Naturally
The sweet smell of wild cucumber greeted me on my walk. Having a bird feeder is like having a backstage pass. I watched mourning doves drink at the birdbath. Pigeons and doves suck up water like a horse and both males and females produce pigeon milk in their crops which they feed to their young. Rock pigeons were introduced to North America from Europe in the early 1600s.
If the Vikings have a poor year, I hope they will consider changing their name to the Minnesota Screaming Pihas. The pihas are famous for their loud, whistled three-part song, one of the signature sounds of Amazonia.
I watched pelicans herd fish into the shallows for easy eating. It ended in a fierce feeding frenzy. It was a great fish drive, similar to but wetter than the cattle drives Rowdy Yates participated in as the ramrod of the crew that drove bovines on the Sedalia Trail in the TV series “Rawhide.” Rowdy, played by Clint Eastwood, worked under trail boss Gil Favor. They moved cattle from San Antonio, Texas, to Sedalia, Kansas, while being prodded along by Frankie Laine’s voice singing, “Move 'em out, head 'em up, Rawhide.”
I have a cat. I like the cat. It never leaves the house, which keeps it healthy and increases its chances of having nine long lives. I have cats hunting my bird feeders. They’re not mine and I don’t appreciate their visits. If my cow went over to a neighbor’s yard repeatedly and ate their garden, my cow would be in trouble even though it was doing what comes naturally. If a cat comes to my yard and kills the birds I’ve been feeding (they kill whether or not they’re hungry), it has worn out its welcome.
Q&A
“I found a few dead moles on a trail. What happened?” Moles rarely come to the surface where owls, hawks, weasels or snakes might get them. Because of their musky odor, moles are unpalatable to some mammalian predators, but raccoons, coyotes, foxes and skunks dig them out. Moles are killed by domestic dogs and cats but are rarely eaten. Maybe it was the work of a cat. A mole eats earthworms, Japanese beetle grubs, cutworms and more.
Dean Muesing asked if hummingbirds can smell sugar water? They find food sources by sight. Hummingbirds aren’t believed to have a well-developed sense of smell, but it’s still a sense of smell. I’ve not heard of them being able to smell nectar. Fall migration is more complicated than the spring migration for our local hummingbirds. There is more overland travel than flying across the Gulf of Mexico in the fall because there isn’t quite the urgency as there is in the spring. It’s good to feed hummingbirds, as many live their lives a few hours from starvation. You could clean the feeders with a vinegar solution (1 part vinegar to 2 parts water) and an old toothbrush. Rinse thoroughly with clean water before refilling.
Jerry Viktora of Ellendale asked how long to keep hummingbird feeders up and when rose-breasted grosbeaks leave. I keep my hummingbird feeders up until October 1 to catch latecomers and stragglers. The grosbeaks are mostly out of here by the end of September, but I do see some in October.
Jim Muyres sent photos of something digging for grubs in a cemetery and asked what they could do to prevent this. Skunks create holes by pushing their noses into the lawn and using their front paws to dig out the area. There can be many holes merging into a large, disturbed patch of grass. Raccoons use their front paws like hands to lift and flip pieces of sod over. It appears as if someone rolled it back for transplanting. Management is difficult as extensive digging can happen overnight and there are few reliable controls for the animals. An insecticide could be applied to kill the grubs in the soil, a curative insecticide application that is most effective if done in August and early September.
“What eats yellowjackets?” Black bears, raccoons, skunks, badgers, opossums, shrews and birds (summer tanagers are noted for it, gray catbirds, blue jays, kingbirds and others) feed on the protein-rich food.
“Where did “naked as a jaybird” come from?” It has an uncertain origin. The expression from the 1800s was naked as a fledgling jaybird, naked as a fledgling robin or naked as a fledgling. At some point, the word “fledgling” was dropped from the idiom. In the 1920s, J-bird was an abbreviation of the word jailbird. When new inmates were processed in jails, they were stripped naked and disinfected before receiving uniforms.
Thanks for stopping by
"Nature is not a place to visit, it is home."—Gary Snyder.
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."—John Muir.
Do good.
©️Al Batt 2023
Feathers are made of lightweight material called keratin, just like our fingernails and they don’t last forever. They need to be replaced and molting is the process of replacing feathers. Molt is variable with patterns differing by species, by individual or from year to year. It requires a lot of energy to build new feathers and birds typically time molts to avoid other high energy demands like nesting and migration. A molt can be a hard on a guy. Cardinal photo by Al Batt.
At the Freeborn County Historical Museum, Library & Village in Albert Lea, Minnesota.
