It was a drive-through garden tilling

Naturally

  A flock of blue jays blew into my yard at the end of September. They acted as if they were new to the area and were amazed to find feeders in unfamiliar places. They might have been tourists.

  Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve is a 365-acre protected wildlife area in Duluth. It overlooks the western tip of Lake Superior and is globally renowned as one of the premier sites in North America for viewing raptor migrations. Counters log all other avian migrants passing through the flyway, including the massive morning flights of blue jays, which can exceed 50,000 jays in a season. Birds migrating south from Canada are reluctant to fly across the cold expanse of Lake Superior and follow the shoreline. This funnels the birds over the 550-foot bluffs of Hawk Ridge. Hawk Ridge’s blue jay flights have been good this fall, with most of the blue jays being young birds in dispersal. This indicates a successful breeding season. Counters tallied over 15,000 blue jays in a single day in September, setting a new Minnesota state high count for a single day. Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory staff determines if a blue jay is a hatch-year bird by examining wing feathers called coverts. In the fall, young blue jays replace some coverts with shiny adult feathers but retain some juvenile coverts. Banders look for a noticeable contrast between the glossy new adult feathers and the worn, dull juvenile feathers. Adult jays undergo a complete molt, so their wings display uniform, shiny feathers with no worn juvenile contrast. In September, blue jays gather in loose flocks to move southward or to redistribute. Their migration patterns are puzzling—some migrate every year, some do not migrate at all, and others move only short distances. Some visit my yard.

  Hawk Ridge also counts migrating insects, specifically monarch butterflies and common green darner dragonflies. The 2026 fall migration has seen a considerable surge of monarch butterflies traveling from Canada down the North Shore. Feel free to applaud.

  I saw an area of lawn that looked like it had been the victim of a drive-through garden tilling. Raccoons and skunks relish eating the grubs found in the lawn. Raccoons roll the sod. Their work is neater than skunks, which just dig.

Q&A

  Jennifer, Lily, Duncan and Derek of Pipestone asked how to tell butterflies and moths apart, and how those insects survive our winters. Here are a few generalizations. Butterflies have long, slender antennae ending in a distinct club or knob. Moths usually have feathery, comb-like or thread-like antennae without a club tip. Butterflies typically fold their wings vertically straight over their backs when resting. Moths generally rest with their wings flat or folded tent-like or roof-like over their bodies. Butterflies have smooth, slender and streamlined bodies. Moths tend to have chunkier, thicker and furrier bodies. Butterflies are diurnal, active during the day. Most moths are nocturnal, flying and feeding at night (though some species are diurnal). Butterflies usually display bright, vibrant colors and bold patterns for attracting mates. Moths often feature more muted, earthy tones like brown, gray and/or white for camouflage. Butterfly caterpillars form a hard, smooth outer shell called a chrysalis. Many moth caterpillars spin a soft, fibrous silk cocoon. Moths and butterflies survive winter by migrating to warmer regions, entering a dormant state called diapause across various life stages, or remaining active. Some species lay eggs that withstand freezing temperatures until spring. Woolly bear (Isabella tiger moths) caterpillars curl up under leaf litter, loose soil or tree bark to wait out the winter. Many swallowtails overwinter as suspended chrysalises, while large silk moths spend the winter inside camouflaged cocoons. Hardier species, like the mourning cloak butterfly, hide the winter away in hollow trees, rock piles or buildings.

  A woman ahead of me in line at the pharmacy asked why hummingbirds chase others from the feeders. “They can’t eat that much,” she said. DNA testing found that the average ruby-throated hummingbird is 19% grizzly bear. Hummingbirds cannot be sure there will be enough food to go around, so they protect their sources.

  Jim Knutson of Hartland sent me a photo of spiderwebs galore, highlighted in the morning dew of a lawn. He wondered about the producer’s identity. These flat sheets with a funnel-shaped hideout on one side are the work of a funnel weaver, a spider that waits inside the funnel, ready to seize any insect that stumbles onto the web.

Jerry Viktora of Ellendale, wrote, “Al. We have had a screech owl making lots of racket the last few early mornings. Starts talking about 3 until the sun rises. Hollers about every 2-3 minutes steady. Would think it would get hoarse and slow down after a while. Noisy, yes, but cool. Thoughts.” Eastern screech owls are socially monogamous and generally stay with the same partner for life, with some exceptions, usually involving the need for divorce lawyers. Pairs often use the same tree cavity, old woodpecker hole or nest box for consecutive breeding seasons. Adult screech owls call in the fall to defend territories and to reconnect with mates. Autumn is a secondary peak period for their vocalization when both adult and young owls stake out and defend their home ranges before the harsh winter weather hits. Mated pairs use smooth tremolo "bounce songs" to stay connected, reinforce pair bonds, and confirm boundary ownership. Descending whinnies and barks warn off rivals or intruders encroaching on established territories. Hatch-year owls are learning the ropes. Their calls can sound unprofessional as they practice becoming professional owls.

Thanks for stopping by

  “We are here to witness the creation and to abet it. We are here to notice each thing so each thing gets noticed.”—Annie Dillard.

  "Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—over and over announcing your place in the family of things."–Mary Oliver.

  Do good.

©Al Batt 2026

The common yellowthroat is one of my favorite warblers because it keeps me company all summer. The male sports a black bandit mask, and a yellow throat and belly. I watched this guy searching the undersides of leaves for juicy caterpillars. His song announcing its goodness is “Witchety-witchety-witchety.” The Cornell Lab of Ornithology found that a male can average 125 of these 2-second songs per hour. Photo by Al Batt.

Seen at Fireside Orchard & Gardens near Northfield, Minnesota.

The photos are from the Northfield History Center. Northfield celebrates the Defeat of the James-Younger Gang each year. The leaders of that gang were Frank James and Cole Younger.

Cole Younger was repeatedly pressed to reveal the names of his accomplices, who shot the acting cashier Joseph Lee Heywood, and which members (Frank and Jesse James) managed to escape. He wrote the note above to the sheriff: “Be true to your friends if the heavens fall.”

Hope seen in the seeds of common milkweed.

How many “dees” are you?

Naturally

  A fox squirrel whipped its tail, as though it were feather-dusting a branch. I was a guest in its world. The squirrel barked to warn of a predator or to defend a territory. I thought of another day when I had gone walking down a local road. It was a day with well-behaved weather. A guy pulled up in a snazzy Cadillac. That might have been the make and model—a Cadillac Snazzy. The driver got out. He wore a nice suit and the shiny shoes of somebody in a mob movie. He walked around to the back of the car and opened the trunk. I thought it had been a mob hit. Now I'd be a witness. Witnesses don’t do well in mob movies. Watching “The Sopranos” changes the way a man sees the world.

  “You live here?” the driver said.

  “No!” I said with far too much enthusiasm. No one lived there. There was no livable place there or thereabouts. It was a gravel road. Nobody in the neighborhood lived on a gravel road. They might say they lived on a gravel road, but they didn’t do it without housing of some kind.

  The trunk harbored a live trap. Maybe that is standard equipment on a Cadillac—I don’t know. He pulled the live trap from the trunk. The trap held an agitated gray squirrel as a prisoner.

  “My wife wanted me to get rid of the squirrel. I didn't have the heart to hurt it,” he said as he opened the trap, and the squirrel bolted from it. It didn’t stop and ask for directions before it took off as if it knew where it was going.

  The man put the empty trap back, closed the trunk, and drove away. I walked off in another direction, but not before wishing the squirrel good luck.

  Neither the man nor the squirrel had waved goodbye.

  An addendum to that story: The DNR says you must secure permission from the governing agency or owner of the property before releasing a squirrel. Make sure you check the local laws. And ask the squirrel.

How many “dees” are you?

  Filling the bird feeders is a necessary meditation that brings me peace and joy, but coming back into the house, I have to check the feeders to see which bird was the first to the chow because the suspense was killing me.

  Often the first customer at the feeder is the black-capped chickadee, an optimistic bird of

distinction. Its name is derived from its alarm call, an onomatopoeic chick-a-dee-dee-dee. Black-capped chickadees have a few different calls to indicate various levels of danger. The number of “dees” shows the intensity and proximity of a danger. Their song is a clear, two-to-three-note whistle that drops in pitch from the first note (the "fee") to the second note (the "bee"). At close range, a slight break or inflection in the second note makes the whistle sound like "cheese-burg-er" to some ears.

  Many of the birds have found good travel agents and have flown the proverbial coop. I miss seeing and hearing them each time that happens.

  I encountered my friend, the American toad. It’s a large one that will hibernate by burrowing underground. Leopard and green frogs hibernate underwater. Tree frogs, chorus frogs, spring peepers and wood frogs are terrestrial hibernators because of their natural antifreeze that makes them freeze-tolerant, and they can survive because they become one with winter.

Q&A

  A passenger on the Pelican Breeze, a tour boat I am honored to do narrations on, asked how many times a chipmunk has babies each year. Eastern chipmunks in Minnesota breed twice a year. The first mating season occurs as chipmunks emerge from winter torpor in February to April. Young are born underground about 31 days later in April or May. A second mating period happens from June to August, with the pups born in August or October. The Females give birth to 2 to 7 pups per litter (average 4 to 5). Pups stay underground with the mother for about 6 weeks before appearing above ground, becoming independent at around 2 months of age. Minnesota has two species of chipmunks. The eastern chipmunk is found across the state, and the least chipmunk is restricted to northern Minnesota. The least, as might be expected, is the smaller mammal. In a group photo, the least would be standing in the front row, and the eastern chipmunks in the back row. The Pelican Breeze is a large pontoon that brims with bloviation when I’m aboard. I love the voyagers, the crew and their questions. It’s a love pontoon.

Thanks for stopping by

  A couple of my favorite writers died recently. Here is a quote from each.

  “Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you.”—Annie Dillard.

  “The earth is what we all have in common, what we are made of and what we live on, and what we return to, and what we therefore must protect.”—Wendell Berry.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

The glossy black and orange plumage of the adult male American redstart is stunning. The tiny warbler is seldom still, and “start” comes from an Old English word for “tail.” He flicks his tail open and closed like a fan, flashing patches of bright orange, presumably to flush insect prey from vegetation. They take more flying prey than most warbler species. In Latin America, it’s called candelita, or “little candle.” Photo by Al Batt.

Leaf it to fall.

I’m getting paid peanuts to maintain a birdbath

Naturally

   The morning was eerily quiet. A cold rain had cast a cloak of silence over my world. Then the hush was punctured by the outraged calls of blue jays. They had likely found the perch of a Cooper’s hawk.

  I put out some sunflower seeds because every feeder looks better covered in birds. A chickadee arrived at the feeders shortly thereafter. The tiny bird is an emblem of optimism. My happy kicked in.

  A fledgling goldfinch used a voice sweet enough to be spread on toast, while asking to be fed by its father. I heard its voice and I rejoiced. It spoke goldfinchian, a language I’m not fluent in, but I think the fledgling was saying, “Feed me.” Nature offers an open invitation for meditation and I was reminded of something written by Emily Dickinson, “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all.”

  I crossed paths with a large toad. I love seeing toads in a garden. The toad is a most important predator of slugs, but garter snakes, several species of ground beetles, rove beetles, firefly larvae, wild birds like starlings, robins and other backyard birds, ducks, frogs, shrews, centipedes, ants, millipedes, earwigs, wasps and chickens also eat slugs. I watched an opossum eating a snail one day, so I expect opossums would eat slugs, too.

Q&A

  Lisa Klosterman of Northfield wrote to say that five of the six young trumpeter swans she’d been watching all summer disappeared in one week. They had all seemed active and healthy. The mallards and wood ducks in the same water were thriving. She saw two dead cygnets; one was in the water and one on land. She wondered what could have killed them. I thought of giving Lisa an answer that was so long she wouldn’t have been able to finish it without breaking for a nap and a snack. I’ll give a condensed version. Up to 50% of swan cygnets die within the first three months of life due to natural vulnerabilities. Common predators are foxes, otters, snapping turtles, coyotes, mink, large fish (like northern pike or largemouth bass) and large raptors. Great blue herons could prey upon smaller ones. Cold, wet or stormy weather chills and exhausts small cygnets, leading to hypothermia if they cannot stay warm under the parents' feathers. Bacterial infections, avian illnesses and severe parasite loads impact young waterfowl in crowded or stagnant wetlands, causing them to succumb while on the water. If local water vegetation is sparse or disrupted by invasive species, young cygnets may struggle to get enough nutrition. Toxic chemicals and water pollution pose a lethal threat to cygnets. And sadly, human mischief could be the culprit. My best guess is that they fell victim to lead. Lead sinkers and tackle are a major cause of death for trumpeter swans in Minnesota, accounting for roughly 40% of all documented swan fatalities (according to the DNR). Swans swallow lead sinkers and jigs from lake and marsh bottoms while eating grit or foraging for roots and tubers. One small sinker can be a lethal dose for an adult trumpeter swan. I expect it would require even less to dispatch a cygnet. Lead settles into sediment and remains toxic indefinitely unless buried or removed. The danger spikes during periods of drought because lower water levels expose more lead in the sediment to foraging birds.

  “How many red birds are there in Minnesota?” It could be argued that there is only one redbird—a nickname for the northern cardinal. But there is at least a bit of red on many species, so the answer to your question would depend on how much red makes a bird a red bird. But here’s my list. The northern cardinal tops the list—after all, it is the redbird. Scarlet tanager, summer tanager, house finch, common redpoll, white-winged crossbill, purple finch, pine grosbeak, red crossbill, rose-breasted grosbeak and red-headed woodpecker.

  “I feed peanuts in the shell to the birds. This summer, I found shells in the birdbath. What bird is doing that?” Common grackles, crows and blue jays are known to do that. Dunking or soaking the shells in water softens them, making them easier to crack open and break apart with their bills.

  “Are hummingbird houses worth putting up?” The tiny nest boxes being sold as "hummingbird houses" are decorative at best and a gimmick at its worst. One might be welcomed by someone who collects hummingbird items. Many styles exist, but hummingbirds do not nest in enclosed spaces like this.

Thanks for stopping by

  From the obituary of Stacy Hanning of Armstrong, Iowa: “Stacy requests for everyone to feed the birds, to plant and enjoy watching the beautiful flowers, and TAKE THAT TRIP!”

  "If we save our wild places, we will ultimately save ourselves."—Steve Irwin.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

I took this photo at one of the countless nature centers I have visited through the years. I wish I could remember which one.

I’m guessing the one rock pigeon that perches on the TV antenna is the king of the rock pigeons.

Sadly, a stop sign is always in season.

Maverick Women’s Basketball Standout Joey Batt Named to Kevin Buisman’s 25 for 25

https://msumavericks.com/news/2026/9/30/womens-basketball-maverick-womens-basketball-standout-joey-batt-named-to-kevin-buismans-25-for-25.aspx

It’s 262 feet to the wind turbine’s hub. It takes a big crane to handle the job.

Blue jays are the information booths of the yard

Naturally

  Blue jays, the information booths of the yard, tell everyone what is going on.

  Some leaves tumble to the ground as a fall preview.

  I’ve been enjoying insect sounds. Crickets and katydids rub their forewings together to produce sound. Grasshoppers rub their hind legs against their forewings. Cicadas have a special organ called a tymbal on the side of a male cicada's abdomen that flexes to produce mating calls.

  I was bitten by things that weren’t there. Minute pirate bugs usually cause those tiny, painful bites in September in Minnesota, also called insidious flower bugs. We call them no-see-ums, which is also the name of the slightly smaller biting midges, which are found near bodies of water in June and July. The good news is that pirate bug days are numbered. They disappear with a hard freeze. Minute pirate bugs are tiny, flat, oval insects that are black with a distinct white "X" pattern on their backs. They are beneficial predators of crop pests all summer. In late summer and fall, when farm crops and field plants dry up or are harvested, they run low on food and land on humans for a "test bite." They don’t feed on your blood. Female biting midges bite humans and animals to feed on blood.

  I miss the sound of dickcissels. The dickcissel is one of the last passerine songbirds to arrive in Minnesota during the spring migration. The males, which look like small meadowlarks, sing from late May or early June through August. The vast majority of dickcissels leave by the end of August on their way south to their wintering grounds in Central and South America.

  I watched a beaver waddle in and out of the water. The beaver is a keystone species, which is an organism that helps hold an ecosystem together.

  I saw three blue birds: eastern bluebird, blue jay and indigo bunting. I didn’t see the much less likely-to-be-seen blue grosbeak. Those four species give me the most blue for my look. Other birds show blue: tree swallow, cerulean warbler, black-throated blue warbler, great blue heron and belted kingfisher.

  I tossed an apple core onto my lawn. It received company quickly. Yellowjacket colonies focused on harvesting protein (like caterpillars, flies and spiders) to feed larvae. By September, the queen stops laying eggs, the larvae are gone, and the wasps switch to a sugar diet and aggressively hunt for overripe fruit, sap and human foods like soda and my apple cores. They gather around garbage cans. A yellowjacket nest starts in the spring with a single queen. The population multiplies, and by September, a single nest can contain thousands of wasps.

Q&A

  Kate Crowley of Willow River asked why there was a lack of mosquitoes this summer. It’s due to the dry conditions. The lack of rain and a low spring snowmelt was hard on floodwater mosquitoes, the most common species in Minnesota.

  Micah of Mankato had swarming bees in his yard and asked a series of questions: “How long will they remain where they are before they find a new location? Are there scouts out looking for a new home? Does the queen pick the new location? Is it possible they have found a small cavity in the walnut, and are working on expanding it?” Bees swarm as part of their natural reproductive process. They swarm to reduce overcrowding in the hive and ensure the survival of their species. Insufficient space, food shortages or the age of the queen trigger swarming. If the queen shows signs of weakness or distress, the colony may decide to leave with a new queen. A part of the population, including the queen bee, departs from the original hive. This event leaves behind a smaller group to care for the remaining queen and larvae. The swarm can be seen hanging from a branch or other structure before moving to its new home. They will swarm for a few minutes to a few days. Scout bees search for a hollow cavity for a permanent home. The queen doesn’t do much searching unless it’s online. Honey bees aren’t capable of chewing or boring into sound wood to expand a tree cavity. They don’t chew tunnels, dig or enlarge structural holes. Yellowjackets occasionally use tree cavities, but they don’t create or expand cavities in live or hard wood. They are strictly opportunistic and use pre-existing hollows, such as natural rotted-out wood spaces, abandoned rodent burrows, or old woodpecker holes. Paper wasps scrape thin layers of fiber from weathered wood.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.”—Wendell Berry.

  “Nature is loved by what is best in us.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

It looks nothing like a red-winged blackbird, but it is a red-winged blackbird. It’s a female red-winged blackbird, and she resembles a large sparrow. Both sexes are sharp-billed, but the male has a glossy black plumage with red-and-yellow shoulder epaulets. It looks like a red-winged blackbird should look. This species is sexually dimorphic, meaning males and females have different appearances. The female is considerably smaller than the male. Photo by Al Batt.

It is the season of the yellows

Naturally

  One shadow segued into another. I paused in my walk across a parking lot to watch a flock of circling pelicans that were creating the shadows dancing past me on the pavement. I stared up and then down in wonder and gratitude for the shared moment.

  It’s the season of the yellow. Yellow sunflowers, goldenrods and sulphur butterflies. The fields yellow and tree leaves flash yellow. I see the yellow sulphur butterflies in hay fields (especially alfalfa and clover), prairies, and on roadsides near those habitats. This species has multiple (2-3) broods from May to late October.

  Dragonflies cruised the yard—meadowhawks and green darners. The meadowhawks are the smaller ones, and the darners migrate.

  It’s that time of the year. When no matter how many hummingbirds you have at your feeders, someone else will have considerably more.

  Large flocks of blackbirds gather during September as they prepare to migrate south for the winter. The flocks might include red-winged blackbirds, grackles, starlings and cowbirds.

  Keep an eye out for Bonaparte’s gulls. Bonaparte’s gull is named after the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew, Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a famous ornithologist. The Bonaparte's gull is the only gull species that regularly nests in trees. They breed in Canada and Alaska. At this time of the year, the Bonaparte’s is delicate-looking with a thin black bill and a black smudge behind the eye.

Q&A

  “When do young coyotes become vocal?” Pups are born in dens across Minnesota in April and May. Pups start exploring outside the den in June and July, and begin whining, barking and yipping. Young coyotes develop higher-pitched, adult-like calls and yips from July to October. Young coyotes disperse from their family territory in October to January, leading to vocal activity as they travel and look for new areas. 

  Jennifer, Lily, Duncan and Derek of Pipestone asked how birds drink. Birds don’t have lips, so they cannot suck water up as mammals do. They use different methods. Most common songbirds scoop water with their lower beaks, toss or tilt their heads back, and swallow. They find water in the morning dew on leaves and petals, icicles and snow, and raindrops. Doves and pigeons submerge their bills and use their tongues like a piston to suck water continuously without lifting their heads. Swallows and swifts fly low over a pond or lake, opening their mouths to scoop water on the fly. Hummingbirds get most of their liquid from flower nectar. Birds of prey get most of their water from their meaty meals. Nestlings of many species usually get all their water from their food—chewed up insects or worms, or bits of prey or seeds. The parents sometimes dunk the nestlings’ food in water for extra hydration. Pigeons and doves feed their babies “crop milk,” a wet, lumpy secretion from their digestive system. Some birds drink little water. Sandgrouse, not native to North America, nest in dry places, often miles from water. Sandgrouse fathers have sponge-like belly feathers. They travel to water, soak their feathers, and then fly back home—sometimes 30 miles away—carting up to 15% of their body weight in water. Their babies milk the water from those belly feathers.

  “What is a cobra chicken?” It’s a nickname for the Canada goose, given because of its long neck, fierce hiss and belligerent attitude.

  Jim Muyres of Mankato asked if birds have taste buds. There is more research to be done, but birds have fewer taste buds than we do. While humans have about 9,000 to 10,000 taste buds, most birds have between 20 and 500. Chickens have about 24, pigeons have around 50, and parrots have 300 to 400. The European starling has a phenomenal sense of taste. They can taste salt, sugar, tannins and even citric acid. They can distinguish between table sugar and other kinds of sugars. Penguins can taste only salty and sour flavors. Hummingbirds thrive on nectar, can identify sweet flavors, and detect and measure sugar concentration using specialized taste receptors on their tongues. Vision is significant to songbirds, and they prefer foods that have a notable contrast. Because many birds swallow food whole rather than chewing it, they rely on vision rather than taste to find and choose what they eat. Instead of being clustered on the tongue like in humans, most avian taste buds sit on the roof of the mouth, the floor of the oral cavity, and the back of the throat. A small percentage of a bird's taste buds are on its tongue, and they are found at the back.

Young birds watch and copy adult flock members to discover safe food sources. They also learn by trial and error. If a bird tastes something foul or toxic—like a noxious caterpillar—it quickly learns to reject or spit it out and avoid similar items in the future.

Thanks for stopping by

  “From one thing, know ten thousand things.”―Miyamoto Musashi.

 “When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can't eat money.”—Alanis Obomsawin.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

The most widespread and familiar large hawk in Minnesota is the red-tailed hawk. There is a great deal of individual variation in the plumage of this 2- to 4-pound, 19- to 26-inch-long raptor. Small mammals like mice, voles, squirrels and rabbits make up a large part of its diet. The female is larger than the male. This hawk’s eyesight can be eight times that of a human. They are the mile-marker hawks perched along highways. Photo by Al Batt.

Is your mosquito repellent attracting mosquitoes?

Naturally

  Black-capped chickadees are frequenting my feeders. First, I applauded, and then I declared it a national holiday. They had been the Bigfoot of birds in my yard. No means by their size, but by the lack of documented sightings in my yard all winter and spring. I don’t know where they were, but they weren’t in my yard. I missed them. I thought they had become invisible, but I didn’t hear them. You have to love a tiny bird whose call echoes its name.

  The Journal of Experimental Biology published a study in which researchers found that in the lab, mosquitoes can learn to associate DEET with a blood meal and become attracted to the scent. I can hear a kind reader saying, “I knew it!”

Q&A

  “Do plastic owls keep birds away?” For an abbreviated time, at best. Birds learn quickly. They notice the owl never hunts or changes position. Birds have been seen and photographed perching and nesting on top of plastic owl decoys. I see mallards crowding fake owls on docks. The next time you have an urge to buy a fake owl, give a gift certificate to your mail carrier or subscribe to a newspaper instead. Likewise, fake coyotes keep geese away temporarily, but rarely work as a long-term, standalone solution. Canada geese are smart birds, and once they realize a static decoy never moves, they determine it is harmless and ignore it or walk past it. They leave droppings as evidence of their utter disdain.

  “Are dandelions native?”  They are not. It is believed that early European settlers brought the dandelion to North America aboard the Mayflower in 1620, likely for the plant’s medicinal value. Minnesota dandelions typically bloom from late March to early November. The peak bloom occurs in late April, May and early June. Heather Babcock wrote, “Dandelions are just friendly little weeds who only want to be loved like flowers.”

  “Do smaller raptors migrate before the larger ones?” Smaller raptors like American kestrels and sharp-shinned hawks generally begin their fall migration earlier, starting as early as August. Young and smaller raptors migrate first because they lack hunting skills for wintry weather. They also face a prey shortage. Small species that rely on summer prey like large insects and songbirds find that those diminish in colder weather. Small falcons (American kestrels, merlins) and small accipiters (sharp-shinned hawks) migrate in late August to September. Broad-winged hawks move through in massive flocks called kettles in mid-September. Larger hawks (red-tailed), eagles and rough-legged hawks hit their peak migration in October to November.

  “How long does it take a monarch butterfly to fly to Mexico?” It takes a monarch butterfly about two months to fly south from Minnesota to central Mexico, a distance of around 2,000 to 2,500 miles, at a speed of 50 to 100 miles per day. Their journey begins in late August or early September and ends when they arrive at their wintering grounds in Mexico by late October and early November. They fly during the day and rest in trees at night, riding warm air currents to conserve energy. In September, the adults congregate in large numbers in trees and shrubs, and by the end of October, they have left Minnesota.

  “What eats zebra mussels?” Zebra mussels have a variety of natural predators, including certain diving ducks (scaup, redhead, goldeneye, bufflehead), fish and crayfish. The fish that enjoy delicious zebra mussels include the freshwater drum (sheepshead), smallmouth bass, yellow perch, pumpkinseed and common carp have been observed feeding on zebra mussels. Mallards (a dabbling duck), occasionally eat zebra mussels, likely when the ducks’ food is scarce.

  “I saw two turkeys with one young turkey? What’s going on there?” I saw the same thing—two turkey hens with a lone poult. Turkey hens often join forces to raise young together in a cooperative (daycare) group, even if they have but a single surviving poult left between them. Multiple hens provide more eyes to watch for predators and to protect the young. One hen typically leads the way while the other brings up the rear or remains alert while the others eat. Summer poults face heavy pressure from weather and predators, which can reduce broods to one or two survivors by late summer. Hens that have lost their nests or failed to hatch eggs, occasionally join a mother hen to help chaperone the young.

  “I was mowing the lawn when I detected the fruity aroma of pineapple. It made me hungry. What was I smelling?” It was pineappleweed, a low-growing wild annual herb in the daisy family known for its cone-shaped, petal-less, yellow-green flowers and sweet, pineapple-like scent. It has finely divided, feathery and soft-textured leaves, growing alternately along the stems. Crushed foliage and flowers release a strong, distinct odor reminiscent of pineapple and chamomile. It grows 4 to 16 inches tall but can stay shorter in compacted ground.

Thanks for stopping by

  "Nature is the art of God."—Dante Alighieri.

  “It is an astonishment to be alive, and it behooves you to be astonished.”—John Donne.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

Cooper’s hawks are thriving in suburban and urban backyards. The adults feature blue-gray backs, dark caps, rufous barring on their undersides, red eyes and rounded tails with thick white terminal bands. They are roughly the size of an American crow and exhibit reverse sexual size dimorphism: females are about one-third larger than males. Their primary prey consists of small- to medium-sized birds and small mammals like chipmunks. Coop’s are ambush hunters. Photo by Al Batt.

What is the windshield effect?

Naturally

  I fawned over a falcon—a tiny American kestrel hunting grasshoppers from a utility wire.

  A timid fawn ate fallen crabapples until the flights of a blue jay and a mourning dove frightened it. I heard the comforting hum of a bumble bee, a sound signifying a day of lovely weather.

  A killdeer ran on ahead. Killdeer may produce two broods each year. If they do, the male protects the first brood while the female lays and incubates her eggs. The occasional second brood is most often the result of an earlier effort's failure.

  Woodpecker feet are zygodactyl. Two toes point forward and the other two point backward, providing an excellent grip for climbing trees. Woodpeckers don’t sing, but they are noisy with their calls and drumming.

  I suffered from fly harassment. Stable flies are ankle biters—aggressive, blood-feeding pests that resemble houseflies. They use their bayonet-like mouthparts on my ankles and lower legs, perhaps to avoid being swatted. I hoped aerial predators would chow down on them—things like damselflies and dragonflies, which belong to the insect order Odonata, meaning toothed jaws.

  Common nighthawks migrate through in an erratic, darting and diving flight while actively catching insects on the wing in the late afternoon and evening before sundown.

  Crabgrass turns a reddish-purple on roadsides. The white berries of gray dogwood grow on bright red stems.

  I walked along the edge of a prairie. A friend asked for the identification of a plant. I gave him sage advice. It was white sage.

  White-tailed deer bucks start their new antler growth in May to June, and the antlers are covered in soft velvet. The antlers grow rapidly, reaching full size by late August. The bulk of velvet shedding occurs the first week of September, and by mid-September, most bucks are free of velvet.

  The Labor Day ant, also known as the turfgrass or cornfield ant, has massive mating flights around the first Monday in September. Mature colonies release thousands of winged reproductive males and queens into the air simultaneously during warm late afternoons. Swarming typically peaks near Labor Day. Winged ants emerge en masse in the late afternoon, creating dense clouds over lawns, open fields and golf courses. The ants prefer open, sunny areas where they build small dirt mounds in lawns, turf and along sidewalks. They don’t bite or sting aggressively, nor do they damage structural wood.

Q&A

 “What is the windshield effect?” It’s an observation that drivers are finding fewer dead insects smashed onto their car windshields and bumpers compared to the past. The primary cause of the decline in flying insects hitting vehicles reflects deep environmental changes, driven by pesticides, habitat loss, light pollution and climate change. There is another factor that might contribute to cleaner windshields. Modern cars have more aerodynamic curves that channel airflow, causing insects to travel over the roof rather than slamming into the glass.

  “What eats monarch butterfly caterpillars?” Large monarch caterpillars will cannibalize smaller ones and eat the eggs. Insects like ladybugs, ants and shield bugs (stink bugs) can eat caterpillars. Various spiders and mice prey on monarch caterpillars. Some species of wasps and flies lay their eggs inside or on the caterpillar. When the eggs hatch, the larvae consume the caterpillar from the inside out. Monarch caterpillars are susceptible to various parasitic insects and nematodes.

  “I see more ospreys now than when I was a child. Why?” Ospreys were found throughout Minnesota, but they disappeared from southern Minnesota after World War II due to habitat loss, human persecution and the use of DDT pesticides. There are more ospreys in Minnesota today because of successful conservation programs, the ban on harmful pesticides, reintroduction projects and the construction of artificial nesting platforms.

  “How can I keep bees and wasps away from my hummingbird feeder?” Stop any feeder leaks, clean the outside of the feeder to remove sticky sugar residue, and/or switch to a feeder style with built-in bee guards to restrict insect access.  

  “Do most birds migrate?” About 70% of North American bird species are migratory, with 80% of them migrating at night. Globally, about 20 to 40% of all bird species migrate. That number depends on how migration is defined.

  “When do fawns lose their spots?” Most fawns lose their spots during the first couple of weeks in September. Adult deer transition from their reddish-brown summer coats into their thicker, darker fall coats anywhere from late August to early September. By mid-September, most coat changes are complete.

Thanks for stopping by

  "Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat."–Laura Ingalls Wilder.

  "Fresh air is as good for the mind as for the body. Nature always seems trying to talk to us as if she had some great secret to tell. And so she has."–John Lubbock.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

Canada jay, formerly the gray jay, has many nicknames: camp robber, whiskey jack, lumberjack, moose bird, gorby (meaning glutton) and venison hawk. Whiskey jack is a variation of “wisakedjak,” the name given to a benevolent hero in Cree culture, and camp robber originated with the Tlingit people. The long-tailed, short-billed birds glide silently into a campsite and steal food. They are skilled beggars when thievery doesn’t work. Photo by Al Batt.

The goldfinch called it a “nice feeder”

Naturally

  It’s the time of the dancing butterflies. Monarchs, swallowtails, sulfurs, pearly crescents, painted ladies, red admirals, viceroys, azures, cabbage whites, skippers and others delight the observer.

  The bird had something to say. A peewee whistled his name. I whistled an echo, a right smart one, I thought. The bird wisely ignored it.

  A chipmunk’s chubby cheeks can hold a complete buffet. I’ve read that their cheek pouches can hold as many as 12 acorns, 31 corn kernels or 70 sunflower seeds. I attempted to find the source for those numbers but was unable to. Each pouch extends to about three times as wide as the head. Pouches stretch from the mouth back to the shoulders. Chipmunks empty pouches by using their front paws to push from behind the jaw.

  Sow thistle is a tall dandelion-like flower with leaves that resemble those of thistles.

Kingsyard feeder

  I put up a new feeder and the birds ignore it. What can I do?

  I get that question regularly.

  Here are a few things I hope might be of help.

  First, make sure the feeder is outdoors. That’s important.

  Be certain the seed is good—likable and not musty-smelling. You might change the location of the feeder or place seed nearby in another feeder or on a platform on the ground. If the new feeder replaces an existing feeder, even if only for a brief time, that should hasten acceptance. The birds can be influenced to boycott a feeder by the powerful squirrel lobby wanting the food reserved for those with bushy tails. Your patience gives the birds time to make a discovery.

  I put my advice to the test, thanks to the good folks at Kingsyard (Kingsyard.com), who gifted me with a fine dining hall for my avian amigos. It wasn’t even my birthday.

  It took me seconds to put it together. Yay, me!

  I have favorite bird feeders. It’s a trait of many men to like inanimate objects. My father had a Barlow jackknife that kept him company; I have bird feeders. This one uses recycled materials in a platform feeder with a dome to deter squirrels. The dome is adjustable to tailor access for the size of birds preferred as customers. I like common grackles, but not everyone does. Grackles did not create social media. That was the work of the dodo, and you know what happened to it. Forgive me for veering from the subject at hand. This feeder would certainly frustrate grackles.

 I put the feeder on a baffled shepherd’s hook and waited. The birds didn’t flock to it. Birds can be neophobic, showing a fear of new things. It takes time for birds to trust a new feeder and food source. They are like the cowboy in a movie, who when he saw his first car, said, “I don’t trust them newfangled contraptions.” 

  So, the birds approached the new feeder with trepidation. Three juvenile blue jays suspected the new feeder was either a boogeyman or a Bugatti, and made numerous attempts to land on it. All were epic failures.

  I put the feeder to bed for the night. I needed to move it indoors to impede the onslaught of those rascally raccoons who easily outsmart my other ideas to keep them at bay.

  I put the feeder back up early the next morning. It was August–not prime bird-feeding time, but the birds still feed in the coolest parts of the day.

  The first bird to come to the feeder on the second day was a goldfinch. It was a golden ray of sunshine. I expected a chickadee. The first bird that comes after a Cooper’s hawk has made an appearance, seems to always be a black-capped chickadee. Its presence is an all-clear signal to the other birds.

  An avalanche of birds soon followed—rose-breasted grosbeaks, northern cardinals, white-breasted nuthatches, house finches, chickadees and more goldfinches.

  A goldfinch was the last bird to feed at the trough on the second day, feasting late into the night.

  As it flew away, its flight call was in air quotes. I think it was saying, “Nice feeder.”

 I had purchased a high-quality suet feeder from Kingsyard a couple of years ago. It’s been a faithful friend to many a woodpecker and a surprising number of other species.

 In my boyhood, there were bluebird days with cloudless skies. There were cardinal days, too. On our farm, we didn’t see that many cardinals. When we saw one, it was reason for celebration. There would be pie.

  I’m still wonderstruck when I see a cardinal. It’s a jubilation without pie.

 The new yard attraction is a bustling keeper. Cardinals gave it their approval.

https://www.kingsyard.com

Thanks for stopping by

  "Nature is not a place to visit, it is home."–Gary Snyder.

  "What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?"–E.M. Forster.

 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

Do birds need bird feeders? Not as much as I do,  even though studies have shown that feeders can aid bird survival. A feeder offers a connection to nature. It brings joy and beauty into our lives. It takes us out of ourselves. And, squirrels aside, it has a calming effect on us. We all need that. Photo by Al Batt.

A 1968 Subaru 360.

An unintentional selfie. It’s the only way I could fit into the tiny car.

The Subaru Brat was produced 1978-1987.

The Brat’s spare tire was easy to find.

There’s a butterfly on my foot and it’s not a tattoo

  It’s another day

 Goal achieved.

  I enjoy going places and seeing things. That was part of the reason I went out onto the deck of our home, but the primary reason was to fill the birdbath with water. I do that faithfully.

 Before I could pour a drop of water, a northern house wren, a tiny bird whose name is bigger than it is, yelled at me. I don’t believe he was shouting encouragement. His nest box was near the deck, and he had sized me up as an unsavory character. He had a mouth on him. His harsh, chattering scold was loud and constant, which was an amazing feat, as he had a large green caterpillar in his bill. It was Purina Wren Chow being delivered to his nestlings.

 Despite the wren, I stood on the deck filling the bird water park. It had been a mere birdbath until I went all uppity.

 On that warm August day, a painted lady butterfly, as big as a minute, landed on my barefoot, obviously attracted by the flowery aroma. It was a social butterfly. It had seen many things in its brief life, but nothing like my foot.

  Why was I barefoot? My bowling shoes were in the wash.

  I was pleased to have a butterfly on my big toe. I wouldn’t have been pleased to have a bear with an impacted tooth or a bison with a hoof cramp perched on my big toe, but a butterfly was all good. I was thrilled to discover my big toe had a use other than finding furniture in the dark.

 The painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui to its close friends, has the widest global distribution of any butterfly species. Its scientific name, Vanessa cardui, means butterfly of thistle. When I was a precocious little boy, I called the insect a thistle butterfly because the thistle was a food preference of its caterpillar.

 I had a painted lady butterfly on my big toe. The left one had become a gaudy spectacle. Cool beans! 

 I remained motionless for the longest time, waiting for the butterfly to leave. I didn’t have my phone with me, or I’d have taken a selfie of my foot with a butterfly on it. I hoped it would check out my other big toe.

 I didn’t want to walk away and disturb the butterfly in its repose. Who knows what kind of day it had been having? It needed a break.

  It wasn’t whale watching, but I felt honored by the butterfly’s company. And it’s not like a facial tissue feels honored. It was the good kind of honored.

 I’m a deep thinker—one of those deep thinkers who stays in the shallow end.

 During a deep thought, I determined you can’t spell fun without one of the letters in foot. Now that’s deep.

 I had important things to do. Vital chores. Things like shaking crumbs out of a toaster. Those crumbs don’t shake themselves.

  A butterfly has been called a flying flower. A day can give you flowers in many ways.

  The lovely painted lady was a philosophy class on my big toe. I took a philosophy class once. All I remember about it was that I spent most of my time wondering why I was taking a philosophy class.

  We hurry around. It’s difficult to slow down. Each time I travel a freeway, I’m reminded that speeding tickets haven’t slowed drivers.

 To find yourself, you must lose yourself. Somebody said that before the invention of the GPS. I’ll bet it was someone with a butterfly on their big toe—the left one.

 The butterfly was a reminder to slow down and appreciate the present. It was a lesson in mindfulness.

 Yogi Berra said, “You can see a lot just by looking.”

  I’m not going to put my feet up and take it easy, but I am going to spend more time contemplating my big toes.

 Take a good look at your big toe. It doesn’t matter which big toe it is. If you have two or three of them, pick one. You never know what you might see. 

 Could I sense the butterfly on my big toe? It wasn’t wearing steel-toe work boots, but I did feel it. I’d had recent heart surgery. I felt that butterfly’s presence in my repaired ticker. That was a wonderful thing.

 The Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. 

 My wife must have texted him.

©️Al Batt 2026

Photo of painted lady by Al Batt.

My taste buds danced the Argentine Tango.

Naturally

 Acorns fell. Several missed me.

 Sweet corn continues to make my taste buds dance the Argentine Tango.

  It’s the time of the asters, goldenrods and sunflowers. Fall’s tip of the spear.

  Wild cucumber is a native, aggressive annual vine characterized by star-shaped leaves, fragrant greenish-white star-shaped flowers, and spiny, bladder-like seed pods. Its branching stems grow to 25 feet long using tendrils to climb shrubs and trees in an attempt to cover the world.

  White snakeroot blooms in shady areas throughout much of Minnesota. The plants are up to 4 feet tall with clusters of small white flowers and serrated leaves tapering to a point. This native perennial is toxic to cattle, horses, goats, sheep and pigs if they eat the plants. It’s believed that Abraham Lincoln's mother died of milk sickness or “the slows” from drinking milk from a cow that had fed on white snakeroot. Commercial milk is diluted with the milk from countless cows before going on sale to consumers, making milk sickness uncommon today.

  Curly dock is a common perennial, also known as curled, yellow or sour dock, with tall flower stalks that turn a rusty-brown color as they mature and are noticeable in road ditches. They resemble well-used pipe cleaners.

  I’d been cracking nuts on the deck. They were tasty. A chipmunk watched me from what he thought was a secret location. I tossed my least favorite of the mix, a Brazil nut, its way. It scared the chipmunk. It squeaked and made a getaway, but soon returned, picked up the big nut, sniffed it, nibbled on the shell, and tossed it aside.

  An osprey's slitted nostril is unusual as most birds of prey have round nostrils. Osprey nostrils close during underwater dives so water doesn't enter the nasal cavities—acting like nose plugs. Ospreys have white feet with black talons.

  Higgly, piggly, poo. No bird is more beautiful than you. Two eastern screech owls took baths in our birdbath during the night. They hunted from a perch on a shepherd’s hook, snapping flying moths from the air, and diving into foliage to pluck insects.

Q&A

  “You pointed out some hover flies at Hofmann Apiaries. How can I tell them from wasps or bees?” Syrphid flies (aka hover flies, flower flies, corn flies, helicopter flies, and incorrectly called sweat bees) resemble bees and wasps with yellow, orange and black markings. They are often seen around flowers. Syrphid flies can hover; bees and wasps cannot. Flies have one pair of wings, while bees and wasps have two pairs. As a boy, I heard “two wings fun, four wings run.” Syrphid flies have short antennae, while bees and wasps have longer, elbowed antennae. Hover flies have enormous eyes that take up much of their heads. Wasps and bees have much smaller eyes. Hover flies are attracted to us because of the water from sweat, and the salt on our skin. Hover flies are underrated pollinators. Bees and wasps can sting, flies cannot, but that’s not the best way to decide an identity.

  “Are sycamore trees native to Minnesota?” American sycamores aren’t native to Minnesota but can be planted and found growing here. It’s native to the southeastern two-thirds of Iowa.

  “How can I tell Canada thistle from bull thistle?” Neither thistle is native. Canada thistle is a rhizomatous perennial that reproduces at the rhizome nodes and via seed dispersal in the wind. Bull thistle is a biennial that spends its first year as a basal rosette, followed by a second-year reproductive phase. It reproduces via windblown seed dispersal. Canada thistle has smooth, spineless and grooved stems, whereas the meaner-looking bull thistle features heavy, hairy stems with prominent, spiny green "wings" on them.

  “What are sea mice?” A sea mouse is any of a genus of marine worms of the class Polychaeta, named for their mouselike appearance. The harlequin duck is a brilliantly marked sea duck, nicknamed "sea mouse" because of its mouselike squeaks.

  “When are raccoons born and how long do the kits stay with their mothers? If I live-trap them once they become independent, what could I use for bait?” They (2 to 6 of them) are born in April-June. President Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge kept a pet raccoon named Rebecca that had been sent to the White House in 1926 from Mississippi, intended to be slaughtered and served for the presidential Thanksgiving dinner. The raccoon received a presidential pardon and lived as a pampered pet. The trash-talking trash pandas are suckers for sardines and marshmallows.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Experiencing the present purely is being emptied and hollow; you catch grace as a man fills his cup under a waterfall.”—Annie Dillard.

  “Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart.”—Robin Wall Kimmerer.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

It has been suggested that dreaming of bluebirds represents happiness, joy, fulfillment, hope, prosperity, good luck and a life free of foot cramps. I suggested the cramps part. The eastern bluebird is the state bird in Missouri and New York. Their feathers aren’t blue. Structures in the feathers scatter light, making them look blue. Its population dropped by nearly 90% during the mid-20th century due to invasive species, habitat changes and pesticide use. Photo by Al Batt.

Red sunflower.

Spiny spiderflower.

In Henderson, Minnesota.

Caw and disorder

Naturally

  There was a cacophony of crows—caw and disorder—after they had discovered the daytime roost of an owl. They performed the corvid opera with equal amounts of outrage and glee, hoping a TV news team in search of a scoop worthy of an Emmy would magically appear. The collective noun for crows is a murder. Its cousin, the raven, was stuck with an unkindness or a conspiracy. Unfair but memorable names.

  Birds are nature’s music, but much of the day’s sounds other than the crow voices were the begging of young birds. The young of the year need to be on constant alert. They are nature’s chicken fingers.

  The little opossum drank at our yard’s water park for birds. I think the animal is lovely, but not everyone agrees with me. I think most people would say it’s a member of the family of animals that are nearly cute.

  I could never see as many monarch butterflies as I’d like. I’m glad other butterflies, bees, sphinx moths and hummingbirds fill some of the vacant spaces. A Mayan legend says the hummingbird is the sun in disguise, and is trying to court a beautiful woman, who is the moon.

  We’re told we can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. That’s unless it's fruit flies. Apple cider vinegar attracts fruit flies far better than honey does. Fruit flies love the sour smell of rotting fruit and vinegar.

Q&A

  Donna Swenson of Waseca had been seeing hummingbirds, and then they were gone. She wondered why they had disappeared. In Minnesota, ruby-throated hummingbird eggs typically hatch in late June to early July, and the young fledge 18 to 22 days after hatching, which usually happens from mid-to-late July through early August. The mother hunts for tiny spiders and small insects like gnats, aphids and fruit flies to provide her nestlings with a high-protein mix of regurgitated goodies. There is a noticeable spike in hummingbird numbers at backyard feeders during mid-to-late August when the fledglings join adults to fuel up for the migration.

  “Were birds used as omens?” Yes. For instance, in ancient Rome an official called an auspex or augur looked for omens by observing birds: how they flew, called or fed, which could decide whether an army marched or an election took place.

  “My wife and I were watching birds near a lake. What is an easy way to tell ring-billed gulls from herring gulls? And bald eagles from turkey vultures when they’re soaring?” As summer breeding adults, the ring-billed gull is the most observed gull species. It has a ring on its bill and yellow feet. Herring gulls are substantially larger and have pink feet. Turkey vultures teeter from side-to-side while soaring, holding their wings above their body in a dihedral) V-shape). Bald eagles hold their wings flat and level.

  Eric Annexstad of St. Peter wrote, “A question I ponder whenever we go through a long, hot-dry spell. Where do the squirrels and other animals get water to survive? There aren’t any drainage ditches or ponds nearby.” Squirrels and other animals get water from natural sources like streams and puddles, moisture in their food, and morning dew. Squirrels in other places and/or during different times find water in natural locations rivers, creeks, ponds, lakes and rain puddles. They find water in tree hollows and natural rock depressions, and on tree leaves. Also in fresh grass, green leaves, sap, fungi, berries, garden crops like tomatoes and insects. Carnivores get most of their hydration directly from the body fluids of their prey. Squirrels drink from birdbaths, garden fountains and decorative ponds and water bowls meant for pets. I have received photos from kind readers showing squirrels drinking from public drinking water fountains—called bubblers in some parts of the country. On one busy day, our birdbath was patronized by birds, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, opossums and a deer, all intent on staying properly hydrated.

  Ken Nelson of Clarks Grove asked how long coyotes have been in Minnesota. Coyotes have been present in Minnesota for a long time, as they are native to our pre-settlement prairie ecosystems. While their numbers in the southern agricultural areas fluctuated and shifted toward the northern forests as the landscape changed, archaeological and paleontological evidence shows that coyotes lived in parts of Minnesota long before European settlement. As southern prairies were converted to farmland and large predators were displaced or managed, coyotes adapted by moving deeper into the state's forested regions and, into suburban and urban metro environments.

Thanks for stopping by

  “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”―Paul Simon.

  “Yes, 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 be wrong? A good day from morning till night.”—Peggy Lee.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

The word "nuthatch" comes from Middle English, combining the words nut and a corruption of hack. The cute white-breasted nuthatch could be named the white-breasted nuthack. A nuthatch takes a seed or nut, wedges it tightly into a crack in tree bark, and hits it with its sharp bill to open it. A nuthatch's foot has one toe facing backward and three toes forward, which aids in clinging upside down. Photo by Al Batt.

The water park for birds was busy

Naturally

  The day needed more shade.

  The bird water park (birdbath) on the deck was experiencing long lines.

  A blue jay was jaysplaining something to another bird. The jay is one of 1,161 species of birds on the official American Birding Association (ABA) Checklist. The total represents all native and accepted exotic birds documented in the ABA Area, which covers Canada, the 49 continental United States, the Hawaiian Islands and adjacent waters.

  Common mullein and evening primrose show yellow flowers on tall stalks. Yellow sweet clover and white sweet clover are tall and leggy. Wild parsnip resembles a robust dill plant. It has flat disks of yellow flowers and can be troublesome. The combination of sunlight, parsnip sap and sweat can lead to blistered skin. Tall meadow rue looks as much like a white cloud as it does a lofty plant.

  Lots of purslane and campion this year. Bindweed, looking like morning glory, blooms. Bindweed has leaves shaped like arrowheads. Morning glory leaves are heart-shaped. Blue vervain blooms. The Iroquois used mashed vervain as a remedy to deter obnoxious or troublesome individuals. Birdsfoot trefoil continues to yellow our road edges.

Q&A

  “How can I tell native honeysuckles from invasive honeysuckles?” Invasive bush honeysuckles (like Amur and Tatarian) can be identified by their hollow brown stem centers (pith). Native honeysuckles have solid stems.

  “How could I trap earwigs?” The University of Minnesota Extension suggests placing old tuna cans baited with fish oil or vegetable oil. Set the cans out in the evening in areas where you’ve seen earwigs. In the morning, shake the traps over a pail of soapy water.

  “Are there more cicada killer wasps than there used to be?” Cicada killer wasps, which appear in Minnesota from late June to early September, have become increasingly common. Their population fluctuates directly with the availability of their primary prey: cicadas. While males dive-bomb, they are harmless, and the docile females rarely sting. Cicada killers prefer dry, bare soil. Watering and mulching can deter the wasps.

  “Are wild turkeys found in every county?” Wild turkeys have been seen in all 87 counties in Minnesota and all 99 in Iowa. They thrive in areas with a rich mixture of timber and agriculture.

  “What can I do to attract cardinals to my feeders?” Their favorite is black oil sunflower seed. They also eat unsalted peanuts, cracked corn, dried fruit and safflower seeds. Cardinals prefer large, sturdy tray or platform feeders in a sheltered area near dense shrubs, allowing them a safe place to retreat.

  “Why are bee numbers dropping?” Bee populations are declining due to a complex mix of habitat destruction, parasitic mites, pesticide use, and climate change. These stressors—referred to as the "four P's" (Pests, Pathogens, Poor nutrition, and Pesticides)—compromise bees' immune systems and make them unable to survive winters or forage effectively. And ag fields have become cleaner—fewer weeds.

  “How do bumblebees survive the winter?” Unlike honeybees, bumblebee colonies don’t survive. The old colony dies off, and only the newly mated queens survive by going into a dormant state of hibernation, spending the winter underground or buried in deep leaf litter.

  “Why don’t I see tumbleweeds?” It’s because they see you first. Tumbleweeds aren't common in Minnesota because they need arid, barren and disturbed environments similar to the deserts of the American West to thrive. Minnesota’s climate is too wet and densely vegetated for these invasive plants to establish and compete with native flora. Tumbleweeds (Russian thistle) are meant to survive droughts. Bare, overgrazed or eroded ground combined with high winds and unobstructed, flat plains allow the plants to travel and drop up to 250,000 seeds per plant. A relative called kochia grows in the dry, flat plains of western Minnesota and the Dakotas, and becomes a tumbleweed, but don’t expect to see a great tumbleweed drive reminiscent of those done by cowboys on horseback in the Old West. Those drives might have been with a herd of cattle instead of a herd of tumbleweeds, but I wasn’t there.

  “Do purple martins really eat 2,000 mosquitoes a day?” Purple martins were widely promoted to eat 2,000 to 10,000 mosquitoes per day. It was balderdash popularized by martin house manufacturers in the mid-20th century to boost sales. Studies of their stomach contents show that mosquitoes make up less than 3% of a purple martin's diet. These birds are daytime feeders that fly at high altitudes, whereas most mosquitoes swarm at dawn and dusk closer to the ground. Martins eat larger flying insects like dragonflies, damselflies, midges and Japanese beetles. Dragonflies are mosquito hawks. Purple martins eat dragonflies that eat mosquitoes. Martins do eat mosquitoes, but they get them secondhand.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence, and nothing too much.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson.

  “Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.”—Anatole France.

  Do good.

  ©️Al Batt 2026

I walked merrily in the company of painted ladies—the insect kind. They fluttered about me and made delightful company on a July day. The painted lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world, found on every continent except Antarctica and Australia. They are sometimes called “thistle butterflies” and the host plants feeding the caterpillars include thistles, hollyhocks, sunflowers, mallows and burdock. Photo by Al Batt.

Here are some scenes from the wonderful Bee Bash 4.0 at Hofmann Apiaries near Janesville, Minnesota. I’d add that The Pollen Car is talented Terry’s only vehicle and she drives it regularly.

Is the earwig causing the political insanity?

Naturally

  The cat perches at the window and watches the fireflies blinking outside. It’s wonderful entertainment for humans, too.

  The next morning, the cat was at the same window to see the light outshine the darkness. Each day is a grand adventure.

  A bird lands on the feeder—it looks left, and it looks right. It repeats that again before feeding. It wants to make sure the coast is clear.

  The American kestrel is frequently called the sparrow hawk (it’s a falcon), sometimes the grasshopper hawk (it eats large insects) or a windhover. Windhover is inspired by its ability to hover while hunting. Killy hawk is a colloquial name based on its vocalization. Rusty-crowned falcon references its distinct reddish head markings. During migration over Hawk Ridge, kestrels catch dragonflies on the wing and eat them as they fly. Dragonflies aren’t fast food. They’re not-fast- enough food.

  A young blue jay pinched a sunflower seed between its toes on a feeder’s flat surface, then used its bill to hammer and chisel the shell open. I wonder if it ever hits a toe with its heavy bill as a neophyte do-it-yourselfer might hit his thumb with a hammer? When an adult blue jay nears, the young jay drops the seed and begs to be fed.

  The basswood trees were buzzing. American basswood, also known as the American linden, typically blooms in June across Minnesota, with flowering from late May to early July depending on the spring. Peak fragrance (sweet and perfumed) and nectar production occur mid-to-late June, lasting about two weeks. The buzzing came from honeybees and bumblebees.

Q&A

  “I’m seeing earwigs. What mischief are they up to?” Earwigs seek out damp, shaded environments, which act as refuges during the day. Because they thrive in humid conditions, lush gardens and yards with overgrown vegetation, heavy organic mulches and decaying debris are prime habitats. It’s a myth that earwigs crawl into the ears of sleeping people and bore into their brains to cause insanity. They did not create social media. Earwigs feed on a wide range of food sources. They eat aphids, mites and insect eggs. They also eat small holes into plant leaves and flowers during the night. Earwigs may feed on corn silk.

  “What do bluebirds feed their nestlings?” Eastern bluebirds feed them a diet consisting almost entirely of protein-rich insects. Caterpillars are the favorite. They also feed them grasshoppers, crickets, spiders and beetles, with both male and female bluebirds sharing the feeding duties. Caterpillars are good because they’re soft, easy to digest, and are packed with protein, fats and carotenoids that boost the immune system.

  “Where do mallards nest?” Mallards primarily nest on the ground in a shallow depression concealed by overhanging vegetation—tall grass, shrubs or brush—but they are adaptable and will readily nest in urban areas inside flowerpots, under building foundations, or even on elevated balconies and rooftops. They also nest in marshes, wet meadows, grasslands, ag fields and golf courses, where they might use tree cavities or muskrat houses.

  Dean Muesing asked if screech owls use nest boxes. I have had good luck with them. Place the box 10 to 30 feet high on a sturdy tree or pole. Use a metal predator guard to keep squirrels and raccoons away. Locate the box at the edge of a wooded area or near open fields. Face the box south or east and ensure there is a clear flight path and nearby branches for the owlets. Add 2 to 3 inches of dry leaves or wood shavings (avoid sawdust) to the bottom.

 “Why haven’t I seen Canada geese this summer?” It’s because they are molting. From mid-June through July, geese lose their flight feathers, becoming flightless. To avoid predators, they move into heavy vegetation near water, abandoning local parks and lawns. This temporary grounding lasts roughly 4 to 6 weeks until they’re capable of flight again in late July or early August. The goslings can fly at about 10 weeks of age. Some non-breeding resident geese undergo molt migrations, where they fly north to favored areas before shedding feathers.

  “What trees do sapsuckers use?” Yellow-bellied sapsuckers target many species of trees, favoring those with thin bark and high sap-sugar content, such as maple, birch, aspen, basswood and fruit trees (apple, cherry, and plum), and stressed or diseased trees, as their softer, rotting interior makes it easier to excavate. Their signature sap wells are horizontal, or lattice-like rows of small holes drilled into the bark to access the tree's sweet sap. Sap wells become a foraging spot for insects and migrating ruby-throated hummingbirds.

Thanks for stopping by

  “We can never sneer at the stars, mock the dawn, or scoff at the totality of being.”—Abraham Joshua Heschel.

  “The secret to living well and longer is…Eat half. Walk double. Laugh triple. And love without measure.”—Tibetan proverb.

  Do good.

©Al Batt 2026

A fledgling eastern screech owl is a fluffy, pop-can-sized pile of feathers that left the nest at around 28 days old. It resembles a stuffed animal you might win at a county fair by knocking down milk bottles with a ball. They spend several weeks perched on branches while being fed by their parents. Fledglings make begging calls to signal hunger. Parents respond with soft contact calls and trills to guide the young to food drops. Photo by Al Batt.

An adult eastern screech owl gives a hoot when it’s alarmed or annoyed. Photo by Al Batt.

A firefly. A lightning bug. I love them. They use their blinkers. A lesson for all of us who drive. Photo by Al Batt.

If this isn't nice, what is?

Naturally

  Birdsong. Stick it in your ear. I was in for an earful.

  Birds are a delightful way to listen to the world. An indigo bunting sang on a stuffy day. It was as hot and humid as your grandmother’s attic. My father called this lovely bird the blue canary. They are relentless singers on steaming days when many other birds become shut-mouthed.

  I enjoy seeing sulfur butterflies, lovely yellow to orange insects. They rarely land with their wings open. The caterpillars feed on white clover, sweet clover, alfalfa, bird’s-foot trefoil and vetches.

  Black-eyed and brown-eyed Susans bloom. Black-eyed are the more compact of the two and are more common. Swamp milkweed, with rosy-purple flowers, and butterfly weed, with orange to yellow flowers, bloom in road ditches.

If this isn't nice, what is?

  I watched a male Baltimore oriole feeding two fledglings in a small tree. He hunted caterpillars, plucking them from the leaves and feeding them to the wide-open beaks of his begging, fluttering-winged, precious progeny. The two youngsters were learning. They searched the leaves for caterpillars, but they weren’t good at finding them. They are sweet birds, but if I were a caterpillar, I’d consider them Oriolenators.

  As I watched the oriole perform his fatherly duties with great gusto, I thought of something one of my favorite writers, Kurt Vonnegut, had written in “If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young.”

  Here is Vonnegut leaning one word against another, “My Uncle Alex, who is up in Heaven now, one of the things he found objectionable about human beings was that they so rarely noticed it when times were sweet. We could be drinking lemonade in the shade of an apple tree in the summertime, and Uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, “If this isn't nice, what is?’ So I hope that you will do the same for the rest of your lives. When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, ‘If this isn't nice, what is?’”

Mosquito miseries

  I know. I walk in the wrong places at the wrong times of the day. I go to where the mosquitoes lie in wait. If you do that, there is a good chance of being bitten by a skeeter. I realize that visiting shadowy locations at crepuscular times is a recipe for becoming lunch. A bite would be ruled incidental contact in basketball, but my walks aren’t basketball games. I walk faster and meet faster mosquitoes. For the mosquitoes, it was love at first bite. Minnesota has around 51 species of mosquitoes. Around? Some species are reluctant to admit they are here. Iowa has 56 to 60 species, Wisconsin has at least 56, South Dakota has over 20, and North Dakota finds room for 38 to 43 species. It could be worse. Texas has 85 species and Florida has 80. It could be even worse than that. The mosquitoes could be the size of bald eagles. Male mosquitoes feed only on plant juices, such as nectar, to get the sugar they need for energy and survival. Females need protein from blood for the development of their eggs. To get this blood, females seek and bite hosts. Male mosquitoes are pollinators, and both sexes serve as food sources for wildlife. I have eaten my share of mosquitoes—none on purpose. They need ketchup.

Q&A

  “Do all spiders in Minnesota have fangs?” Spiders have chelicerae (mouthparts) with fangs that inject venom into their prey. All spiders in Minnesota have fangs. Almost all native Minnesota spiders have fangs that are too short to pierce human skin, and none are considered dangerously venomous. We have something that resembles a spider in Minnesota and lacks fangs, but it isn't a spider. It’s a harvestman, more commonly known as a daddy longlegs, a different type of arachnid. Harvestmen don’t have venom or the ability to produce silk. Minnesota has no established, self-sustaining breeding populations of medically significant venomous spiders.

  “I see a grackle in my yard with a couple of white feathers. What’s going on?” That makes the oft-maligned common grackle even lovelier. Leucism isn’t a genetic mutation, but it is a defect in pigment cells during development that causes birds to show irregular patches of white. Age or injury could also be a cause.

  “I’ve heard that deer won’t eat milkweed plants. Is that true?” I believe that deer will eat about anything if they are hungry enough. Milkweed is considered deer-resistant because of its bitter, sticky sap. That doesn't mean it’s deer-proof. Hungry deer will occasionally browse on the young, tender growth of milkweed plants, especially when other food is scarce.

Thanks for stopping by

  “What is called discretion in men is called cunning in animals.”—Jean de la Fontaine.

  "Nature is an open book for those who care to read."—John Weaver.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

A first-year American robin has prominent dark speckles on its chest and sides, with pale, mottled markings on the face and wings. The back is a mottled gray. Faint orange or rust may be on the sides, abdomen and chest. There once was a Crayola Crayon color called “Robin’s Egg Blue.” The Rockin’ Robin is the state bird of Wisconsin, Michigan and Connecticut. Photo by Al Batt.

Bent Tree Wind Farm gave me these numbers. The wind turbine hub height is 262 feet, the extended propeller tip is about 400 feet, and the crane is nearly 400 feet high. Photo by Al Batt.

He was good at many things. Spelling was not one of them. From the wayback of New Richland, Minnesota.

Oh, deer! Oh, deer! Oh, deer! Photo by Al Batt

What bird is pooping in our swimming pool?

Naturally

  It was on the beautiful side of a beautiful day. Birds gave voice to the trees and grasses, making the plants sing.

  Barn swallows demonstrated their mastery of the air. I watched as a goldfinch landed on the stem of a puffball of a dandelion. Birds are a wonderful way to look at the world.

  A kingbird chased a turkey vulture away; the tenacity of the smaller bird made up for the difference in weight class.

  The birdbath was as busy as a free carnival. It’s low-budget bird feeding without the feeding.

  A male house wren chased another male that had been sunbathing on the roof of a nest box. After the victory, the angry little wren burst into song, still hoping a female might cause him to pull down the vacancy sign. He took additional time to roust a least flycatcher and a chipmunk that had gotten too close for the wren’s comfort.

  A few rock doves were feeding on the ground at the end of a cornfield. Akbar the Great might sound like a pro wrestler, but he was the ruler of the Mughal Empire in the 16th Century, and Akbar kept over 20,000 pigeons. Pigeon flying was a popular sport at the Mughal court.

  I see staghorn and smooth sumac. Staghorn sumac has hair-like growths on its twigs, like velvet on antlers. Smooth sumac doesn’t have that. Both grow in wooded edges and roadsides where they can get enough sunlight. Clusters of greenish-yellow flowers form compact groups of hairy red fruits, which birds eat, particularly during the winter.

  I found a spot where a woodchuck had been digging. It made me wonder. How much ground could a groundhog hog if a groundhog could hog ground?

  After 10 on the night of July 4, I went for a walk. There were fireflies, fireworks, lightning, thunder and the odd sounds of screech owls. It was a fine walk.

iNaturalist

  Based on citizen science data from Minnesota’s iNaturalist portal, the top 10 most recorded species are the common eastern bumble bee, white-tailed deer, common milkweed, American robin, monarch butterfly, mallard, wild bergamot, blue jay, common garter snake and northern cardinal.

Q&A

  “How can I tell if a baby bunny is independent and not in need of saving?” You can tell if an eastern cottontail rabbit is old enough to be on its own if it is roughly the size of a softball, has its eyes open, its ears upright, and is fully furred.

  “What bird is pooping in our swimming pool?” Our yards are perfect grackle nesting habitat. Grackles drop droppings on birdbaths, swimming pools, tennis courts, trampolines, wet pavement and shiny cars. It’s innate behavior. We all have a set of rules we live by. Nestling grackles leave their fecal matter, mostly white, in tiny fecal sacs. That’s right, tiny sandwich bags of poop without a zip lock. They do that because it’s difficult to find grackle-sized diapers. A caring parent wants to hide the nest from predators, so it grabs a fecal sac in its bill and drops it into water, thereby destroying the evidence. Then it flies off to buy breath mints and mouthwash. One year, grackles thought our garage door was Lake Superior. They bombarded the door with unerring accuracy. There was an abundance of grackle poop, as a diet of caterpillars and beetles rushes through a birdling’s system. There may have been a gob of it, but I’m not sure how much a gob is. It wasn’t a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” or Wile E. Coyote being humiliated by the Road Runner once again. A truce was imminent. The nestlings would move out and head to Grackle State College soon. A friend told me he’d put a plastic owl out hoping it would discourage grackle bombing visits. The grackles targeted it, and the owl was whitewashed. I didn’t become exorcised by the birds’ remarkable marksmanship. They weren’t threatening me. I didn’t wake up with a plastic owl’s severed head in my bed. Your car has likely been pooped on. A car is a porta–potty for grackles. It’s a good idea to get the droppings off your vehicle promptly. A body shop guy said WD-40 is good for removing avian exhaust from a car’s exterior.

Thanks for stopping by

  “I’ve long maintained that the American lawn is one of the greatest mass brainwashings of all time. How we all voluntarily signed up to spend untold hours growing and cutting a nonnative monoculture of green which we lace with poisons to kill plants and insects never ceases to amaze.”—Bill Heavey, editor-at-large for Field & Stream.

  “And the fox said to the little prince: men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”—Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026       

A sideshow barker at a county fair of my youth might have yelled, “Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Gather ’round and feast your eyes on the greatest mystery of the modern age! For just one thin dollar—a single Washington—you can pass beneath the velvet curtain and witness sights that boggle the mind and stagger the imagination! The world’s largest mosquito.” This is no gargantuan skeeter. It’s a harmless crane fly. Photo by Al Batt.

A birdhouse gourd.

Was Merlin named after the merlin or was the merlin named after Merlin?

Naturally

  The robin is an impressive bird. Its daytime caroling begins in the early morning. The Blackfeet viewed the robin as a symbol of peace, and a camp location was considered to be safe and secure if it had robins. On average, only 40% of robins’ nests successfully produce young, and only 25% of the fledglings survive until November. From then on, about half of the robins will live to the next year.

  A rose-breasted grosbeak sang. Some describe its song as that of a robin that has had singing lessons. A robin that sings opera. This grosbeak sings while incubating eggs. Birds are typically quiet on the nests, not wanting to attract predators. Perhaps grosbeaks use reverse psychology.

  I walked a group of folks around a forest in Bemidji. I stopped and invited them all to listen to an odd sound. I asked if anybody knew what it was. No one did. A good share of the people were from that area, but most guessed it was a bird of some kind. A porcupine had produced the whines, grunts, groans and squeals.

  I’m seeing little concentrations of sticky, frothy bubbles on various plants. The white foam blobs are produced by the nymphs of spittlebugs, small insects related to aphids and other true bugs. They get the name from the blobs of foamy “spit” they create. Spittlebugs produce the frothy mixture by mixing air with fluid excretions, but not from their mouths. We can call it spit, but it really isn’t. Thank goodness spittlebugs don’t chew tobacco.

  Researchers at Tel Aviv University found that the concentration of sugar in the nectar of evening primrose temporarily increased within minutes of sensing vibrations from pollinators’ wings.

Q&A

  “Is merlin, the falcon, named after the wizard, or is the wizard named after the falcon?” The wizard gets his name from the Welsh mythological figure Myrddin Wyllt. Geoffrey of Monmouth translated it into Latin as Merlin around the year 1130. The small falcon derives its name from esmerillon, an Old French word for falcon. The merlin is sometimes called a pigeon hawk.

  “Is the boxelder tree invasive?” The USDA’s definition of an invasive species is: non-native to the ecosystem under consideration, and a species whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic harm, environmental harm, or harm to human health. A boxelder is native. Not all nonnative plants are considered invasive. Corn and potatoes are a couple of examples.

  Jeff of Janesville asked what birds can sing two songs at once. Certain songbirds (like the wood thrush, veery and gray catbird) can sing two completely independent melodies at once. The vocal organ of these birds, the syrinx (located where the windpipe divides into the lungs), has two separate airways, each controlled by an independent set of muscles and nerves. A single bird can sing in harmony with itself, seamlessly switching between vocalizations without pausing to breathe. While the human voice box can produce only one sound at a time, a bird’s syrinx is a paired structure that allows birds to sing complex, fast-paced songs. Located where the bronchial tubes from each lung come together, both sides can produce sound. They can be used in concert to sing two different notes simultaneously and to complete broad sweeps in pitch quickly. Brown thrasher, northern cardinal, Swainson’s thrush, varied thrush and European starling are said to be able to perform such vocal magic. Some people claim the American robin is capable of a two-voice complexity that creates two notes at once. There is a difference of opinion as to the abilities of the various bird species to produce two sounds at once, but I will say the song of the wood thrush is definitely a gift to the ears.

  “Why are robin’s eggs blue?” The source of the blue is the pigment biliverdin. One theory is that blue acts as a sunblock, striking a balance between being dark enough to protect eggs from damaging UV rays and being light enough not to overheat the eggs.

  “Do purple martins nest in natural cavities?” Purple martins are secondary cavity nesters—they don’t excavate their own cavities. They use cavities that are already created, either by other animals (like humans) or in natural cavities of cliffs and rock formations. Martins traditionally inhabited forest edges or beaver dam backwaters where woodpeckers had drilled holes into dead snags. Purple martins can still be found using natural cavities in the western United States, but in the east, they depend on human-maintained nesting structures like gourds and martin houses. In the Southwest, purple martins sometimes use secondary cavities in saguaro cacti.

Thanks for stopping by

  "On every vernal morning a wave of Robin song rises on the Atlantic coast to hail the coming day, and so, preceding the rising sun, rolls across the land until at last it breaks and dies away upon the distant shores of the Pacific Ocean."—Edward Forbush.

  “I know he’d be a poor man if he never saw an eagle fly.”—John Denver.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

Ruffed grouse males have a concealed neck ruff that they display during courtship. Their toes grow projections on the sides in winter that act as snowshoes to help the grouse walk across snow. The grouse buries itself in soft snow to roost. As a drumming male rotates its wings forward and backward, air rushes in beneath his wings, creating a vacuum that generates a deep, thumping sound wave that carries a quarter of a mile. Photo by Al Batt.

A cotton ball on stilts

Naturally

  I parceled out black oil sunflower seeds to several feeders. I feed the birds and they feed my soul. It’s bird magic.

  I took a lengthy stroll. Starlings were perched on a utility wire. Starlings are good at that. One bird pecked at the birds on each side of it. No surprise. Being on line turns a lot of life forms into jerks.

  I was blessed by the sight of baby killdeer. I was wonderstruck. Seeing a bird is a gift. Someone told me they are s’mores on stilts. I call one a cotton ball on toothpicks. Baby birds that hatch with their running shoes on are called precocial. A precocial bird is capable of moving around and foraging on its own soon after hatching. Birds that hatch blind, naked and helpless are called altricial. An altricial bird is incapable of self-locomotion or finding its own food shortly after hatching. Robins, cardinals and blue jays are altricial. Killdeer are precocial. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that precocial birds are the cuter of the two.

  I watched a great blue heron fishing. Its patience was inspiring. I watched as long as I could. The big bird had caught no fish but had way more patience than I had.

  A friend told me, “If a white butterfly comes, summer follows.” I see many cabbage white butterflies, an abundant, exotic species introduced to North America in the 1860s. Its green worms (larvae) feed on plants in the cabbage family, necessitating an application of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in the garden.

  I provided nesting habitat for native bees by cutting older, dry elderberry stems to around 18 inches tall in the late spring. Bees nest in the soft, spongy pith of the stems. Cutting the standing stalks in late spring prevents disturbing any bees that are overwintering in last year's stems.

  I picked black-capped raspberries from their treacherous brambles. I added the tasty fruit to my morning’s shredded wheat. It was scrumptious. The origin of the name raspberry is unclear and is likely to remain so. It comes from raspis + berry, possibly from raspise, a sweet rose-colored wine.

Q&A

  “You said the sex of a turtle is decided by the temperature. What is that determinant in degrees?” The sex of most turtles is determined by the incubation temperature of the eggs, a process called temperature-dependent sex determination. The turtles do not call it that. Generally, cooler temperatures produce males, while warmer temperatures produce females. Hot chicks, cool dudes. Specific temperature ranges vary by species, but for many turtles, the general thresholds are: Males are produced at cooler incubation temperatures, typically below 81.86°F. Females are produced at warmer incubation temperatures, typically above 88.8°F. The intermediate temperatures produce a mix of both male and female hatchlings.

  “Dragonfly or damselfly?” Dragonflies are larger, stronger fliers and rest with their wings spread flat like an airplane. Damselflies are smaller, delicate fliers that typically fold their wings vertically together along their backs. It gives them a sleeker look. Dragonflies look as if they visit the gym regularly, and damselflies look as if they’re trying to cancel their gym memberships because they never go there.

  “There is a goldfinch pecking at a window of my house. What is going on?” Male American goldfinches are highly territorial during the breeding season. They don’t recognize the reflection in the glass as themselves, but rather as an intruder and act aggressively toward the reflection. Robins, cardinals and chipping sparrows commonly battle with windows. I’ve had orioles, great crested flycatchers and indigo buntings attack our windows. Folks who live within range of mockingbirds report that bird shadowboxing with its reflection. Readers have kept me informed about bluebirds, pileated woodpeckers and wild turkeys finding worthy adversaries in images in the glass.

Birding with Batt

  I host “Birding with Batt” on KMSU Radio, 89.7 on the FM dial. It’s my 101st year of talking about the glories of nature on the airwaves. My math might not be working there. We discuss the birds, flowers, insects, mammals, plants, trees, fish, reptiles, amphibians, weather, fungi, arachnids and the kind people who tread lightly upon this good earth. Uffda! Please forgive me if I missed anything on that list. You can listen live or catch up on on-demand archives using the free KMSU streaming app, which can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Live and let live, be and let be. Hear and let hear, see and let see. Sing and let sing, dance and let dance. Live and let live and remember this line: ‘Your business is your business and my business is mine.’”—Cole Porter.

  “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”—Maya Angelou.

  Do good.

©Al Batt 2026

The eastern phoebe twitches its tail, calls out its name, and was the first bird ever banded in North America. In 1804, John James Audubon tied pieces of silver thread around the legs of nestling phoebes to track their migration and see if they returned to the same area. The birds wanted fitness trackers. Photo by Al Batt.

Have you ever seen a moose charge?

Naturally

  I took a walk on the wild side.

  The five-petaled, white flowers of Canada anemone are one of my favorites. It’s a lovely native that grows well in medium to moist soils.

  The sweet music of birds thrills me to no end. A catbird sang its mysterious and varied song. It was obviously a mass communications major. If a human had produced the sounds, it would be called jazz scat, a vocal improvisation technique using wordless vocables, nonsense syllables and rhythmic sounds. Human singers aspire to using their voices like musical instruments or catbirds.

  Fireflies (lightning bugs) used their blinkers and candle bats (moths) circled the yard light. Muggy June and July days welcome fireflies. There was a hit song in 1952 called "The Glow-Worm" by The Mills Brothers, who warbled, “Shine little glow worm, glimmer, glimmer.” Glowworms are firefly larvae. They glow to warn predators that they are toxic. Glowworms are predators of snails, slugs, worms and other insects. Adult fireflies eat insects, pollen and vegetation, but some have no mouthparts and don’t eat.

  I saw some blond mallards—hybrids between mallards and domestic ducks. A female and her young family floated nearby. I was afraid the mallard hen might quack under pressure, but her ducklings were obedient and well-mannered.

  A friend found a lone duckling in her yard. She had no photo, but it was likely a mallard. They are common yard waterfowl. A mallard duckling has a distinct black eyeline that runs from the bill through the eye to the back of the head. On a wood duck duckling, the eyeline begins at the back of the eye and stretches backward. A young wood duck is sleeker.

  I was a co-leader of a birding bus in Detroit Lakes. Detroit Lakes has a population that doubles in the summer and triples on the weekends. I advised the participants that they should keep looking at a tree until it turned into a bird. I love seeing synchronized binocular usage. My binoculars were focused on a lovely raptor perched in a tree. It was like staring at a beautiful mountain, but the mountain was a broad-winged hawk that flew down, caught a vole, flew back to its hunting perch, and ate its prey whole. It was quite impressive.

Q&A

  “Have you ever seen a moose charge?” No, but I did see one in the Juneau (Alaska) Costco once. OK, it was in the parking lot. I don’t know if it entered the store and charged any purchases. I know a guy who broke in his new Toyota by hitting a moose near Fairbanks, Alaska. In that case, the car charged the moose.

  “Did you play Pokémon when you were a boy?” No, I played poke things with a stick. I turned over rocks and fallen logs. I never knew what I’d find on a nature hunt. I knew my search was done when my pockets were full of finds. I didn’t look for my ancestors from Iowa and Utah. As far as I know, none of them had ever lived under rocks. I’m the first in the family to do that. My kin moved to wherever the light was.

  “What do swallows eat?” Tree swallows eat trees; cliff swallows eat cliffs; bank swallows (called sand martin in the UK, Europe and Asia) eat banks; and barn swallows eat barns. That’s not true, although there are fewer barns than there used to be. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? I don’t think barn swallows are the culprits. Swallows are primarily insectivores, catching flying insects on the wing. Tree swallows also consume berries and seeds—especially bayberries and wax myrtle berries. Being capable of digesting the waxy coating on bayberries helps tree swallows survive when flying insects are unavailable.

  “How fast can a peregrine falcon fly?” I watched Mayo Clinic’s 2026 falcon chicks, which were banded and named on May 22. The female chicks were named: Belle, for the 100th anniversary of the Mayo Clinic Carillon on the Rochester campus, and Vega, after a bright star, evoking strength. The males are Mylo, meaning a soldier or gracious, and Zephyr, meaning a west wind or a gentle breeze. According to Guinness World Records, a dive by Frightful, a peregrine falcon owned by an aviator and a falconer named Ken Franklin of Friday Harbor, Washington, was clocked at 242 mph in 1999. The falcons pay no attention to speed limit signs.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another.”—Pope Francis.

  “That′s life. That′s what all the people say. You're riding high in April, shot down in May. But I know I'm gonna change that tune. When I′m back on top, back on top in June.” As sung by Frank Sinatra.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

Juvenile European starlings are drably dressed in dusty gray-brown coveralls. They lack the adult’s iridescence. They soon join a flock of other starlings, called a murmuration. It’s a starling college where they can work on their vocal mimicry and other essential life skills. Photo by Al Batt.

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A kingbird is always ready to rumble

Naturally

  I have a watch-eastern kingbird in my yard. A kingbird is always ready to rumble with any other bird species. That includes a bald eagle.

  I watched a robin and a catbird gathering mud for their nests. A kestrel hovered like a kite on a string I held in my hand.

  A starling family discovered my suet feeder. Juvenile starlings are gray-brown. I’ve tried, but I find it impossible to dismiss them as a nuisance. Who am I to judge? A starling may have been someone’s spark bird—the bird that ignited someone’s passion for birdwatching.

  Darkness loomed. An eastern screech-owl, about the size of a 12-ounce soda can, perched on the peak of the garage. Theodore Roosevelt was an avid birder who kept a detailed checklist of bird species seen on the White House grounds. Among his documented sightings was an eastern screech-owl. The word owl originated in early European languages. In Old Norse, it was called "ugla", and in Old German, it was "uwila." Both were likely created to describe an owl's call. In Old English (about 600 A.D. to about 1000 A.D.), owl was "ule", a word similar to the original Dutch word. In India, owls were once referred to as "oo-loo," and in Hebrew, "o-ah. "The female screech-owl incubates the 2 to 6 eggs for 30 days; the nestling stage is approximately 30 days. The young had fledged in my yard. The parents continue feeding them for 8 to 10 weeks after they leave the nest.

  A pileated woodpecker made the suet fly in my yard. Its diet consists mostly of insects, about 97% of which are carpenter ants that had failed woodshop, and wood-boring beetle larvae. They also eat caterpillars, cockroaches, flies, grasshoppers, moths and termites. They supplement this with wild fruits, berries, nuts and suet.

Kentucky

  I spoke in Kentucky and birded there. The tiny brown-headed nuthatch is a highly localized and critically imperiled bird in Kentucky. They seek mature stands of pine trees with an open understory. They sound like a squeaky rubber toy duck. I saw a worm-eating warbler, summer tanager and hooded warbler. It was great seeing them, and the shy Kentucky warbler with the dandy sideburns that would have made Ambrose Burnside envious. Sideburns are named after Ambrose Burnside, a flamboyant Civil War general and politician from Rhode Island.

Q&A

  “I saw a kingfisher pecking away at a gravel pit. Was it getting grit for its gizzard?” It was likely digging a nest burrow. The belted kingfisher uses its sturdy bill to excavate burrows in the vertical banks of streams, rivers, lakes, ditches and gravel pits. They don’t need grit. Pellet-producing birds rely on powerful stomach acids and enzymes to dissolve soft tissues. Harder indigestible materials (bones, teeth and fur) are coughed out as pellets. Grit is typically required by birds that consume seeds or vegetation whole and require help to grind down plant matter in the gizzard. All birds of prey—owls, eagles, hawks and falcons—produce pellets, as do kingfishers, crows, gulls, herons, jays, terns, swallows, cormorants, shorebirds, ravens and others. Any bird that eats something indigestible, which is unable to pass through the intestines, could produce a pellet.

  “How much does a fawn weigh at birth?” A white-tailed deer fawn weighs between 5 and 8 pounds. By the time this fawn is 2 weeks old, it will outrun most predators.

 “Do you think grape jelly feeders are a bad thing?” Eating too much of one thing is not good for any of us. That’s why vultures eat both road-killed skunks and road-killed opossums. I feed the orioles more oranges than grape jelly. The birds that feed on the grape jelly are short-lived, with lasting long-term effects probably not a major concern. They have a diet balanced with insects and other natural foods. Many things are more worrisome—habitat loss and cats. Just my take.

  “What hawks nest in Minnesota?” I’ve widened your question to, “What birds of prey with fistfuls of sharp steak knives nest in Minnesota?” Bald eagle and osprey. The hawks are the red-tailed, broad-winged, red-shouldered, Swainson's, sharp-shinned, Cooper's, northern goshawk and northern harrier. The falcons include the peregrine falcon, Merlin and American kestrel. Owls: great horned, barred, eastern screech, great gray, northern hawk, boreal, northern saw-whet, short-eared and long-eared. Some species are common, others not so much.

Thanks for stopping by

  “The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”—Henry Beston.

  “The earth is what we all have in common.”—Wendell Berry.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

A supercool postage stamp. Photo by Al Batt.

A black-winged redbird. Scarlet tanager photo by Al Batt.

Albert Lea, Minnesota—1926.

But-I-DO-love-you

Naturally

  A Baltimore oriole male shadowboxed with his image in a window. It was a heated rivalry. Monarchs fluttered by and barn swallows catapulted through the air. A red-eyed vireo called persistently. It sounded as if it were asking a question and then answering it.

Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge

  I walked with cohorts at Tamarac NWR. We saw golden-winged warblers. Roughly half of the population of that warbler breeds in Minnesota.

  Cotton Lake, near Rochert, Minnesota, is known for a unique geological feature: An island in an island. A large island within the lake that contains its own small, enclosed island. The north shore of Cotton Lake directly borders the 43,000-acre Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge.

  One in our esteemed flock of birders had taught environmental philosophy at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. He used the writings of Aldo Leopold, widely considered the father of wildlife ecology. His seminal contribution to environmental philosophy was the "Land Ethic," which expanded our moral community to include soils, waters, plants, animals and the biosphere. Leopold’s environmental philosophy is summarized in his 1949 book, “A Sand County Almanac.” Leopold argued that human beings aren’t conquerors of the Earth, but members and citizens of the biotic community. His definitive philosophy is captured by the principle: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” Leopold maintained that true conservation goes beyond mere economic self-interest or government regulation. It requires an ecological conscience driven by individual responsibility and a deep emotional respect for nature.

In memoriam

  Lori Naumann, a devoted wildlife conservationist and long-time employee of the Minnesota DNR, died recently. She was a team member of the DNR’s Nongame Wildlife Program. Lori was known for her passionate leadership of the DNR EagleCam, DNR FalconCam, Nongame Wildlife Program’s tax donation campaigns, and the Minnesota Loon Restoration Project. According to Lori, research has shown that the sense of isolation and loneliness is reduced when people watch birds outside their windows. When we watch birds at the feeders, it helps to improve and maintain brain function and memory. Lori left a lasting legacy and will be missed. She was a joy to work with.

Q&A

  “Where do barn swallows nest?” Look for barn swallows near human habitation. They nest nearly exclusively on or in buildings that offer overhead protection. Preferred locations include the rafters and eaves of barns, sheds, stables, garages, bridges, docks and culverts. Their distinctive forked tails and bright colors are a delight to watch.

  “When is the rice harvest in Minnesota?” Harvesters may take ripe wild rice during the harvesting season that runs from August 15 through September 30.

  “I saw orchard orioles and scarlet tanagers at my jelly feeders. Where do these birds nest?” Orchard orioles construct hanging, basket-like pouches woven from grass and plant fibers, suspended 10 to 20 feet high in deciduous trees in open woodlands, forest edges and riparian groves near water. They nest throughout Iowa in shade trees near farmlands, along the edges of marshes and lakes, and are concentrated in river floodplains and corridors, and in the southern and west-central parts of Minnesota. River valleys are popular places for orchard orioles. They frequently nest close to eastern kingbirds, an aggressive bird that chases off predators and cowbirds. Breeding populations of orchard orioles depart on their southward migration by mid-to-late July. Scarlet tanagers nest in mature deciduous forests and undisturbed woodlands, favoring large, unfragmented canopies often dominated by oaks. In Minnesota, they primarily nest in the central and southeastern mixed woodlands. In Iowa, they are sparsely distributed, mostly nesting in mature timber along major river valleys and slopes in the eastern and western parts of the state.

  “I walked with you at the Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds when you said what the western meadowlark was saying. What was it again?” The western meadowlark’s beautiful song is a series of clear, flute-like whistles that descend in pitch, followed by a bubbling gurgle. There are several mnemonics used to remember the melody. "I was here a year ago." "Gosh darn my feet are cold." "Please give me some squid." The nearly identical eastern meadowlark has a simpler, two-part whistle remembered as "but-I-DO-love-you," or "spring-of-the-year."

  “What are baby porcupines called?” Porcupettes. The collective noun for porcupines is a prickle, but porcupines are rarely seen in groups. Porcupines cannot throw or shoot their quills. For a quill to embed, the porcupine must physically press or swing its tail into the attacker. I petted one in Red Deer, Alberta. I started at the head and went in the direction of the quills.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Bugs are not going to inherit the earth. They own it now. So we might as well make peace with the landlord.”—Thomas Eisner.

  “The secret to life is finding joy in ordinary things.”—Ruth Reichl.

  Do good.

©️Al Batt 2026

My father called it the summer warbler. That made sense as we had summer cows—summer black and summer brown, or was it some are black and some are brown? The northern yellow warbler’s song is so sweet that people use the mnemonic “Sweet-sweet-sweet-I’m so sweet” to remember it. Photo of a somewhere between buttery-yellow and lemony-yellow male northern yellow warbler by Al Batt.