Naturally

A kestrel, roughly the size and shape of a mourning dove with a larger head, perched on a utility wire.

A cardinal sang with gusto, a definite showboat. I’ve seen a painted bunting elsewhere, a rainbow with wings. I’d love to see one in my yard one day. That’s unlikely to happen. I’m lucky to be thrilled by the sight of a cardinal. Minnesota’s first record of a cardinal was in Minneapolis in the fall of 1875. The first confirmed nesting was in Steele County in 1925 when a cardinal’s nest with eggs was discovered. The first record of a cardinal in Iowa was one that was captured in Iowa City in 1882.

Q&A

“Do crickets and grasshoppers produce sounds the same way?” No, crickets and katydids rub wing parts together to make sound, whereas grasshoppers rub wings against hind legs to create their sounds. Crickets use a process called stridulation, which involves rubbing one forewing against another forewing. Grasshoppers use stridulation by rubbing their hind legs against their forewings. Some grasshoppers also use crepitation, snapping their wings together in flight to create a crackling sound.

“What am I seeing on roadsides that look like giant dandelions?” If it looks like a tall dandelion with leaves resembling those of a thistle, but the spines lack sharpness, it’s a sowthistle, a perennial, that blooms July-October and grows up to 4 feet high. Prickly lettuce is an annual or biennial herb that blooms from July to September and can grow up to 6.5 feet tall. Prickly lettuce leaves have prickly edges that can be sharp, and a prickly midrib on the underside, while sowthistle leaves lack the prickly midrib. Sowthistle leaves tend to stay more parallel to the ground than prickly lettuce leaves. Prickly lettuce flower heads are small and yellow, turning blue as they wither, and are arranged in panicles. Sowthistle flower heads are yellow and produced in clusters at the branch tips. Both plants exude a milky sap when cut or wounded.

“Where did the name ‘pelican’ come from?” The word "pelican" comes from the Ancient Greek word, pelekan. This word is related to pelekys, which means "axe." Long ago, this word was used for both pelicans and woodpeckers.

“What is the thornapple?” It’s a shrub or tree of one of the species commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, hawberry or thornapple, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America.

“What determines if the “Lake” part comes first or second in a water’s name?” There are no rules. In French, “Lake” often comes first, and the regions colonized by English-speaking people and Germans tended to put “Lake” second. Lakes with more surface area were more likely to be called a name where “Lake” comes first, which often emphasizes a feature of the lake and frequently comes second in the names of smaller, lesser-known features. The names aren’t consistent and are subject to local preference. I don’t have a guess as to why Lake is in the middle of the rock group’s name of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

“Why is the pelican so often depicted in Christian art?” Medieval observers saw red on the bill or the breast of pelican parents feeding their young and mistakenly believed the adult had pierced its own breast and fed its blood to the chicks. In Christian symbolism, the pelican is a powerful symbol of Christ's love and self-sacrifice, but the legend is scientifically inaccurate. Pelicans don’t self-mutilate to feed their young. The pouches of certain species of pelicans turn red in the breeding season, something that might have contributed to the myth. The pelicans macerate the fish before giving it to their young, and a bloody fish could stain a breast. Regardless, the pelican remains a beautiful and inspiring image.

“How do I tell a red oak from a white oak?” In general, the white oaks produce leaves that have rounded lobes, whereas the red oaks typically exhibit pointed lobes with a tiny bristle on their tips. Another clue is the acorn. The top cap of the red oak acorn is scaly, while the white oak acorn has a knobby top cap. The acorns of white oaks have a broader, shorter appearance and mature in a single year. Their caps are deeper, often covering about half the nut, and they’re more appealing as a preferred food source for many wildlife species. The acorns of red oaks are more elongated or ovoid and mature in two years. Their caps are shallow, often covering only the top quarter or third of the nut.

Thanks for stopping by

“All creatures are merely veils under which God hides Himself and deals with us.”―Martin Luther.

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the mind.”―Luther Burbank.

Do good.

A rose-breasted grosbeak brings exclamation marks to a yard. Its song is reminiscent of a robin, only sweeter, which some people refer to as operatic. It also makes a sharp chink like the squeak of a sneaker on a basketball court. The male has the colorful colloquial name “cut-throat.” It spends the winter in Central and South America. Photo by Al Batt.