An oriole tree

Naturally

  It was a one-bird feeding frenzy. A gray catbird with a stubby tail fed, then did a jazz riff. Then it meowed like a cat before eating more. Why did it have a stubby tail? The bird didn’t want to talk about it, but I’m guessing it was a stress molt, during which it shed tail feathers to escape a predator. Feathers only re-grow rapidly when they’ve been pulled out. Tails are important but not critical. Tail-less birds can still fly, avoid danger and feed themselves, but might have trouble getting a table in an upscale restaurant. It’s better than losing a tail in the winter. Catbirds aren’t here then, but nobody wants a cold rear end. Cars driven by birds don’t have heated seats.

  A reader described an oriole tree, one where it seemed as if every branch held a Baltimore oriole. The weather had likely postponed flights. Sometimes, we’re given splendid gifts wrapped in feathers.

  I walked in the yard while using the Merlin app on my phone. It does a remarkable job of detecting bird sounds.

  Flowers for hours. Salsify or goat's beard has a flower head similar to a dandelion but much larger. The seed head resembles a dandelion but, again, is much larger. The inflorescence opens early in the morning and often closes up by late afternoon.

Q&A

  "Is the sex of a turtle determined by the temperature?” Scientists know that temperature determines sex in certain reptiles—alligators, lizards and turtles. In many turtles, warm temperatures during incubation create females and cold temperatures males.

  “What preys on mallard nests, and what are the chances of an egg hatching?” Common nest predators include skunk, raccoon, coyote, fox, weasel, mink and some snake and large bird species. A nest success rate of 15% is a rule of thumb for maintaining a mallard population. Delta Waterfowl found that 90% of egg destruction is due to predation; the rest is because of weather events. Approximately 7.5% of eggs leave the nesting site as live ducks. The survival rate of those drakes is around 70% and about 60% in hen mallards. That leaves 70 drakes out of 100 and 60 hens after one year.

  “What kills the most songbirds?“ Habitat loss is the most significant cause of declining bird populations. A U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report found that cats are the top human-related cause of bird deaths, with collisions with buildings/glass a distant second.

  “Can I move a robin’s nest if it’s in an inconvenient place?” The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) protects most bird nests. This law says: “No person may take (kill), possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, any migratory bird, or the parts, nests, or eggs of such bird except as may be permitted under the terms of a valid permit.” It’s illegal to destroy a nest that has eggs or chicks in it or if young birds depend on the nest for survival. It’s unlawful for anyone to keep a nest unless they have a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. If you move a robin's nest, the parents will probably abandon the nest because nest-site fidelity is based on the setting. If the nest is an inactive nest with no eggs or young, it can be moved, removed or destroyed. You may legally harass birds building nests, provided the birds aren't harmed. Once an egg is in the nest, it’s against the law to move or destroy it. Because of their invasive status, house sparrow, European starling and rock pigeon nests, eggs, chicks and adults aren’t protected by law.

  “What should I do if a bird hits the window of my house?” If the window collision left a bleeding bird or a broken wing hanging limply, contact the Wildlife Rehabilitation of Minnesota (WRC) at 651-486-9453. If cats or harsh weather threaten, place the bird in a shoebox and put the box in your garage or unused room. Close the door and keep the room quiet to reduce stress on the bird. After an hour, take the shoebox outside and lift the lid. The bird will either fly away, have died from internal injuries, or have injuries that prevent it from flying.

  “How long do baby wood ducks stay in the nest box?” They are precocial, meaning they can walk, run and swim a few hours after hatching and can leave the nest quickly. Ducklings generally leave the nest box early in the morning within 24 hours of hatching,

Thanks for stopping by

  “Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit ... Living for others is a rule of nature. We are born to help each other.”—Pope Francis.

  “In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks."—John Muir.

  Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

Tree swallows return to their nests earlier than other swallows due to their versatile diet, which allows them to winter farther north. They are agile aerialists who catch insects on the wing. Their bubbly chatter is cheering. This photo shows a tree swallow describing the size of the flying insect that got away to another swallow. Photo by Al Batt.

There’s no need to duck, duck, buckle up when a gulp of swallows attacks

   "Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night."

  That famous line, often misquoted as “Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride,” was spoken by a past-her-prime actress with a flair for drama named Margo Channing, played by Bette Davis, in the movie “All About Eve,” released in 1950. The film was based on the 1946 short story “The Wisdom of Eve” by Mary Orr.

  A red sports car blew by me on the highway. It was as if I were backing up. Seat belts save lives, but they don’t keep egos in check.

  I see road signs reading “Click-it or ticket” or “Buckle up. It’s the law.” Those signs remind us to buckle our seat belts for our own good while we’re disobeying various traffic laws or hurrying along while discovering the gastrointestinal consequences of eating a dozen hot dogs while losing an eating contest.

  My favorite signs are a couple of Minnesota ones: “You know it’s love when it clicks. Buckle up,” and “Duck, Duck, Buckle Up.” The latter hits home. Evidently, Minnesota is the only state where kids play "Duck, Duck, Gray Duck" instead of “Duck, Duck, Goose.”

  Incredibly, 49 other states are unaware that their faulty thinking has led to a grievous misconception. I hope they come to their senses.

  When I was a kid, buckle up meant to buckle your five-buckle rubber overshoes before going outside.

  I grew up without seat belts. We didn’t even have seat suspenders. I was a free-range kid. The closest I came to having a seat belt was my mother’s arm. She stretched her upper limb across the passenger seat when coming to a stop sign to keep me from ramming my face against a dashboard padded in concrete.

  Kids rode in the boxes of rusty pickup trucks and on the opened tailgates of rickety station wagons. Those places lacked seat belts.

  Using seat belts is such a good thing that the birds remind us to use them. There are no seat belts on my push lawn mower, but the barn swallows follow me, calling out the advisement, “Click-it, click-it!”

  They do that because they care.

  Barn swallows are cheerful aerialists with an appetite for flying insects, and they eat them without gravy. When given a choice between a fly and a bar of Toblerone chocolate, they choose the fly every time. Swallows eat cake only on their birthdays.

  The birds appreciate the food service my humble push mower provides. I call it the Lone Mower, and it’s powered by a hamster in a wheel. I named it, but the mower refuses to come when I call it. What it does is encourage insects to become airborne. The world becomes a swallow’s inflight meal. I grew up with a push lawn mower without a motor. It was a reel mower—a real reel mower. The blades were on a cylindrical reel that cut like scissors instead of having the rotary blades that are on my current cutter of grass. The swallows enjoy the sound of a lawn mower’s engine because it acts as a dinner bell.

  That said, the swallows like my wife better. Why wouldn’t they? Because of a disjointed command structure, my wife is the only one who operates the riding mower, the Blade Runner. The swallows worship the Toro she rides upon.

  Swallows do what they do. In the Boothill Graveyard in Tombstone, Arizona, there is an epitaph that reads: "Be what you is, cuz if you be what you ain't, then you ain't what you is."

  When swallows and lawnmowers join forces, everybody wins except the flying insects. The grass is used to the process and survives without needing hospitalization. The swallows are good company. Playing follow-the-leader with a gulp of swallows is a uniquely joyful experience. A pack of raccoons, skunks or protestors supporting the right of lawn grass to grow tall could be the ones chasing me.

  The helpful nagging of the swallows has caused me to consider buckling up while I push the lawn mower. I’m going to start wearing five-buckle overshoes while cutting the grass.

  As I buckle that footwear, I’ll make a sound that mimics clicking.

  The swallows need to hear it.

©Al Batt 2025

Contrary to popular belief, barn swallows do not eat barns. Other than that one outside of Scarville, Iowa.

Will Canada geese nest in trees?

Naturally

 Why do birds sing so loudly in the morning?

 It’s because they don’t have thumbs and can’t text.

 The fur coat of a deer changes colors depending on the time of year—reddish in the spring and brown in the fall. A deer’s coat provides thermoregulation and camouflage. Summer coats are reddish and thin, helping deer to cope with heat stress. The coat color of deer tends to be darker in forested areas and lighter in agricultural areas, where deer are exposed to more direct sunlight.

 A rusty-colored brown thrasher gobbled down black oil sunflower seeds from a platform feeder before flying to another feeder and eating suet. I needed to get ready for a clinic appointment, but the thrasher assured me that a short walk in my yard would do me good. Beginning at 8:03 a.m. on May 22, I counted the following species: Baltimore oriole, brown-headed cowbird, common grackle, blackpoll warbler, American goldfinch, song sparrow, magnolia warbler, great crested flycatcher, Nashville Warbler, gray catbird, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, American redstart, mourning dove, wood thrush, Tennessee warbler, yellow warbler, red-eyed vireo, bay-breasted warbler, white-breasted nuthatch, house wren, blue jay, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, European starling, American robin, rose-breasted grosbeak (produces a rich, robin-like whistle, without breaks—its breathless singing takes my breath away.), brown thrasher and black-capped chickadee. It was no record, but it was gladsome. I couldn’t have experienced the 29 species if the woodpeckers hadn’t been knock, knock, knocking on wood for my good luck. It was a good day.

 Jim Grotte of Fairmont said he was listening to me on KMSU Radio, and the moment I mentioned a Cooper’s hawk, one flew in and grabbed a sparrow near Jim’s worksite. A coworker said, “I think that’s one of those hawks right there.”

The Peregrine Falcon Program

 The Peregrine Falcon Program has a nesting box atop the Mayo Building in Rochester. The program began in 1987 with the cooperation of the Midwest Peregrine Society. The adult peregrine falcons return to the nest in early February, the female lays one to five eggs from mid-March to mid-April, and the eggs hatch after about 35 days, from late April to late May. The chicks (eyasses) are named and banded during an event for patients, staff and volunteers. The nestlings fledge from early June to early July and depart in the fall to pursue further education. The Latin name for peregrines means wanderers. It’s crow-sized and can live nearly 20 years. It’s the fastest animal on earth, able to reach speeds over 240 mph in a stoop. Peregrine falcons inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The falcon has long been associated with royalty in the sport of falconry. There are two youngsters in the nest this year.  

https://history.mayoclinic.org/falcon-program/

Q&A

 “Will Canada geese nest in trees?” Canada geese don’t spend all their time playing vuvuzelas to let us know they aren’t quacks. Canada geese typically build their nests on the ground, but they do nest in trees or on buildings. Canada geese have nested in bald eagle nests. In 1804,  Captain Meriwether Lewis (Lewis andClark Expedition) reported Canada geese nesting in trees along the Missouri River in North Dakota. In 1820, Titian Ramsay Peale recorded a goose in peaceable possession of an eagle’s nest near what is now Council Bluffs. In the mid-1950s, in the Flathead Valley of Montana, biologists monitored 77 tree and cliff nests where Canada geese were nesting. Some sites were up to 200 feet off the ground. How do the nestlings get out of the nest? Air Force One doesn’t stop and pick them up. They escape the nest the uncomplicated way. After the goslings hatch, the parents call persistently from the ground to the goslings. Like Rob Schneider, they yell, “You can do it!” The goslings jump from the nest and beat their puny wings on their descent to the ground. Goslings are tough, just like baby wood ducks.

 “Why is a group of crows called a ‘murder?’” There are several explanations for the origin of this term based on folklore and superstitions. There is a folktale in which crows gather and decide the capital fate of another crow. Ancients regarded the appearance of crows as an omen of death because crows are scavengers and were associated with dead bodies, battlefields and cemeteries. It’s likely the term “murder of crows” reflects a time when groupings of many animals had colorful and poetic names.

 Other bird species could answer to that collective noun. If you’re an insect, two chickadees are a murder of chickadees. Is one crow an attempted murder? Are the crows in my yard a murder? They had probable caws.

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.

 “Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it.”–Ralph Waldo Emerson.

 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

The red-headed woodpecker is the only North American woodpecker to store food and cover it with wood or bark. Skillful at flycatching, 1/3 of its diet is animal materials (insects) and 2/3 plant materials (fruit, nuts and seeds). This bird is nicknamed the flying checkerboard. Its cavity nests are often found in snags that have lost most of their bark. Photo by Al Batt.

It was time to feed the mosquitoes



Naturally

  It was time to feed the mosquitoes and take a walk in a state park.

  A forager showed me some morel mushrooms—sponges on sticks. Another talked about collecting fiddleheads from ostrich ferns. This fern has a pronounced U-shaped groove running down the center of its stalk (similar to a celery stalk), paper-like brown scales on emerging fronds, and a smooth stem lacking wooly hairs. Know what you are eating.

  I heard a spirited discussion in a tree and saw the coppertop battery of birds. The male brown-headed cowbird has a glossy black body with a dark brown head.

  I watched ring-billed gulls fly invisible roads in the sky. The European Seagull Screeching Championship takes place at the Verloren Gernoare cafe near the Belgian coastal city of De Panne. I’ve heard ring-billed gulls called McGulls, dumpster gulls, landfill gulls, fast-food gulls and french-fry gulls. I think Gully or Gulliver would be fine nicknames. I associate the cries of these iconic birds with tranquil weather.

  I gazed at a rose-breasted grosbeak eat sunflower seeds, cracking the hulls and spitting them out before swallowing the heart. It did so in an effortless way that would put any baseball player to shame.

Q&A

  “Why are the maple tree helicopters red this year?” Those are maple helicopters, not Mayo helicopters. Those winged seeds of a maple tree are called helicopters, keys, whirlybirds, spinners, whirligigs, spinning jennies, whirlers, twisters, whirlwinds, wing nuts or samaras. Red maple samaras are red, in contrast to those of the sugar maple, which are green in spring when the samaras of both the red and sugar maples disperse. Norway, sugar and Japanese maples drop their seeds in the fall. The weather may have some impact on the color because the weather affects everything.

  “Why did Noah send out a dove?” In the biblical story of Noah's Ark, Noah sent out a dove to determine if the floodwaters had receded. The dove found no place to rest and returned to the ark. Seven days later, Noah sent the dove out again, and it returned with an olive leaf, indicating the waters were receding. After another seven days had passed, Noah sent the dove out a third time, and it did not return. I’ve been to Israel and was told that yonah is the Hebrew name for a dove. A pigeon is a dove. For thousands of years, people have domesticated pigeons as pets and for food, feathers, racing and their ability to carry messages home from any distance or direction, despite adverse conditions. Carrier pigeons delivered messages in ancient Persia starting in about 1000 BC. Phoenician sailors used pigeons to send messages home, and the Greeks used them to announce the results of the Olympic Games. A homing pigeon, which gathers twigs to build its nest, would be the perfect recruit for Noah’s use. It could fly for hours and return reliably. Remember, yonah could be either a dove or pigeon because a pigeon is a dove, but the translation in the Bible was “dove.” It could have been the European turtle dove, but the rock pigeon would be better suited for the job. In Greek mythology, turtle doves pulled the gold chariot of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which made the species synonymous with devotional love. In the King James Bible, the Song of Solomon includes: “The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of the birds is come and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land,” heralding the onset of spring in what is now the modern-day Middle East. Turtle derived from “turtur,” imitating the cooing call of a dove. The New International Version of that text is “Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.” The New Living Translation of the Bible reads, “The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.”

  “Where are ravens breeding in Minnesota?” While most common in the northeast and north-central regions, they’re expanding south to Isanti, Chisago and Washington Counties and westward to Becker and Otter Tail Counties. I’ll bet the crows know right where the ravens are.

Thanks for stopping by

  "A sober look at our world shows that the degree of human intervention, often in the service of business interests and consumerism, is actually making our earth less rich and beautiful, ever more limited and grey, even as technological advances and consumer goods continue to abound limitlessly. We seem to think that we can substitute an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something which we have created ourselves."—Pope Francis.

  “You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet.”—Hal Borland.

  Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

Commonly referred to as the Confederate violet, with its name coming from the color resemblance to the gray-white/navy blue color combinations of the Civil War Confederate States soldiers’ uniforms. This is a naturally occurring bi-colored variation of the common blue violet. This perennial flower always seems happy to see me. The feeling is mutual. Photo by Al Batt. 

No self-respecting cardinal fears a fake owl

Naturally

  I listened to a brown thrasher and its gleeful, repeated musical phrases. I want to sing along, but I don’t know the words. I recited the human words from the mnemonic I’d learned in my youth. "Plant a seed, plant a seed; bury it, bury it; cover it up, cover it up; let it grow, let it grow; pull it up, pull it up; eat it, eat it."

  I love watching the exploits of birds. Starlings insert their bills into the ground, then pry their mandibles open, creating a space to grab prey. I don’t mind seeing those birds. I’ve developed starling callouses.

Q&A

  Mark Monlux from Tacoma asked what the skinny was on feeding hummingbirds. The best solution for your hummingbird feeder is a 1:4 solution of refined white (table) sugar to tap water. That’s ¼ cup of sugar in 1 cup of water. Bring the solution to a boil, then let it cool before filling the feeder. You can make a larger batch and refrigerate the extra solution. Remember to bring it to room temperature before refilling the feeder. During cold, rainy or foggy conditions, when fresh water is plentiful but birds need more energy, it’s OK to make the mixture ⅓ cup of sugar per cup of water. Concentrations of sugars in nature vary within that range. If you mix up small quantities of sugar water every day or two, there’s no need to boil the water. There’s no need to add red food coloring to sugar water or use red-colored commercial mixes. Nectar in flowers is clear. It’s the flowers themselves that are brightly colored, not the nectar. Don’t use brown sugar, honey, molasses, fruit juice, artificial sweeteners or syrup instead of white sugar. If you see any cloudiness or mold in the water, then it needs to be replaced. A rule of thumb is that if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t feed it to hummingbirds.

  “What scientist proved that bumblebees shouldn’t be able to fly?” None. The popular myth began in 1934, when the French entomologist August Magnan noted that a bee's flight should be impossible. Bees flap their wings back and forth, not up and down. Bees should be able to fly according to the laws of physics because they do fly. Their wings twist and rotate, creating enough lift to make it possible for bees to become and remain airborne.

  “When do chickadees and mourning doves nest?” Black-capped chickadees nest from mid-April through late July and have a single brood. In Minnesota, dove nesting extends from early April until early October, with a peak in early June. Minnesota doves average about three nesting attempts per year.

  Linda Ebeling of Trimont asked why goldfinches aren’t eating the Nyjer seeds and how to stop a cardinal from fighting with a house window. Goldfinches are picky eaters and want fresh seeds. Nyjer has a high oil content and thin shells, and provides protein and energy. When Nyjer (thistle seed) gets wet, it clumps like cat litter and can spoil or become moldy. Shake the seed in the feeder. The seed should move around freely. If it clumps, water has gotten into the feeder. If this happens, the finches lose interest. If Nyjer gets moldy, remove it from the feeder and clean the feeder with a 10% bleach-water solution. Oily seeds can go rancid, emitting a foul odor. Sniff them, and you’ll know if the seed has turned rancid. Nyjer seed can also dry out. Crush the seeds onto a white paper towel and look for oil blotches. If oil stains are present, the seed is fresh. If the seeds look dull and aren’t shiny, replace them with a fresh batch. Nyjer seed isn’t derived from thistles, but from an African yellow daisy. Sources claim Nyjer seeds last up to six months, but it’s a good practice to replace the seeds every three to four weeks.

  After choosing a nest site, a pair claims a territory and defends it from other cardinals. When one male spots another, a chasing fight ensues. The dominant male gets a mate, the desired territory and the area’s food. The window acts as a mirror. A cardinal is territorial and makes an enemy of its image. The reflection refuses to flee. Being persistent and stubborn, the cardinal refuses to enter into peace talks with itself. Soap the outside of the window or cover the glass with cardboard, black nylon screen, painter’s cloth, or plastic cling to block the assailant’s image. Covering the inside of the window enhances reflections. Plastic owls and fake snakes don’t help.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”―William Shakespeare, “As You Like It.”

  “To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday.”—John Burroughs.

  Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

This male orchard oriole is smaller than a Baltimore oriole. He has a rich chestnut color, and the Baltimore oriole male has a flame orange color. The orchard oriole eats insects, nectar and fruit. Like the Baltimore oriole, it has a sweet beak and will visit orange and jelly feeders. Photo by Al Batt

St. Francis of Assisi was a great birder who used a bird dog. This artwork is found at the Saint Marys Campus at Mayo in Rocheste

The feather report was for a 99% chance of grackles



Naturally

 The feather report was for a 99% chance of grackles. They nailed it. 
 It’s nearly impossible to describe a Baltimore oriole male without using the word “orange.”
 French fry gulls flew toward a fast-food restaurant. 
 I watched a robin picking worms, paring its world to its essence. Northern house wrens brought hustle and bustle to the yard. These joyful enhancements to the local avian diversity might be smaller than their names. I’m amazed by what the world holds.
 I walked at Myre-Big Island State Park with a friend from Grand Junction, Colorado, and looked at spring ephemerals, tiny flowers that emerge in early spring and disappear when the tree canopies fill with leaves. Hope in bloom.
 It’s sprinter—part spring and part winter. Ramps and goslings were commonplace. Canada geese engaged in several debates simultaneously.
 The night before, weather advisements had warned of a tornado. A wind that searches for weaknesses it can push around. The annual number of tornadoes in each state based on the years from 2003 to 2022 showed that the two states with the most tornadoes are Texas with 124, and Kansas with 87. Oklahoma averaged 66, Mississippi 64, Alabama 63, Illinois 57, Iowa 53, Missouri 53, Florida 46 and Minnesota 46.
 I watched trumpeter swans in a black farm field, sticking out like a freshly painted white line on a dark highway. Many bird species have a brood patch—a vascularized patch on their breast where they’d plucked the feathers to provide warm skin to apply to the eggs. Swans don’t have a brood patch. Trumpeters incubate eggs with their webbed feet. 

Q&A

 “What is castoreum?” Beavers secrete a thick, brownish goo that has been described as smelling like musky vanilla. It’s called castoreum. It’s a chemical compound found in the beaver’s castor sacs located under their tails. Romans burned it to light lamps. It was used to add a sweet scent to perfume.
 Vicki Lauruhn asked about the anting behavior of birds. A number of species exhibit this behavior. I see it in blue jays and grackles. A common belief is that anting controls parasites, such as biting lice and feather mites, which live in a bird’s plumage. Another theory is that, during anting, the ants rid themselves of the formic acid, allowing the birds to eat them without harm. The parasite removal makes sense to me because I’ve seen birds performing the same actions with cigarette filters and mothballs.
 “I went on a field trip to see and hear the American woodcocks dance near Byron with you one year. What were the nicknames you said those odd little birds had?” The males of this shorebird species utter a distinctive one-note nasally peent before fluttering high into the air and circling repeatedly, the rushing air passing over their wings producing winnowing whistles. Then they descend back to the ground like a falling leaf, hoping to attract a female. They toss in a comical rocking motion in a funky walk. Their nicknames include timberdoodle, bog snipe, brush snipe, Labrador twister, night partridge, big-eye, bogsucker, swamp bat, hokumpoke, mudsnipe, sky dancer, timber ghost and fiddle squeak. I’ve heard it called a little russet feller and a pop-eyed shot dodger.
 “How much can an eagle carry?” While there is a notable size difference between male and female eagles, most bald and golden eagles weigh between 8-15 pounds and can carry about 1/3 of their weight and still fly.
 “Why do phoebes wag their tails?” California research tested possible reasons: balance, territorial aggression, foraging and predators. It concluded that tail pumping is a signal meant to send a message to the predator that the phoebe has spotted it and isn’t worth pursuing.
 “Do ring-necked ducks nest in Minnesota?” Yes, Minnesota’s Breeding Bird Atlas found them to be the fifth most common nesting duck, behind the mallard, wood duck, blue-winged teal and hooded merganser. The vast majority of nests were in the northern forested counties, stretching from Cook County in the northeast, west to Itasca, Beltrami, Clearwater and Becker Counties. Its chestnut collar, which is difficult to discern gives the duck its name. It’s also called a ringbill because of the white ring at the end of its bill.
 “Do mergansers lay eggs in a wood duck’s nest?” Yes, both hooded mergansers and wood ducks are known to lay eggs in each other's nests. They don’t put all their eggs in one basket. This behavior is typically called brood parasitism. A study revealed that hooded merganser eggs experience higher success when laid in wood duck nests, whereas wood duck eggs experience lower success when laid in hooded merganser nests. Egg dumping is likely to occur when nests are in close proximity to one another.

Thanks for stopping by

 “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”—Mary Oliver.
 The forest is for rest. 
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

Seeing a cardinal is a glorious thing in itself, but people interpret its presence as a sign of hope, joy, good luck, positivity, or a message of comfort from a late loved one. Others believe it signifies divine intervention or a blessing. Yet others see it as a symbol of strength, vitality, resilience, or new beginnings during challenging times. I’ve heard it said, “Cardinals appear when angels are near.” Photo by Al Batt.

Mayapple photo by Al Batt

Mayapple photo by Al Batt

Jumpseed photo by Al Batt.

Jumpseed photo by Al Batt

False rue anemone photo by Al Batt.

Jack-in-the-pulpit photo by Al Batt.

The name “Jack-in-the-pulpit” comes from its resemblance to a preacher in a pulpit. The hooded spathe is the pulpit and the spadix (a fleshy, spike-like growth) is Jack. Photo by Al Batt.

Wild phlox has five petals, while the bright and fragrant purple, pink, lavender or white flowers of the invasive dame’s rocket have four petals. Photo by Al Batt.

We all have the duty to do good

Naturally

The rain had filled the birdbath. I’m pleased to have a house with a view of the water.

  I was up at the whipcrack of dawn. Birdsong spilled into the morning. It’s spring training for male birds. As the morning grew older, I broke out the binoculars, unfurling the flag of my birding kingdom. The bouncy flights of shiny goldfinches delighted me, and my emotional support dandelions bloomed. To see that much of anything is thrilling.

  I’d joined a gathering of endotherms at an Easter dinner. Endotherms and ectotherms are animals that regulate their body temperatures via different mechanisms. Warm-blooded endotherms generate heat internally to maintain a constant body temperature. Cold-blooded animals, or ectotherms, get heat from their surroundings, so their body temperatures change with the weather.

Q&A

  Kathy Enter asked if the pair of cardinals in her yard might be the same couple as last year. On average, cardinals in the wild might live as long as 3 to 5 years. One lived 15 years, 9 months. If one of a pair is lost, the surviving bird might remain on the territory and find a new mate.

  “Why is a red admiral butterfly called an admiral?” Some believe the name is a corruption of the phrase “red admirable,” with “admirable” meaning commendable or deserving of esteem. Early naturalists gave the butterfly its name because of its striking coloration. Others believe the name came from its red-orange wing markings, which resemble the chevrons of British naval uniforms. 

  Micah asked what bird has the longest lifespan, and the shortest. Laysan albatrosses can live more than 70 years in the wild, kakapo (New Zealand parrots) over 90 years in captivity, a bald eagle lived 38 years, a Canada goose 33 years and a sandhill crane 37 years. Cookie, a male pink cockatoo, reached 83 at Brookfield Zoo near Chicago. Small birds generally live the shortest lives. Data from the bird-banding station at Pennsylvania's Powdermill Nature Reserve found that 31% of adult male ruby-throated hummingbirds and 42% of females survive any given year. Nine years is the record longevity for that species. I don’t know which species has the shortest life.

  “How can I tell a golden eagle from a bald eagle?” Their bodies are similar in weight and wingspan, with the females being larger. Golden eagles have feathers on their legs to their feet, whereas bald eagles have yellow skin on their ankles. Bald eagles have large beaks, about one-third the size of their heads, while goldens have smaller beaks. Adult golden eagles have tri-colored beaks, while the white-headed adult bald eagle beaks have a solid yellow color. Immature birds of both species have similar coloration, but a golden eagle has white wrist patches, a white tail with a distinct dark terminal band, and dark armpits. Immature balds have white-mottled plumages and white armpits.

  Kent Spellman of Albert Lea wrote, “What birds am I hearing singing at dusk versus dawn?” When there is music outside my window, I’m not on Bourbon Street. I’m listening to the morning chorus. Not all our avian amigos are morning birds. Crows can be vocal before alarm-clock time, opening their day with conversation. Robins call at first light. I stayed in a hotel with a parking lot so well-lit that a robin serenaded guests most of the night. The dawn chorus is a natural phenomenon that visits the doorstep. Some might grumble about that cheery singing before the caffeine has kicked in, but the dawn chorus delights me. The reasons for the songs are the need for continual reminders of territorial ownership, an endless advertisement for mates, and to proclaim survival. Birds don't swipe right or left—they sing to find a mate. Why sing so early? Sound travels better at dawn than later in the day, and there is less noise to compete with. Who wants to sing in competition with a lawn mower? Early morning is a poor time to feed, as the light makes hunting difficult, and insect prey can become inactive during the morning chill. I listened to a brown thrasher, and I could almost hear Perry Como crooning, “Oh! It’s a good day for singing a song, And it’s a good day for moving along. Yes, it’s a good day, how could anything go wrong? A good day from morning till night!” It was going to be a good day. Dusk brings out more territorial singing than mate enticing. Catbirds, cardinals, robins, brown thrashers, owls and great crested flycatchers add their spirited voices to an evening's soundtrack.

Thanks for stopping by

  “We are called to live lives of gratitude, joy, and caring, profoundly moved by the bare fact that we live in the time of the singing of birds.”― Kathleen Dean Moore.

  “We all have the duty to do good.”—Pope Francis.

  Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

A reader asked, “What was the first bird you ever looked at through binoculars?” They weren’t really binoculars, but I think it was a turkey vulture I saw through my Grandma Cook’s opera glasses. She had used them to watch the Metropolitan Opera on the radio. They gave me class. I’m sure the vulture was impressed. Photo by Al Batt.

I love seeing the big leaves of the pieplant. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about being newly married and making dinner for a threshing crew, where she referred to pieplant, and that she needed to bake a pie from it. She didn’t add any sugar to it, so the rhubarb pie wasn’t a resounding success. Marco Polo brought rhubarb from China to Europe. Benjamin Franklin is credited with introducing rhubarb seed to North America in 1770, but John Bartram had been growing the edible rhubarb in Philadelphia 40 years before that. In the 17th century, the English became the first to eat rhubarb, but ingested the leaves because they resembled chard. The leaves contain an oxalic acid that causes cramps, nausea and worse. By the 18th century, Europeans had discovered that the tart stalks were the part to eat and were perfect for tarts. A neighbor boy, who enjoyed the sauce and crisp, called rhubarb the “good celery.” Al Batt

Antlers or horns?

 Naturally

 I notice nature’s gifts, finding beauty in the commonplace and mystery in simple things. I can’t send a thank-you card to a chickadee, so I supply it with sunflower seeds instead.
 An eastern bluebird male perched on the mailbox, checking everywhere for nest cavity vacancies.
Red-tailed hawks plopped down on posts and poles. I wonder when a post becomes a pole. The terms are used interchangeably. A post is generally shorter, while a pole often serves as a structural element in buildings or utilities. 
 I’m sure they’d planned the journey behind crows’ doors. I watched five crows fly this way and that way in a meandering flight. "As the crow flies" is used to describe the distance between two points, ignoring roads and obstacles. 
 Birds teach us to listen by providing a delightful component to learning. I listened to the cheerful and complex warbling of a house finch and its backup singers—chorus frogs. Gophers and moles break through the grass ceiling, and Siberian squill pushes through the fallen leaves and reaches for the sun.

Q&A

 Mike Rucker of Lake Wilson saw a pair of short-eared owls fly up from the grass in a road ditch and figured they weren’t tree-roosting owls. He noticed northern shovelers forming a circle on the water. Thanks, Mike. Short-eared owls are ground nesters. In Minnesota, this species is an inhabitant of grasslands, wet meadows, grainfields and open peatlands. They aren’t a common nester in Minnesota, with confirmed nesting mainly in the northwestern part of the state and some in the far southwestern corner. Groups of northern shovelers form tight swimming circles, creating a vortex to bring food to the surface. Mike also mentioned the abundance of Eurasian collared-doves and how the flickers perched in a tree like a robin or grackle. Eurasian collared-doves are larger than mourning doves and slightly lighter in color. It wears bling with a diagnostic black collar on the back of its neck and has a squared tail as opposed to the pointed tail on a mourning dove. Mourning doves, native to North America, have spotted wings, pinkish-buff bodies, and white tail tips. It’s sometimes incorrectly called a turtle dove. The name comes from its moaning coo. Eurasian collared-doves are originally from the Bay of Bengal in Asia, and escaped captivity in the Bahamas in the 1970s, arriving in Florida a decade later. Eurasian collared-doves make a three-note "koo-KOO-kook," with the middle syllable being the longest. Mourning doves produce a softer, haunting cooing sound, sometimes likened to an owl's hoot. Eurasian collared-doves make a loud "hwaah" call when excited or alarmed, and before alighting. Flickers spend substantial time on the ground, presenting un-woodpecker-like behavior as they search for ants, beetles and other invertebrates. In Minnesota, a male northern flicker can be identified by his distinctive black “mustache” stripe.
 “Do the teeth of mice grow throughout their lives?” This is characteristic of rodents, including mice, rats, squirrels and beavers. As their teeth wear down from gnawing, they continue growing. This ensures that the teeth remain sharp and functional throughout the rodent's life. If the teeth don’t wear down properly, it causes problems such as difficulty eating, malocclusion and jaw damage. Rodents chew to maintain dental health.
 “How many times do blue jays nest?” In Minnesota, where the bird-growing season is short, a pair has time enough for one successful brood, although re-nesting could occur two or three times if egg clutches are lost.
 “How can I tell which kestrel is the male?” American kestrel males have slate-blue wings; females’ wings are reddish brown. Both sexes have pairs of black vertical slashes on the sides of their faces—resembling a mustache and sideburns. Females are 10 to 15% larger. Kestrels have two black spots, known as ocelli ("little eyes" in Latin), on the back of their heads. These fake eyes discourage potential attackers from sneaking up from behind. Males have one black bar on their orange tail feathers; females have many black bars on theirs.
 “Antlers or horns?” Deer have antlers, not horns. Antlers are made of bone, while horns are composed of a bone core covered in a keratin sheath. Bucks have antlers to fight with other bucks for dominance. Antlers are football helmets that protect heads during battles. Antlers are shed each year, while horns continue growing. An exception is the North American pronghorn (not an antelope), which has horns it sheds annually. Horns are found on antelope, bison, sheep and other members of the bovine family. Deer, elk and moose are part of the Cervidae family. Deer shed their antlers annually, due to hormonal changes and changing daylight hours. Shedding antlers could be a way for deer to conserve energy, as they’re cumbersome and resource-intensive. 

Thanks for stopping by

 “In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.”–Alice Walker.
 “Spring would not be spring without bird songs.”—Francis M. Chapman.
 Do good.

Al Batt 2025

Killdeer are common and widespread shorebirds that inhabit open fields, golf courses, lawns, airports, gravel parking lots and the edges of wetlands. They scrape shallow nests in gravel parking lots where they aggressively scold humans who get too close to a nest. They use a broken wing act to lure threats away from the nests. Killdeer loudly proclaim their name: “Kill-deer! Kill-deer!” Photo by Al Batt

A single bird can be my birding trip





Not seeing a violet-green isn’t easy to swallow

 I needed to be getting ready when I heard the bubbly, gurgling sounds made 
by a purple martin in our home.
 It wasn’t an actual bird, but the authentic recorded sound of a purple martin coming from a bird clock. My father-in-law gave me one that lasted over 30 years. My wife gave me a replacement clock last year. The purple martin sounds off at 8.
 I was off to see the wizard—an ologist of some kind with many letters behind his last name. A cardinal sang. I looked out the window and saw what I’ve seen often, but not enough, before. A deja view. That brilliant redbird brightened my day.
 Leo Buscaglia wrote, “A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.” 
 A single bird enhances my day.
 On the ride, I looked for swallows from my passenger seat. Tree swallows return to their breeding grounds earlier in the spring than other swallow species. This is due to their ability to adapt to a broader range of foods. I typically see one around March 19. Tree swallows are cavity nesters known to investigate artificial structures like the tailpipe of a truck for nesting. 
 “One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly, one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.” This is attributed to Aristotle. A swallow helps spring spring into action.
 In Minnesota, we get to see a nice variety of swallows: barn, tree, cliff, bank, northern rough-winged and purple martin.
 Some are easy to identify. Barn swallows eat barns, tree swallows eat trees, cliff swallows eat cliffs, and bank swallows eat banks, but only the branch offices.
 My father was a persistent but failed purple martin landlord. He lowered the rent and did away with the required security deposit, but had no success. He was a member of a purple martin organization that proclaimed that each martin ate 2,000 mosquitoes a day. Martins hunt for food during the day, and mosquitoes are active in the evening, with little overlap in their schedules. Martins feed high in the air, while skeeters dine closer to the ground. Eating a mosquito would be like going through a drive-thru and ordering one french fry at a time. It’d make no sense. I watch the martins at our bird club’s martin houses and gourds. They eat many dragonflies. Oklahoma research found martins eat invasive red fire ants, and eat termites, beetles, dragonflies, damselflies and other insects. When a baby martin cries, “I’m hungry,” it gets a dragonfly shoved into its gaping maw. That’s like a kid getting a large birthday cake, including the candles, shoved into his mouth because he whined, “Ma, I’m hungry.”
 If I had to pick a favorite swallow, it’d be the barn. I grew up in a dairy barn and watched many generations of barn swallows fledge from their mud nests in our barn. When I mow the lawn, barn swallows shadow me, snacking on the flying insects the mower causes to take flight. “Click it, click it,” they call. I remind them that there is no seatbelt on a push lawn mower, but they’re not listening.
 Barn swallows are symbols of spring, renewal, good luck, love and fidelity. A Native American legend is that a barn swallow dared to swipe fire from the gods and give the fire to humans. The angry gods shot flaming arrows at the bird. One arrow hit the swallow at the base of its tail, burning away the central tail feathers. Since then, the barn swallow has had a forked tail. The bird commonly associated with a swallowtail is the barn swallow, but all swallows have swallowtails. What are they going to do, borrow a tail from a blue jay? That’s not happening.
 I narrate natural history tours and tell stories on the Pelican Breeze boat that floats upon Albert Lea Lake. One year, barn swallows nested on that vessel. A nestling’s life is a happy sequence of significant events. Four young birds crammed into a nest that could have used a couple more bedrooms. When the boat took a tour, the young swallows came along. The parents stayed at the dock, waiting for the return of their boating babies. It was a glorious reunion, with parents and relatives gleefully fluttering about the youngsters and joyously welcoming them.
 I enjoy sitting on the deck of the house and watching swallows feasting on the ant swarms flying high in the air. It’s an evening at the bird ballet.
 If I don’t see a swallow, it’s probably a violet-green swallow. There are only two records of that species in Minnesota—1942 and 1990.

Thanks for stopping by

 “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”—Henri Matisse.

©Al Batt 2025

This bird clock reminds me daily that I am fortunate to be nutty about nuthatches and looney about loons. Photo by Al Batt

A robin needs three snows on its tail, back or toes before it’s truly spring

Naturally

 The rain had turned into a heavy snowfall. An eastern bluebird found shelter in a window feeder and hunkered down. I couldn’t read his mind, but he didn’t appear to be the bluebird of happiness. “I wish you bluebirds in the spring. To give your heart a song to sing,” is from the song “I Wish You Love” written by Charles Louis Trenet and Albert Askew Beach. I wished the bluebird would have other bluebirds for company.
 Northern flickers arrive in my yard in April. These lovely birds pecked the ground in search of insects. They love to eat ants. 
 I see oak and ironwood trees clinging to their dead brown leaves. This retention of dead plant matter is called marcescence. The new spring growth eventually dislodges these dead leaves.
 I watched a wild turkey tom strut around, trying to impress hens. He thought he was all that because he had a bourbon named after him. Wild Turkey is a brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey produced in Kentucky. The tom shook his fanned tail because he was a mover and a shaker. A wild turkey can run up to 25 mph and fly 55 mph. How smart is a turkey or birds in general? It depends on who is giving the test.

Q&A

 “I love hearing the chickadee call its name. What other birds call their names?” These are onomatopoeic names. Other birds include the killdeer, eastern phoebe, eastern wood-peewee, eastern whip-poor-will,  Chuck-will's-widow and northern bobwhite. An imagination like one used to name the constellations is helpful in hearing what words a bird is saying, even if it doesn’t know it’s speaking our language. The blue jay calls “jay” and some human ears insist a crow says “crow” instead of “caw.”
 “When do rooster pheasants crow?” They might be heard crowing throughout the day all year round, but mostly at dawn and dusk in spring and summer. A rapid beating of the wings often follows a rooster's loud crow. Roosters also often cackle when they fly. It seems to me that they crow more often when the skies are clear, and there’s little to no wind.
 “How can I tell if it’s a downy woodpecker or a hairy woodpecker drumming?” I just heard a pileated woodpecker drumming. The big bird was on a big tree and produced an impressive, powerful, resonant sound. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the downy woodpecker has about 17 beats per second, which makes it almost sound as if we could count them. The hairy woodpecker has faster-paced drumming, with about 26 beats per second and sounds impossible to count. 
 “What is a spatzie?” Spatzie or spotsie are names that people call the house sparrow. Others refer to it as the English sparrow. The name likely comes from the German word Spatzen which means "sparrows." Spätzle, Spätzla or Spatzen are a kind of Central European egg pasta. 
 “I saw an owl pellet. Do other birds produce pellets?” Owls swallow prey whole or in large pieces, but cannot digest fur, teeth, bone or feathers. Birds, which consume food that has indigestible matter, cast pellets as part of the digestive process. Other birds that cast pellets include hawks, falcons, eagles, herons, cormorants, egrets, grebes, gulls, kingfishers, swallows, grouse, nighthawks, swifts, shrikes, crows, ravens and jays, and many species of shorebirds.
 “What bird runs the fastest?” Ostriches can’t fly, but no birds can match their speed on land. They are the fastest birds in the world when it comes to running. They have been clocked running continuously at speeds of 30-37 mph and sprinting up to 43 mph. In North America, our speediest land bird is the greater roadrunner. It speeds along at 20 mph, and it can reach about 26 mph when in top gear. And as any TV cartoon watcher can attest, that’s fast enough to elude Wile E. Coyote.
 Jim Muyres of Mankato wrote, “I am wondering if the spring migration is different than the fall? In the spring, it seems like more of a free-for-all or are there big flocks I am missing?”  The spring migration occurs within a shorter period than the fall migration. In spring, birds are driven to fly north to find breeding territories and to nest. This gives the spring migration more urgency. The spring migration typically follows more distinct migratory patterns and routes. The fall migration occurs over a more extended period, with birds taking a wider variety of routes to their wintering grounds. Flocks tend to be larger during fall migration than in spring because birds gather to increase their chances of survival, while in spring, they’re more focused on finding breeding territories. 

Thanks for stopping by

 “A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.”—Leo Buscaglia.
 “By discovering nature, you discover yourself.”—Maxime Lagacé.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

My family’s elders insisted that a returning robin needed three snows on its tail (back or toes) before it was truly spring. Sometimes, they were right.  Of course, this doesn’t apply to the rockin’ robins who were here in the winter. A common mnemonic for remembering the ballad sung by an American Robin is "Cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up." Photo by Al Batt. 

The cheep seats in the trees were filled

Naturally

 I was off to see the wizard—an ologist of some kind with many letters behind his name. A cardinal sang. I looked out the window, and a brilliant redbird brightened my day. I took it as a good sign.
 I listened harder. Sandhill cranes made prehistoric-sounding calls that cut through the morning like a cleaver and could be heard from 2.5 miles away. They produce the sound on the ground and in flight.
 A mourning dove called coo-ah, coo, coo, coo or hul-a, hoop, hoop, hoop. The dove was named for its solemn, mournful song. Mourning doves can fly 55 mph.
 Knock, knock, who’s there? A woodpecker drumming on a tree. It’s a woodpecker’s whatness.
 Blackbirds and robins fill the cheep seats in the trees. By returning in the spring, they perform community service.
 Maple tree branches suffer toothy mayhem as squirrels chew on them. The cambium layer, just under the bark, contains sugary sap squirrels find appealing, and the bark and cambium layer can be a source of nutrients during times of scarcity. Squirrels might use the bark and twigs for nest-building materials. Squirrels have continuously growing teeth and chewing helps wear them down. 

Q&A

 George Downs of New Ulm wrote, “I have a question about bird feeding. During the winter, we enjoyed multitudes of sparrows at our birdfeeders in the yard, and large numbers of finches entertaining us at our window-box feeder. For the past two weeks the sparrows have all but disappeared and there have been no finches at the box at all. Is this a migratory pattern or just a return to natural feeding? We had good feeder action last summer that picked up as the cold months arrived. Is the pattern we have observed normal? Also, will they return once natural sources have been depleted?” Bird populations fluctuate seasonally and from one year to the next for a range of reasons. There is normal variation, but fluctuating food supplies/requirements, predator populations, stale seeds and changes to local habitat can impact bird numbers. They’ll be back.
 “Do birds urinate?” Birds do produce pee, but it’s different than mammal pee. Bird pee isn’t stored in a bladder but mixes with feces. Birds release a white paste with some dark components all in one dropping, which contains both urine and feces. This is what we lovingly call “bird poop.”  Ostriches, the biggest birds in the world, are the only birds known to release the two substances separately.
 “What gnaws on deer sheds?” Deer shed their antlers annually in late winter or early spring, and the dropped antlers are called sheds. Sheds are a valuable food source, a tool for teeth maintenance and a source of calcium and minerals for various animals, including squirrels, mice, chipmunks, raccoons, opossums, bears, foxes, coyotes, porcupines, rabbits, dogs, groundhogs, otters, beaver and deer chew on antlers.
 “Why are spiders in my shower?” They are there because they enjoy a dark, secluded environment that offers moisture and dampness, shelter, prey availability and the opportunity to see naked humans. I enjoy the company of spiders. Maybe it’s because I read “Charlotte‘s Web” by E. B. White at an early age, long before I saw the movie “Annie Hall,” wherein Annie Hall called the film’s protagonist Alvy (Woody Allen) at 3 a.m. because of a spider in her bathroom. Alvy arrived and admonished, “I told you a thousand times you should always keep a lotta insect spray. You never know who's gonna crawl over.” Alvy called it a major spider the size of Buick and demolished the bathroom with a tennis racket and might have hit the spider. An Entomology Today study found peppermint oil and chestnuts showed apparent repellent effects on some spider species. Lemon oil didn’t have a significant impact on any of the species tested. The test didn’t include all spider species. 
 “Why do geese fly in a V-formation?” It’s because the lead goose is usually a veteran female named Verna, Velma or Virginia. Occasionally, a male named Virgil gets to fly at the front just to shut him up. Scientists have determined that the V-shaped formation conserves energy. Each bird flies slightly above the bird in front of them, resulting in a reduction of wind resistance. The birds take turns being in the front, falling back when they tire from acting as a windbreak. This allows the geese to fly long distances before they must stop for rest. A V-formation aids the communication and coordination within the group. Fighter pilots often fly in a V-formation for aerodynamic efficiency and tactical advantages. This configuration allows maneuverability, enhanced visibility, and a potential for reduced fuel consumption. Plus, it looks cool.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Birds are little miracles.”—Amy Tan.
 “Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.”—Wernher von Braun.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

American goldfinches molt twice a year. The brilliant yellow the males change into each spring brings a flying gold mine. Goldfinches are dimorphic, meaning males and females differ in appearance. They don’t nest until late June or early July when milkweed, thistle and other plants have seeds, which goldfinches incorporate into their nests and feed to nestlings. Until then, they wander in search of food. Photo by Al Batt.

Why is it called a murmuration?

 Naturally

 The bear went over the mountain, to see what he could see.
 I walked over the yard to see what I could see and hear.
 It had been a day of the black-capped chickadee’s whistling “Spring’s here,” an abundance of boxelder bugs and dandelion plants showing green.
 The shadows were bending in the afternoon under the weight of the sun when I heard the dark-eyed juncos making toy ray gun sounds. Pew, pew, pew! The gray birds with white bellies and outer tail feathers are called snowbirds because they usher in the snow. The junco, looking like a gray bird that landed in a can of white paint, is a common spring and fall migrant throughout Minnesota, and a common winter visitor in the southern part of the state. The junco’s eyes are dark and the bill a light pink. Females are a lighter gray. I see more of the darker-colored males than the females in the winter. Females are more common in the southern states, overwintering as far as northern Mexico. The males risk harsh winters in the north in order to get a head start on the spring journey back to their breeding territories in northeastern Minnesota and Canada. They’re sometimes accompanied by American tree sparrows that appear to be wearing tie tacks without neckties. It’s a good look and one I may emulate. This sparrow breeds across northern Canada and Alaska, and despite having "tree" in its name, it’s a ground bird. It forages and nests on the ground.

Q&A

 “Why do birds look fatter in the winter than in summer?” Humans look heavier in the winter, too, but it’s because we wear puffy coats in winter. Birds can’t wear puffy coats because that would interfere with their ability to fly. A farmer friend says he puts on winter weight in case the winter proves to be a harsh one and he can’t afford to buy an egg. This pronouncement causes his wife’s eyes to roll all the way around in her head. That’s a remarkable feat, but so is what feathers can do. Some birds grow more feathers for insulation. They learned how to do that by watching humans put on long underwear. Birds fluff their feathers to trap the air between the feathers and the skin. A bird’s body heat warms the trapped air, which keeps the bird warm. The average body temperature of a bird is 105 degrees. The fluffed feathers give birds a profile that makes them look plumper. They aren’t fat, they’re fluffy.
 “Why is a flock of starlings called a murmuration?” A murmuration of starlings is a shapeshifting cloud of swirling birds that alternately grows larger and shrinks. The elegant movement of a flock of starlings welcomes contemplation and creates stunning art in the sky. The movement of the flock is choreographed collectively by all members of the flock. The fluidity of motion results when one starling changes direction or speed, and each of the other birds in the flock responds to the change nearly simultaneously, as the group responds as one. I reckon the collective noun “murmuration,” derives from the sounds made by the wingbeats of many birds in flight. I’ve had a flock of starlings swoop low over my head with a loud whoosh before twirling away. The wing song made me duck. Maybe it should be called a whoosh of starlings?
 “Where do male goldfinches first show spring colors?” Uffdah! That’s a tough question about a wild canary that refuses to answer questions. This is a wild guess, but I’m going to say in Dublin, Georgia. Yeah, that’s it, Dublin, Georgia. I’ll bet yellow feathers abound there. Oh, wait a second. My sweet wife, The Queen B, just told me that this was a plumage question and not a geographical question. I told her I knew that. Please don’t tell her anything different. It’ll be our little secret. There are many colors on a bird’s palette. The first signs of a male American goldfinch’s molt into a breeding plumage show around the head. The pale edges of the wing feathers wear and fade, and the bill color begins changing to a pale orange. This progresses with more yellow and black feathers around the head and more yellow on the body. It creates expectations, and I welcome the sight of the tiny birds that have become flying dandelions. 

Thanks for stopping by

  “Nature is my church. The wind in the trees and the bugs and the frogs. All those things are comfort to me.”—Sissy Spacek. 
 “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say ‘It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”—Fred Rogers.
Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

Starlings develop yellow bills during the breeding season, with the base of lower mandible blue in males, pink in females. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “A birdie with a yellow bill Hopped upon my window sill, Cocked his shining eye and said: ‘Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!’" Clellan Card played Axel Torgeson on “Axel and His Dog,” a popular kid’s show and said, “A birdie with a yellow bill Hopped upon my window sill, Cocked his shining eye and said, ‘What’s that in the road…ahead?’”  Photo by Al Batt.

Each bird is a rare bird

Naturally

 Chipmunks scurried about as if they had misplaced their lists of things to do today. Perhaps their behavior was a result of the time and place creating a birder’s paradise, as that combination does every day of the year.
 I stared at each bird as if it were a rare bird, because each bird is.
 Woodpeckers drummed. They banged out love notes in Morse code or a woodpecker code on resonant limbs. Wild strawberry leaves were lovely to see. The leaves stay green over the winter. 
  I poured water into a small basin for the birds. Does that make it a beaker?
 Winter is over. Meteorological winter is December, January and February. Meteorological spring is March, April and June. Welcome to spring. Astronomical spring begins later. The spring equinox (also called the vernal equinox) marks one of the two instances each year when our sun and the Earth's equator align. The spring equinox falls on March 20 or 21 (and occasionally on March 19 in a leap year). In 2025, the day is Thursday, March 20. That means we get two springs. Yay us. Life is good. 
 Robins are singing, and red-winged blackbirds are flocking together, which is a wing-wing situation and a win–win situation. Red-winged blackbird males return before the females show up here. They hurry back to compete for choice territories. They must be aware to survive, so they travel in flocks, which offer more eyes to spot predators and food. Their arrival is a harbinger of spring. Arguably, the red-winged blackbird could be the most commonly seen bird in the Gopher State. The females, with streaky brown plumages, don’t need to rush as they know there will be males to welcome their triumphant arrival. The males sing “Look-at-me” at full throttle.
 I keep an ear out and hear sandhill cranes give voice to the call that stirs the soul. Aldo Leopold wrote this about that sound, “High horns, low horns, silence and finally a pandemonium of trumpets, rattles, croaks and cries that almost shakes the bog with its nearness.”
 Male goldfinches begin molting from their muted, drab plumage into their vibrant mating colors in mid-March. Keep an eye on that state bird of Iowa, and you’ll see some splotchy feathers on goldfinches during the in-between stages of a molt.
 Canada geese pairs, on territory, honk belligerently at perceived intruders. They’re like callers to sports talk shows—always yelling angrily about something. Smile when you hear one, and be thankful for all that free fertilizer you’re getting.
 Pussy willows are budding. This native willow grows 8 to 15 feet tall and thrives in wet areas. They're an important food source for early-spring pollinators, including several bee species. The plant is host to the viceroy butterfly, whose caterpillar feeds on it.
 Squirrel and rabbit chases take place as part of the courting process. Gray squirrels mate twice a year, typically from December to February and June through August. Fox squirrels mate twice a year, generally from December to February and June through July. The eastern cottontail rabbit breeding season runs from March to September.
 For most of Minnesota, December is typically the snowiest month of the year. January is second, February third and March is the fourth snowiest month, but you never know.

Q&A

 “What do robins eat at this time of year?” There is fruit available. They eat crabapples, mountain ash berries, haws from hawthorns, winterberries, rose hips and hackberries, among other things. They likely become adventurous eaters when they first return. This species (American robin) was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1766 as Turdus migratorius, which derives from two Latin words: turdus, "thrush," and migratorius, "to migrate." The name robin has been used in North America since at least 1703.
 “When is the breeding season for opossums?” Opossums mate between January and May. The young aren’t fully developed at birth. The babies climb up the mother's belly and into her pouch. They remain there for 60 to 70 days. For a month after that, the young opossums climb in and out of the pouch, never straying far. When mouse-sized, they climb aboard their mother's back, where they spend their time until becoming independent.
 “What bird calls “Ricky”?” I don’t know if I know of one. I’d guess it might be a cardinal. Many ears hear it as “Birdie, birdie, birdie” and it wouldn’t be a stretch for it to be heard as “Ricky, Ricky, Ricky.” The ruby-crowned kinglet is often called “Little Ricky,” not because of its call, but because its four-letter bird banding code is RCKI.

Thanks for stopping by

 “A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.”—Albert Einstein.
 “If you want light to come into your life, you need to stand where it is shining.”—Guy Finley.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

I love March, when the trees turn into red-winged blackbirds. Harbingers of spring, the redwings are among the earliest spring migrants, with the males arriving before the females to establish territories and engage in courtship displays. The males sing rowdy “Look-at-me” territorial songs and display their brilliant red epaulets to attract females.  Photo by Al Batt.

Life isn’t a Super Bowl commercial.

Naturally

  Life isn’t a Super Bowl commercial. I had a stroke.

  Now I have an excuse for not remembering someone’s name. I got up in the morning, walked to the bathroom and looked at the mirror. I smile at the mirror every morning. I figure if I can’t smile at my image, I won’t be able to smile at anyone else. A second benefit is that at least I’ll make one person smile that day. My odd reflection looked even odder than normal. One side of my smile had a serious droop to it. A trip to the ER and an ambulance ride to another hospital where I had to tell 73 healthcare professionals (each of whom was an angel) my full name (some spelling required) and birthdate, before they’d ask to see my smile. I spent a few days in the hospital (I highly recommend the aspirin suppository and the saline solution drip) and am now on the mend. The removal of the countless sticky EKG electrodes allowed me to get something off my chest—hair. I have moved from taking no prescription drugs to taking enough pills to put my piggy bank on a rapid weight-loss program. My smile has returned. I’m happy to see it.

  There was a lot of whining in the yard. No, it wasn’t all from me. It was the oft-repeated chi-call of a red-bellied woodpecker, which sounds kind of whiny. It’s a call for me to stop, look and listen.

  Acrobatic squirrels engaged in a merry chase of tag as a cardinal cranked up his spring song, a loud, whistled series of notes sounding like "cheer, cheer, cheer" or "birdie, birdie, birdie.” It’s smelling salts for the ears.

  Downy and hairy woodpeckers can be hard to tell apart. Downies are smaller and have short bills. Hairy woodpeckers have bills more like chisels. Nuthatches went around a tree trunk searching for food, as if they were stripes on a barber pole.

Q&A

  “What is estivation?” Hibernation or “winter sleep” is the state of inactivity or low metabolic process animals perform during winter. Aestivation (estivation) or “summer sleep” is the low metabolic process by animals in summer. There are reptiles and amphibians that estivate, including some tortoises, salamanders and frogs. Some land snails, insects and crabs do it.

  “Why do I see spiders in the basement one day and none the next?“ A few spiders around a home can keep away harmful pests and disease-carrying insects like ticks, fleas and cockroaches. Spiders provide free Halloween decorations for homes. In our houses during the winter, spiders move around searching for prey and water. Osage oranges (hedgeballs or hedge apples) aren’t effective and their use isn’t recommended to repel spiders.

  “Do birds have teeth?” Birds don’t have teeth, that’s why you’ve never seen one in your dentist’s office, and it’s not because they don’t floss. They may have ridges on their bills that help them grip food. Many birds swallow their food whole, and their powerful gizzards (a muscular part of their stomachs) grind up the food so they can digest it. Scoters and eiders swallow clams and mussels whole, letting their gizzards pulverize the shells. Bird beaks can sip nectar from flowers, filter food from water, tear flesh from bones, crack nuts, and pluck insects from the air. Mandibles in some species have evolved to look and act like teeth to help them handle food more easily. Mergansers and other fish-eating birds have saw-like serrations that help them grip slippery fish, while seed-eating birds have bill ridges, which help them cut through a seed’s outer husk. Some shrikes and birds of prey have a ‘tomial tooth’ on the upper mandible, which they use to sever a prey’s spinal cord. The double-toothed kite’s name comes from the two pointed tooth-like notches on its upper mandible, but those aren’t teeth in the true sense of the word. Baby birds have an “egg tooth” a small, sharp structure on the end of their beaks that they use to aid in hatching. A bird uses its egg tooth to pierce the air sac between the membrane and the eggshell giving them a few hours of air during the time they repeatedly force the egg tooth through the shell until they have made a hole big enough for them to leave the egg.

  “How fast can deer run?” White-tailed deer can run 30 to 40 mph, never once qualifying for a NASCAR event. They can leap up to 8 feet high.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Birds are wherever we are. They are our companions. Birds are mediators between heaven and earth.”—Terry Tempest Williams.

  “Birdwatching is something that we do for enjoyment, so if you enjoy it, you are already a good birder. If you enjoy it a lot, you are a great birder.”—Kenn Kaufman.

  I wish you good health. Do good.

©️Al Batt 2025

It’s not a rodent. It’s North America’s only marsupial. The Virginia opossum is the size of a house cat (4 to 12 pounds). It’s resistant to rattlesnake venom, is rarely rabid and can have 6 to 20 babies (joeys) twice a year. Granny Moses on “The Beverly Hillbillies” enjoyed possum stew.  Photo by Al Batt.

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NATURE’S LUMBERJACKS

Naturally

 February is a short month. Cold weather makes it seem longer. Everyone was wearing a polar ice cap. It was a good day to have a hat to hang on a peg. John Steinbeck regarded the desert as a place “to observe the cleverness and the infinite variety of techniques of survival under pitiless opposition.” I thought of his quote when I walked about on a -19 day. He could have been talking about Minnesota weather. 
 I saw a perched hawk in a faraway tree. The light allowed no color to be seen. How did I know it was a hawk and not a crow? In general, perching raptors sit upright, whereas non-raptors, such as crows, when perched, lean forward over their feet. 

Q&A

 “I saw geese that weren’t flying high in a typical V-formation. They were flying in a single file. What was going on?” It was a fire drill.
 Jim Mujyres of Mankato wrote, “I am trying to figure out where vultures nest in Southern Minnesota. Where would they build their nests? Can they be seen flying dead critters to their young ones?” Turkey vultures typically nest in a variety of sheltered locations, including abandoned buildings, rock crevices, caves, hollow trees, cliffs, burrows, fallen trees, old hawk or heron nests, on the ground and in thickets, often near river valleys. They don't build elaborate nests, preferring to lay their eggs on debris or the flat bottom of a nest site. Both parents feed the young by the regurgitation of carrion, either directly into a begging nestling's gaping mouth or on the ground next to the nestling. I’ve found nests in dilapidated barns. Vultures eat a lot of roadkill because it’s difficult to eat healthy when you’re on the road.
 “Why do beavers cut down trees?” Beavers need to stay busy because they are known for being as busy as beavers. They cut trees for food. These herbivores eat leaves, twigs, woody stems, new tree growth on branches and trunks, and aquatic plants. Beavers are second only to humans in their ability to change the environment they live in, according to National Geographic. Adult beavers weigh between 35 and 55 pounds, although they can be as heavy as 90 pounds. In the spring and summer, they eat clover, leaves, ferns, buds, fruit, marsh grass, roots from aquatic plants and berries. Beavers can remain submerged for as long as 20 minutes. In fall and winter, they eat cuttings from trees stored beneath the water. When a beaver cuts down a tree, it eats the inner, soft cambium layer just under the outer bark. This is the same layer that rabbits, deer, porcupines and moose eat. The cambium is a thin layer of tissue in a tree that produces new wood and bark. Once the bark is eaten from a branch, beavers use the sticks as building materials for lodges and dams. Beavers are nature’s lumberjacks, cutting down trees and using their excellent engineering skills to build dams and lodges out of them. 
 “Why don’t I see dead birds?” You rarely see dead birds because scavengers like other birds, insects and mammals usually devour them. When most birds are nearing the end of their lives, they tend to die in hidden locations, further reducing the chances of you seeing a carcass. As you walk around, you might spot a dead mouse or squirrel. On the highway, you regularly see road-killed raccoons, opossums, skunks and deer. Birds weigh little, are covered with feathers and most have hollow bones. If a dead bird is on the ground, tiny decomposers—bacteria and insects—quickly invade its body. A small bird decomposes and disappears in a few days, while a small mammal might exist in recognizable form for much longer. Raccoons, foxes, coyotes, vultures, crows or opossums will eat much of a bird but leave the inedible parts—the bones and feathers. Rodents consume the bones for the calcium, and beetles ingest the feathers, which are mostly protein.
 “Do we have walkingsticks in Minnesota?” Walkingsticks are long, skinny insects resembling sticks capable of walking. This type of camouflage is called crypsis. Minnesota has two species of walkingsticks: northern walkingsticks are found in the forested region and prairie walkingsticks in the prairie region. Northern walkingsticks feed on basswood, white oak and American hazelnut leaves.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.”—Walter Elliot.
 “Birds are important because they keep systems in balance: they pollinate plants, disperse seeds, scavenge carcasses and recycle nutrients back into the earth. But they also feed our spirits, marking for us the passage of the seasons, moving us to create art and poetry, inspiring us to flight and reminding us that we are not only on, but of, this earth.”—Melanie Driscoll.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

A female collects pebbles, clods, corncobs and dung, and places them beside her nest on open ground to form a paved area. Why? Ask a horned lark. No one else knows for sure. If you squint and have a good imagination, it resembles a walkway. It likely prevents nesting material from blowing away. Photo of horned lark by Al Batt.

Have you tried spatial chunking?

 Naturally

 The weather was civilized, but cold. It was giving me mixed signals. As I walked outside on that -15 degree morning (I knew right away it wasn’t July or August because I’m that sharp) and stepped onto the freshly fallen snow, I heard a “squeak” with every step I took, and it had nothing to do with my digestive tract. If I walk upon an accumulation of light, I hear the breaking of the snowflakes as a squeaking sound. When temperatures are warmer, there is more water mixed in with the snowflakes, which allows them to slide past each other instead of breaking. The temperature needs to be 14 degrees or colder to cause the squeak. Temperatures above that increase the water-to-snowflake ratio, making it quieter.
 A half dozen starlings, a mini-murmuration nearing its minimum, kept me company on my squeaky walk. A murmuration is a flock that keeps starlings warm, fed, protected, and able to survive without having cellphones. Starlings are handsome birds that aren’t welcomed by everyone, but then, who is? They can mimic other birds. On this day, puffed up against the cold, they appeared to be mimicking cold birds.
 Bill Knish of Waseca wrote, “I don't know if I am becoming more observant in my advancing years or what, but, in the last couple of days I have been seeing Eurasian tree sparrows at my feeders just outside of town.” You are a sharp-eyed fellow, Bill. I’m fortunate enough to have a couple of them hanging around with the house sparrows in my yard this winter. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says that in 1870, a shipment of European birds from Germany was released in St. Louis, Missouri, in order to provide familiar bird species for newly settled European immigrants. The shipment included 12  Eurasian tree sparrows, and the chestnut-capped, white-cheeked sparrows prospered in the hedges and woodlots of the region, ultimately spreading throughout northeastern Missouri, west-central Illinois, and southeastern Iowa—and Hartland and Waseca, Minnesota. Cornell said nothing about Hartland and Waseca, but I’m sure they meant to. Unlike its relative, the house sparrow, it isn’t a bird of cities, preferring farms and lightly wooded residential areas. Birds make the world beautiful and both bigger and smaller at the same time.

Q&A

 Dan Paczkowski of Glenville had five trumpeter swan cygnets on a pond last summer, and then they all vanished, leaving their parents cygnetless. He wondered what could have happened to them. According to the Trumpeter Swan Society, on average, about 50% of cygnets don’t survive the first three months after hatching, due to predation by snapping turtles, bald eagles, coyotes, mink, great horned owls, dogs, humans and other predators. Another 25% of swans may perish before they are three years of age.
 “I was reading about the owl irruption. Have you ever seen a boreal owl?” I have and count myself fortunate to have seen the tiny owl. It’s the approximate weight of a mourning dove.
 “Do both fox squirrels and gray squirrels cache foods?” Both species are scatter-hoarders, meaning they hide food in many small caches scattered across a landscape. Fox squirrels are the largest tree squirrels that are native to North America and are calmer than the smaller grays, which are more squirrelly. The agility and skittishness of a gray squirrel have given it the nickname “cat squirrel,” which I’ve heard it called in the South. The University of California at Berkeley published a study in the journal Royal Society of Open Science that found tree squirrels use a mnemonic technique called "spatial chunking" to sort and bury nuts by size, type and perhaps nutritional value and taste. They can remember where to find what they are hungry for. It’s a meticulous preparation needed to survive a harsh winter. One squirrel can bury up to 3,000 to 10,000 nuts in a season and has a tremendous spatial memory and an excellent sense of smell that allows it to retrieve 26 to 95% of the nuts it had squirreled away, depending upon the study. Central Connecticut State University research reported that an eastern gray squirrel engages in deceptive caching by digging a hole and pretending to drop a nut it was holding in its mouth into the hole, covers up the empty hole, and runs off to another secret-stashing place. They do this to fool other squirrels who might be watching. I’ve seen squirrels perform these covert actions many times in the yard. Caches are moved by the owners and by thieves. An interesting aside is that squirrels listen to the sounds of birds like robins, jays and chickadees, and use them as alarms or all-clear signals.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.”—Lovelle Drachman.
 “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.”—John Muir.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

The red-tailed hawk is the most common hawk in the U.S. The red-tailed hawk’s average weight is 2 to 4 pounds. I typically see a pair of these hawks perched close together around Valentine’s Day. They usually maintain pair bonds until the death of a partner, and both incubate the eggs. Photo by Al Batt

The founding fathers used founding feathers

Naturally

 If I made a list of the birds I want to see each morning, the chickadee would be first on that list. A small flock of Canada geese flew over instead. 
 The founding fathers wrote the U.S. Constitution with founding feathers, the quills from geese. Some flamboyant writers preferred to use swan feathers for their scribbling. Quill pens date to the Dark Ages, when feathers replaced the hollow reeds used by the Romans. People sometimes used turkey or crow feathers. Thomas Jefferson bred special geese to keep himself in writing implements. Wing feathers were buried in hot, dry sand to harden the points. A penknife was used to cut the nib into a V-shape and to trim the nibs of worn quills. Britain imported 27 million quills a year from Russia. By the middle of the 19th century, steel nibs were on the way to overtaking quills. In the 20th century, the fountain pen, ballpoint and rollerball arrived.
  A caller from Florida said he was watching a softball game in Florida when a hawk caught an animal in the outfield and hauled it to a stick nest high atop a pole. He thought it was an osprey, but was told an osprey eats only fish. Ospreys possess a reversible outer toe, which is unusual among hawks, that allows them to grasp prey with two toes in front and two behind. Barbed pads on the soles of the feet help ospreys grip slippery fish. An osprey lines up its catch head first to lessen wind resistance while flying. Ospreys primarily eat live fish, but will prey upon small mammals like rats, mice, voles, squirrels, rabbits and muskrats when the fishing is poor. There are reports of ospreys eating snakes and small alligators. Ospreys begin nesting in South Florida in December. He had seen the world in a bird, as ospreys are found on every continent except Antarctica.

Q&A

 “How do squirrels survive winter?” Tree squirrels don’t hibernate. We respond to cold weather by putting on layers and staying indoors. Squirrels do the same, spending more time in insulated nests and putting on layers by fattening up. They also cache food for later and generate heat by shivering.
 “Do snowy owls come to Minnesota because they’re starving?” The snowy owl nests in the arctic tundra in northern Canada and Alaska, but during winters, this raptor comes south to hunt voles, mice and other small animals. Project SNOWstorm has studied this migration. They found that it’s common for some snowy owls to migrate south each winter. Every 3 to 5 years, hundreds to thousands of owls overflow into southern Canada and the northern United States. These large migrations are known as irruptions. An irruption is a sign of a baby boom, and was once thought to be caused by hungry owls flying south in search of food. Winter irruptions are usually caused by an abundance of food during the previous summer. Lemmings make up most of the owls' summer diet. An increase in lemmings produces a surge in healthy owl chicks migrating south. Far from starving, most of these Arctic migrants are perfectly healthy. Project SNOWstorm’s research has found that snowy owls in major irruption years tend to be fatter and heavier than those in non-flight years. Food shortages appear to prompt southerly movements of snowy owls (as happens routinely with species like great gray and northern hawk owls) only occasionally. Ornithologist Scott Weidensaul, who tracks the owls, said if they arrive in large numbers, the owls are mostly juveniles, in response to a productive breeding season. They hope to outdistance the competition. Not all the snowy owls that come here will survive. The mortality rate for young raptors is very high. Vehicle collisions, rodenticide poisoning and electrocution on power lines are three common causes of snowy owl death. Starvation is rare, and often the result of underlying causes.
 “How can wind farms protect bats?” Avoid sensitive areas. Monitor bat activity and mortality. Curtail wind turbine operation by slowing, stopping or changing the direction of blade rotation at the times when bats are likely to be present. Use deterrent technologies, adjust turbine blade angles and use algorithms.
 “What is the phantom of the north?” Blending in perfectly with the gray-brown bark of its perch, the great gray owl becomes one with a tree and earns it the nickname of the phantom of the north. This owl has large rings around its yellow eyes, two white patches near its beak that make it appear to have a snowy mustache, and lacks ear tufts. Its other names include phantom of the north or great gray ghost.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost.”—Erol Ozan.
 “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”—David Brower.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

Each day brings gifts. They were here for the fruit—crabapples. The “cedar” in their name is a nod to eastern red cedar, which is an important source of winter food. The “waxwing” part refers to the waxy-looking red tips on their secondary wing feathers. Cedar waxwings also eat insects when raising young. Photo by Al Batt.

They are sharp hawks.

Naturally

 I haven’t gone through my usual amounts of birdseed this year because of two sharp-shinned hawks patrolling the yard. During winter, sharpies hunt wooded edges and bird feeders. They’re pursuit hunters, surprising prey on the wing by bursting out from a hidden perch, using cover and stealth to get close to their prey. They are adept at flying through thick vegetation, and typically take smaller birds, such as juncos. The menu of the small hawks consists of 90% songbirds, but also includes mice and voles. I watched a vole trying to hide under a few leaves. Without a snowpack, the rodent had no subnivean environment to provide safety and comfort. Sadly, one sharpie hit a window and died.
 I did have a handsome pileated woodpecker, about the size of a crow, visit my suet feeder.
 With all the fuss about Groundhog Day, it’s funny the mammal isn’t more popular in the team nickname arena. After all, Elvis sang, “You ain’t nothin’ but a groundhog.” Why don’t we have the Woodbury Woodchucks, Grand Rapids Groundhogs or White Bear Lake Whistlepigs? There is the Punxsutawney High School (PA) Chucks, the St. John (ND) Woodchucks and the Wausau (WI) Woodchucks, a collegiate summer baseball team in the Northwoods League. I thought the Washington Commanders football team should have been the Woodchucks. The Princeton WhistlePigs were a summer collegiate baseball team of the Appalachian League based in Princeton (WV), which folded in 2023. Whistle pig is another name for a groundhog. 
 The mosquito danger level was low, so I went for a walk on a blustery January day. A fellow walker asked me to identify scat along a trail. I told her it was from a dangerous beast. It was a nincom poop. 
 I looked at a painting by Les Kouba called "Blue-bills." I counted the ducks in the painting. It was hard not to, and there were only five of them, not 13 as I’d expected. Kouba was born in Hutchinson (MN) and specialized in painting waterfowl. He produced some advertising art: The Old Dutch windmill on potato chip boxes, Schmidt beer wildlife scenes, and the Red Owl grocery store's logo. He’s known for incorporating 13 elements into his drawings, usually flying ducks or geese. Kouba died on Sept.13, 1998, continuing his tradition of the number 13.

Q&A

 “What’s the coldest Minnesota has ever been?” On Feb. 2, 1996, a record low of 60 below zero was recorded in Tower, north of Duluth. Four days later, it was 48 above in Tower. I drove by ice shanties on a lake. There were a bunch of them—no fish was safe. I checked my car's thermometer—it was 55 degrees above zero on Jan. 30. That was outside. An old cowhand from Minnesota or a cowboy from northern Iowa might say, “That ain’t right, but it’s mighty fine.” I glanced at several thermometers on banks, schools, etc. They all showed a different number, but each was near 55. There’s little connection, but it reminded me of an old “Twilight Zone” TV episode in which the Earth was moving away from its usual orbit and gradually falling towards the sun. Food and water grew scarce. Sweaty people proliferated A radio voice warned everyone to remain indoors and be prepared for rampaging looters; it said they could cook eggs on the sidewalk and soup in the oceans. The thermometer surged past 120 degrees. The scene cuts to an apartment at night. In the frigid darkness outside, the weather was 10 below, and a blizzard raged. The protagonist is bedridden with a high fever and she was only dreaming that the Earth was moving closer to the sun. In reality, the Earth was moving away from the sun and would eventually glaciate. She concluded the description of her nightmare with, "Isn't it wonderful to have darkness and coolness?”
 “How many lakes are there in Minnesota?” According to Politifact, Minnesota has 14,444 lake/pond features of 10 acres or more, which is about seven-and-a-half football fields (including end zones). The DNR says Minnesota has 11,842 lakes of 10+ acres. Mower, Olmsted, Pipestone and Rock Counties have no natural lakes. The 10 most common lake names are Mud, Long, Rice, Bass, Round, Horseshoe, Twin, Island, Johnson and Spring. The motto “10,000 Lakes” has appeared on license plates since 1950.
 “Why do some red-winged blackbird males show more red than others?” They show varying amounts because they can control how much of a red epaulet is displayed. Males show red to assert dominance, defend territory or attract females, while hiding the red when feeling vulnerable or being off their territory.

Thanks for stopping by

 “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive."—Marcus Aurelius.
 “In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.—Aristotle.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

Cows moo, dogs bark, pigs oink, cats meow and ducks quack. Right? When it comes to mallards, only the females quack. Some online nonsense claims a quack doesn’t echo. What would make a sound impervious to an echo? Nothing. A quack echoes. Photo by Al Batt.

The vole is the potato chip of the prairie, not of the house

Naturally

 The January day was headed to perfection, but it was a long trip, even if it knew a shortcut. It was -20 degrees and it was windy. That’s an invitation to stay indoors. My Mama didn’t raise any fools, so I waited until it warmed up to -18 degrees, a less than drastic improvement, before heading outside. I tried to do the right thing by my neighbors by feeding the birds. Birds are my neighbors. It was quiet as I trudged along briskly, if a person can trudge along briskly. Then, I heard the voice of a harbinger of hope. A white-breasted nuthatch sang its spring song—a rapid, nasal, “way-way-way-way.” The bird gave voice to an appreciation for a new day.

Q&A

 “How does a woodpecker keep from getting woodchips in its nostrils?” A woodpecker's nostrils or nares have stiff feathers around them. These feathers filter out woodchips and sawdust, and lessen the number of work comp claims. 
 “I heard you talk about an old saying about daddy longlegs helping farmers find cows. Tell me again.” If the cows are lost, find a granddaddy longlegs and say to him, “Granddaddy, granddaddy, where are the cows?” It will lift one of its legs and point in the direction where the cows are to be found. They don’t always tell the truth.
 Ken Nelson of Clarks Grove asked why there are so many mice in houses this year. There are two main things attracting mice to your house—food and shelter. Perhaps birds of prey have had an easier time catching mice with less snow cover for the rodents to use for hiding. A house is a safe haven. While house mice inhabit homes throughout the year, deer mice and white-footed mice prefer to dwell outdoors, and establish shelter within dwellings in order to escape the winter weather. A pest exterminator told me mice can enter through openings as small as a dime. Maybe mild winters have led to more resources, which resulted in more mice. One mouse leads to more mice because they detect the odors of food and other mice. Voles seldom enter houses. Voles, also known as meadow mice, are herbivores that eat grasses, sedges, herbs, seeds, grains, tubers, bulbs, fruits, tree bark and roots. They may be mistaken for another small mammal that does occasionally get into houses: the northern short-tailed shrew that eats voles, mice and insects. The subnivean zone is a hollow space between the ground and the base of the snowpack. It’s a humid winter habitat with a stable temperature of around 32 degrees. Voles and mice live there. They sometimes cache food. Shrews could live there and weasels might hunt the subnivean.
 “Why do I see more Cooper’s hawks today than in the past?” Called chicken hawks by colonists because they plucked poultry from farms, Cooper’s hawks were often shot before the 1940s. Logging and development diminished the hawks’ forest habitat, and pesticide use in the mid-20th century led to eggshell thinning, which further depleted populations. Pesticides such as DDT were curbed, and protections from hunters were initiated in the 1960s, causing populations of woodland avian predators like Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks to soar. These accipiters are drawn to birdfeeders.
 “Why are so many owls hit on the roads?” Some owls commonly forage at the same height as vehicles, making them prone to vehicle collisions. Spilled grain, bags of chips, half-eaten cheeseburgers and beverage containers litter the edges of our roadways. Rodents love to snack on discarded food scraps and grains, and the owls love to snack on the rodents that love to snack on those food scraps and grains. Once an owl zeroes onto a mouse or vole (the potato chip of the prairie) prey item, it doesn’t notice traffic. Owls hunt at low altitudes at night, flying close to the ground where vehicles are traveling.
 “How did barn owls get their name?” Barn owls were around before barns. Maybe barns were named after them? The barn owl's genus name is Tyto, which is Greek for “owl,” and the species name is alba, which is Latin for “white.” So, the translation is “white owl.” The common name refers to the barn owl's frequent use of barns and other manmade structures. Its nicknames are ghost owl, monkey-faced owl and sweetheart owl. 

Thanks for stopping by

 “There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that, because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in the winter, things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I'll swear I can't see it that way.”—Bat Masterson.
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”—Martin Luther 
King, Jr.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

The American tree sparrow is sometimes called a “winter chippy” because it has a rusty cap like the chipping sparrows that nest in Minnesota. American tree sparrows forage and nest on the ground, breeding at or above the treeline, migrating down to balmy Minnesota in late autumn. Photo by Al Batt.

If a robin couldn’t take winter, it wouldn’t have become Batman’s sidekick



Naturally

 Finding beauty in ordinary things is a fine idea at any time, but it is perhaps most appreciated when the weather is far from perfect. The coldest day of the year in Minnesota generally falls between January 21-25. On a cold, drab January day, I drove to donate to the Geneva Cancer Auction and delighted in the red stems of the red osier dogwood. Weeping willows grew close to the edge of the road. I suppose they needed a shoulder to cry on.
 There are signs of spring that some might call overly optimistic. Black-capped chickadees are singing “fee-bee” or “spring’s here,” and woodpeckers are drumming.
 I saw a robin stubbornly spending the winter here. They are tough. That’s why one of them became Batman’s sidekick.

Q&A

 “Which bird is the snowbird?” Someone asked if the snow goose was the snowbird. It’s not. Neither is the snowy owl nor the snowy egret. Snowbirds and snowflakes visit me. The dark-eyed junco is the snowbird, and the snow bunting is the snowflake. Juncos are said to bring the snow. I think junco is an acronym for “Just Until Nicer Conditions Occur.” The junco is easily seen against a background of snow, but the snow bunting shows more white than any other songbird. The snow bunting nests in the Arctic tundra. The song “Snowbird” by Anne Murray, in which she sings, “Spread your tiny wings and fly away. And take the snow back with you. Where it came from on that day,” was written by Gene MacLellan, who was inspired after by a flock of snow buntings on a beach in Prince Edward Island. “Snowflakes” describes the movement of a flock in flight. Naturalist John Burroughs wrote, “This is the only one of our winter birds that really seems a part of winter—that seems born of the whirling snow, and happiest when storms drive thickest. Its calls, coming out of the white obscurity, are the sweetest and happiest of all winter bird notes. It is like the laughter of children.” He also referred to a flock as being like snowflakes knit together. Frank Sweet penned this, “Which came first, the birds or the snow? Or was it together they fluttered down?”
 Don of Cannon Falls asked if the blue jays he feeds peanuts to in his yard could be the same ones he sees in a park 2 miles away? I’ve read about blue jays caching seeds up to 2.5 miles from the source. Blue jays are magnificent, big-brained birds that travel extensively in tight-knit groups and gregarious flocks in the winter with variable memberships and range. A dominance hierarchy reduces squabbling. The blue jay is also the mascot of the Waseca Schools. I learned that during the pandemic, people developed a great appreciation for the beauty and vibrance the jays brought to a day. They could be the same birds. Some jays migrate. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says that the number of jays that migrate is probably less than 20%.
 Micah of Mankato wrote, “I've noticed all the oriole nests I've seen, have been hanging on maple trees. Is there something to that?” Baltimore orioles often nest in American elms, but the population of elms dropped because of Dutch elm disease, so the orioles build nests in other trees, especially maples and cottonwoods.
 “How can I tell dog tracks from coyote tracks?” Coyote paw prints are generally narrower and more elongated with tightly grouped toes, creating an oval shape, while dog prints tend to be wider with spread toes, and appear rounder. Coyote trails are inclined to be straighter than the often meandering paths of dogs. 
 “How many seeds does a cattail produce?” Cattails reproduce by both seeds, with an average of 220,000 seeds in a single brown, hot dog-like seedhead, and vegetatively through clones emerging from a single rhizome. A single rhizome may produce up to 100 stalks in a single growing season. There may be a relationship between the abundance of cattails and the size of muskrat populations. In years when there are many cattails, the muskrat populations boom. Cattails get their name from the fuzzy, elongated seed heads reminding some of the tails of cats.

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 “You cannot begin to preserve any species of animal unless you preserve the habitat in which it dwells. Disturb or destroy that habitat and you will exterminate the species as surely as if you had shot it. So conservation means that you have to preserve forest and grassland, river and lake, even the sea itself. This is not only vital for the preservation of animal life generally, but for the future existence of man himself—a point that seems to escape many people.”—Gerald Durrell.
 “Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”—Kahil Bebran.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2025

Common ravens are members of the Corvidae family, which in Minnesota includes the American crow, blue jay, Canada jay and black-billed magpie. Ravens are permanent residents in northern forested areas. This common raven enjoyed visiting a McDonald’s in Juneau, Alaska. Photo by Al Batt.