Naturally Al Batt

Gulls eating pilfered pizza in the parking lot

Naturally

 I’m a lowly superintendent at the Freeborn County Fair, where people are kind enough to share their bird photos with me. There were many images showing eaglets on branches because birds grow on trees.
 The strangest photos were of an immature Cooper’s hawk devouring another immature Cooper’s hawk. I don’t know the backstory on the possible fratricide that resulted in cannibalism.
 On my way to the fair, I saw three sandhill cranes in a meadow. They were as rusty as old pliers in my toolbox. The adults preen by rubbing mud on their feathers, and the mud from iron-rich environments is reddish. The colt hatched cinnamon brown and will turn grey as it matures. A lone whooping crane was seen not far away, in the company of other sandhill cranes.
 A farm field filled with water from a recent heavy rainfall was rimmed with great egrets. I couldn’t say I had no egrets.
 Not all gulls are eating pilfered pizza in a parking lot. A Bomgaars store had a large flock of ring-billed gulls on its roof. The Latin word “arena” means sand, and the stage where the gladiators and exotic animals engaged in mortal combat was covered in a thin layer of sand. The store’s roof might be a gull arena.
 Cormorants flew this way and that way as if they were suturing the sky. It was a fair day.
 At home, I walked in the woods, reveling in the lack of curb appeal. An American goldfinch male’s flight, performed in a slow circling fashion over a nesting area, was accompanied by a “po-ta-to-chip” call. 
 A red-headed woodpecker was hawking insects. Its rich red head demanded my attention. Does any bird deserve its name more than the red-headed woodpecker? It was a grand champion day.

Q&A

 “How can I tell a Canada thistle from a bull thistle? Both produce purple flowers. If the thistle has rhizomes—roots that extend out from one plant to grow another plant nearby—it’s likely a Canada thistle (a perennial). If it has spiny wings up the length of its stem, it’s a bull thistle (a biennial). A bull thistle has been described as a larger and meaner-looking Canada thistle.
 “What bird is called a mope?” Since the pine grosbeak often lives far from humans, it tends to be relatively tame, allowing observers to approach it closely. This, coupled with its slow-moving, almost sluggish ways, led the residents of Newfoundland to nickname it the “mope.” 
 “What is meadow rue and white campion?” It’s an herbaceous perennial plant that belongs to the buttercup family. It’s a native found in moist prairies, meadows and along stream banks, and typically grows 2 to 8 feet tall in a bushy, clump-forming habit. It has a finely divided, bluish-green foliage that resembles that of a fern. The plant produces airy, delicate-looking panicles of small, greenish-white flowers that bloom from late spring to early summer. The flowers are followed by attractive, fluffy seed heads that persist into the fall. White campion grows 3 feet tall and blooms from June into October. The nonnative plant’s white flowers open in the evening, close by noon, sometimes later on cloudy days, only to open again the next morning. 
 “How did the goldfinch become the state bird of Iowa?” The American goldfinch was officially designated Iowa’s state bird on May 22, 1933. The Iowa Ornithologists' Union had nominated the goldfinch, and the proposal passed the legislature because of the backing of that group and because the goldfinch is a year-round resident of Iowa that Iowans easily recognize.
 “What do loon calls mean?” There are four major loon calls. The wail resembles the howling of a wolf and is used for long-distance communication between mated pairs or when threatened. The tremolo is the laughing call given in response to a perceived threat. The yodel is a danger or warning call given only by male loons during territorial interactions or when he feels threatened. The hoot is a soft, short call typically used for short-range communication between members of a loon family unit.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Take off the wings, and put him in breeches, and crows make fair average men. Give men wings, and reduce their smartness a little, and many of them would be almost good enough to be crows.”—Henry Ward Beecher.
 “This morning, at waterside, a sparrow flew to a water rock and landed, by error, on the back of an eider duck; lightly it fluttered off, amused. The duck, too, was not provoked, but, you might say, was laughing. This afternoon a gull sailing over our house was casually scratching its stomach of white feathers with one pink foot as it flew. Oh Lord, how shining and festive is your gift to us, if we only look, and see.”—Mary Oliver.
 Do good.

©️Al Batt 2024

Buzzard Day is celebrated in Hinckley, Ohio, because the turkey vultures (sometimes incorrectly called buzzards) return there every March 15 (the Ides of March). It’s thought the vultures chose the area because of the Great Hinckley Varmint Hunt of 1818 when 475 men and boys shot and killed wolves, bears and deer; harvested the meat they wanted and left the carcasses to rot. Photo by Al Batt.