What is a kitty hawk?

Naturally

  Because an icy wind was turning my head around, I sought shelter in the south. I enjoyed a speaking gig on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, famous for being where the Wright Brothers achieved the first controlled, powered airplane flight on December 17, 1903. The moment the impossible became possible. The flights technically took place at Kill Devil Hills, a few miles away, but the Wright brothers used Kitty Hawk as their base of operations.

  What is a kitty hawk? The name is believed to have evolved from an Algonquian term, likely "Chickahauk" or "Chickahawk," which referred to "a place to hunt geese." Other theories suggest it developed from the early settlers' pronunciation of "skeeter hawk" (a local term for dragonflies) or the nickname of the wren, which was "kitty."

  Mallards kept me company in the Outer Banks. Mallards are found in every state at specific times of the year and are year-round residents of North Carolina. They are sometimes overlooked because they are so common. The male mallard is called a "greenhead" because of its green head. Adult male mallards have distinctive curled tail feathers called drake feathers. Drakes don’t have curled tail feathers until they molt into adult plumage. Scientists surmise that a curled tail is attractive to females. When the drakes go through an eclipse molt after the mating season, they lose their drake feathers, which grow back in time for the next breeding season.

  I’ve seen small flocks of red-winged blackbird males. This species prefers nesting in wetlands, marshes and damp fields, placing their nests in cattails, rushes, shrubs, sedges, saplings and phragmites. These locations protect their eggs and young from predators. They will readily nest in prairies, meadows, roadsides, hayfields and cornfields. Females construct cup-shaped nests using grasses, sedges, reeds, mosses and mud. The breeding season begins in early spring, with nests taking 3 to 6 days to build. The males return before the females to claim the best territories and defend them from rival males. Males typically return to their previous territories each year. The average territory is approximately .5 acres in size. Redwings often nest in loose colonies, with males aggressively defending territories that can contain multiple females. The males sing “look-at-me” to defend territory or to attract females. He spreads his wings enough to display red epaulettes and yellow feathers. The females claim a smaller territory within a polygamous male’s territory.

Q&A

 “I saw a tufted titmouse in my yard last year. What’s the plural of titmouse?” Both titmice and titmouses are acceptable as the plural of titmouse, though titmice is far more common. Titmice is preferred by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Geographic and the dictionaries I checked. The name originated from the Old English mase, meaning "small bird."

  “Something killed one of my chickens. What could it have been? Could an opossum be the culprit?” Chickens have a big problem. They taste just like chicken. Opossums are opportunistic omnivores that consume insects, slugs, earthworms, fruits and berries, pet food, chicken feed, baby birds (chicks), snakes, frogs, and things in compost piles. They eat eggs because everything does and eat a dead chicken as opossums are scavengers. Opossums are more of a threat to the eggs, chicks and sick birds easy to catch. Prime suspects include raccoons, weasels, foxes, coyotes, mink, hawks, owls, bobcats, dogs and cats. A chicken found in a pen with its head missing was likely the victim of a raccoon that reached in, grabbed the fowl, and pulled its head through the wire. If a chicken inside a pen or a coop had its head and crop missing, it’s probably the work of a raccoon. If the head and the back of the neck of the chicken are missing, a likely suspect would be a weasel or mink. If the head and neck are missing, the probable perpetrator is a great horned owl.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Birds should be saved for utilitarian reasons; and, moreover, they should be saved because of reasons unconnected with dollars and cents. A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral. The extermination of the passenger-pigeon meant that mankind was just so much poorer…And to lose the chance to see frigate-birds soaring in circles above the storm, or a file of pelicans winging their way homeward across the crimson afterglow of the sunset, or a myriad of terns flashing in the bright light of midday as they hover in a shifting maze above the beach-why, the loss is like the loss of a gallery of the masterpieces of the artists of old time.”—Theodore Roosevelt.

  “People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.”—Iris Murdoch.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

Killdeer return in March. They are harbingers of spring. Killdeer is an onomatopoeia of the bird’s piercing call, a shrill “kill-deer.” It’s been called a noisy plover and a chattering plover. Its movements are typical of plovers—running a few steps, stopping, and tilting its head to look and listen for prey. A killdeer’s nest is a shallow depression lined with pebbles. The chicks resemble cotton balls atop two toothpicks. Photo by Al Batt.

I could never cache 80,000 sunflower seeds one at a time

Naturally

  I love seeing birds. On a day in our second winter when the wind was angry enough to blow the whiskers from my face and the blowing snow had a bite; I discovered once again that I’m happy to watch house sparrows. Not everyone enjoys their company, but the bird once known as an English sparrow is a beautiful, interesting creature that is doing what it needs to do to get by. The sparrows chirped away happily on a day when a human had to look hard to find a smile.

  I put peanuts in the shell in a feeder. The blue jays were busy casing another joint, but the radar of the white-breasted nuthatch worked, and the nuthatch enjoyed the peanuts. It got exercise as it hammered the legume shells to get to the nut meats. The nuthatch enjoyed a few before the peanut-early warning system of the blue jays kicked in.

  Trumpeter swans are checking out nesting sites and will claim the perfect spots for raising their cygnets. More beautiful birds. Trumpeters build their nests on top of muskrat or beaver lodges, or they pile sedges and cattail tubers into a mound on sites surrounded by water. The swans warm the eggs by covering them with their webbed feet.

  Chickadees are cute. Black-capped chickadees cache food items to ease their way through winter. Not only do chickadees remember their seed cache sites, they also remember which seeds had been eaten by them or by thieves. Researchers at Columbia University discovered that chickadees create neural barcodes, providing them with a system for managing their larders. During peak hoarding, a chickadee can store as many as 1,000 food items in a day. A study of a related species showed that as many as 80,000 seeds and insects were stored by one chickadee each fall. Work at the University of Toronto revealed that black-capped chickadees can accurately relocate caches for as long as 28 days. Chickadees spend most of their precious time near the caches where they had hoarded the most nutritious food. Chickadees remove cached items and hide them again in a new place, moving them repeatedly until they are eaten. It’s a meaningful game of hide-and-seek. The hippocampus is critical to the formation of these types of memories. Avian researchers found that the hippocampus in chickadee brains expands as the tiny birds gather and store seeds each fall. To support that incredible memory, chickadees grow 30% more neurons to add to their memory center in the fall when caching behavior peaks.

Q&A

  Casey McGill asked why Albert Lea Lake was noisy in February. It was caused by the ice expanding and contracting. The singing of a nice ice ballad is due to temperature fluctuations, which create booming, cracking, groaning or growling sounds that travel across the frozen surface. This phenomenon is common during rapid temperature changes when ice shifts, cracks or forms pressure ridges that act like a drum skin. Sounds are most pronounced when there’s little to no snow cover on the ice that might muffle the sounds.

  “I found a seashell in my grandmother’s house. I held it to my ear and heard the ocean. Why does that happen?” The seashell acts as a resonator, amplifying ambient environmental noise. The shell's hard, hollow and curved cavity captures surrounding sound waves, bouncing them around to create a low-frequency, echoing hum that resembles ocean waves. The shell acts as a filter, enhancing specific frequencies while dampening others. The sound is normal background noise—traffic, wind or distant conversations, which our brains interpret as the white noise of waves lapping a shore. You could get the same effect by cupping your hand over your ear, but it’s not as interesting when done by a snowbank or while shopping for peanut butter.

  “Are hummingbirds found anywhere else other than in the Americas?” No, hummingbirds are found only in the New World (the Americas), ranging from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. They live in North, Central, and South America, and in the Caribbean. Fossil evidence shows they were once present in Europe during their early evolutionary history. Attempts to introduce them to Europe in the 19th century failed, as they aren’t native to those ecosystems.

Thanks for stopping by

  "Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life."—John Muir.

  “Somewhere, always, the sun is rising, and somewhere, always, the birds are singing. As spring and summer oscillate between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, so, too, does this singing planet pour forth song, like a giant player piano, in the north, then the south, and back again, as it has now for the 150 million years since the first birds appeared.”—From the book, “The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong” by Dr. Donald Kroodsma.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

Common ravens are the largest species of Passeriformes in the world, an order commonly known as perching birds or songbirds. Ravens have wedge-shaped tails, shaggy throat feathers and deep croaking calls. They have a heavier bill than crows, which are smaller with fan shaped-tails. The raven is an opportunistic omnivore immortalized by "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore,'" a famous refrain from Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "The Raven." Photo by Al Batt.

The earth has music for those who listen

Naturally

  The temperature hit the high 40s in February, and a chipmunk bopped out of its burrow to have lunch and do some grocery shopping. When cold weather hits, a chipmunk enters a state of torpor, which is a period of reduced activity and restless hibernation, in its burrow, where it can avoid the harsh elements and predators. It wakes regularly to eat from its cache of nuts and seeds.

  Shakespeare wrote, “The earth has music for those who listen.” I listened to the white-breasted nuthatch, nicknamed a "tree mouse" or an “upside-down bird” that moves headfirst down trees. It commonly produces a nasal "yank-yank" call that pairs exchange while foraging. But what I heard was a male nuthatch singing a rapid, nasal, fairly low-pitched wha, wha, wha that is sometimes described as “hey, hey, hey,” “why, why, why,” “what, what, what,” or “ha, ha, ha.” Males sing these songs in late winter and spring. I take it as a welcome sign of an approaching spring or the presence of a false spring. The bird was probably wondering what sort of critter I am and if I’m a big goofy bird, perhaps an odd duck, why I can’t fly. Then it laughed at me.

  A swishing shot in basketball can be called “string music.” A nuthatch can provide “spring music.”

From The Raptor Center (edited for brevity)

  Male great horned owls attract mates with hoots. If the female is interested, she gives a hoot. This leads to a courtship dance of bowing, cooing and beak touching. The male might share his food with the female, a big deal for a solo predator. A mouse might be the owl equivalent of flowers, chocolates and a steak dinner. At the end of January through February, the female lays eggs (generally 1-3) in an abandoned crow, hawk or squirrel nest. Why nest so early? It's theorized that since young great horned owls require a long period to learn survival skills (6-7 months), the parents need an early start. The chicks begin exploring the branches around the nest at around 6 weeks old and are fully flighted at 8 weeks. The Raptor Center anticipates its first owlet patients will arrive in early March.

Q&A

  Jennifer, Lily, Duncan and Derek of Pipestone asked if a chicken could survive in the wild. Chickens can survive in the wild, particularly if the wild is in a warm, tropical area. Think Hawaii. They do best in places that offer ample foraging and few predators. Chickens are adaptable, capable of flying to tree roosts, and can establish feral populations. They struggle in cold climates. Smaller, camouflaged or gamefowl breeds survive better than large commercial chickens. The bigger cluckers are walking billboards for hungry predators.

  “Do wild turkeys and domestic turkeys interbreed?” Yes, wild turkeys can and do hybridize with domestic turkeys because they are the same species. Hybrid offspring often have lower survival rates due to abnormal plumage or reduced physical abilities compared to pure wild birds. Authorities often prohibit the release of pen-raised turkeys because they can introduce diseases and threaten the genetic purity of wild flocks. If you see a white turkey in a gang of wild turkeys, does that mean it’s a hybrid? That could be the case, but it’s more likely because of genetic variation or a mutation. The color could make them a target for predators.

  “Does the early bird get the worm?” The saying “The early bird catches the worm” appeared in a collection of proverbs published in 1636, titled “Remaines Concerning Britaine” by William Camden. It suggests that being proactive and timely provides a competitive advantage. Modern behavioral ecology confirms that early-morning foraging confers measurable benefits. A 2021 analysis published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology reviewed 87 field studies across 32 passerine species. It was found that birds initiating foraging within 30 minutes of sunrise consumed, on average, 22% more caloric intake per hour than those starting after 7:30 a.m. During a drought, worms burrow deeper. This means the early birds might expend more energy searching with diminishing returns. In urban environments, artificial light extends nocturnal insect activity, making dusk feeding more productive. Socially dominant birds may stay lean and agile during the day, and eat later, before a cold night. If you’re a bird stuck in a low position in the pecking order, you’ll likely need to look whenever, wherever and however possible for food, be it a juicy worm or not.

Thanks for stopping by

  “There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it.”—Charlotte Eriksson.

  “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.”—Jane Goodall.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

I saw this horned lark in February. The horned lark is the only lark native to North America. It prefers open spaces—the bare ground with sparse vegetation found in empty places like tundra, heavily grazed pastures, prairies, shores, airports and fields. The horned lark’s song is a high-pitched tinkling. Collective nouns for a group of larks include an ascension, chattering, exaltation and happiness. Photo by Al Batt.

The only venomous mammal in North America

Naturally

  The weather was tolerable. Some might have called it barely tolerable, but the onslaught of winter had paused. That meant bad weather was on the way.

  What do we do when severe weather looms? We go to the store and stock up on the necessities like Twinkies and Bugles. Birds do something similar. They find food and eat a lot of it. Because most birds can’t go to the grocery store (I see an occasional house sparrow in one), I top off the bird feeders, while waving my pom-poms. I’ve found the simple act of filling a feeder gives me a sense of place.

  As I did that cheering chore, I nearly stepped on a tiny shrew. It had been eating sunflower seeds spilled on the ground. The northern short-tailed shrew is the largest shrew species in Minnesota, at 4 to 5 inches long including the tail, and weighing up to 3/4 ounce. It has smaller eyes than a mouse, no visible ear flaps, and an elongated, pointed snout. Mice, voles, rats, squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks and beavers are rodents. Shrews and moles are not rodents. They belong to the order Eulipotyphla, a group of small mammals that specialize in eating insects. Shrews will eat grubs, worms, snails, slugs, spiders, other small animals and plant materials like sunflower seeds. The heart of a short-tailed shrew beats between 800 and 1000 times per minute. Bats aren't the only mammals to use echolocation. Shrews use it to help them navigate in dark environments. The short-tailed (northern and southern) shrew is the only venomous mammal in North America. This shrew’s saliva contains a neurotoxin that kills or paralyzes its prey. One well-placed bite helps to subdue or kill larger prey such as mice and voles. It holds medical potential with a component being studied as a possible treatment for ovarian cancer.  Shrews have an exceptionally high metabolism rate, and these opportunistic omnivores have a voracious appetite that serves their need to consume the equivalent of their body weight each day.

 “The Taming of the Shrew” is a comedy written by William Shakespeare. The word "shrew" comes from the Old English, "shrewe" and means the animal or an "ill-tempered, scolding person."

Q&A

  “I saw a mouse in a tree. Is that normal?” In Minnesota, the mice in trees are typically deer mice or white-footed mice, both of which are adept climbers that use trees for nesting in cavities, abandoned bird nests, or for foraging. They use their long tails for balance. They are highly active in wooded areas and can be found in trees year-round, including during winter. These arboreal mice do not hibernate and can be seen around and in homes.

  “How do turkeys survive winter?” Wild turkeys spend their hibernal time looking for food and roosting in trees. Winter is hard on turkeys. It’s hard on us. Turkeys are tough and made to survive severe weather. They reduce movement to conserve energy and heat. Conifers make reliable roosting trees because they shelter the birds from the wind. Trees on southern-facing slopes offer more sunlight. Turkeys switch to a diet of acorns, waste grains, seeds and fruit (apples, cherries, etc.) and scratch for food where the wind has swept the snow away. The males sometimes practice strutting because a male can never look too cool.

  “Are rabbits and bats rodents?” No, neither rabbits nor bats are rodents. Rodents are in the order Rodentia, while rabbits are in Lagomorpha and bats are in Chiroptera. Chiroptera means "hand-wing." Bats are more closely related to primates (like humans) and cats than to rodents. They are the only mammals capable of true flight.

  “Where might I see a seahawk other than in Seattle?” There is no such thing as an avian seahawk. No ornithologist would refer to a raptor as a seahawk, but some people might consider “sea hawk” to be a nickname for ospreys or skuas. A skua isn’t a hawk. Skuas are predatory, gull-like seabirds known for their aggressiveness and kleptoparasitism (pirating food from other birds). The term "jaeger" is used in North America for the three smaller species, while "skua" refers to the larger species. The bird that leads the football team onto the field is an augur hawk, native to Africa. It’s not a sea hawk.

Thanks for stopping by

  “I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.”―Groucho Marx.

  "People need wild places. Whether or not we think we do, we do. We need to be able to taste grace and know once again that we desire it. We need to experience a landscape that is timeless, whose agenda moves at the pace of speciation and glaciers. To be surrounded by the singing, mating, howling commotion of other species, all of which love their lives as much as we do ours, and none of which could possibly care less about our economic status or our running day calendar. Wildness puts us in our place."—Barbara Kingsolver.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

They were barking. Sundogs or parhelia, are bright, colorful patches of light that appear roughly 22 degrees to one or both sides of the sun. They are created when sunlight bends (refracts) through ice crystals acting as a prism. They display color dispersion similar to rainbows, with red closest to the sun and blue on the outside. Photo by Al Batt.

Where flowers bloom, so does hope

Naturally

  It was a bodacious day. There was no need for me to hide, as there was little or no wind to find me. Strong winds had left dirty snowmen in their paths, if any snowmen were still standing, in rural locations. That’s what happens when you wear white when the soil takes to the air.

  The day grew sunnier. Merle Hall was kind enough to send me a book titled, “How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts” by Robert Williams Wood. The book’s verses and illustrations provide lighthearted flornithology, which is described as a blend of flora and ornithology. Here are a couple of examples of the writings from that book: “Who is there who has never heard, About the Burdock and the Bird? And yet how very very few, Discriminate between the two, While even Mr. Burbank can’t, Transform a Bird into a Plant.” And “Upon this cake of ice is perched, The paddle-footed puffin: To find his double I have searched. But have discovered—Nuffin.”

  The birds in my yard headed for their hideouts. That was for good reason. I saw a hunting Cooper’s hawk. It was a female, significantly larger than the male. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, small birds are safer around Cooper’s hawks than are medium-sized birds. Starlings, mourning doves, rock pigeons, robins, jays, flickers, quail, pheasants, grouse and chickens should be on a constant vigil when a Coop’s is near. Cooper’s hawks also prey on mice, voles, chipmunks, squirrels, small rabbits and bats. Even though this hawk displays incredible agility, a study showed that 23% of the Cooper’s hawks examined had healed fractures in the bones of their chest. Their wishbones had taken a battering. They had likely flown into windows and other things while in pursuit of a meal.

Book report

  I saw a Christmas hawk, a rough-legged hawk, which I see regularly on Christmas Bird Counts. Falconers infrequently use rough-legged hawks. I haven’t taken up falconry, but I did get around to reading “H is for Hawk” by Helen Macdonald. I’d been fixin’ to do that for years. In T. H. White's “The Sword in the Stone,” the wizard Merlin transforms Arthur into a small falcon known as the merlin. White was a frustrated falconer with a goshawk. Goshawks are mysterious creatures in both White’s and Macdonald's books. The name goshawk comes from the Old English words for "goose" and "hawk." Attila the Hun chose the fierce goshawk as the emblem on his helmet. When Macdonald’s father died, she was devastated. Driven by grief, she found the goshawk's temperament mirrored her own. The book is an account of bereavement, natural history, biography and a memoir of a life with a goshawk named Mabel. In the end, it’s a triumph over adversity.

Q&A

  “Do fish have eyelids?” Eyelids help moisten eyes, so they don’t dry out. Eyelids protect eyes from things in the air, like dirt and dust. Most fish don’t have eyelids because they live in water, which keeps their eyes moist and protected with no need to blink. Fish don’t close their eyes to sleep; instead entering a resting state while staying alert. Some species, including sharks and certain mackerel, have an "adipose eyelid," which is a transparent, fixed covering, or, in some sharks, a nictitating membrane.

  “A neighbor uses coyote urine to keep deer away. Its effectiveness is questionable, but where do you get coyote urine?” From coyotes. Sorry about that. Coyote urine is purported to discourage deer from loitering where they aren’t wanted (not everyone falls for the irresistible charm of deer), and fox urine is supposed to keep rabbits out of a garden. Research is mixed regarding the results. If you’re asking where to buy it, big box stores and online. I’m sure your favorite local garden center could get it for you. If you’re asking where those who supply the retail channel get the urine, the recycled urine is collected at facilities housing the animals by use of specialized floor drain systems that collect the liquid into storage containers. If you use coyote urine to deter deer and it attracts too many coyotes, you’ll need to buy wolf urine to keep Wile E. away.

  “Do red-tailed hawks migrate?” Many red-tailed hawks in Minnesota do migrate south for the winter, beginning their journey in the fall. Many of these hawks move to southern states, with juveniles often migrating farther south than the adults. Others endure our lovely winters and are found in open fields near cities or farmland. The red-tailed hawk is a winter resident in the southern half of the Gopher State.

Thanks for stopping by

  “If you can’t be in awe of Mother Nature, there’s something wrong with you.”–Alex Trebek.

  “Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”–Lady Bird Johnson.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

What do you do if you left home without your puffy jacket, even though your mother told you to never leave home without your puffy jacket? What do you do? If you are a bird, like this house sparrow, you fluff your feathers to trap air close to your body. This acts as insulation. And you poke your beak under shoulder feathers to keep it warm on a beak-chilling day. Photo by Al Batt.

The Goldilocks bird

Naturally

  Feeling peckish, a Goldilocks bird stopped by to sample the fare at a feeder. A Goldilocks bird is a chickadee because it’s just right.

  I am happy to see birds. They comfort me. We are all canaries in a coal mine. I put out a handful of peanuts in the shell. The blue jays flew in the minute the last peanut dropped on the feeder. They formed a staggered line based on a pecking order. The CEO went first. The jays in the bottom half of that hierarchy experienced lengthy waiting times. They waited impatiently as if they were stuck behind a shopper attempting to use a fistful of expired coupons, while other jays searched for the heaviest peanuts for a better meal.

  The sun had caused my shadow to be hurled far ahead of me when I saw a red fox tiptoeing through the yard. A fox’s musky scent marks its territory. Its potent urine serves the same purpose. The scent is similar to a skunk’s spray, but not as powerful or far-reaching. Red foxes belong to the canid or dog family, but they share behaviors with cats like hunting alone, stalking and pouncing on prey, and walking on their toes (digitigrade locomotion). An identifying field mark is the white-tipped tail. Red foxes can hear the low-frequency sounds of rodents digging under the ground or snow. Increases in Lyme disease frequently coincide with a decline in the red fox population. Foxes help control Lyme disease by preying on white-footed mice, the preferred host species of the ticks that become infected with the bacteria carrying the disease. Fox populations decrease when coyote numbers expand.

Q&A

  “How do birds survive extremely cold weather?” Our winter birds are better at dealing with severe weather than we are. You’ve likely noticed many birds are wearing Patagonia coats. That keeps them toasty warm, and they look good in puffy jackets. Through adaptations and behaviors aimed at maximizing heat production and minimizing energy loss, birds survive the cold. Birds become borbs (bird + orb) by fluffing up, which traps air between the layers of feathers, creating a thermal barrier, and by tucking their bills under their wings, or standing on one leg, pulling the other leg into their feathers to limit exposed surface area. Birds shiver to increase their metabolic rate and generate internal heat. A bird’s specialized circulatory system allows warm arterial blood heading to the feet to transfer heat to the cold venous blood returning to the body, thus keeping the feet from freezing. Some small birds roost together in tight clusters at night to share body heat. Birds use tree cavities, dense evergreen foliage or roosting boxes as shields from wind and precipitation. Birds prioritize fat-rich foods like suet and oil-rich seeds like black oil sunflower seeds to boost their metabolic heat. Chickadees, nuthatches and blue jays cache food for the times when natural food is scarce.

  Jennifer, Lily, Duncan and Derek of Pipestone asked how bald eagles got their name and if birds have ears. The eagle's name comes from an Old English word "balde," meaning white, and describing the adult’s white head. Birds may not wear eyeglasses or earrings, but they have ears. Their ears are hidden behind small holes covered by protective feathers (auriculars) on the sides of their heads, rather than external ear flaps like humans. External ear flaps would create drag, hindering flight efficiency. Owls have asymmetrical ears for precise sound localization to aid in capturing prey.

  Mark Malepsy of Albert Lea put up a snazzy squirrel-proof bird feeder. It has stymied the squirrels, but the birds don’t like it. He wondered what he could do. The birds are being influenced to boycott the feeder by the powerful squirrel lobby. Your patience gives the birds time to make a discovery. It can take weeks for birds to trust a new feeder and food source. They are wary of new things. Make sure the seed is good. You could change location, sprinkle some seed on the ground below the new feeder, or move an existing feeder nearby to draw attention. Place the feeder where you can enjoy watching it. Good luck.

Thanks for stopping by

  “The environment, after all, is where we all meet, where we all have a mutual interest. It is one thing that all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become.”–Lady Bird Johnson.

  “We must not only protect the countryside and save it from destruction, we must restore what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm of our cities … Once our natural splendor is destroyed, it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature, his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted.”–Lyndon B. Johnson.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

Llonamae Svebakken of Preston shared the story of the winter of 1967 when a bump in the night came from the basement of their old farmhouse. Her husband investigated and discovered a hungry muskrat. They fed Mushy the muskrat all winter. Mushy confined his bathroom duties to an unemployed tub. He left via a drainpipe when spring neared. Llonamae’s story proves that not all things that go bump in the night are unpleasant. Photo by Al Batt.

What bird sang “A Spoonful of Sugar” with Mary Poppins?

Naturally

  Yipes! It’s winter when the weather is not nothing, but it shouldn’t need to be a contest either. Winter will win.

  When I was a boy, someone gave me a ceramic bird whistle. A gift to the senses. I added water to it and then blew into the bird whistle’s mouthpiece, which produced crisp and sweet bird sounds of the warbling variety. The generic bird had a large crest and was of a solid brown color. I couldn’t identify the species by sight or sound, but it was delightful to hear, especially in January.

  This reporter of avian wonders is happy to see every bird, but some more than others. A nuthatch makes me smile. A white-breasted nuthatch picked up a sunflower seed from a platform feeder and then put it down. It picked up another and put it back. It was like a grocery shopper searching for the perfect peach. Or a bowler trying to find the perfect ball to roll a 300 game. The bird picked up a third one, secured the seed’s position in its bill, and flew away. Food to go. Is it all about the thrill of the chase to a nuthatch? Are they picky, picky, picky? Is seed art a favorite hobby of nuthatches? No, it’s evaluating each sunflower seed, looking for one that had proper heft to it. It chooses one of superior quality that would make for fine eating. The white-breasted nuthatch is sometimes called the “upside-down bird” from the way it finds food.

  I paid a visit to someone living in an ancient home. Aged abodes are often welcoming to critters. There was a carpenter ant walking on the floor of the house. I told the homeowner not to worry about it. Carpenter ants are busy just like human carpenters. There was no telling when it would be back.

  I’ve been keeping company with a dense January fog, which is a typical Minnesota weather pattern, often linked to warm, moist air meeting cold surfaces, causing the low-visibility and mild, damp conditions. It’s the weather that grandmothers could feel in their bones. Advection fog forms when that warm, moist air moves over a cold surface, cooling the air to its dew point and condensing moisture into fog, which adds to the varied weather of our genial winters.

Q&A

  “Do great horned owls bring in nesting materials?” Great horned owls don't build their own nests. They take over existing stick nests from animals like hawks (a red-tailed hawk nest is commonly used), crows, ravens, herons, eagles and squirrels, or use tree cavities, ledges, witches’ brooms or deserted buildings and deer stands, and occasionally on the ground. I saw one owl nest amid a great blue heron rookery. Great horned owls might add lining, such as shredded bark, leaves, feathers and fur from prey, or their own downy feathers plucked from their breasts to make it more comfortable and homier. Sometimes they add nothing. The nests deteriorate quickly, making it impossible for the owls to obtain insurance, and they are forced to abandon the nests.

  “I saw a robin in January. Is that a rare sighting?” If you have never seen a robin before in January, it would be rare. In “Mary Poppins,” the beloved robin Mary (Julie Andrews) sang with in "A Spoonful of Sugar" was an American robin, not the European robin, which would be common in a London setting. American robins are members of the thrush family, while European robins are smaller and members of the Old World flycatcher family. The American robin was named after the European robin due to a superficial similarity—an orange breast. I know, the birds are called robin redbreasts, but they are orange—maybe a rusty-orange. The robin became the iconic bird of Christmas in the Victorian era, when postmen were nicknamed robins because of their red waistcoats. Robins appeared on Christmas cards to represent the postmen who delivered them. The European robin is the unofficial national bird of the United Kingdom. How often is the American robin seen in London? I know one was spotted in London in 2006, and others have been seen in the U.K., but rarely. So, if you live in Minnesota or Iowa and not in London, it’s not rare to see an American robin in winter. The charming robins that remain here change their diets in winter from worms and insects to fruit and berries. Robins gather in crabapple, red cedar, highbush cranberry, hawthorn and hackberry trees to chow down. The rockin’ robins can winter here because of that diet change, they are tough, they form flocks (since they lack social media), and they maintain a positive attitude.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Nature is one of the most underutilized treasures in life. It has the power to unburden hearts and reconnect to that inner place of peace.”–Janice Anderson.

  “Being able to smell the fresh air and disconnect from the news and your phone—there’s nothing like it.”—Jason Ward.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

These are the tracks of an eastern cottontail rabbit. When a rabbit hops, its hind feet land in front of its smaller front feet, creating a Y shape (Y for bunnY)—the large hind prints at the top of the Y and the smaller, staggered front prints below. Squirrel tracks are side-by-side in a W shape. If the trail stops at a tree, it’s a squirrel. If it goes into the brush, it’s a rabbit. Photo by Al Batt.

Is Bugs Bunny really a rabbit?

Naturally

  Winter can be a bit of a killjoy and cruel if we’re not careful.

  On the roadsides, gusts of wind scattered small birds like leaves.

  There were wild moments at my home’s windows. Feeders attached to the glass bring my local wild kingdom even closer.

  I stopped at a friend’s house. We sat and watched the activity at his busy feeders. The cardinals were everywhere. I told someone later that I’d seen a ton of cardinals. That was a slight exaggeration. It would have meant I’d seen 21,333 redbirds, which would have been cool, but I’d have been unable to count them all. I hope you see something big out your window. Something really big—like a tiny chickadee.

  An opossum was grinning like a possum eating a potpie under a feeder in my yard. It was cleaning up sunflower seed spillage. Rose Kennedy said, “Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments.” I wonder if Rose Kennedy wrote that after seeing an awesome possum?

  While credited as Possums in the movie “Bambi,” they are Virginia opossums. A possum is a different animal from Australia. The film depicts them hanging upside down by their tails. Only baby opossums can do this, and only for a brief time.

  Here’s a tip from the trail for you. If you ever find yourself lost in the woods, find an opossum and follow it. You’ll be in the middle of a road in no time.

  A warm spell causes male skunks to look for love in all the wrong places—or at least one wrong place. Roads make easy waddling except for the getting hit by vehicles part. In the movie “Bambi,” the title character, a new fawn learning to talk, called a skunk "Flower" after meeting him in a flower patch. The name stuck. Flower was both adorable and odorable.

Book report

  I enjoyed reading “Raising Hare” by Chloe Dalton, whose thoughtful storytelling and an eye for detail described a life with a leveret (a hare in its first year), which grew into a doe and a mother. Several lines made me pause and consider. Dalton wrote, “For the first time in my life, I have had cause to study animals rather than people, and to see that we are not diminished by making way for them. Coexistence gives our own existence greater poignancy, and perhaps even grandeur.”

  I found it a wonderful read about the author’s relationship with a wild thing.

Q&A

  Jennifer, Lily, Duncan and Derek of Pipestone wondered why doves and pigeons build flimsy nests. I had to assume the position of “The Thinker” statue to ponder this question. I leaned over, my right elbow placed on my left thigh, holding the weight of my chin on the back of my right hand. I did that fully clothed, which somewhat restricted my deep contemplation. Dove nests appear poorly constructed to us because of a minimalist form that prioritizes speed and efficiency over structural integrity. Their nesting strategy aims for quick reproduction rather than building a long-lasting nest. Doves can slap a nest together in a day or two, which reduces the time they are vulnerable to predators while gathering materials, and makes it possible to start the reproductive cycle quickly. And they can get by with it because there are no building permits required.

  “Do rabbits have vocal cords?” The primary sound-producing organ in rabbits is the larynx (voice box), which is in the throat. Within the larynx, rabbits have vocal cords, flexible bands of tissue that vibrate when air passes through them. These vibrations create sound waves. In addition to vocalizations, rabbits can produce sounds by thumping their hind legs on the ground. See the movie “Bambi” for the foot-thumping rabbit who declared, “That’s why they call me Thumper.”

  Bugs Bunny talked up a storm, but I’m not sure Bugs was a rabbit. I grew up in the company of jackrabbits and Bugs looked like a jackrabbit to me. Hares generally have longer ears and hind legs than rabbits. So, that means Bugs Bunny, despite his name, is a hare. Right? Hold on there, you hardworking brains. Bugs Hare would have one major character flaw—he lives in a burrow. Hares live above ground, and use camouflage and speed to survive. Rabbits could spend time underground in burrows or warrens. Warner Brothers produced Bugs Bunny cartoon titles that included the word “hare” in them. So, hare or rabbit? It’s more likely a character and a name best suited to creative and comedic needs. Shakespeare had his moments, but I’ll rely on an expert nimrod named Elmer Fudd to settle this. Elmer called Bugs a "wascally wabbit," not a “wascally jackwabbit” or “wascally hare.” There’s the answer. Elmer Fudd has spoken.

Thanks for stopping by

  “To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.”—Mary Davis.

  “Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.”—Albert Einstein.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

We’ve all likely made a quacking sound to imitate a duck. The classic duck’s quack is the sound of a mallard hen. It’s a myth that a duck’s quack doesn’t echo. Mallard, Iowa, which is south of Curlew and north of Plover, used to have a high school with a memorable school cheer: "Black and Gold, Gold and Black, Mallard Ducks go quack, quack, quack." Photo by Al Batt.

BIRDING WITH BATT  If you missed “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.

https://mankato.mnsu.edu/kmsu-radio/podcasts/

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie

Naturally

  I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but if I did, it would be to continue to be excited about every bird I see from my window. How much is that birdie in the window? It’s priceless.

  Lots of birds showed up at the feeders, bringing squirrels with them. If I made New Year’s resolutions, I’d resolve to enjoy the company of squirrels.

  While doing a Christmas Bird Count, I happened upon a mixed flock of birds busily foraging. There were black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches and downy woodpeckers in the group. The chickadees were leading the tiny, feathered wagon train. More eyes detect more predators and find more food. These three species feed in unique ways, so they don’t get in one another’s way.

  I saw a turkey chasing a crow. The turkey extended its neck and charged like a bull after a matador. The crow appeared to rejoice in the activity. It nimbly avoided the attacks while gleefully taunting its attacker. I don’t know what was going on, but I suspect bourbon drinking might have been involved—specifically Wild Turkey and Old Crow brands.

  Snow had kissed the earth, making subnivean life possible. That’s life below the snow. Above the snow, mice, with their long tails, leave tail drag marks between the tracks of their feet, while voles and shrews don’t.

  I watched a rough-legged hawk hunt by hovering or kiting in place, facing into the wind to spot prey like voles and mice in an open field. This raptor’s remarkable aerial ability allows it to scan a vast area, a unique adaptation for its treeless Arctic breeding grounds and wintering fields. It’s as if the raptor were using an invisible treadmill. An American kestrel also forages in open areas with short vegetation. It’s primarily a sit-and-wait, elevated perch-hunter. Its hovering flight is a less frequently used hunting method, often used where perches are lacking.

Q&A

  “What is the bright glow on the snow called?” Albedo is a measurement of how much a surface reflects solar energy. Snow and ice have a high albedo. Ice reflects 50-70% of sunlight, and snow bounces back as much as 90% of solar radiation. Moonlight produces a lower albedo, and winter nights with a snowpack on the ground can be bright, especially under a full moon.

  “Are cats native to this country?” Domestic cats aren’t native to North America. European colonists introduced them to control rodent populations on ships and in settlements, and cats became a widespread invasive species. This continent is home to several native wild cat species like the bobcat, lynx, puma (cougar, mountain lion, catamount, panther, painter), jaguar, ocelot, jaguarundi and the rare margay. Wild cats have been popular names for automobiles: Jaguar, Buick Wildcat, Mercury Cougar, Ford Puma, Mercury Bobcat, Sunbeam Tiger and Chevrolet Tiger.

  “Is a flock of cowbirds called a herd?” If not, it should be, right? A herd is a collective noun for cowbirds, as is a flock, corral and mob.

  “Are wild turkeys found in every state?” Wild turkeys are found in every U.S. state except Alaska. Contrary to popular myth, Benjamin Franklin never proposed the wild turkey as our national symbol, but he praised the species in a letter to his daughter, calling it “a much more respectable bird” than the bald eagle. Ben considered the bald eagle a bird of bad character because of its habit of stealing the prey of other birds. The wild turkey is named after the nation of Turkey. Here’s what the good folks at Merriam-Webster have to say about that: “When the new-world turkey was introduced to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century, English speakers gave credit to the Turks: the Ottoman Empire was at its peak, and the English were in the habit of calling all sorts of things "Turkish." Maize was called "Turkish wheat," pumpkins were referred to as "Turkish cucumbers," and Meleagris gallopavo was a "turkey-cock," and, eventually, a plain old turkey.”

  “What were the four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie?” In the nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence” there is this line, “Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye, four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.” In the Tudor period, cooks tried to impress with their exciting presentations of food because they couldn’t run a TV commercial during halftime of the Super Bowl. They needed to please the king and his official royal food taster, who tested food for the monarch. You dared not plop a bowl on the table and declare it the slop of the day. That could lead to a beheading or worse. They baked an empty pie crust and put live blackbirds inside the crust. “When the pie was opened the birds began to sing, oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?” The pie was placed in front of the king, and the blackbirds flew out in a spectacular display. Afterward, a real pie was brought out. The 24 blackbirds in the nursery rhyme were likely Eurasian blackbirds, a common thrush species related to the American robin.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.”—Camille Pissarro.

  "Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together."—Vesta M. Kelly.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025 

Friends gave me this fetching cap for Christmas. It’s making me more chirpful. Seeing a cardinal symbolizes spiritual messengers, lost loved ones visiting, hope, love, vitality, joy and renewal. Cardinals appear when angels are near. The redbird is a bright spot in winter. Put out sugar cookies to attract someone wearing this cap.

Doing a Christmas Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Count (CMALBC)

Naturally

  I did a Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and a Christmas Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Count (CMALBC) on the same day. The latter Count was done in our house. The number of beetles indoors was impressive, as was the density of the fog outdoors.

  Fog eats snow. While fog doesn't literally eat snow (I’ve never heard any sounds of a fog’s munching) or make it vanish before my eyes like David Copperfield might, but the fog does make the snow melt faster. The above-freezing air temperature contributes to snowmelt, but when fog forms, condensation occurs. The process of condensation releases energy as heat, which is released into the air. This added heat increases the rate at which the snow melts. The water droplets from the fog itself will melt snow.

  I slipped and slid as I walked through the mud, snow, rain, wind, mist, ice, slush, water and fog. No treadmill could offer all that. Several deciduous trees were stubbornly hanging onto their leaves as they watched my silly stumbles—the red oak, ironwood and buckthorn.

  I filled the feeders before I ventured off to ring the bells for the Salvation Army. When I returned home, there were footprints galore underneath those feeders. The squirrels and the rabbits had been busy. When a squirrel hops and lands, its larger back feet land parallel, just in front of its smaller front feet, which land side by side. The resulting shape is square-ish. Rabbits land with one forefoot in front of the other. This paints a picture of two fore-footprints behind the two larger hind-footprints resembling the letter Y. SQuirrels leave SQuare tracks, while Ys are the mark of a bunnY. Because squirrels live in trees, one of the best ways to identify their tracks is to follow them. It doesn’t take long before squirrel trails lead directly to and end at the base of a tree. Rabbits must go around the trees. Rabbits frequently leave droppings that look like Cocoa Puffs along their trails. My apologies to those who enjoy a fine bowl of Cocoa Puffs. I rarely find any squirrel scat, which is smaller than rabbit poop. That’s because squirrels prefer using porta-potties. I base that statement on a staggering lack of evidence.

Q&A

  “Do birds eat snow to stay hydrated?” They do, but it uses energy to convert snow and ice to water. I watched a chickadee during a Christmas Bird Count getting water from a dripping icicle.

  “What do opossums and raccoons do during the winter?” The Christmas opossum showed up in my yard this year as it does each year. A marsupial miracle. The weather was warm enough that a couple of raccoons were out for a walk to find food. Raccoons don’t hibernate during the winter. They enter a state of lowered activity called torpor, which doesn’t last as long as hibernation. Raccoons wake up to forage during this time. A warm day encourages that activity. Raccoons seek shelter in hollow trees or logs, rock crevices, woodchuck burrows, brush piles, chimneys, under buildings and in abandoned buildings. Opossums don’t have raccoon coats, so winter is a struggle. I watched one using its tail and its mouth to carry dry leaves and grass to insulate its bed. They don’t hibernate but also enter a state of torpor. Torpor may be our 51st state as many men enter into it while watching football games on TV. Opossums den up in rock piles, woodpiles, squirrel nests, tree hollows, brush piles, abandoned burrows and buildings.

  “How long does a loon need to run on the water before becoming airborne and what is a loonie?” Loons need 30 yards to a quarter mile (depending on the wind) to flap their wings and run across the water to gain enough speed for liftoff. Finnish folklore says that when the creator (Nature) made the first loon, the creator accidentally forgot to give it legs. As the legless bird flew away, Nature realized the oversight and threw a pair of legs and feet at it. The legs struck the back of the flying bird’s body and they stuck there. The legs became attached far back on the bird's torso, facilitating its exceptional diving and swimming abilities while leaving it awkward on dry ground. A loonie is a colloquial term for the Canadian $1 coin or Canadian dollar, introduced in 1987. The name comes from the coin’s reverse design featuring a loon.

  “Do pine siskins look like goldfinches?” Pine siskins and American goldfinches are related. The siskins can appear to be goldfinches wearing streaked pajamas. The goldfinches are slightly larger and lack streaking on their breasts.

Thanks for stopping by

  "Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."—Hamilton Wright Mabie.

  “Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting."—Elizabeth Bibesco.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

American goldfinches are now in winter (also known as nonbreeding or definitive basic) plumage. Nicknamed the “wild canary,” the male’s spiffy breeding attire fades from his vibrant colors to the duller look of the less conspicuous females. Both sexes are drab olive, with the male showing hints of yellow on the throat and shoulders. Photo of American goldfinch by Al Batt.

It’s the birder way

Naturally

  I could do nothing about the weather, so I warmed myself by ringing the bells for the Salvation Army. I love it when that happens. 

  Leonard Cohen sang, “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.”

  Christmas is good company. So are the birds of Christmas. On my walk from the car to my destination to ring the bells, I saw starlings foraging along the edge of the parking lot. Their bills were bright yellow in breeding season, with the base of the lower mandible blue in males and pink in females. I’m not making that up. However, research suggests that the blue/pink indicators are not definitive. More’s the pity. A starling’s bill darkens after the breeding season to a dark gray-brown or black, with few maintaining the yellow face swords. But that’s not for long as the bills of adult males begin to turn yellow in late December or January, followed by adult females, then first-year birds. The yellow appears first near the base of the lower mandible and progresses to the tip. The starlings I crossed paths with brought a thawing noise to a gelid winter’s day.

  Leonard Cohen again, “The birds they sang at the break of day ‘Start again,’ I heard them say. Don't dwell on what has passed away or what is yet to be.”

  I see multicolored Asian lady beetles in my house each day. Apparently, I’d signed a rental agreement. Scientists estimate that insects make up 80 to 90% of all animal species. The largest known order of insects is Coleoptera (beetles), with 300,000 to 400,000 species of beetle described to date. The multicolored Asian lady beetles, as their name hints, are beetles. I’m glad they haven’t invited all their relatives to come home fro the holidays.

  I feed the birds all year, but I find a special joy in putting out peanuts in the shell for the blue jays and nuthatches around Christmas. It gives me a warm Christmas feeling on the coldest of days. Blue jays are amazing peanut detectors. Chickadees enjoy peanuts, too. Not even the nicest, smiling coffee shop provides the comfort of seeing a single chickadee at my feeder. A chickadee brings sunshine with it.

  I wore a Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds sweatshirt as I went about my daily obligations and smiled at everyone I encountered. The garment was a way for me to let my birder flag fly. The sweatshirt advertised the Festival of May 1997 and carried a cracking good image of a golden-winged warbler. Yes, I’ve been wearing that sweatshirt since 1997. Not every day. Clothing needs a break to catch its breath. In my defense, 1997 was a great year for sweatshirts. Hats and shirts bearing a likeness of a bird or a pithy saying about birding don’t wear out. If they do become tattered and torn, I keep wearing them. It’s the birder way.

  How many Christmas Bird Counts does a man have to do before you call him a birder? The answer is blowing in the wind—horned larks, snow buntings and Lapland longspurs—birds that feed and hang out where the wind has blown the ground bare. As long as they keep showing up for Christmas Bird Counts, so will I. I love it when that happens.

Q&A

  “Do birds other than starlings create murmurations?” A murmuration is a mesmerizing flock of starlings that move together in a shapeshifting, coordinated cloud through the sky. A breathtaking sight for human eyes that provides the birds with safety in numbers. It makes it difficult for predators to zero in on a particular bird. A starling changes its position in a flock because it’s unwise to be at the flock’s edge for long, as that makes the bird more vulnerable to raptors. While murmuration is commonly associated with starlings, other bird species exhibit similar flocking behavior. However, the term “murmuration” is generally used specifically to describe groups of starlings. Their stunning aerial displays are elegant things for a mere, but fortunate human to see.

  “How small a hole can a bat get through?” Bats can enter through holes as small in diameter as the size of a dime. That sounds unbelievable, but the bat likely holds its breath. Typical entry points to a house include through chimneys, vents and openings near pipes, wires, doors, windows or damaged exterior siding. Hardware cloth can be used to cover chimneys and vents. Caulk, weatherstripping, insulation materials, screening, steel wool or duct tape could be used to close these and other entry points. Leave the entry sites open until mid-August to allow young bats the time to leave and not be trapped.

Thanks for stopping by

  "Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone."—Charles Schulz.

  "Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most."—Ruth Carter Stapleton.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

In my boyhood, they were called English sparrows. House sparrows are native to Eurasia and northern Africa, not to the United States. They were introduced in 1851-53 by Nicholas Pike, Director of the Brooklyn Institute, to rescue trees from caterpillars. More were released for pest control by other people in various parts of the country over the next 25 years. Photo of a male house sparrow by Al Batt.

The always-a-house cat is on blizzard watch.

House sparrows catching a nap during a blizzard.

What do you get a birdbrain for Christmas?

Naturally

  At first light, I read the texts of the night—tracks left in the snow. They weren’t all signed.

  A crow was up early. When perched in a tree, a hawk exhibits an upright, vertical posture, while a crow has a more horizontal stance. A hawk sits with its body and tail pointing straight down. A crow sits with its tail pointing out at an angle, in a more horizontal body alignment.

  The American Ornithological Society has made changes that affect checklists and field guides. One change is that the warbling vireo has been split into the eastern and western warbling-vireos.

Q&A

  “Do you have suggestions for Christmas gifts for birdbrains?" What do you give a nature lover for Christmas other than your undying appreciation or raucous cheers extolling their perfection? Birds come already wrapped. Share your love of them with another. Warm socks, gloves or mittens, a cap (the sillier a hat looks, the warmer it will be) or flip-top mittens that allow the wearer to fold back the top of the mitten to reveal fingerless gloves. I love the arm freedom vests provide. Books and more books of all kinds. I enjoy the tactile sensation of paper field guides, but digital field guides are excellent, too. I prefer painted birds over photos and guides covering more than a single state, but your preferences may vary. A small book showing the birds of only one state is suitable 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 which one fits. A Leatherman, ice cleats, trekking or hiking poles, snowshoes, a dependable travel mug (one that hollers at you when you are about to forget it somewhere—please let me know if you find one), a pocket-sized notebook, or a back, day or fanny pack. Binoculars are lovely gifts but are easier to buy for a child than for an adult. Get a gift receipt or be accompanied by the adult gift recipient at the time of purchase. A membership in a local bird club or nature center, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, American Birding Association, Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, Wild Ones or Izaak Walton League. Please don’t fall for the scam and join the Poison Ivy Lovers of Minnesota group. I’ve been the only one there at the last three meetings. A state park sticker, a hand lens, feeders, birdseed, a subscription to BWD magazine (a birding publication), or a trail camera.

  “How can I tell if the footprints are those of a dog, coyote or fox?” A coyote print is triangular and, unlike a domestic dog’s print, a coyote’s toenails are often faint or absent on the two outside toes. The nails on the inside toes are longer than a dog’s and sometimes point towards each other. Dog prints are rounder, broader and splayed or messy, and are less symmetrical. Foxes have furred footpads to reduce heat loss and improve traction. This can obscure its footprints. The tracks of coyotes and foxes are in a straight line because a wild canine wishes to conserve energy, especially in winter, and moves with purpose. Dogs walk more haphazardly, tending to wander to investigate and sniff every stump, bush, large rock or change in the landscape. Coyote and fox tracks show the hind foot landing precisely on the front footprint, dropping where the front foot had been until it was lifted. This is called direct registering. Some domestic dogs might do this, but they don’t maintain it for long before becoming distracted.

  Chuck from North Carolina asked what my spirit animal would be. A chickadee—any species of chickadee. In Native American symbolism, seeing a chickadee is thought of as good luck. A Cherokee myth associates them with knowledge and the truth. Chickadees can adapt to different environments and weather. They are lively and energetic, and serve as a reminder to me to focus on the small moments of happiness and to find joy in the present. They are effective communicators, observant with a keen awareness of their surroundings. They observe and absorb.

  “Is the suet from a meat market or the commercial cakes of suet the best for birds?” Birds enjoy raw suet, the kind sold at a butcher’s shop, but raw suet spoils quickly. Use it only in cold weather. If used in hot weather, it will turn rancid. Commercially made suet cakes, which don’t spoil in warm weather, often have cornmeal, cherries, oranges and cranberries mixed into them. The birds don’t care about the added ingredients. I might.

Thanks for stopping by

  "Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand."—Dr. Seuss.

  "Christmas is like candy; it slowly melts in your mouth sweetening every taste bud, making you wish it could last forever."—Richelle E. Goodrich.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

The Tennessee warbler is a small, thin-billed, greenish-yellow bird, that is common but plain-looking. “Plain-looking” isn’t the way the bird describes itself. The Tennessee warbler is misnamed as it breeds primarily in Canada, not Tennessee. It got the Tennessee name because Alexander Wilson encountered one there. It feeds on caterpillars in the summer, thriving when spruce budworms are abundant, and becomes a nectar thief in the winter. Photo by Al Batt.

How hard does a woodpecker hammer a tree?

Naturally

  It was cold, and it was colder. The birds were staying busy being birds. A good friend named Harvey Benson from Harmony reported his bird feeders were being swamped after a generous dumping of snow. He claimed to know only three kinds of birds: blue jays, cardinals and all the rest that he lumped under the name “birds.” Harvey is proof that you don’t have to identify birds to enjoy them. He loves to watch and feed his avian amigos. Birds cast a magic spell and change the way we see everything.

  It was -12 degrees and I was wearing the perfect number of layers of clothing as I chugged along past some evergreen trees ribboned with snow in the yard. The needles can help if the trees refuse to identify themselves. The pine needles grow in bundles of two or more, whereas spruce needles are attached to a branch individually. I clicked the heels of my ruby slippers, but it was still -12 degrees. I continued to chug along.

  That temperature isn’t conducive to spotting hummingbirds, but I’m grateful they keep me company when the temperature is more civilized. In eastern North America, the ruby-throated hummingbird is not only the star of the hummingbird show, it’s the only one with a part. The rubythroats are the only species of hummingbird known to breed east of the Mississippi River. Thinking of them warms me. I have peered at hummingbirds in Costa Rica, which is home to 53 or 54 species of hummingbirds. I’m glad my yard has at least one species.

Q&A

  “How important are pollinators to our crops?” Very important. Grains like corn, wheat and rice are wind-pollinated and don’t rely on insect pollination. Most soybean varieties self-pollinate by design, but pollinating insects can improve pollination. Wheat and oats are primarily self-pollinated. Approximately 35% of the world's food crops rely on pollinators. Somewhere between 75% and 95% of all flowering plants need pollinators.

  “How many different kinds of tree squirrels are there in Minnesota and is the black squirrel a separate species?” There are five kinds of squirrels: eastern gray, American red (pine squirrel, chickaree, boomer), fox, northern flying and southern flying. The black squirrels I see are gray squirrels even if they’re not gray. A few years back, the scientific journal BMC Evolutionary Biology had an article by British biologists about their discovery that the gene variant causing black fur (melanism) in eastern gray squirrels is identical to the gene variant causing melanism in fox squirrels. The authors believed that interbreeding between fox and gray squirrels allowed melanism to transfer to the gray squirrel population. An evolutionary geneticist reported that black-coated animals had an 18% lower heat loss and a 20% lower metabolic rate, which means a black-colored squirrel has a better chance of survival than a gray-colored squirrel during our winters. Black fur may offer a thermal advantage, but gray squirrels vary from all gray to reddish to bicolored to all black. A gray squirrel can have white ear tufts during the winter. A white squirrel that isn’t an albino is a variant of the gray squirrel. The fox squirrel is typically brown-grey to brown-yellow, with a brownish-orange underside.

  “How many times does a woodpecker hit a tree with its bill?” Research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology found that woodpeckers can strike hundreds of times per minute at forces 20 to 30 times their body weights. Downy woodpeckers can strike and exhale as many as 13 times per second, with an inhalation between each blow. The data showed that the hip flexor and front neck muscles play a major role in propelling the beak forward and generating the force of impact. Supporting muscles at the base of the skull and along the neck brace the bird’s head, while the abdominal muscles stabilize the torso. Specialized tail muscles flex before impact and act as an anchor, stabilizing the bird’s hip and providing a solid fulcrum against the tree trunk.

  “Where did the name ‘squirrel’ come from?” The ubiquitous squirrel, busily rushing about our yards, gardens, parks and cities, and swiping seeds from our bird feeders because they think they are squirrel feeders, has had its English name since the 14th century. The word squirrel is Greek in origin, coming from skiouros, from skia, meaning "shadow," and from oura, meaning "tail." The ancient Greek squirrel sat as our modern-day Minnesota squirrel does with its bushy tail raised against its back and over its head, casting shade as an umbrella might.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Nature tops the list of potent tranquilizers and stress reducers. The mere sound of moving water has been shown to lower blood pressure.”—Patch Adams.

  “It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out, it's the pebble in your shoe.”—Muhammad Ali.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

Gulls are worm charmers that perform a “rain dance” or a “worm dance,” wherein they stomp on the ground to hunt worms. Their foot taps mimic the vibrations of moles hunting worms underground, and/or the sounds and vibrations of raindrops, which entice earthworms into coming to the surface where the gulls can take them out for lunch. Photo of ring-billed gull by Al Batt.

I watched a sloth and wondered which one of us was the most slothful

Naturally

  The snow muffled nearly every sound except the voice of the wind.

  I watched a fox squirrel, with its face covered in snow, eat bright red thornapples, the berries of the hawthorn tree in our yard.

  I enjoyed a publication titled “A National Legacy: Fifty Years of Nongame Wildlife Conservation in Minnesota,” an excellent book filled with touching stories and inspiring accounts written by a remarkable man, who is one of my heroes. For over 40 years, Carrol was the director of the Nongame Wildlife Program for the Minnesota DNR. He has authored a number of books and has been honored with awards from the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, and The Garden Club of America.

  My good neighbor Jared Knutson spotted a short-eared owl in late November. Short-eared owls are a special concern species in Minnesota due to a significant population decline and are found primarily in the state's grasslands. They nest in the northwestern part of the state, and can be seen in the southern half of Minnesota during winter and migration. This owl has small ear (feather) tufts that are barely noticeable. In winter, they roost communally in stands of trees near suitable hunting fields, where they feed on voles and other small rodents.

Costa Rica is a mecca for sloths like me

  I spent a lot of time watching sloths. Birds of a feather flock together. Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins, and the two kinds of sloths in Costa Rica, the two-toed and the three-toed, are nobody’s deadly sin. No sloth has ever medaled in the Olympics because they are among the slowest-moving mammals in the world. On average, a sloth moves 41 yards per day. Sloths are folivores, meaning they consume leaves, twigs and buds exclusively, and they have four-chambered stomachs similar to the digestive systems of ruminants such as domestic cattle. When it needs to, a sloth creeps down a tree, and once on the ground, it digs a hole, defecates in it, and covers it with leaf litter. Then, it’s a sluggish climb back up the tree. Sloths appear mottled green due to algae growing in their fur. Sloths sleep in the trees and reportedly snooze 15-20 hours per day. It was believed that the sloths slept so much because they couldn't get Netflix in the trees, but studies have shown that sloths sleep only 8-10 hours a day.

Q&A

  Eric Annexstad of St. Peter said he was the only one around for miles while finishing up his fall tillage when gulls showed up from nowhere. He wondered where they had come from and how they had found him. Gulls find farm fields by using a combination of senses and learned behaviors. Gulls have keen eyesight, good hearing and a powerful sense of smell. They can spot tractors from afar, they hear the distinct sounds of farm machinery at work, and they can detect the scent of disturbed soil that unearths worms, grubs, mice, insects and other food. Gulls are intelligent and observant, have excellent memories for farms and fields, and fly to fields offering promising activities. The gulls could be flying high in the sky when they spot one of their favorite tractors moving about. Gulls are opportunistic foragers and are attracted to parking lots and landfills where they can find discarded food, mice and insects. Gulls make themselves at home around humans. A few years ago, annoyed at gulls pestering its patrons, a restaurant in Perth, Australia, armed each customer's table with a water pistol to stop the cheeky birds from ruining the waterfront dining experience. The gulls congregated there, hoping that the patrons might toss them a bite of food or that the gulls could scavenge leftovers.

  Lisa Kaye of Mankato asked, “Do all birds preen?” I believe they do, but they use different methods. Preening is a maintenance behavior. The uropygial gland, also called the preen gland or oil gland, is a structure at the base of a bird’s tail near the pygostyle, a fleshy structure commonly called the “pope’s nose” or “parson’s nose” by those carving a chicken or turkey. The uropygial gland produces oils that a bird can squeeze to get the oil it applies to its feathers. Some birds don’t possess a uropygial gland, and these include ostriches, emus, kiwis, rheas, cassowaries, pigeons, doves, some parrots and most woodpeckers. Instead of using preen oil, these birds maintain their feathers through methods like dust-bathing or special powder down feathers that disintegrate into a talc-like, waxy powder.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Destroying species is like tearing pages out of an unread book, written in a language humans hardly know how to read, about the place where they live.”—Holmes Rolston III.

  If I could save just one world, it would be this one.—me.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

Vince Ciangiola spotted an immature red-headed woodpecker and asked when it’d get a red head. It’ll get that gradually during its first winter, but may not reach complete adult plumage until it’s over a year old. Young red-headed woodpeckers have a brown head, and a brown and blackish-brown plumage, which molts into the red, white and black adult coloration that earned the bird the “flying checkerboard,” “flag bird” and “jellycoat” nicknames. Photo by Al Batt.

I’m sure it wasn’t an owl playing a saxophone

Naturally

  Never trust anyone who is too busy to look out a window at a bird. A window is a premium channel. Windows are windows to wonder. I watched crows and blue jays. Both species were up to something. I knew because both species are always up to something. They are corvids, which are intelligent, clever and curious birds. The Corvidae family includes crows, jays, magpies, choughs, nutcrackers, jackdaws, rooks and ravens. The collective noun for blue jays is a scold, a group of crows is a murder, it is an unkindness of ravens, a mischief or tiding of magpies, and a suite or jar of nutcrackers. In England, I mingled with other corvids—a chattering of jackdaws, a parliament of rooks and a chatter of choughs.

The fall shuffle consists of varied seasonal movements

  In the fall, turkeys continue to walk farm fields in search of dropped corn, but many of the big birds shift to a menu of calorie-rich acorns. Flocks may move several miles to find acorn-rich environments. Hen turkeys live in flocks with their female offspring. Several hens and their offspring often merge into a single flock. Hens that weren’t successful in hatching chicks may form smaller flocks with other lone hens. Male turkeys (toms) form their own flocks, and, depending on population, these flocks might be segregated by age, with young male turkeys, commonly called jakes, banding together. Moles tunnel deeper into the ground to escape the frozen soil. Chipmunks hoard food for their winter torpor. Reptiles and amphibians seek suitable places to enter brumation. Brumation and hibernation are both states of dormancy used for survival, but brumation is for cold-blooded animals (reptiles and amphibians), while hibernation is for warm-blooded animals (mammals). Black bears chow down on acorns to prepare for hibernation. Young owls and other raptors may be chased off a territory by adults, including their parents. Bats either migrate or hibernate. Mice enter houses to keep us company. Squirrels gather food. Raccoons find dens. More than half of the over 650 species of North American breeding birds are migratory. They go where the food is. Immature ruffed grouse disperse. Starlings form large flocks or murmurations and congregate at dusk in trees, marshes or buildings, making a lot of noise before roosting. The birds find safety in numbers. More eyes help find food, upgrade protection from the elements and reduce predator risk. Crows gather in large communal roosts for the winter, often in urban areas. The roosts provide warmth, protection from predators, and food sources. Our feeder birds move about to take advantage of available food, suitable habitat and adequate shelter. Humans go to Texas, Arizona and Florida.

I’m sure it wasn’t an owl playing a saxophone

  I listened to a stuttering serenade of a great horned owl before the clock struck midnight. I wonder what species of an owl Hoots the Owl is. Hoots was a jazz saxophone-playing owl on “Sesame Street.” His voice was modeled on Louis Armstrong’s, his band was the Owl-Stars, and they played at a jazz club called Birdland. I’ve heard the great horned owl and the barred owl called hoot owls, but Hoots wore a vest, something neither the great horned owl nor the barred owl does. One thing I can say for sure is the owl in my yard wasn’t playing a saxophone. Owls are zygodactyl, which means their feet have two forward-facing toes and two backward-facing toes. Owls can pivot one of their back toes forward to help them grip and walk.

Q&A

  “You told me that most of the robins I see in the winter are males. Why is that?” Robins are a migratory species, but there is significant variation in where individuals spend the winter. Males are more likely to remain in the north than the females because a male's primary job in the spring is to find and defend a territory. It’s like a gold rush, and each male wants to be the first to make a claim.

  “Do cedar waxwings nest in colonies?” Flocks break into pairs to nest, but they often nest in small colonies, with maybe a dozen pairs building nests in a few acres. The nesting birds may forage for food together. The breeding season for waxwings is late in the year, a reflection of their fruit-eating habits. Cedar waxwings are among the last birds to nest and may not start building nests until late June or even July.

Thanks for stopping by

  “I realized that If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia. Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.”―Charles Lindbergh.

  “It is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be born a millionaire.”—Robert Louis Stevenson.

   Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

“As long as there are bluebirds, there will be miracles and a way to find happiness.”– Shirl Brunnel.
“How the waiting countryside thrills with joy when Bluebird brings us the first word of returning spring. Reflecting heaven from his back and the ground from his breast, he floats between sky and earth like the winged voice of hope.”– W. L. Dawson. Eastern bluebird photo by Al Batt. If a bluebird you see, happiness will be.

I enjoyed a publication titled “A National Legacy: Fifty Years of Nongame Wildlife Conservation in Minnesota,” an excellent book filled with touching stories and inspiring accounts written by a remarkable man, who is one of my heroes. For over 40 years, Carrol was the director of the Nongame Wildlife Program for the Minnesota DNR. He has authored a number of books and has been honored with awards from the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, and The Garden Club of America.

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I’m comfortable with my chickadeeism

Naturally

  I heard the voice of the wind give way to the chatter of chickadees. Good tidings they bring—chickadees, that is. The chickadee is my favorite bird. I’m comfortable with my chickadeeism.

  Mass communication arrived as a murmuration of starlings. Flocks provide more eyes to see more things. More voices can say more things. Polite conversations. No political discussions.

  A hundred years ago, the red-bellied woodpecker was primarily a bird of the southeast at the northwestern extent of its range in southern Minnesota. The species has expanded its range northward and westward, and is now encountered in all 87 counties of Minnesota and into Canada. Climate change has been identified as a primary driver of these expansions. Warmer winters increase the chances of a bird surviving to the breeding season.

  Common or European buckthorn is a nonnative, invasive buckthorn species found in Minnesota. These buckthorn species were first brought here from Europe as a popular hedging material. Their leaves stay green late into fall.

Q&A

  “What are the mice that find their way into my house each fall?” There are three common ones. The house mouse ranges in size from 5 ½ to 7 inches long, including the tail. Its body is covered in fur that is gray, brown or black with a cream or tan underbelly; its ears and tail are lightly furred. House mice have tiny dark eyes. The deer mouse ranges in size from 5 to 9 inches in length from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. It has reddish-brown fur and a white belly, and has larger ears and eyes than the house mouse. The white-footed mouse is similar in size and appearance to the deer mouse. White-footed mice have tawny-brown back fur, white belly fur and white feet. It has large ears and eyes, and a long tail. The house mouse is a commensal rodent, meaning it cannot survive without human activity to provide food, nesting materials and shelter. The other two are peromyscus mice capable of living without us.

  “Why is it good to leave leaves on the lawn and gardens?” The leaves provide a natural mulch that enriches the soil, retains moisture, and suppresses weeds, while creating a vital habitat for pollinators and other wildlife that overwinter in leaf litter. The luna moth, with its captivating pale green wings and elongated tails, feeds and grows as a caterpillar on the leaves of hardwood trees before descending to the forest floor to pupate. The mourning cloak butterfly is known for its longevity and unique hibernation habits. Unlike many butterflies that migrate or overwinter in other life stages, the mourning cloak spends the winter as an adult. As temperatures drop, these butterflies seek refuge in the natural crevices provided by tree bark, logs and within piles of fallen leaves.

  “I heard you talk on the radio about the hens you had that laid blue eggs. What kind were they?” The Ameraucana and Araucana breeds of chicken.

  “How do pigeons find their way home?” They use a combination of senses, including the Earth's magnetic field, the sun, visual landmarks and their sense of smell. Science doesn’t fully understand the pigeon’s ability. The greatest long-distance flight recorded by a pigeon started in France and ended in Vietnam in 1931. The distance was 7,200 miles and took 24 days. Pigeons have another amazing ability. They produce nutritious milk that’s a regurgitated fluid produced by both male and female pigeons from the lining of their crops to feed squabs. Greater flamingos and emperor penguins may also feed their chicks milk.

  “Do chipmunks hibernate?” It depends on who you ask and the chipmunks aren’t saying. Chipmunks accumulate little body fat, so they spend the early fall searching for and hoarding food. They store the food in burrows, an elaborate system with pantry and sleeping chambers, where they spend most of the winter, entering a state of torpor (a temporary, short-term state of decreased body temperature, heart rate and metabolic rate) for several days at a time, arising periodically to feed and eliminate. The chipmunk lines the nesting chamber with insulating materials, such as leaves, grasses and thistledown. Drainage tunnels are dug at the bottom of the burrow. On mild winter days, the chipmunk may make brief appearances above ground to forage.

  “Do opossums hibernate?” Virginia opossums don’t hibernate and are prone to suffer from frostbite. Opossums are marsupials, which give birth to young that complete development inside the mother's pouch. Opossums have built-in parking.

Thanks for stopping by

  “We are taught we have to speak for the voiceless. We have to talk for the fish, the trees, the birds, the grass.”—Betty Osceola, winner of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Defender of the Everglades award.

  “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”―Mark Twain.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

The black-billed magpie is a permanent resident throughout northwestern and north-central Minnesota. Magpies build bulky nests of sticks and twigs that have a domed top and two entrances, which can take up to 40 days to construct and may last for years. Research has shown that magpies can recognize their own images in a mirror. The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) reported magpies boldly entering tents to steal food. Photo by Al Batt.

Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow

Naturally

  The weather is good at what it does.

  The leafy nests of squirrels had become readily observable. I had a noise complaint. Birds were too quiet. Snow fell. No surprise, it’s November. Thomas Hood wrote, “No sun—no moon! No morn—no noon—No dawn—no dusk—no proper time of day. No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member—No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds?—November!”

  I remember being a whippersnapper and getting to see a Minnesota rock band called The Trashmen perform their big hit “Surfin’ Bird” to an appreciative audience of adolescents who hadn’t a clue about surfing. The Trashmen were America’s greatest landlocked surf band. “The bird is the word” was a significant part of that song. “A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird. B-b-b-bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. A-well-a bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word. Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow.”  I’ll bet The Trashmen didn’t know they were singing to both birders and prospective surfers. Alas, cornfields made for crummy surfing, unless you were a hunting marsh hawk able to surf grasslands, fields and marshes with the best of them.

Finch forecast

  Tyler Hoar’s winter finch forecast, which predicts what winter finches and other passerines will cross the border based on food supplies in Canada, indicates it’ll be a good year for purple finches, pine siskins and red-breasted nuthatches. Redpolls will visit after snow covers weedy fields in the north.

State birds

  The common loon is Minnesota’s state bird. That qualifies residents to be loonatics. I spoke at an event in North Carolina, where a resident of that state and one from Kansas both told me I was fortunate to live in a state with a unique bird as its state bird. The northern cardinal is the state bird of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. The western meadowlark is the state bird of Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming. The northern mockingbird is the state bird of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Tennessee. The American robin is the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin. The American goldfinch is the state bird of Iowa, New Jersey and Washington. The Eastern bluebird is the state bird of Missouri and New York. The black-capped chickadee is the state bird of Massachusetts, while Maine’s state bird is the chickadee, with no specific species designated. The Rhode Island Red is a chicken and the state bird of Rhode Island. South Dakota has the ring-necked pheasant as its state bird.

Prometheus

  In ancient Greek mythology, Prometheus observed the plight of humans and felt compassion for those pitiful creatures who lived in darkness and despair. That titan defied the orders of the gods on Mount Olympus, stole fire and presented it to the people living in a cruel world. Legends say Prometheus also created humans and introduced science and mathematics to the world. For these transgressions, Prometheus was doomed to have his liver eaten by an eagle. Each day, his liver would regrow, and the raptor returned to feast again.

Q&A

  “Do the provinces of Canada have official birds?” The provincial bird of Alberta is the great horned owl, British Columbia’s is the Steller’s Jay, Manitoba—great gray owl, New Brunswick—black-capped chickadee, Newfoundland and Labrador—Atlantic puffin, Nova Scotia—osprey, Northwest Territories—gyrfalcon, Nunavut—rock ptarmigan, Ontario—common loon, Prince Edward Island—blue jay, Quebec—snowy owl, Saskatchewan—sharp-tailed grouse, and Yukon’s provincial bird is the common raven. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society chose the Canada jay as the national bird of Canada, but the Canadian government has yet to do so officially. That jay’s nicknames include gray jay, camp robber, whiskyjack and gorby. “Gorby” doesn’t refer to a resemblance to the late Mikhail Gorbachev, but derives from the Scots word gorb, meaning “glutton.”

  “What do the almanacs predict for this winter?” The Farmers’ Almanac, published in Maine since 1818, says it will be very cold and snowy. That periodical is ceasing publication after the 2026 issue. The Old Farmer’s Almanac, published since 1792, currently in New Hampshire, forecasts a mild, dry winter.

  “When is the average date of the first measurable snowfall in Minnesota?” Approximate dates for these cities: International Falls is Oct. 20, Duluth Oct. 24, St. Cloud Nov. 2, Twin Cities Nov. 4, Rochester Nov. 5 and Marshall is Nov. 12.

Thanks for stopping by

  “There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be, because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring.”—Evelyn Beatrice Hall.

  A “Frank & Ernest” comic strip by Bob Thaves in 1982 showed a sandwich board announcing a “Fred Astaire Festival.” A woman said, “Sure, he was great, but don’t forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did backwards and in high heels!”

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

The word “opossum” derives from a Powhatan word meaning “white dog” or “white animal.” I write “opossum,” unless writing "playing possum,” and I say “possum.” Opossums live in the Americas, while possums (a different animal) live in Australia, New Guinea and Sulawesi. Merriam-Webster notes the word is pronounced uh-possum, but it’s OK to omit the o sound. The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial found in the U.S. Young opossums photo by Al Batt.

I couldn’t sleep because I wanted to hear what the owl had to say

Naturally

   I rose early on a gray morning.

  I’d heard a great horned owl calling during the night. It was likely claiming a territory. I found sleep difficult to corral. It wasn’t that the hooting was so loud. It was because I wanted to hear what the owl had to say.

  I saw some college-aged pheasants flying across the road. I enjoyed seeing them. Their population has declined since my boyhood days due to habitat loss—there isn’t enough grassland for nesting, and there are fewer cattail marshes for pheasants to find shelter from the cold weather.

  Five trumpeter swans glowed white in a blackened farm field, sticking out like five thumbs that weren’t sore. Every sighting of a bird brings a sense of awe and reward, and seeing those lovely swans did that for me.

  The feeders weren’t busy. There were still plenty of natural food trucks supplying birds with food like seeds and berries. Blue jays were the best customers at my feeders.

  The multicolored Asian lady beetle is also known as the Asian lady beetle, Halloween lady beetle, harlequin ladybird beetle, pumpkin ladybird beetle, multivariate lady beetle and Japanese lady beetle (not to be confused with the Japanese beetle). Asian lady beetles were introduced in 1916 and reintroduced in 1964-65 to control pecan aphids. From 1978 to 1982, Asian lady beetles were released in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington for biological control. The released beetles spread. Asian lady beetles were never introduced to Minnesota for biological control measures, but traveled here and were first documented in 2004. Multicolored Asian lady beetles are drawn to soybean fields, where they feast on aphids throughout the growing season. Once the beans are harvested and temperatures begin to drop, the beetles look for a warm place to spend the winter. They migrate en masse toward buildings—particularly the sunny, south-facing walls of light-colored structures. Unlike our beloved native ladybugs, these beetles can bite, and they emit a foul-smelling yellow fluid when disturbed. They don’t reproduce indoors, but they do hibernate in large groups in warm, protected spots in attics, wall voids, or behind trim and baseboards. On warm fall or winter days, they become active again, appearing as surprise guests inside our homes. In Minnesota, lady beetles fly to buildings between late September and late October, when temperatures are above 65°F and before freezing temperatures set in. Look for a distinct black M-shaped marking behind the head to identify it as a multicolored Asian lady beetle.

Q&A

  “Do vultures find food by sight or by smell?” All vultures find food with their incredible eyesight, but turkey vultures have a keenly developed sense of smell, which they can use when foraging for carrion. It’s not clear to what extent turkey vultures rely on their eyesight versus their ability to smell.

  “Are there lizards in Minnesota?” Minnesota is home to three lizards. The speedy six-lined racerunner, its name evoking an image of a vehicle manufactured by Dodge, occurs in southeastern Minnesota in sandy grasslands or forest clearings. The five-lined skink is associated with forest openings in southeastern and southwestern counties. The prairie skink is widely distributed in Minnesota, where it can be found in grasslands with well-drained, sandy soils.

  “Do black bears reuse dens?” There are reports of individual bears using a particular den site more than once, but as a rule, they don’t return to the same den. According to the North American Bear Center, rock crevices and caves are used as dens, and can remain usable for centuries, but usually not by the same bear or in successive years. The den that researchers found being used the most during four decades of study was used three times, each time by a different bear, and each time after an interval of six years. Dens are dug into hillsides or under the root systems of trees. These dens may be dug during the summer months, long before they are needed. Excavated dens often collapse after use and, because of that, are seldom reused. Bears may den under the crown of downed trees, in standing hollow trees or in brush piles, or they may rake up a bed on the ground near a windbreak.

  “What preys on bats?” Bats have few predators. Owls, cats and raccoons occasionally prey on them. The Congress Avenue Bridge spans Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin, Texas, and is home to 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats. I didn’t count them. Before sunset, the bats emerge from under the bridge to forage for insects. I’ve watched those bats being eaten by hawks and snakes.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.”—Neil Armstrong.

  “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.”—Richard Bach.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

 I enjoy the company of an eastern phoebe and its distinctive tail wag. Why don’t we see this bird in the cold-weather seasons? It’s because flying insects make up most of its diet. A raspy “fee-bee” song gives the flycatcher its name. In Greek mythology, Phoebe was a Titan, the daughter of “Earth” (Gaia) and “Sky” (Uranus). In 1804, Audubon attached a silver thread to an eastern phoebe’s leg, making it the first banded bird in North America. Photo by Al Batt.

Bald eagles versus an eastern cottontail

Naturally

  A joyous cloud of birds twisted across a harvested field. They were blackbirds taking advantage of flock intelligence, and they weren’t quiet about it. The birds had something to say. The mixed flocks could include red-winged blackbirds, common grackles, brown-headed cowbirds, European starlings, rusty blackbirds, Brewer’s blackbirds and yellow-headed blackbirds.

  Cedar waxwings were in a hawthorn tree. The beautiful waxwings are a dessert to a banquet of birding. People often describe the waxwings as being so perfect in form that they don’t look real.

  The art of noticing produces small moments of great merit. Life is an astonishment. The art of noticing allowed me to marvel over the turkey-foot seed heads of big bluestem. The three toes called my attention to the lovely grass with leaves that turn a reddish-bronze color after a frost.

  I watched a robin taking a bath. It paused in its enthusiastic splashing and froze in place. It fled just ahead of a northern shrike, a predatory songbird that hunts in brushy, semi-open habitats, chasing birds and creeping through the dense brush to ambush prey and pounce on mice. Shrikes sometimes save food for later by impaling it on thorns of vegetation or on barbed wire. The robin was able to spot the threat either because other yard birds had warned the robin or because it constantly looked for something to eat and for something that might eat it.

  A wonderful neighbor, Jared Knutson, sent me a video of an eastern cottontail trying to hide in a harvested cornfield. What was it hiding from? It feared the two adult bald eagles that had a hankering for a bunny meal. The rabbit didn’t initiate the attack. Those two eagles, with white heads and white tails, made several attempts at capturing the rabbit, but were unsuccessful. The eagles have been followers of Jared’s harvest activities for several years, knowing that Jared would roust rabbits from their hiding places.

  Years ago, a red-tailed hawk followed my farm equipment around the field, hankering to take the voles and mice I’d exposed out to lunch. Farm equipment is much larger today, necessitating Jared’s upgrade from a hawk to two eagles.

Dining in Denali

  I led a tour to Denali. Alaska is a big place, and traveling around it builds a big appetite. We stopped to eat. We grabbed sandwiches and drinks and found perches outside, because why wouldn’t we sit outside? After we’d finished our meals and prepared to walk back to our bus, another tour came in. They grabbed sandwiches and chips, placed them on the outdoor tables and went to get drinks. I advised the leader that someone should stay and watch the food. I’d do that, but I needed to hit the trail. He thought I was a goofy individual and mumbled something about who would steal their food. He was right about thinking I was goofy, but when I said, “The gulls,” he replied, “The gulls to you, too.”

  I stood by the door of our bus and applied my amazing math skills to make sure all 50 of my tour participants boarded. Just before I stepped onto the deluxe motor coach, I looked back at the spot where we had enjoyed a lovely repast in the open air. Delicate-appearing gulls named mew gulls (the name has since been changed to short-billed gulls) were devouring the sandwiches of that unfortunate group of tourists. The “mew" part of the name didn’t come from its catlike call because it makes nothing that sounds like that to my ear. It’s derived from “zee meeuw,” an old Dutch name for the bird.

  The moral of the story: never eat at a restaurant named “The Gull Cafe.”

  That wasn’t the actual name of the eatery, but it should have been. Gulls are incredibly good at obtaining food. I had a gull in Florida snatch a partially eaten hot dog from my hand. It did so for my own good.

Q&A

  “If the common nighthawk isn’t a hawk, why is it called a hawk?” The common nighthawk’s impressive booming sounds during courtship dives, in combination with its erratic, bat-like flight, earned it the colloquial name “bullbat.” The name “nighthawk” is a misnomer, since the bird isn’t strictly nocturnal—it’s active at dawn and dusk—nor closely related to hawks. They have long tails, forward-swept wings and spectacular aerial maneuverability. A common nighthawk belongs to the nightjar family, and its “hawk” name originated from its resemblance to a small hawk when it’s flying and its hawking method of catching insects in mid-air. 

  “Do snakes blink?” No. Snakes have no eyelids, so they can't blink or close their eyes. Scales called brille cover their eyes to protect them from damage. When a snake sheds, it regenerates the brille.

  “Why do birds oil their feathers?” During preening, birds extract a waxy secretion called preen oil from their uropygial gland (or preen gland) at the base of the tail and smear it over their plumage. Preen oil is an important source of avian body odor and may serve perfuming roles, in addition to its role in plumage maintenance. Birds use the preen oil to keep their feathers in good condition, making them strong and flexible, which aids in flight and waterproofing. The oil also helps with hygiene by removing parasites and debris and maintains skin health.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Nature tops the list of potent tranquilizers and stress reducers. The mere sound of moving water has been shown to lower blood pressure.”—Patch Adams.

  “What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.”—Joseph Addison.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

In the fall, I hear white-throated sparrows rehearsing their songs. It’s not as haunting as their whistle in the spring, but it’s recognizable as “Old Sven Peterson, Peterson, Peterson.” I suspect immature birds produce the less professional sounds. The white-throated sparrow comes in two color forms: white-striped or tan-striped heads. The males of both types prefer females with white stripes. Females of both types prefer males with tan stripes. Photo by Al Batt.

The more, the harrier

Naturally

  I watched a northern harrier hunt by floating low over the ground. Its buoyant flight reminds many of a butterfly. It was called a marsh hawk when I was a boy. I quite like seeing this raptor. The more, the harrier.

  Two young cardinals, their grayish-black bills not turning an orange-red color until the birds are around 65-80 days, were stationed one each on two platform feeders offering black oil sunflower seeds. From there, they fended off a female purple finch who thought the seeds were for sharing. There was a lot of feigning and stabbing the air with bills, but no apparent harm.

  The yard blue jays were having a communal cow. It was likely that a perched owl had been discovered. Their most common calls were a harsh, raucous "Jay, jay, jay!"  I’m sure a blue jay, a dapper sentry of the neighborhood, is a reliable listener, even though it sounds as if it’s a constant interruptor.

  I marveled at the beauty of the red maple leaves. The leaves had worked hard, and now they get to become what they really want to be—breathtaking beauties. I found it impossible to find a winner in a legion of champion leaves.

A veery good meteorologist

  Veeries are lovely singers, as I’m sure every thrush is, but they are also good at weather forecasting. Researchers found that veeries tend to stop breeding early in the years that the Atlantic hurricane season is severe. Veeries can be better at predicting hurricane conditions than are the computer models.

You hoo, hoopoe

  I went to Israel. I visited Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem, Masada, the Wailing Wall, Mount Carmel, a kibbutz and elsewhere. It was an incredible tour. To see all the things I’d only heard or read about in the Bible was thrilling. And I got to see Israel’s national bird, the hoopoe. The bird has a long, swooping beak and a crest resembling a mohawk haircut. The hoopoe led King Solomon to meet the Queen of Sheba. Unsure about the queen's purity and motives, Solomon confided in the bird and trusted its advice. The king  praised the hoopoe's observation skills and called the bird "wise."

A hawk eye and an eye on a hawk

  The red-tailed hawk had been following me all day as I moved a tractor about a field. It perched on posts, poles and snags. My eager eyes looked for the raptor, and its hawk eyes searched for food in the mice and voles the farm equipment had revealed. I became Tickle Me Elmo. I giggled from the tractor seat.

  I enjoy visiting Hawk Ridge. Lake Superior is a natural barrier for many migrating birds, funneling them all along the North Shore, towards Duluth. When conditions are right, the raptors, as well as many other kinds of birds, ride the thermals, which are shoreline currents of rising warm air. I’ve watched hawks use those thermals to gain height. The thermals act like invisible elevators for hawks and aid the birds on their journey.

Q&A

  “Why are some lilacs blooming in October?” It could be a sign of stress from heat, drought or disease, or be of a re-blooming variety. This out-of-season bloom isn’t harmful but may reduce the number of flowers in the following spring. 

  “Why do I see young bald eagles gathering in October?” Once young eagles (fledglings) become independent of their parents, they frequently join with other immature eagles. These loose associations provide a valuable learning environment for honing survival skills. Young eagles aren’t yet skilled at hunting and often scavenge for food. They learn by observing. Their wanderlust leads them to congregate in areas with abundant food. The gatherings might aid in migration.

  “When do black walnut trees first produce nuts?” Typically, it’s 4 to 7 years with peak production reached at 30 years of age.

  “How many species of owls are there in the US?” Nineteen owl species are found in the United States. Ranging from the diminutive elf owl to the colossal great gray owl.

  “I see woolly bear caterpillars crawling across the road. Do they know where they are going?” A woolly bear caterpillar’s direction of travel is an instinctual search for a safe spot, not a conscious navigation towards a specific destination. Its movements are meant to find a suitable hibernating place to overwinter, such as under leaf litter or wood chips, which offer a freeze tolerance. The colors of the future Isabella tiger moth indicate the woolly worm’s age.

Thanks for stopping by

  “A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.”—Alexander Pope.

  “Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value.”—Arthur Miller.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

Folklore suggests the amount of black on a woolly bear caterpillar varies proportionally with the upcoming winter’s severity. A wider brown band portends a milder winter, while more black forecasts a harsher one. If the front end has the most black, winter’s beginning will be the most severe; if the tail end has the most black, winter’s end will be hardest. If crawling in a southerly direction, it’s escaping a cold winter. A northward crawl predicts a mild winter. It’s more of an indicator of the caterpillar’s age. Photo by Al Batt.