Naturally Al Batt

The founding fathers used the founding feathers

Naturally

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

Q&A

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

Thanks for stopping by

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

©Al Batt 2025

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