The wild turkeys haven’t picked up a lick of trash

Naturally

 There is a gang of wild turkeys that have adopted a stretch of highway not far from my humble abode. I haven’t seen them pick up any trash yet, but I hope that’s their intention. They eat the spilled corn and soybeans they find there. The road is busy, but the turkeys claim the right-of-way. I had to come to a near stop before the turkeys grudgingly vacated my lane. They were telling me to go around. 
 Occasionally, a turkey is hit by a car and the carcass of the big bird becomes a meal for bald eagles and crows in the daytime and coyotes at night. I saw bald eagles feeding on road-killed deer and snow buntings feeding on seeds on the roadside near the turkeys. I listened to the sounds of birds. It’s nice to know who’s there.
 I thought I thaw a thaw. On average, January 23 is the coldest day of the year in much of the Northern Hemisphere. The warmest day of the year, on average, is July 24. A January thaw is defined as at least two straight days with temperatures above 32 degrees. 

Birding with Batt

 If you missed the “Birding With Batt” on the airwaves this week, you can hear it any time you like via the free KMSU radio streaming app. The app is available for Apple and Android devices, allowing you to livestream 89.7 the Maverick, find playlists and listen to shows on-demand.

Q&A

 “What good are blue jays? They are bullies.” The aggressive nature of jays is the main reason many birders don't like them. Blue jays are loud, eat a lot and they're domineering. They’re much like us. In the words of Mark Twain, "There's more to a jay than any other creature. You may call a jay a bird. Well, so he is, in a measure, 'cause he's got feathers on him and he don't belong to no church perhaps, but otherwise he's just as much a human as you and me." It’s a handsome bird. Their lovely colors are welcome on gray days. Males and females look alike. Blue jays play an important role in the ecosystem. They enjoy eating acorns, and cache acorns, which has played a role in forest restoration. They cache acorns farther from the mother tree than do squirrels. They eat grasshoppers and tent caterpillars.
 “When is the breeding season for opossums?” Opossums mate between January and May, bearing two litters of 6 to 20 young each year. The young aren’t fully developed at birth. They climb up the mother's belly and into her pouch where they attach themselves to a teat. There they remain for 60 to 70 days. For a month after that, the young opossums climb in and out of the pouch, never straying far. When mouse-sized, they climb onto their mother's back, where they spend much of their time before becoming more independent. Opossums eat almost anything: worms, snakes, insects, eggs, young birds, fruit, grain, garbage and carrion. After eating, opossums wash much like a cat.
 “When did cardinals first come to Minnesota?” Northern cardinals are a common breeding species in Minnesota, spreading from southeastern Minnesota into Minneapolis and west to Owatonna by the 1920s. The state's first record for a cardinal was in 1875. Many of the first arrivals were lone males that appeared in the fall, winter, or spring in scattered locations in southern Minnesota. After the 1875 record, cardinals appeared in Sherburne County (1887), Kandiyohi County (1894), Fillmore County (1898) and Martin County (1913). T.S. Roberts, the father of Minnesota ornithology, wrote that the first confirmed nesting of a cardinal was in Steele County in 1925 (nest with eggs). Nesting was documented in Hennepin County in 1927 (young being fed by adults) and in Goodhue County in 1930 (nest with eggs). The Cornell Lab attributes the cardinal’s expansion to two factors: More bird feeders and more landscaped yards with shrubbery, which provide fruit for food, shelter for nesting habitat and cover in winter.
 “Why am I hearing great horned owls calling now?” December and January are when great horned owl pairs engage in vigorous hooting while establishing territories and courting. They’ll be incubating eggs by February. The breeding pair may perform a duet of alternating calls, with the larger female’s voice noticeably higher in pitch than the male’s.
 “What is the old saying about fishing and the wind?” Wind from the west, fish bite the best. Wind from the east, fish bite the least. Wind from the north, do not go forth. Wind from the south blows bait in their mouth.” 

Thanks for stopping by

 “Enjoy every bird.”--Al Batt.
 “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.”—Emily Post.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2023

A dark morph rough-legged hawk. Rough-legged refers to the feathering that extends to the base of the toes, which conserves heat in frigid weather. I called them Christmas hawks when I was a boy because I saw them in winter. They hover while facing into the wind as they hunt. A sighting was and is always a welcome gift. Photo by Al Batt.

How you could watch a bird feeder without having a bird feeder

Naturally 

 I walked at night. Moonlight and a starry sky brought me comfort. A walk brings things to light. A means of discovery.
 As dawn interrupted the night, I heard a woodpecker drumming on a resonant tree, the bird proclaiming its territory.
 Mallards found the cold water of a lake companionable, but I couldn’t get my ducks in a row. It was like herding mallards.
 I heard the song of the black-capped chickadee, a fabulous sound that said, “Love you,” “Sweet-ie” or “Spring’s here.” It might have been a case of listener bias, but I think not. It was good to know that spring had arrived on a gelid winter day. A friend, Keith Wakefield, had died before Christmas. I did a Christmas Bird Count just after Christmas, a chance to binge-watch birds. I take great pleasure in counting chickadees, being grateful to see a single chickadee. There were at least 22 of them in one feeding flock. They were accompanied by nuthatches and cardinals. Many of our warm-weather birds are subject to seasonal dismissals, but not chickadees. They hang with us. Keith’s favorite bird and mine, too, the tiny chickadee stays. And I’m the better for it and for having known Keith.

How you could watch a bird feeder without having a bird feeder

 The FeederWatch cam is located in a residential neighborhood in Manitouwadge, Ontario. This site is an excellent location to see winter finches (redpolls and grosbeaks) as well as two species of jays. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/ontario-feederwatch/

Q&A

 “Is it a crow or a raven I’m seeing?” I love Robert Frost’s poem, “The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And saved some part Of a day I had rued.” A crow heralds its presence with a caw, while a raven's call is a hoarse, deep krronk. Ravens are considerably larger than crows and have more robust bills. A raven sports a shaggy beard of pointed feathers and its tail is diamond-shaped in flight with its wings and aerial behavior appearing raptor-like. A crow has a fan-shaped tail and a rounder wing shape in flight. Ravens are icons of northern Minnesota and seldom venture far from where they hatched, while crows are common city dwellers and are found throughout the state. Northern Minnesota crows may drift southward far enough to find food. In fall and winter, crows can form huge flocks. Ravens are expanding their range south with sightings in the Twin Cities area. One crow is bigger than any raven. An 18-foot crow sits atop a 31-foot-long branch on a 25-foot-tall cement pedestal in Belgrade, Minnesota.
 Rick Draper of Albert Lea asks how a squirrel nest persists. The well-engineered leaf nests (dreys) are constructed from twigs, leaves, moss and other material. The twigs, often gnawed from a tree when the leaves were still intact, are loosely woven together to create the floor of a nest. Squirrels add stability by packing damp leaves and moss on top of the twig platform to reinforce the structure. A spherical frame is woven around the base, forming the outer shell. It’s finished by stuffing it with leaves, moss, twigs and/or paper to build up the outer shell. The inner cavity of its leaf nest is lined with shredded bark, grass and leaves. The thick walls keep wind, water and snow from penetrating the interior and keep cold air out and warm air in. Bernd Heinrich, in “Winter World,” wrote of a 12-inch diameter drey having 26 layers of flattened, dried and overlapped oak leaves.
 “Why did I see a bald eagle perched near its nest in December?” It might have been checking its nesting site for any maintenance issues or other concerns. Eagle pairs usually begin defending their nest sites in mid-January. The eagles’ treetop nest increases in size each year as the couple adds sticks and plant material. Part of that is a pair-bonding exercise. Eagles typically lay two eggs (occasionally three) in early February to early April.
 “Is striped sunflower seed a good thing to feed birds?” Because of its tough shell, it’s best for larger birds with strong bills. Striped sunflower appeals to blue jays, cardinals, woodpeckers and grosbeaks while discouraging starlings, house sparrows and cowbirds. Black oil sunflower seeds are best for attracting most seed-eating finches, sparrows, chickadees and nuthatches.
 Harvey Benson of Harmony wrote, “When you were a youngster did you read Thornton W. Burgess books? My favorites.” I’m sorry, I did not.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Still round the corner there may wait, / a new road or a secret gate.”—J.R.R. Tolkien.
 “If you want to test your memory, try to remember what you were worrying about one year ago today.”—E. Joseph Cossman. 
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2023

A superstition maintains that saying “rabbit rabbit” aloud before saying anything else on the first day of the month brings a month of good luck. The beloved Gilda Radner said “bunny, bunny” to ensure laughter, love and peace. FDR said “rabbits.” If you forget to say “rabbit, rabbit” the first thing, say "tibbar, tibbar"—“rabbit” backward. Photo by Al Batt.

Did you miss 'Birding With Batt' this week? Now you can hear it any time you like via the free KMSU streaming app! The KMSU app is available for Apple and Android devices, allowing you to livestream 89.7 the Maverick, find playlists, and listen to shows on-demand.

Slow Birding is a good thing

Naturally

 I’d finished a radio show about nature. After its completion, the station played The Mamas and Papas singing, “I've been for a walk on a winter's day. I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. California dreamin' on such a winter's day.”
 I went for a walk with no California dreaming. The feeders were busy. The weather could have been considered nasty. Mild winter weather leads to lessened feeder activity. Bad weather coming brings birds to the feeders just as it brings people to the grocery stores. My Christmas Bird Count started in the company of sun dogs. “Bad weather, good birds,” I told myself. I birded a couple of cemeteries and was taken with how the American flags, on tombstones backlit by the sun and hit by the wind, left shadows dancing on the snow. Thanks to its big voice, I saw a pileated woodpecker. While binge-watching snow, I saw a pair of American white pelicans—the white birds on the snow and ice should have been snowbirds and gone. They winter along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Mexico and return in early spring as lakes and rivers thaw.

Book report

 If I taught a bird appreciation class, and I have, Joan E. Strassman’s “Slow Birding: The Art and Science of Enjoying the Birds in Your Own Backyard” would be a perfect textbook. She presents new and old information in pleasing and memorable ways. A dark-eyed junco loses 7% of its body weight when at rest overnight. Robins have found that regurgitated insects and earthworms make a great baby formula. Thanks to jays burying acorns to cache, “mighty oaks from little blue jays grow.” Cooper’s hawks, once known as chicken hawks, have created another definition of the term “feeder bird.” It’s a fun book and a fine read.

They’ve been studying

 A new study by researchers at Durham University, the British Trust for Ornithology and Princeton University examined the relationship between nest design and the time offspring spend in the nest before fledging across species of weaverbirds and icterids, two bird families renowned for their complex woven nests. They found that birds build hanging nests, particularly those with extended entrance tunnels, to help protect offspring against nest invaders like snakes and parasitic birds. They found that species building the most elaborate nests produce offspring with longer developmental periods. Nests with longer entrance tunnels are more effective at hindering access by nest invaders than shorter tunnels and limit the exposure of developing offspring to nest invaders.

Q&A

 “What do and don’t house sparrows like?” They love millet and cracked corn. Two of their least favorite feeder foods are safflower and striped sunflower seeds.
 “Is it true male peppers have three bumps and female peppers have four bumps?” It’s a myth. All pepper fruits are ripened ovaries containing seeds formed after pollination. The bumps or lack thereof are related to variety and growing conditions.
 “How many sparrow species are there?” According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, there are 43 species of New World sparrows commonly found in the United States and Canada (the family Passerellidae includes towhees, juncos, and lark bunting). Most birds with “sparrow” in their name are small and brown, many have streaked backs and all have conical bills perfect for husking seeds. Bright colors and bold patterns are rare. When most people think about sparrows, the first one that comes to mind is the house sparrow, once called the English sparrow. They are the little birds seen rounding up stray french fries in fast food parking lots, nesting under supermarket signs and invading bluebird and martin houses, farm buildings and home improvement stores. House sparrows were first recorded in ​Eurasia, North Africa and the Middle East, and introduced into the U.S. in the middle 1800s. House sparrows belong to a group called Old World Sparrows, which are native to Eurasia and Africa. This group meets at the Holiday Inn on the second Thursday of each month. Some sources indicate that house sparrows are weaver finches instead of sparrows and put them in the family Ploceidae. Taxonomy based on DNA studies found the house sparrow to be an "Old World sparrow" and a member of the family Passeridae. Weaver finches are sometimes considered a subgroup of this family. Others consider them as members of a separate family, Estrildidae. "New World sparrows," like the song sparrow, white-throated sparrow and chipping sparrow, are members of the family Emberizidae.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Good mashed potato is one of the great luxuries of life."—Lindsey Bareham.
 “These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraphs and kerosene and coal stoves—they’re good to have but the trouble is, folks get to depend on ’em.”—Laura Ingalls Wilder. “By the Shores of Silver Lake.”
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2023

The American white pelicans I saw in Minnesota on December 30. They had open water for fishing and each other for company. Photo by Al Batt.

Fogs have frosted the trees with rime regularly this January. These white-tipped trees guard a rural cemetery not far from my humble abode.

Did you miss 'Birding With Batt' this week? Now you can hear it any time you like via the KMSU streaming app! The free KMSU app is available for Apple and Android devices, allowing you to livestream 89.7 the Maverick, find playlists, and listen to shows on-demand!

Why we have evergreen trees

Naturally

It was -14°. It was so cold Jack Frost quit and nose hairs were snapped off. I used a fur-lined teacup and welcomed warm thoughts. Winter is for the birds. The crows expressed their displeasure at the presence of a raptor. The blue jays had stolen the colors of the sky on a sunny day and of the water when it was ice-free.
It reminded me of a similar day in Southeast Alaska that offered all the things people want in a day—deep snow, cold and ice. I wandered alongside a river, pointing my camera at worthy subjects and there were many worthy subjects. There was enough spawned-out salmon for everyone. Crows, ravens, magpies, gulls and bald eagles fed at the buffet. I know we’re told not to anthropomorphize, but I think doing so can add to our understanding. I watched a bald eagle eating with gusto. It was taking the advice of an old Schlitz Beer commercial that said, "You only go around once in life. So, grab for all the gusto you can." Its epicurean delight attracted the attention of other birds, including other eagles. Humans display similar behavior. Somebody else’s lunch often looked better than ours when we were kids. As adults, we’re enjoying our food at a restaurant until we see what someone else is having. “I should have ordered that,” we think. The owner of the salmon repulsed any attempts at fish thievery. A bold raven snuck up on the eagle from behind and yanked its tail. It did this several times until the infuriated eagle reacted. When it did so, a gull grabbed the fish and dragged it off where a squabble of gulls fought over the delicacy.
The bald eagle, freed of the responsibility of a fish dinner, flew into a tree and preened. The gulls continued to battle for control of the salmon. The eagle, having had enough, flew down from its perch and dispatched one gull, as the remaining gulls fled the scene. The bald eagle flew back to its perch and continued to preen.
The tail-tugging raven got the salmon.

Why we have evergreen trees

When I walk on a cold, windy winter day, I appreciate the evergreen trees for their good work in blocking the bitter winds. There is a Native American folktale about a sparrow with an injured wing. He was unable to fly south with his flock as winter approached. Despite that, the sparrow continued to sing his lovely song. When the first snow fell, the sparrow became desperate and sought shelter and warmth in the leaves of an oak tree, then a maple, an elm, a willow and an aspen, but each tree had a small heart and rejected the tiny bird with considerable rudeness. The pine tree, however, welcomed the sparrow and apologized for its sticky branches and needlelike foliage. The pine tucked the little bird comfortably into a sheltered and welcoming branch. When his flock returned in the spring, the sparrow's wing had healed. The Creator admonished the trees that had so much but refused to share. The Creator proclaimed those trees would lose their leaves each winter, but because the pine tree had shown compassion, it would remain green all year.

Q&A

“What should I do if I find an injured bird?” Make the bird as comfortable as possible and call the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota, located in Roseville, at 651-486-9453. If you find an injured raptor, contact the University of Minnesota Raptor Center at 612-624-4745.
“Why do I see robins and mourning doves here in the winter?” There are migratory robins and there are those that don’t migrate. Scientists are studying the migratory robins and the resident robins, finding they interbreed little. There may be genetic differences. Overwintering robins tend to travel in flocks of 40-50 birds and reside in ravines and other wooded areas where they have an open water source. They can be nomadic and move to where there is an adequate supply of food. Robins survive in the winter on the fruit of trees like buckthorn, crabapple, cherry, mountain ash, hackberry and hawthorn. Robins seldom visit feeders but might eat raisins, currants, blueberries or small pieces of suet placed on the ground or platform feeder. Most mourning doves move south, but some are year-round residents in the southern part of the state. If they find food (cracked corn, millet or safflower seeds at feeders) and water to drink, they can withstand winter. Off the subject, a dove has a structure in its throat that produces pigeon milk or crop milk for nestlings. The milk looks and smells like cheese and has some nutrients found in cow's milk.

Thanks for stopping by

“As the pressure of population increasingly regiments us and crowds us closer together, an association with the wild, winged freedom of the birds will fill an ever growing need in our lives.”—Edwin Way Teale.
“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful.”—Alice Walker.
Do good.

©️Al Batt 2022

The Harris's Sparrow is the only North American songbird that breeds in Canada and nowhere else in the world. It was named after Edward Harris (not the actor), a friend of Audubon, in 1843. Thomas Nuttall had named it the "Mourning Finch" in 1834. Photo by Al Batt.

I tried to get my ducks in a row, but it was like herding mallards.

A collective noun of squirrels scurried away

Naturally

 I stood where the wind often hits hard, but it had taken the day off.
 When snow falls, nature listens. I need to listen, too. If I can’t be quiet, what can I do? When it snows, I have three choices: shovel, make snow angels or listen. 
 A kind reader sent this quote from “Red Deer Runs in Darkness,” “It became obvious to me that nature has her own language. She speaks through the animals, the trees and the cool summer breeze. She whispers, ‘Embrace me.’ And I do.”
 I watched a red-breasted nuthatch fly into a feeder, grab a sunflower seed and leave quickly as if it had swiped the seed. Two pheasants and two rabbits fed under that bird feeder. It was below zero and they were hungry, so there was little fussing. They were a group. A group of rabbits has been called a bevy, bury, colony, down, drove, herd, husk, litter, nest, trace, trip and warren. Collective nouns for pheasants include bevy, bouquet, brace, creche, head, nide, nye, plume, plump, trip and warren. I could rightly call the mixed group a bevy, trip or warren. Later, a fox squirrel joined the group, but only for a short time. A collective noun for squirrels is a scurry and that’s what the squirrel did after being chased by a rooster pheasant. 
 There was another group moving through the yard on a cold and sunny day. It was a noisy group of starlings. The collective noun for that vociferous bunch is a chattering. They are often referred to as a murmuration because of the background murmur caused by the many wings of a flock beating in flight.
 I went indoors to thaw after a walk. I decided to delete a few of my overabundant herd of photos. I started with some Costa Rica pictures. I looked at photos of an eyelash pit viper, a small arboreal viper most active at night. It feeds on rodents, lizards, frogs, bats and birds. Its color varies—green, brown, brownish, grayish, pinkish, yellow, yellowish, white and more. It has small horn-shaped extensions on the supraocular scales (above the eyes). It’s named for these bristly scales that resemble hoods or eyelashes over its eyes. Another snake found in Costa Rica is the fer-de-lance, a highly venomous pit viper inhabiting the region from southern Mexico to northern South America, whose name means “spearhead” in French. It feeds on rats and other rodents, opossums, rabbits, frogs and geckos. It’s said to be the most dangerous snake in Central and South America, and causes more human deaths than any other American reptile. On average, a fer-de-lance injects 105 mg of venom in one bite, although a venom yield of up to 310 mg has been recorded while milking the snakes. The fatal dose for a human is 50 mg. It’s responsible for almost half of all snakebites in Costa Rica. However, even with its high venom yield and huge fangs (around 1 inch long in large females), the species has a low mortality rate of 1 to 2%. 
 I fed a handful of peanuts to the blue jays. Vanessa Sorensen wrote, “Though temper and crest May flare Striking beauty.” Feeding the birds is a Christmas gift to me. An ancient Italian proverb said, “A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.” One of the significant benefits of being a birder is that it gives me something to talk about besides the weather. 

Q&A

 Mark Sorenson of Hollandale saw a gray squirrel using the walnut in its mouth to bang on a window of Mark’s house. He wondered why. It might have been a Christmas gift for Mark, but I suspect the squirrel was looking for a place to cache food, in this case, a walnut.
 “Why are they called angleworms?” Angleworms are commonly called earthworms. The name originated because these common ground worms are a preferred bait used by anglers, a person fishing with an angle (a rod with a baited hook on a line) rather than a fisherman using a net. The angle of the hook makes an angler; from the Old English angul means “fishhook.” The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center said earthworms are native to the US but aren’t indigenous to some northern parts because the glaciers covering North America as far south as Illinois, Indiana and Ohio wiped out native earthworms. European settlers introduced earthworm species from Europe and Asia to North America in the 18th century; likely introduced unintentionally in ship ballasts or in the roots of imported plants.

Thanks for stopping by

  “We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late.”—Marie Beynon Lyons Ray.
 “Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more."—“How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”—Dr. Suess.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2022

The handsome male house finch named Snowy McSnowface. Photo by Al Batt

A superstition maintains that saying “rabbit rabbit” aloud before anything else on the first day of the month brings a month of good luck. Gilda Radner said “bunny, bunny” to ensure “laughter, love and peace” and FDR said “rabbits.” If you forget to say “rabbit, rabbit” the first thing, say "tibbar, tibbar"—“rabbit” backward. Warranty available for purchase.

I forgive those squirrels who trespass against us

Naturally

 There are no ordinary moments.
 I marveled at a starry sky. Marissa Meyer wrote, “I’m still thanking all the stars, one by one.”
 As I thanked as many stars as I could, I recalled the words of James Thurber, “There are two kinds of light—the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.”
 The sky illuminates and is immense, but so is a square foot of my yard.
 The next morning, firmly in the spirit of the season, I forgave those squirrels who trespass against us.

Christmas gifts

 What do you give a nature lover other than your undying appreciation? Here are a few other welcome gifts.
 The birds come already wrapped. Share your love of them with another.
 The Audubon Bird Guide app and the Merlin Bird ID app (from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) are free and come in handy on a cellphone (a field guide in your pocket) or tablet. Check your storage space available before downloading them. The Audubon app offers detailed descriptions for over 800 birds, 2,300+ bird songs and 3,500+ high-quality color photos. There is a search function for identifying a bird by song type or pattern, wing shape, time of year, by state, locomotion and more. There are up-to-date range maps with wintering maps for many migrating birds. The Merlin app allows you to answer three simple questions about a bird you are trying to identify and Merlin gives you a list of possible matches. It has a sound ID that listens to the birds around you and shows real-time suggestions for what is singing. You can compare your recordings to the songs and calls in Merlin to confirm what you’ve heard. If you take a photo of a bird or pull one from your camera roll, Merlin’s photo ID offers you a short list of potential matches. The photo ID works offline, so you can identify birds in the photos no matter where you are. Merlin has the capability of building a digital scrapbook of your birding memories with Save My Bird. Tap “This is my bird!” each time you identify a bird and Merlin adds it to your growing life list. Many other wonderful field guide apps require payment.
 Warm socks, warm gloves or mittens, cap (I’ve found that the dorkier a hat looks, the warmer it is). Flip-top mittens allow the wearer to fold back the mitten to reveal fingerless gloves. Vests. I love the arm freedom they provide.  

Books. I enjoy the tactile sensation of paper field guides and they are all excellent. I prefer painted birds over photos and guides covering more than a single state. A small book showing only the birds of one state is good for those who do their birding from the kitchen window or at a feeder. I advise you to look at field guides in a bookstore before deciding on which one fits. 
 A Leatherman, ice cleats, trekking or hiking poles, snowshoes, a dependable travel mug, a pocket-sized notebook and a back, day or fanny pack. Binoculars are wonderful gifts but are easier to buy for a child than for an adult. You’ll want to get a gift receipt or be accompanied by the adult gift recipient at the time of purchase.
 Membership in a local Audubon or bird club, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology or the American Birding Association. State park sticker, feeders, birdseed or a subscription to BWD magazine (a birding publication).

Q&A

 “How can I tell rabbit tracks from squirrel tracks in the snow?” I read an interesting item from the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center (Illinois), saying when a squirrel hops and lands, its larger back feet land parallel and in front of its smaller front feet. The resulting shape is square-ish. Rabbits land with one forefoot in front of the other. The line of those two prints behind the two larger hind footprints resembles the letter Y. SQuirrels leave SQuare tracks and Ys are the tracks of a bunnY. I’d add that rabbit tracks can have the shape of a triangle and that rabbits stop to nibble and squirrels dig for nuts buried under the snow. A rabbit has furred toes, blurring the toes in a track, while a squirrel has long, skinny toes that are likely to appear in the tracks. If the tracks lead to a tree and stop, it’s a squirrel.
 “My grandfather was born in Kentucky and he talked about a “wasper.” What is that?” It’s a southern name for a wasp. Waspers is the slang for the plural of wasp and it might be easier to say than “wasps.”

Thanks for stopping by

 “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”—Willie Nelson. 
 “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners to make our souls blossom.”—Marcel Proust.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2022

Ring-necked pheasants were successfully imported from China to the United States in 1881 with 26 of the 30 birds surviving the journey. The first successful release in Minnesota was in 1916. A rooster's crow is often followed by a loud, rapid beating of his wings. Roosters frequently cackle when they fly. I cackle when I fly, too. Photo by Al Batt.

If these pheasants could book a flight to Texas, Arizona or Florida, the airports would be full of feathers. Photo by Al Batt

From “Zen Birds.”

The Christmas Bird Count was postponed as the area reels from a blizzard. The birds couldn’t postpone their days.

The highways closed because of weather conditions, but the feeders remained opened.

On a day buried in white snow, birds bring splendor.

Do polars bears hibernate?

Naturally

 Blue jays and peanuts. Pluck and chuck.
 It was gray anatomies as juncos covered the ground feeding on the millet I’d put out for them. The dark-eyed juncos flash white outer tail feathers in flight.
 It was a gray sack hanging from a branch.  I’d walked the nearby trail regularly and didn’t notice the Baltimore oriole nest until the tree had shed its leaves. It had been a bustling bag of baby birds not long before. The female is the primary architect with an unbelievable weaving artistry. They build nests well enough that some survive several years. A nest includes hundreds of fibrous strands of plant material (grapevine, various kinds of grass, dogbane, milkweed and others) as well as yarn or string.
 Hanging around with the juncos are some American tree sparrows. European settlers incorrectly named them because the birds reminded them of Eurasian tree sparrows back home. American tree sparrows are ground birds. They forage on the ground, nest on the ground and breed in scrubby areas near the northern treeline. It’s a small sparrow with a long, notched tail and an unstreaked gray-brown breast and belly with a dark spot in the center. The upper mandible of its bill is dark and the lower is yellow. It has a rusty cap and eye-line, and a gray face.
 Birds are fine company. I watched chickadees enhance my yard. How do they survive winter? Birds have systems in place. Small songbirds migrating through and those who winter here often associate with chickadee flocks. These followers listen to the voices of their chickadee leaders chasing the moment and when they hear an alarm note, they react.

Q&A

 “Do polar bears hibernate?” Only the pregnant polar bear females enter a den for months at a time (October-March) to give birth to cubs and nurse them for the first three months of their lives. Other polar bears are outside during the winter, hunting seals and getting by. The female may lower her heart rate, her metabolism and breathing rate in the den, but not to the point of a true hibernator. She is in a state of “light hibernation,” which allows her to minimize the amount of energy needed to stay alive while tending to her cubs. Prior research had hinted that all polar bears were capable of a walking hibernation, a period of decreased metabolism undertaken by bears during the summer and fall in response to a lack of hunting opportunities. A new study found no evidence to support this theory. There was no indication that polar bears could adjust their metabolism enough to deal with a scarcity of prey.
 “I saw a catbird feeding on the white berries of poison ivy this fall. What else eats them?” Here are some plucked from a long list of chowhounds who refuse to let the leaves of three be: American robins, deer, raccoons, cardinals, eastern bluebirds, woodpeckers, crows, wild turkeys, bobwhite quail, squirrels, chickadees, tufted titmice, black bears, yellow-rumped warblers, cedar waxwings and more.
 “Why don’t small birds fly in V-formations like geese?” A goose gets a lift from the wingtips of the goose flying in front of it. Small songbirds wouldn’t create enough of an updraft to make a V-formation useful. 
 “What duck dives the deepest?” The long-tailed duck is likely the champion diver as they dive as deep as 200 feet to forage. 
 “Why don’t the feet of songbirds freeze?” Their feet are mostly bones, sinew and scale with little muscle or nerves. The feet lack sweat glands, so they stay dry. The arteries that transport blood to the legs are in contact with the veins that return blood to the bird’s heart. This allows the heat to be transferred between the two, keeping the feet warm.
 “Give me some weather folklore involving birds.” Your wish is my command. When cranes are aloft, the day is soft. Swallows soar, good weather more. A robin singing at dawn while facing west, means a change in the weather by noon. If a robin sings loudly from the top of a tree, expect a storm. When a woodpecker pecks low on a tree, expect warm weather. A loon calls loudest before a storm.
 “What is a meadow wink?” It’s a nickname for the bobolink. Other nicknames include skunk blackbird, ricebird, reedbird and butterbird. Breeding male bobolinks are the only North American bird with a white back and black underparts, and have been described as a bird wearing a tuxedo backward.

Thanks for stopping by 

  “It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.”—Jonathan Swift.
  “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way she or he handles three things; A rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights”—Maya Angelou.
  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2022

The sight of a bluebird has long been associated with happiness, good luck and joy. I hope this photo brings you all of those. Have a bluebird day. Eastern bluebirds photo by Al Batt.

An award-winning children’s book on collective nouns presented wonderfully.

There are stories, lessons and tips galore for animal lovers who get to shadow a world-class veterinarian in the pages of this book.

This fine book led me to recall sitting in all-day-breakfast eateries, talking with friends about slow birding—taking the time needed to really look at and learn about a bird. Joan found blue jays are the 6th most googled bird, and white brows on a male white-throated sparrow suggest it might be a philanderer.

The Thanksgiving opossum

Naturally

 I saw several inert bodies of wild turkeys hit by cars. The big birds can be stubborn when it comes to surrendering a road. I’ve fond memories of spreading my fingers and outlining them in pencil on construction paper to create a make-believe turkey in grade school.
 Northern shrikes migrate south from the arctic to Minnesota for the winter. Slightly smaller than a blue jay, it has a distinctive black mask and noticeable white patches on the wings in flight. Shrikes are predatory songbirds, catching insects, small birds, small mammals and reptiles. They impale their prey on the thorns of trees.
 A chipmunk appeared to have impacted wisdom teeth. A chipmunk’s cheek pouches are like cargo pants and can expand up to three times their normal size to allow the chipmunk to carry food. National Geographic reports that a hardworking chipmunk can gather 165 acorns in a single day. In his book “Winter World,” Bernd Heinrich counted 60 sunflower seeds packed into one cheek pouch. In a good year, one 4-ounce chipmunk can stockpile 8 pounds of food and do it without renting a single storage unit. Caching food allows an industrious chipmunk to snack while watching Netflix on nasty winter days. I’ve heard from a reader who reported one chipmunk stuffing 31 corn kernels before taking its food to go. An interesting fact: Most chipmunks are named Chip, Dale, Alvin, Simon or Theodore. 
 A New York Times article said scientists at the University of Hong Kong published the most complete census of ants ever assembled. The study estimated there are at least 20 quadrillion—20,000,000,000,000,000—ants on Earth, about 2.5 million ants for every human. 

The Thanksgiving opossum

 It was a beautiful photo that had outgrown its frame. Three deer and a Virginia opossum showed up under the feeders. The opossum is nearsighted, suffers in cold weather (tail and ears are subject to frostbite) and plays dead or ‘possum for up to 4 hours when threatened. It’s an omnivore with 50 teeth that eats ticks, slugs, mice and rats. I love seeing an opossum, often called a ‘possum, because it’s one more interesting thing for me to look at and I’m thankful for that.

Q&A

 “Are bluebirds here in the winter?” Eastern bluebirds are occasionally present in the winter months, primarily in the central and southern regions of Minnesota. The Iowa DNR said up to a third of its bluebirds stay in Iowa. Red cedar, Virginia creeper, sumac, bittersweet, hackberry and hawthorn are native plants that feed wintering bluebirds.
 Jena Kauffmann asked for advice on safe bird feeders to make at home—Pinecones with peanut butter? Is lard a safe alternative? Anything harmful we should know? Pinecone feeders are great. Feeders made from cans, milk cartons or jugs, orange halves, etc. are limited only by the imagination. Make homemade suet with equal parts lard and peanut butter, melting and mixing them over low heat. You could add a variety of ingredients to this mixture: Black-oil sunflower seeds, unsalted nuts, dried fruit, peanut butter, cornmeal or flour, other kinds of birdseed or rolled oats. Avoid bacon grease, table scraps, meat, salted nuts and sugar. Keep the blend refrigerated until you’re ready to use it. 
 Arlene Kjar of Northfield suggested I write about discerning house finches from purple finches. The two closely related species are sparrow-sized with stout bills. I could fill a column on this subject, but I’ll go with what I hope proves useful. Most males can be distinguished by the shade of red, with a house finch tending to have an orangish tint and a purple finch appearing wine-red. This can be helpful, but ambiguous. Females can be distinguished by the contrasting dark and light markings on purple finches, including a light eyebrow stripe, and the muted gray-brown coloration on house finches. Look for a slight headband effect (peak) on the head of a purple finch and a smoothly rounded head on a house finch. A purple finch has a distinct notch at the tip, while a house finch has a longer tail that is slightly notched. A purple finch has a broad-shouldered look and a house finch looks slimmer. A good method of telling the male finches apart is to look at the birds’ lower flanks (below the wings to the tail). If the flanks are streaked with brown, it’s a male house finch. If the flanks are white with a hint of pink, it’s a male purple finch, which has a cloudy white belly. To my mind, purple finches are calmer at the feeders.

Thanks for stopping by 

 “In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”—Robert Lynd.
 “Modern man has lost the option of silence.”—William S. Burroughs.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2022

I think the Virginia opossum is cute. I don’t hold the majority opinion. Photo by Al Batt.

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.

Thanks for stopping by

“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.