plants and are harmless. 
 Annie Mattson of Albert Lea asks how many times robins nest. While a robin may nest three times in one year, only 40% of nests successfully produce young, and only 25% of fledged young survive to November. Only about half of the robins alive in any year make it to the next. The oldest robin known lived to almost 14 years of age, but the average 6-month-old robin has only 1.7 years to live.
 “Do deer have stomachs like cows?” Like other ruminants, deer possess a four-compartment stomach (rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum). They chew their cuds just as cattle do.

Thanks for stopping by

 “We're all just walking each other home.”—Ram Dass.
 “Politeness is the art of choosing among your thoughts.”—Madame de Stael.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

The scientific name Tyrannus means “tyrant, despot, or king” and refers to the aggressive behavior of the eastern kingbird. Photo by Al Batt.

A cellphone photo of the night sky turned into a painting.

And he’s not even a relative.

My favorite tractor. It was the first one upon which I was unleashed as a solo driver.

A rural school where the three “R’s”—reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic were learned. The stove kept the brains thawed.

A rural school where the three “R’s”—reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic were learned. The stove kept the brains thawed.

A rural school where the three “R’s”—reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic were learned. The stove kept the brains thawed.

I’ve just started reading this book and I’m enjoying it. Tim has a winner here.

A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron is hanging around Albert Lea, Minnesota for the second year in a row. Or to put it in the vernacular of a sports broadcaster, the second consecutive year in a row. Photo by Al Batt.

Spotted bee balm (horsemint) tolerates dry conditions and amorous soldier beetles. Photo by Al Batt.

What is taking the sunflower seeds from my feeders at night?

Naturally 

 I wish I could whoosh. A barn swallow flew past my head with a whoosh. I’d love to be able to do that.
 Birdsong has diminished, but I hear indigo buntings, song sparrows and vesper sparrows singing with gusto. Swallows line the utility wires. A great crested flycatcher continues to call, sounding as if it’s calling me a creep. 
 I watched a male goldfinch flying in circles or figure eights high in the air, and after singing while flying a course only it recognized, it moved to an undulating flight and dropped to a perch. It was a courtship display.
 Looking like tall dandelions blooming on roadsides, the leaves of sowthistles resemble those of thistles. Evening primrose and common mullein both produce yellow flowers on tall spikes. Complying with its name, primrose flowers open each evening.
 Spotted jewelweed blooms from July through September. Spotted jewelweed’s orange flowers are funnel-shaped. Its sap has long been used to relieve the itch of poison ivy and stinging nettle, but soap is more effective. It can lessen the discomfort of insect bites or stings. If you have a bee in your hand, you have beauty in your eye. Beauty is in the eye of the bee holder. Sorry. Jewelweed is also known as spotted touch-me-not because its seedpods have an explosive release of ripe seeds when touched. 
 Asters, goldenrods and sunflowers bloom. Weather folklore says, for every fog in August, there will be a day of snowfall in winter.

Q&A

 “Please give a simple and concise answer to this question, how can a woodpecker hammer on a tree without doing itself harm?” Woodpeckers are designed to do what they do and smaller animals can withstand higher accelerations than larger ones.
 “How can I keep ants out of my hummingbird feeder?” Choose a feeder with an ant moat or install an ant moat on an existing feeder. An ant moat features a shallow trough and sits above the feeder. It’s filled with water to discourage ants. If the water evaporates too quickly, try coating the ant moat with a thin layer of vegetable oil. For a DIY ant moat, use a small plastic cup, a pill bottle or cut off the top of a pop bottle (the bowl-shaped section) with the cap on it and poke or drill a hole through the bottoms of the cup or pill bottle, or the cap of the pop bottle. Cut off the straight part of a coat hanger and push it through the hole. Put hot glue or silicon around that wire hole so there won’t be any leaks in your moat. Give it time to dry and then bend hooks on the ends of the coat hanger wire so the moat could hang from a hook and the hummingbird feeder could hang below it. Fill the moat with water and it should deter ants as long as it’s kept free of debris that might act as a bridge for the ants.
 “How can I tell if I’ve seen a coyote or a wolf?” Coyotes are much more common, so it’s likely a coyote. Wolves are much larger (legs are longer), their tracks dwarf those of a coyote, and they have broader faces. Wolves are blockheads.
 “Why lawns?” Lawns dominate many landscapes. A lawn used to be an opening in the woods enabling approaching hostile visitors to be spotted. The lawn was often maintained by sheep. Lawns began with the ruling class. The gentry could afford to devote a vast amount of land for aesthetic purposes around the manor or the castle. Before the lawnmower, only the rich could afford a living green carpet. The 40-hour work week freed Saturdays for lawnmowing. Clover, dandelion and plantain were part of a healthy lawn. Golf greens, for no good reason, became the epitome of a perfect lawn, banning any plant but grass. A lawn is man’s attempt to control nature by any method. Poisons were set free on the environment in an attempt to make a lawn weed-free in the conformist ‘50s when everyone watched for signs of communism and crabgrass. Edible landscaping is changing yards.
 “What is taking the sunflower seeds from my feeders at night?” It could be a neighbor who found a free supply of bird seed. If you have flying squirrels around, they’re good at doing that. Raccoons are specialists at the job and deer are talented when it comes to licking a feeder clean. At least there are no flying raccoons—yet. I recall sitting on a deck with friends in Edina one night and being entertained by the flying squirrels gliding to the feeders. 

In memoriam
 RIP Tom Tow of Fairmont. I treasure your many kindnesses.

Thanks for stopping by
 “Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the human heart can hold.”—Zelda Fitzgerald.
 “There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.”—Eric Hoffer.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

There were 367 coyote attacks on humans between 1977 and 2015 in the U.S. and Canada, according to research published in 2017 in the journal Human-Wildlife Interactions. These attacks were largely in urban and suburban environments. Reports estimate 4.5 million dog bites per year in the U.S. with approximately 800,000 receiving medical attention. LegalMatch estimates 66,000 hospital emergency visits each year due to injuries done by cats. Photo by Al Batt.

Ask Al, the Frivolity Department

Naturally

 I was captivated by ditches filled with interesting things. The white umbels of Queen Anne’s lace (wild carrot or bird’s nest) looked like giant snowflakes of summer.
 Dragonflies whizzed by. The insects have a corral filled with nicknames including snake doctor, devil’s darning needle and mosquito hawk.
 I worked at a county fair and sat near a fountain dispensing cool water on a hot day. It had four bubblers coming from a straight pipe. Free water! There were two crows drinking the bubbling aqua. One crow was an adult and the other wasn’t. 
 I had been on a spring’s roads and was staying in a hotel. Across the street were stores of every kind. I wanted to get a large bottle of iced tea to put in my room’s refrigerator. I’d decided to walk to the store and wondered aloud, “But which store should I go to?” A chickadee whistled, “Hy-Vee.” The black-capped chickadee’s song is a simple two-note whistled “fee-bee.” 
 Erica McAlister, a curator of Diptera (flies) at the Museum of Natural History in London, reported there are an estimated 17 million flies per person. I don’t know who counted them.
 A caller sent a photo asking if a lovely beetle was a Japanese beetle. The sides of a Japanese beetle’s abdomen are adorned with five patches of white hairs and the tip has two patches. Robber flies and assassin bugs prey on Japanese beetles, which  feed on about 300 species of plants—devouring leaves, flowers and fruit. The metallic-hued beetle in the photo was a dogbane leaf beetle, which has a green head and copper, gold and emerald elytra (wing cases). Its green legs have a metallic gleam and it has longer antennae than Japanese beetles. Dogbane leaf beetles mate, feed and grow on dogbane plants. 
 I watched a greater roadrunner in Texas. No beep, beep or meep, meep. The male makes a cooing sound. It’s sometimes called el paisano or chaparral bird. An opportunistic predator, it feeds upon snakes, lizards, scorpions, snails, spiders, insects, rodents, bats and birds.
 I spoke at the lovely Merrick State Park along the backwaters of the Mississippi River near Fountain City, Wisconsin, when a brown thrasher, a one-bird band, joined me. It’s nicknamed Mavis. I called out that name and it flew away. 

Q&A

 Denny Tostenson of Albert Lea had no Baltimore orioles this summer. I suggested he dress like Oriole Bird, the mascot of the Baltimore Orioles MLB team. Denny saw one owl chasing another owl in his July  yard and wondered what was going on. Great horned owls begin nesting in January or February. They lay their eggs in abandoned nests of squirrels, hawks or crows or in hollow trees. The one to five eggs hatch in 30 to 37 days. The young owls leave the nest in six to nine weeks. Juveniles are dependent on their parents through the summer, and sometimes don’t leave their parents' territory until forced to do so in late fall. Barred owls begin nesting in March with the two or three eggs hatching in 28 to 33 days. Young barred owls leave the nest four to five weeks after hatching. At about eight weeks old they begin to fly, but don’t master flight until they are 12 weeks old. Young owls stay with their parents until the end of summer or sometimes later, before taking off on their own. Barred owl parents feed their chicks for up to four to five months of age, at which point the young start dispersing. What Denny saw was likely a young owl hoping to be fed by its parent.
 “What is blue-green algae?” Blue-green algae are bacteria, actually cyanobacteria—cyan means "blue-green"—and are commonly found on lakes, rivers and ponds. A combination of warm temperatures, sunlight and nutrient-rich waters can cause blue-green algae to reproduce rapidly (bloom). It often looks like green paint or pea soup floating on the water, but can also appear bluish, brownish or reddish-green. Some blue-green algae produce toxins or poisons. In their toxic forms, blue-green algae can cause illness in humans, pets, waterfowl and other animals that come in contact with the algae. 

Ask Al, the Frivolity Department

 “What is the purpose of raccoons?” The animals let us know when the sweet corn is ripe.
 “I saw a tern being shadowed by another tern. Whatever one did, the other did likewise. What were they doing?” One was a tern and the other was an intern gaining valuable work experience.
 “Why do vultures fly in circles?” They’re buffering.
 “How do you catch a skunk with your bare hands?” Only once.

Thanks for stopping by

 “If you love it enough, anything will talk to you.”—George Washington Carver.
 “Religions are many and diverse, but reason and goodness are one.”—Elbert Hubbard.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

The dogbane leaf beetle, an incredibly beautiful insect, feeds mainly on dogbane, but occasionally eats milkweed. It’s a gorgeous beetle, the sight of which thrills me. Photo by Al Batt

I really enjoyed this children’s book

A friend made this out of a bucket of junk. Freeborn County Fair.

I volunteered at the Freeborn County Historical Society Village near this bee house. It not be my house.

I got a laugh out of the description of the cicada killer.

Hope on a Butterfly Weed.

Caroline Kennedy had a pet canary named Robin

Naturally

I was in one of life’s quiet corners when a Cooper’s hawk flew low over my head. My resemblance to Big Bird nearly cost me.
Robins filled the table of contents for my yard. Caroline Kennedy had a pet canary when JFK was in the White House. When the bird died, it was buried in the White House yard. The canary was named Robin because Caroline liked robins.
Field bindweed or its larger relative, the hedge bindweed, are perennial vines with white or pink flowers and arrowhead-shaped leaves. I often see hedge bindweed climbing shrubs or fences, and in open fields. It’s similar to field bindweed, which is a weedier species with smaller flowers and leaves. They are closely related to the morning glory of the garden, which is an annual vine with white, pink, purple or blue flowers and heart-shaped leaves.
Peregrine falcons are one of the most widespread bird species in the world. They are found on all continents except Antarctica and they nest on cliffs with a large percentage of their nest sites being manmade structures, including electricity transmission towers, quarries, silos, skyscrapers, churches and bridges. Peregrine falcons are primarily bird hunters with starlings, pigeons, blackbirds, jays, shorebirds and waterfowl all being fair game for a hungry peregrine.
The air carried fireflies, insects with their check engine lights flashing. I watched an opossum moving through the darkening yard. Male opossums are jacks, the females are jills and the young are joeys.

Wawa

I was having my car filled with gas at a Wawa convenience store because you can't pump your own gas in New Jersey. “Wawa" is a Native American word for the Canada goose (more or less).

You are one with nature

You can’t help but be one with nature if you draw a single breath. Spending time in a natural environment has been linked to lower stress levels (reductions in tension and anxiety) and improved memory. Forest bathing is the process of soaking up the sights, smells and sounds of a natural setting to promote physiological and psychological health. People on nature walks tend to engage in less negative self-referential overthinking. The EPA says that Americans, on average, spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often much higher than typical outdoor concentrations. The idea of forest bathing is to awaken the five senses to everything that surrounds us. The costs of forest bathing are reimbursed by health insurance in Japan, China and Korea.

Q&A

“How many bird species are there in the world?” It depends on who you ask. Princeton University experts found there are an estimated 9,700 bird species in the world. According to BirdLife.org, there are nearly 11,000 species worldwide.
Ken Nelson of Clarks Grove asked how many broods barn swallows have each year? One or two.
“What preys on skunks?” According to research by Ohio State University biologist Stan Gehrt found coyotes, foxes, dogs, bobcats, mountain lions, badgers and great horned owls can all eat skunks but rarely do. Gehrt’s research shows that less than 5% of skunk mortality is caused by predators, not counting cars.
“What species of trees are MLB bats made from?” All MLB bats must be made from a single piece of wood and cannot be metal or composite bats. Maple is the most popular wood, with 75-80% of the market. Maple has great density and is hard and durable, but can shatter when it breaks. Ash, which used to be the most popular bat, is flexible and light, but not as durable as maple or birch. Birch bats are soft, flexible and more durable, but require a break-in period. You can’t hit a home run without a bat. Anther tree is involved when a player steps into the batter’s box. Pine tar is a tacky substance produced by the high-temperature carbonization of pine wood. It’s used in soaps, shampoos and treatments for certain skin conditions. Wooden bats can be slippery, so pine tar is added to improve the grip.
“Do mourning doves mate for life?” They are seasonally monogamous, with indications that some birds may re-pair in subsequent breeding seasons.
“What preys upon the monarch butterfly caterpillars found on milkweeds?” Tachinid flies, spined soldier bugs, spiders, and wasps. There are over 100 species of milkweeds in North America and monarchs use about 30 milkweed species as hosts for their larvae. Estimates are that 90% of the monarch butterflies that winter in Mexico have fed on one species, the common milkweed, as larvae.

Thanks for stopping by

“I hold one share in the corporate earth and am uneasy about the management.”—E.B. White.
“Education will not cure all the problems of society, but without it no cure for any problem is possible.”—Lyndon B. Johnson.
Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

Mourning doves (called “turtle doves” by some) drink without lifting their heads after each sip as most birds do. This photo of a napping dove is by Al Batt.

Becoming a proper robin.

The crows were trying to let people know that the sign didn’t apply to them.

A salute to the impressive epaulets of a Red-winged Blackbird.

I love the views from Minnesota’s rest areas. Great places to do a bit of birding.

I love the views from Minnesota’s rest areas. Great places to do a bit of birding.

Common Mullein seeds are consumed by American Goldfinches and colonists used the flannel-like leaves as “Quaker rouge” to raise a red blush on a rubbed face.

Common Mullein seeds are consumed by American Goldfinches and colonists used the flannel-like leaves as “Quaker rouge” to raise a red blush on a rubbed face.

While doing a program at Merrick State Park in Wisconsin, I noticed an Eastern Phoebe was using the screen (nest on top right).

Virginia Creeper has taken up residence in a bat house.

A Minnesota picnic—tater tot hotdish, SPAM, Green Giant green beans & corn, buttermilk biscuits, a turkey leg bigger than the brain of anyone trying to eat more than one, a thermos holding something to wash it all down and a Bundt cake. When in doubt, Bundt. All that’s missing is some kind of bug dope.

Babe the Blue Ox and Paul Bunyan were spotted at the Blue Earth County Library in Mankato, Minnesota. They are readers. Babe’s eyes are blue. Here’s a little known fact, Babe Ruth’s eyes were not blue.

What bird says, “Which is it? which is it?”

Naturally

The common yellowthroat sang, “Which is it? Which is it?” as I filled feeders it won’t patronize.
I fill the feeders because birds are into outdoor dining. I’m into outdoor shaving and brushing my teeth. I like to do those things while walking. Thanks to battery-powered devices, I’m able to.
The Dog Days are when the Good Humor man, despite impressive sales, isn’t in one. Sirius, also called Alpha Canis Majoris or the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the night sky. When Sirius appeared in the sky just before the sun near the end of July and marked the beginning of the hottest days of the year, the Romans referred to it as the days of the Dog Star. Ancient Egyptians, because Sirius appeared just before the season of the Nile River’s flooding, used the star as a watchdog for that event. Since its rising coincided with a time of extreme heat, the connection with hot, sultry weather was made for all time.
An acorn woodpecker was discovered in Carlton County. In North America, the breeding range of acorn woodpeckers is southwestern Washington, Oregon, California, southwestern U.S. and western Mexico. Acorn woodpeckers are typically year-round residents, however, those in and around the Huachuca Mountains in southeastern Arizona may migrate to Mexico during winter, depending on the mast crop.

Q&A

“How can I identify wild parsnip?” A native of Europe and Asia, no one is sure when wild parsnip arrived here or how. It’s been here a long time. There are records of this plant being in Wisconsin in 1894. It’s a biennial that grows to 5 feet tall with leaves consisting of two to five pairs of toothed leaflets that are often shaped like mittens. It has yellowish-green flowers that form umbrella-shaped clusters 4 to 8 inches across and bloom in June and July. The stem is green, 1 to 2 inches thick and smooth with few hairs. Wild parsnip tolerates a range of soils and moisture levels, but requires sun and is found in open areas, pastures, fields, roadsides and disturbed areas. Wild parsnip is persistent even after being sprayed. Contact with the sap of wild parsnip combined with the presence of sunlight causes phytophotodermatitis, unpleasant rashes or blisters on skin. The prairie plant golden alexander, a native perennial, can be mistaken for wild parsnip. The primary difference between the plants is a matter of scale. Wild parsnip is much more robust. Both are lacy-looking plants with thick green stems topped with disk-like clusters of yellow flowers, but golden alexander is significantly smaller when mature. Wild parsnip has appreciably broader leaves, and bigger, flatter flower clusters. Wild parsnip has deeply forked leaves and those of golden alexander are smooth with fine serrations. The flowers of wild parsnip form flat clusters, while golden alexander flowers are more loosely and unevenly clustered. Queen Anne’s lace has white flowers that bloom in an umbrella shape pattern called an umbel. The flowers of Queen Anne’s lace usually have a single purplish flower in the center of the umbel. Legend says Queen Anne pricked her finger while sewing the lace and a droplet of her blood fell to the center of the flowers.
Deb Weitzel-Vitha of Albert Lea wondered, “How much does a pelican weigh?” The last two injured American white pelicans I took to a rehabilitation center weighed 10 and 16 pounds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says 8-20 pounds.
“There are webs on my lawn on a dewy morning. What spider makes those?” If the sheetlike webs aren’t sticky and have a funnel or tunnel on one side, they are the work of the funnel or grass spider. These webs become noticeable on the heavy dew of a cool, humid morning. A web could be a dollar spot fungus. The branching mycelia of this fungus resemble spider webs on the grass, but dollar spot disappears when the dew dries. Excess moisture and lack of nutrients are causes of dollar spot fungus.
“Will feeding safflower seeds instead of sunflower seeds discourage squirrels?” Safflower seeds aren’t a squirrel’s favorite food, but it will eat them because there is no bird food that a squirrel won’t eat. House sparrows, European starlings and common grackles sample safflower when other foods are lacking. Not all the regular feeder birds enjoy eating safflower. Goldfinches don’t flock to it. Chipmunks relish safflower, as do mourning doves and house finches. Chickadees, nuthatches and rose-breasted grosbeaks eat it. I’ve heard from many readers that cardinals enjoy it, but the ones in my yard aren’t crazy about safflower.

Thanks for stopping by

“The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us.”—Bill Watterson.
“All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering the animals are our equals.”—Peter Singer.
Do good.

©Al Batt 2022

Each year, fireflies (lightning bugs) provide silent fireworks that evoke wonder in me. Photo by Al Batt.

Something smelled like a wet robin.

The male Indigo Bunting (blue canary) is dressed for prom.

A mobile garden.

Minnesotans will stand in long lines under the hot sun for certain kinds of peaches.

The huge smile of a small sunflower.