Naturally Al Batt

LBJS, LITTLE BROWN JOBS, FED ON MILLET ON THE GROUND

Naturally

 The sun had just gotten up, and the turkeys and deer were doing some roadwork. The turkeys relish standing in the middle of a road and attempting to stare down cars. Large flocks of blackbirds fed in a field near the road. One black squirrel was near them. The squirrel was likely a mascot. One look at a lake and a duck said, “What a dive.” Minnesota diving ducks are the canvasback, redhead, ringneck (also called ringbill), scaup (also called bluebill), goldeneye, bufflehead and ruddy duck. Arriving home, I tossed a handful of purple grapes onto the ground on a freezing April day. I didn’t quarter them. The robins ate them with obvious pleasure.
Picking up sticks
 From Mary Oliver’s poem “Invitation”: “…it is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world. I beg of you, do not walk by without pausing to attend this rather ridiculous performance…” It was a cool and damp morning. Some might have called it cold and wet. The yard that had been covered with juncos and sticks yesterday was now covered by only one junco and the sticks shed by the yard’s trees. I gathered sticks while listening to robin, cardinal, redwing, dove and rooster pheasant voices. A vesper sparrow sang, “Oh-oh-my-my, its-such-a-beautiful day” from an elevated perch. My farming father loved to hear that. The vesper sparrow sings at any time of the day but gets its name from its evening hymns (vespers), “Listen to my evening sing-ing-ing-ing.” White-throated sparrows whistled as I watched an eastern phoebe pursue flying insects I couldn’t discern. It was far from 50 degrees. Maybe some insects were dressed in wool.
 My birdfeeders are locally owned and operated. LBJs filled the space below the seed dispensaries. Little brown jobs, including white-throated sparrows, song sparrows and chipping sparrows. I saw kinglet, sapsucker, bluebird, yellow-rumped warbler, bumblebee, butterflies, dragonfly and meadowlark nearby. After giving thousands of talks, I’ve learned that no one who has heard a western meadowlark song ever forgets it. 
Nature by the yard
 I take in the feeders at night because of the rampaging and pillaging done by raccoons. Why do raccoons have black masks? So, they can watch an eclipse.
 Each morning, I return those feeders to their proper places. Sometimes, I get the feeling that something is watching me in the yard. That’s because something is always watching me. To many creatures, I look like an unsavory character. What’s watching? Squirrels? Blue jays, for sure. They keep an eye on me in case I put out peanuts in a shell, which allows them the opportunity to perform the magic act of appearing out of nowhere and causing the goobers to disappear. 
Red admiral butterflies
 I’m seeing many red admiral butterflies, named for the red-bar markings on their black upper wings. They have white in the upper corners of the forewings. The undersides of the wings, often visible when the butterfly perches, are mottled in brown, tan and black, with a pink band and white spotting on the forewing. Some red admirals migrate south in the fall and some stay behind. How far north they can survive the winter seems is up for debate, and that line could be shifting. The caterpillar hosts plants are of the nettle family, including stinging nettle and wood nettle. Red admiral adults feed on sap flows on trees, fermenting fruit and bird droppings, visiting flowers only when the other foods are unavailable.
Take a gander at a crane
 A nesting sandhill crane cam is at https://coloradocranes.org/crane-nest-camera/
Q&A
 “What do you do about the lady beetles, box elder bugs and stink bugs in your house in the spring?” For the most part, I ignore them. They’re trying to find an exit.
 “What is the rarest animal in the world?” It’s one that has yet to  be discovered by man. 
 “Are cabbage white butterflies pollinators?” This nonnative species was introduced to the US in the 1800s. The velvety green caterpillars specialize in eating cole crops like cabbage, kale and broccoli. Cole crops are typically cool-season crops that belong to the mustard (Brassica) family. The adult butterflies nectar on flowers.
 “How many fatal coyote attacks on humans have there been?” There have been only two documented cases of fatal coyote attacks in the U.S. and Canada, one in each. The Consumer Product Safety Commission found that from 2000-2020, there were 184 human fatalities due to a TV tipping over on people and another 174 deaths from a combination of TV and furniture falling on a person. Most of these were children. It’s safer to watch coyotes than to watch TV.
Thanks for stopping by
 “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”―Audrey Hepburn.
 “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.--”Leonardo da Vinci.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

The white-breasted nuthatch is territorial, with pairs staying together throughout the year. It’s omnivorous, eating insects and seeds. Nuthatches cache a significantly greater proportion of seeds with the shell removed. Its foraging pattern garnered it the nickname “upside-down bird.” In winter, nuthatches often forage with chickadees, titmice and downy woodpeckers in a group called a foraging guild. Photo by Al Batt.