Al Batt: Tag with ourselves

May 1, 2020

austindailyherald.com April 29, 2020

Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

I have only one word for you.

What’s that?

Plethora.

Thanks. That means a lot.

Driving by Bruce’s drive

I have a wonderful neighbor, named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: Studies have found we touch our faces 16-23 times per hour on average. We play tag with ourselves. Gus and Julie Courrier of Emmons sent me a birthday card and useful gift — a single sheet of toilet paper. It wasn’t gold-plated, but it was thoughtful.

I love my jobs. The work required heaping amounts of travel. Not anymore. Life changes with bewildering speed. Lockdown has caused me to sleep better and more. There’s nothing like sleeping in my own bed. A Sleepopolis study (https://sleepopolis.com/sleep-cities/minnesota/) found Minnesotans working from home sleep an extra 15.7 hours per month. The research ranked Minnetrista as the best city for sleeping in Minnesota, while Bemidji came in last. Sleep is impacted by important behavioral, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Air pollution is a major factor. Clive was the best Iowa city for sleeping and Centerville the worst. An anonymous donor gave each household in Earlham, Iowa, gift cards worth $150 each (a $50 gift card each to a local restaurant, grocery store and coffee shop) to ease the burden of social distancing. I’ll bet the donor of more than $82,000 was a well-rested person from Clive.

I think Hadacol would make a good name for a baby. Its creator, Dudley LeBlanc of Louisiana who ran the company from 1945 to 1951, when asked the name’s origin, said, “Well, I hadda call it something.” Hadacol was everywhere — radio, billboards, newspapers, magazines, pharmacies and liquor stores. Ads for the wonder elixir weren’t necessarily fact-based. One was: “Two months ago I couldn’t read nor write. I took four bottles of Hadacol and now I’m teaching school.” Jerry Lee Lewis sang, “The Hadacol Boogie.” The patent medicine or snake oil was a mixture of vitamins B-1 and B-2, iron, calcium, niacin, honey, phosphorus and 12 percent alcohol. They left the mistakes in. It was advertised as a cure for: high blood pressure, ulcers, strokes, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, pneumonia, anemia, cancer, epilepsy, gallstones, heart trouble and hay fever. On the TV show “You Bet Your Life,” Groucho Marx asked LeBlanc what Hadacol was good for. LeBlanc quipped “It was good for $5 million for me last year.” It went bankrupt shortly after LeBlanc sold it. Maybe it wouldn’t make a good name.

The old joke department

A duck walked into a convenience store and asked the clerk, “Do you have any grapes?” The clerk said no and the duck left. The next day, the duck returned and asked, “Do you have any grapes?” The clerk again said no and the duck left. The following day, the duck waddled into the store and asked, “Do you have any grapes?” The clerk screamed at the duck, “You’ve come in here before asking for grapes. I told you each time, we don’t have any grapes! If you come back here again and ask for grapes, I’ll nail your feet to the floor!” The duck left, returned the next day and asked, “Do you have any nails?” The clerk replied, “No,” and the duck said, “Good. Do you have any grapes?”

I’ve been binge-reading and enjoyed

“The Sinking Of The Eastland: America’s Forgotten Tragedy” by Jay Bonansinga. A story about the sinking of the excursion boat Eastland on the Chicago River in 1915. There were 844 casualties. “A Hero Nonetheless: Albert Miller Lea, 1808-1891” by Robert M Merryman. The city and lake of Albert Lea were named after this Confederate Army major. “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants” by Malcolm Gladwell. An examination of success, motivation and the role of adversity in shaping lives. “The Dog of the South” by Charles Portis. Portis was the author of “True Grit.” No cowboys in this one.

Nature notes

“I heard a professor in Wisconsin say golden eagles are much larger than bald eagles. Is that right?” The two are about the same size with the females being larger. Bald eagles are slightly longer on average than golden eagles. Their average weights are about the same, with the heaviest birds being balds. The wingspan of the two species are 6 to 7.5 feet. In a slightly related note, the Guinness Book of World Records lists the largest bald eagle nest on record as being found in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was 9.6 feet in diameter, 20 feet deep, and estimated to weigh 4,409 pounds.

Meeting adjourned

If you open your eyes and you’re still here, be happy. Be kind.

I rolled a 140 and hung up my shoes

April 28, 2020

I rolled a 140 and hung up my shoes

Echoes from the Loafers' Club Teleconference

My wife gave me a Fitbit.

How do you like it?

It's great. Now I know exactly how many steps it is from my bed to the sofa.

Driving by Bruce's drive

I have a wonderful neighbor, named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: I'd been trying to remember what day of the week it was, when in a bold move, I rose from a comfortable chair and tried to teach basic algebra to our cat. How teachers do their jobs, I don't know.

I have many Batt habits and some are bad. I'm trying not to touch anything I wouldn't lick. I'm wearing a baseball glove on one hand and a potholder on the other to keep me from touching my face.

In a world between hope and doubt people struggle to maintain a social distance from refrigerators. Before long, they're tanning by the light of an open refrigerator. Some wear masks at home to keep from eating so much. No one wants their old hula hoop to fit snugly.

A bowling ball named Jerry

I hadn't been bowling since they'd made the balls round and put holes in them, but I did on Leap Day. I thought I might not be able to bowl when I asked for size 14 bowling shoes. The clerk said, "You could just as well wear shoeboxes," but she found me a lovely set of clown shoes.

I had shoes. I needed a bowling ball. I chose a dark-colored one, so I could pick it out from the pins. The ball was named Jerry. At least that was the name etched into it. I was afraid I'd roll a no-hitter. I'd pitched them before — in softball.

I commenced bowling. I worried there might be math involved, but the scoring was done automatically. Disproving the old adage that lightning never strikes the same place twice, I threw three straight strikes. A turkey by a turkey. I rolled a 140 and retired.

Those thrilling days of yesteryear

Gary Hansen was a banker in Hartland. A fine man. One day, he was on a stepladder, washing the outside windows of the bank. Tom's Barber Shop was down the street and it was a rascal's lair. The denizens saw Gary, so they called the bank. Gary heard the ring. This was when people answered their phones, which were landlines only. All calls were important. Gary ran into the bank to answer the phone. They hung up before he could do that. One call should have been enough, but it wasn't.

Nature notes

I enjoy watching the spring bird shows. They change each day. Birds become more vocal, each having a story to tell. I love to hear the vesper sparrow sing the evening vespers, “Listen to my evening sing-ing-ing-ing.”

Male pheasants “crow” throughout the day all year, but especially at dawn and dusk in spring. Roosters also utter a series of loud, two-note calls when flushed.

Blue-winged teal are among the last ducks to return in the spring and leave early in the fall. The drakes defend mates, but not territories. Because of this, their nests are more concentrated than those of other ducks.

My yard entertained many common grackles. A heap of birds in one lump. They are common and widespread, but the North American Breeding Bird Survey shows a population decline of 58% from 1966 to 2014. Grackles dab natural insect repellents on their plumage. This includes ants, marigolds, lemon slices, walnut juice and chokecherries.

I spotted a couple of gray partridges in a field. Often called a Hungarian partridge, their North American Breeding Bird Survey populations declined by 60% from 1966–2015.

Red-tailed hawks were vigilant while perched on posts along roads not far from an old farm place where a wooden corn crib stood. The slatted walls encouraged the drying of ears of corn. Those gaps made such a crib a giant bird feeder. On the farm I grew up on, red-headed woodpeckers found those corn cribs to their liking.

I saw rock pigeons. These are the birds that people think of as barn pigeons or the street-smart birds seen in city parks. Pigeons are interesting and smart. Pigeons pass the mirror test. They realize that their mirrored images aren’t real birds. The beginning of Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species,” is more about pigeons than anything else. I watched a pair of pigeons kiss. The male grasped the female’s bill and regurgitated food as a courtship gesture. Sweet.

Meeting adjourned

There is someone who'd love to hear from you. Your call, text, e-mail or letter would be a blessing.

Hunkering down and hankering for news

April 28, 2020

http://www.newrichlandstar.com/jnews/index.php/columns/14-compostings/7644-hunkering-down-and-hankering-for-news

Hunkering down and hankering for news

Echoes from the Loafers' Club Meeting

I was walking down a trail in Alaska when I met a grizzly bear. It stood up on its hind legs and went "Rowwwrrr!" I soiled myself.

I would have too.

No, I meant just now.

Driving by Bruce's drive

I have a wonderful neighbor, named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: Superstition says if you say "rabbit, rabbit" aloud upon arising on the first day of a month you'll have good luck all month. I often forget, but on the last April 1, I bellowed it for all the world to hear. On a totally unrelated note, my car is getting three weeks to the gallon. One of the many problems of living in unprecedented times is that I may not have appreciated the precedented times enough.

I've hunkered down lower and lower. I'm thankful I've managed to avoid watching marble racing. My wife had worn a mask and gloves to go grocery shopping. I wanted her to wear a HAZMAT suit. I'm a husband. I need affirmation and treats. And news. I asked her if she'd heard any tales from a foreign land (the grocery store). Before she could reply, the phone rang. Someone called to tell me that spring had sprung. That scared me. I hoped the weather wasn't listening. He asked what I was doing while on a short tether. I told him it's important to do something you love. He ended the call by thanking me for reminding him he'd love to take a nap.

Thoughts while trying to stay out of my own way

Few things match the thrill of getting the first mosquito bite of the season.

For many, tornado preparedness is bringing in the plastic deck chairs.

Hindsight is 20-20 unless it's my car's backup mirror, which occasionally has a dirty lens.

I remember staring at a framed display in school. It appeared to be showcasing how acupuncture had proven to be the wrong treatment choice for butterflies. I wonder who collected all those butterflies and what happened to them?

I miss

• Going into a restaurant and ordering an all-day breakfast, even though I wouldn't have the time to be there all day eating a breakfast.

• Trying to get kids outdoors by scattering iPhones all over the lawn.

• Traveling to places like Switzerland. It's a lovely place to visit and its flag is a big plus.

• Waving back at people who I thought were waving at me, but were waving at someone else and having to drop my waving hand as if it were a falling leaf.

I've learned

Roads covered in banana peels are slippery.

It doesn't help much to give a sermon while changing a flat. You'll be preaching to the tire.

Never to walk on a hotel treadmill while watching a track meet on TV.

Oatmeal cookies are often disguised as chocolate chip cookies.

Getting older is the adult thing to do.

When you're self-employed, you spend all day in staff meetings.

Standing on one leg on a bathroom scale isn't an effective diet, but I'll keep trying it.

Marriage teaches you how to have a long argument using nothing but your eyes.

Nature notes

Red-winged blackbirds are the sounds of spring. Rooster pheasants crowed. Canada geese claimed nest sites. That’s a noisy job. Turkey vultures tilted through the sky. The poet Mary Oliver wrote, “Like large dark lazy butterflies they sweep over the glades looking for death, to eat it, to make it vanish, to make of it the miracle: resurrection.”

Tundra swan flocks, eastern bluebirds and brown-headed cowbirds suddenly appeared whenever a birder was near. Cowbirds are brood parasites. They don’t build nests. Instead, they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The host birds incubate cowbird eggs and raise the chicks, often to the detriment of their own offspring. Sandhill cranes rattled, trumpeted and bugled as they took flight. Opportunistic omnivores, their varied diet includes waste corn, small mammals, amphibians, insects, reptiles and snails. Northern harriers return when the snow leaves the fields. Once called a marsh hawk, it courses low over the ground while hunting small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and insects. They locate some prey by sound.

Pocket gopher mounds declare the frost is out of the ground. I thought of the garden. I used to plant marigolds around the borders of vegetable gardens to discourage rabbits. I stopped when the eastern cottontails began eating marigolds.

Meeting adjourned

"Kind words, kind looks, kind acts, and warm handshakes — these are means of grace when men in trouble are fighting their unseen battles." — John Hall. Make them air handshakes.

The key to Rockin’ Robin

April 24, 2020

Al Batt: The key to Rockin’ Robin

by Al Batt, austindailyherald.com
April 22, 2020 12:01 PM

Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

Could I borrow $495?

I loaned you $500 last week.

I know, but I’m doing much better now.

Driving by Bruce’s drive

I have a wonderful neighbor, named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: It’s April. That means spring has had time to hide. More snow! Is that what we pay taxes for? Weather can be a joke nobody gets.

Time moves fast and time moves slow. Days bunch together. I’m learning to pace myself. Life is good — I’m not living on sardines and lima beans. The clinic sends me helpful emails to remind me that if I sneeze into an elbow, it should be my elbow, not the elbow of a loved one or a stranger. I hope the Toilet Paper Fairy has visited you. Homes need more of the stuff because more games are being played on the home field, so to speak, than before. My neighbor Crandall called to tell me that he hadn’t taken a shower in nearly two weeks, but his hands have never been cleaner. He’s eating in a new restaurant called his kitchen. He hoped there would be a baseball season this year. It’s doubtful due to the chronic spitting involved.

Remember the good old days of a couple months ago? Boy, those were the days. I miss walking into a restaurant and being asked, “Table or booth?” It was a choice between a chair or a sofa. I generally opted for the tush cushion. I have no isolation blues, but I haven’t had much practice being secluded. My parents never grounded me. Why would they want to subject themselves to the presence of a surly teenager any more than they had to? I was the baby of the family, so they’d already given up on having a perfect child.

I grew up being admonished for any indication of sloth. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. I heard that often. It wasn’t from the Bible, but sounded as if it should be. Maybe that’s why I don’t idle well.

The mail brought a package from a Nebraska reader. It contained an MIA bracelet bearing the name of Sgt. Michael Batt who died on March 16, 1969 in Vietnam. He died on my birthday. I had two cousins killed there. I suspect Michael, an Ohioan, was what my family refers to as a shirttail relative – a distant one. His death saddens me.

The joke department

A caller asked, “What is red and smells like blue paint?” I didn’t know the answer. “Red paint.”

Another called to ask what you get when you cross a pitbull with a rabbit. I got that one. A pitbull.

In local news

Podiatrist charges by the foot.

Man insulates his house with drugstore receipts.

The lines at the Molasses Museum move slowly.

Nature notes

Bruce Armstrong of Hartland asked how robins find worms. Sight is the key sense. Dr. Frank Heppner, an ornithologist, used sensitive equipment to record the low-frequency sounds made by burrowing earthworms. He found that robins ignored those sounds. Years later, two Canadian scientists published conflicting findings. They discovered robins couldn’t find buried mealworms if their hearing was compromised. Hearing might work in concert with vision — or not.

Barb Bruns of Mankato asked why a robin was flinging itself at a window. The bird might be employed by a window cleaning company, hired to drum up business by soiling glass. Hey, a bird has to put food on the table. OK, the bird doesn’t have a table. All the more reason he needed a job. But it’s likely doing what birds of many species do. When a pair decides on a nest site, a surrounding area becomes their territory and they aggressively protect it by driving away other birds of their species. When a male robin spots another male, a chasing fight ensues. The dominant male gets a mate, the nesting location, the territory and the area’s food. When a territorial bird, sees its image in a window’s reflective surface, it perceives its mirrored image as a rival and tries to drive the other bird away. A real robin would leave, but the reflection remains. Being persistent and stubborn, the robin continues to attack. If you want the robin to stop, block the image. Put a piece of cardboard or plastic cling on the outside of the window where the bird is attacking. Soaping the window works. This may cause Martha Stewart to shudder, but, in most cases, you’ll need it only until the shadowboxing robin thinks its worthy adversary has departed.

Meeting adjourned

Spread the love one kind word at a time.

It’s not easy being a harbinger of spring. Photo by Al Batt

Not hot molten lava, but cool molting goldfinch.

April 17, 2020

I've been watching yellow-bellied sapsuckers maniacally machine gunning sap wells into trees. The work of those industrious birds has been followed closely by yellow-rumped warblers, diminutive ruby-crowned kinglets and both downy and hairy woodpeck… — I've been watching yellow-bellied sapsuckers maniacally machine gunning sap wells into trees. The work of those industrious birds has been followed closely by yellow-rumped warblers, diminutive ruby-crowned kinglets and both downy and hairy woodpeckers who gladly plundered the avian soda fountains.

The White-throated Sparrow whistles while the snow melts.

April 13, 2020

The fox sparrows are singing a storm away.

Does the Song Sparrow sing "Maids maids-maids-put-on-your tea-kettle-ettle-ettle”; “Hip, hip,hip hurrah boys, spring is here,” or “Madge, Madge, Madge pick beetles off, the water’s hot"?

A goldfinch changing color in the snow.

April 12, 2020

The little singing that was being done by the Fox Sparrows was stifled by the snow.

Nature’s World by Al Batt

April 11, 2020

Naturally

It was a lovely day. I hoped everyone recognized it as such. I walked amongst the trees while trying not to think of Leif Erickson, Branch Rickey, Twiggy or barking my shins. Folklore says as it rains in March it rains in June.

A song sparrow often has a dark spot in the center of a streaked breast and dark feathers resembling mutton chops under its bill. Song sparrows are persistent singers throughout spring and summer. I try never to let their song go to voicemail. Its scientific name Melodia means “melody” in Greek.

A northern flicker, an avian anteater, fed on the ground. I heard the rattling gu-rrroo calls of sandhill cranes flying high in the sky. A pair of American kestrels flew overhead on bent wings with swept back tips as they exchanged excited “killy” notes. These handsome falcons nest in cavities and likely nest in every county in Minnesota. It resembles a mourning dove when perched on a utility wire.

Paul Peters of Ceylon reported many wood ducks this year. The Wood Duck Society says wood ducks return as soon as ice melt occurs, with egg-laying beginning shortly thereafter, with an initial egg-laying peak in early to mid-April. In southern Minnesota, small sloughs often open up toward the end of March. Wood duck hens in the north have only one brood per season. If an initial clutch of eggs is destroyed, they often nest again. Nearly all cavity nests have been started by late May to early June. In Minnesota, only an occasional hatch occurs as late as August.

I attended a NABS (North American Bluebird Society) and BAN (Bluebirds Across Nebraska) Conference in Kearney right before COVID-19 hit. Bluebirders let their passion shine through. There were folks from 23 states and two provinces there. John Muir’s editor, Robert Underwood Johnson, repeatedly encouraged Muir to reduce his use of the words ‘beautiful’ and ‘glorious’ in his writings. The rosy glow of the sun highlighted sandhill cranes on the Platte River. The birds appeared to be a simple, but elegant string of pearls. Their voices evoked mysteries. Muir would have called them beautiful and glorious.

Q&A

“Why do birds stand on one leg?” They do that when standing on a bathroom scale. We’ve all tried that. They also do it to minimize energy loss.

Mark Sorenson of Hollandale asked why a pair of bald eagles builds a second nest. There could be a number of reasons: A mate is lost, the site is disturbed, nest failure, or damaged nest tree.

“You wrote you’d seen a scissor-tailed flycatcher in Minnesota. What does that bird eat?” They eat scissor-tailed flies, of course. That’s a fib. They eat insects, particularly grasshoppers, crickets and beetles, and occasionally fruit. The migratory bird breeds from northeastern Mexico north through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. It’s the state bird of Oklahoma. The last one I saw in Minnesota was in 2017.

I’ve been reading

In the February issue of “Birding,” a publication of the American Birding Association there was a story by Mel Goff of Colorado who wrote of his quest to see every state bird: “Anyhow, there were reports of loon sightings at State Line Lake in Emmons, a small town on the Minnesota-Iowa border. We drove through a lot of rain along the way, but the morning of May 22, 2018, offered sunshine, warm temperatures, and a migration fallout at Gateway Park in Emmons. In our morning at the park, we recorded over 60 species. The trees and shrubs on the park held more than a dozen warbler species, including a beautiful Connecticut Warbler, a life bird for us. And in the aftermath of that rare warbler, an afterthought: a Common Loon on the lake.”

The same issue featured a friend, whose introduction was: “Carrol Henderson richly deserves his reputation as a bird’s best friend. during a 45-year career with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, he helped bring back Trumpeter Swans and Peregrine Falcons, helped create the Pine-to-Prairie International Birding Trail in Minnesota and Manitoba, pioneered studies of lead poisoning in Bald Eagles, and worked to restore Common Loon and American White Pelican populations lost from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.”

Thanks for stopping by

“And time remembered is grief forgotten, And frosts are slain and flowers begotten, And in green underwood and cover, Blossom by blossom the spring begins.” — Algernon Charles Swinburne

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Viktor Frankl

Do good.

The red-winged blackbird's scientific name is agelaius phoeniceus, meaning "belonging to a flock" and "deep red." - Al Batt/Albert Lea Tribune

Enjoying a sunflower seed on ice.

April 4, 2020

Fox Sparrows are ripping up the dance floor of my yard. They bring joy to one deep in self-care.

A showdown at a river nowhere near the O.K. Corral.

The house sparrow is thinking, “Well, here we go again with the April snow.”

April 3, 2020

Maybe the best thing to do is to sleep through an April snow.

“This has got to be the third snow on my tail. Let spring begin.”

Not everyone is happy to see a common grackle. They need to expand their PR department.

March 31, 2020

I’ve learned that no brown-headed cowbird will ever replace a good cow dog.

Could it be? Does this cardinal see spring?

The gold that spring promises is the change in the color of a goldfinch’s plumage.

March 29, 2020

“Look at me,” said the male red-winged blackbird.

A sandhill crane couple goes shopping. Toilet paper is not on their list.

A tufted titmouse spent the winter in my yard. It has left for what I hope are greener pastures. He was good company.

March 28, 2020

Al Batt: How old was the oldest duck you’ve ever seen?

By Al Batt

Email the author

Published 9:00 am Saturday, March 28, 2020

Nature’s World by Al Batt

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

“How are you doing?” I ask.

“Everything is nearly copacetic. I bought a new garden hose. I buy a new one every year.”

“Why do you do that?” I say.

“It’s easier than untangling my old one.”

Naturally

Birds enliven the yard. In early spring, a woodpecker excavates a nest cavity in a dead tree. It knows it has its hole life ahead of it. A number of readers have reported birds fighting with their mirrored images in windows. That’s what happens when they take anger management classes online.

I visited with Ann Wick of Black Earth, Wisconsin, who monitors 150 bluebird boxes and has banded over 12,000 bluebirds in 24 years..

Ken Vail of Illinois, formerly of Owatonna, had a gift for finding snowy owls in southern Minnesota. His obituary said Ken died surrounded by loved ones and birdsong. It added, “He took regular hikes and rarely went anywhere without his binoculars — even the grocery store. As all birders know, one never can tell where the next lifer will appear.”

Charles St. Charles of Michigan wrote, “You say that the black-capped chickadee whistles ‘Fee-bee,’ but I hear something different. Maybe it’s because I cheerfully feed so many of them throughout the year that what I hear is ‘Feed Me.’ The next time you are out talking to the chickadees at your feeder see if they aren’t saying the same thing to you this spring.”

Bonita Underbakke of Lanesboro and Harvey Benson of Harmony gave me a book titled “Bird Count” for my birthday. It tells the tale of a Christmas Bird Count led by Big Al.

Sandhill cranes

I was in Kearney, Nebraska, trying to see all of the 600,000 sandhill cranes gathered along the Platte River. None nest in Nebraska, but some do in Minnesota. How do the big birds find their way to Nebraska each year? They wing it. The Platte River used to be described as being a mile wide and an inch thick, but has changed over time as have many waterways. The voice of a sandhill crane can be heard 2.5 miles away. As they age, cranes turn grayer and bald. The red crown is skin and acquired in its first year. Cranes don’t perch in trees, they dance elegantly year-round, and live 15 to 25 years in the wild. About 50,000 are taken during hunting seasons in various states. A crane cam is at https://rowe.audubon.org/birds/crane-cam

Q&A

“My uncle said pigeons produce milk. Is he nuts?” Male and female pigeons and doves produce crop milk for their young. The crop is a structure at the base of a bird’s neck, which is used to store and moisten food before digestion. Shortly before pigeon eggs hatch, both the parents’ crops become engorged with fluid-filled cells. They regurgitate this milky goop into the mouths of the squabs. This crop milk remains the squabs’ only food for several days after hatching. Crop milk is extremely rich in proteins and fats. Flamingos and emperor penguins also produce crop milk.

“How old was the oldest duck you’ve ever seen?” It’s Donald Duck, who hatched on June 9, 1934 according to Disney. Daffy Duck’s hatch date was April 17, 1937.

The event calendar

Listen for the high-pitched peep of the spring peeper, which has a distinct, dark X on its back and can be heard a mile away, or a long “cree-ee-eek” sound, as if a fingernail was dragged across the teeth of a comb, made by the western chorus frog.
Woodcock males, also called timberdoodles, dance.

Tundra swans migrate through on their way to breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra.

I’ve been reading

This from “Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas” by Stephen Harrigan about Texas Governor James Hogg around 1869: “He was in a state of deep despondency until one day, while walking alone in the woods, he heard the song of a mockingbird. He was probably not the first Texan to feel restored to life by the piercing, ricocheting musicality of Mimus polyglottos, no doubt part of the reason it became the Texas state bird. (Although that did not happen until 1927, when the legislature declared with unbothered anthropomorphism that the mockingbird ‘is a singer of distinctive type, a fighter for the protection of his home, falling, if need be, in its defense, like any True Texan.’)”

Thanks for stopping by

“Do something wild today. Look at a bird.” — Al Batt

“When you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them all.” — Edward O. Wilson

“Eight-year-olds should not be asked to become warriors or worriers. Children have much more important work to do: Watch ants. Grow flowers. Dance between the raindrops. This is sacred work, and childhood needs to be preserved just as much as rain forests and wetlands.” — Michael Weilbacher

Do good.

Al Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society. Email him at SnoEowl@aol.com.

Pictured are some of the 600,000 sandhill cranes along the Platte River not far from Rowe Sanctuary. - Al Batt/Albert Lea Tribune

The song of the western meadowlark carves through the wind and gladdens the soul.

Looking out the window is worth the effort

March 24, 2020

Looking out the window is worth the effort

Published by rkramer@bluffco... on Mon, 03/23/2020 - 10:22am

By :

AL BATT

I had been looking at some blurry photos of birds perched on clear images of tree branches. I searched my photos for something appropriate for requests from magazines and calendars. I couldn't decide, so I went for a walk to clear my head.

In the ordinary process of noticing nature, I find amazement. Nature offers touchstones that help me navigate my life.

Judging by the tracks in the snow, a raccoon had gotten its steps in during the night. Skunks, raccoons and opossums don't hibernate but hole up in sleeping places in burrows and elsewhere if the weather isn't good for foraging or courting.

Red-winged blackbird males returned to call on territory. "No, you shut up," they yell at the other males.

One crow listened to another whose call sounded important before angry voices welcomed me to the yard. The yard crows were indignant at the discovery of a great horned owl. Crows hate owls because owls love to eat crows. Lorine Niedecker wrote, "A monster owl out on the fence flew away. What is it the sign of?” The sign of an owl.

A pair of compact birds, white-breasted nuthatches, moved up, down, and around a tree. I sometimes call a nuthatch a tree mouse. The male called a "who-who-who-who or what-what-what-what." The active and agile birds often start high in a tree and move down it headfirst, probing into bark crevices for food.

I heard the whinnying call of a downy woodpecker. It's a downy — descending at the end. The rattling call of the similar and larger hairy woodpecker doesn't descend in pitch at the end.

Q&A

"Why do some birds stand on one leg more often than others?" They are more ambitious. They want to get a leg up on the competition.

"Do bald eagles wait until they have laid all their eggs before incubating?" No, incubation begins after the first egg is laid, meaning that in a nest where two eggs hatch, there will be the oldest sibling and the youngest sibling.

"Is it possible to tell male and female robins apart?" It can be difficult to tell them apart but there are subtle differences. Males typically have a darker head (often black) and the female has an overall paler color.

"What kind of a stomach does a bird have?" A typical bird's stomach has two parts. The first has acidic juices that are good at breaking down things like soft-bodied insects, worms, soft fruits, and nectar. The second section is the gizzard, which has powerful muscles that crush and grind hard foods like acorns. The gizzard needs help to do its job. This help comes in the form of grit the bird has swallowed. A bird has a crop. The crop stores food temporarily and initiates the digestion process before food enters the stomach. It's a thin-walled pouch at the base of the esophagus where birds store food before sending it to the stomach.

"Why didn't Ben Franklin want the bald eagle to be this country's national emblem?" Charles Thompson, one of the key designers of the Nation’s symbol, wrote that it was “born on the breast of an American Eagle without any other supporters to denote that the United States of America ought to rely on their own Virtue.” Benjamin Franklin was against the bald eagle being a national emblem. He said the bald eagle was a bird of bad moral character because of its tendency to steal fish from other birds and a rank coward when facing a kingbird.

"How far can a baby wood duck jump from a nest box and survive?" A duckling can take a 65-foot leap of faith, maybe more, and waddle away happily into a new world.

Driving by Bruce's drive

I have a wonderful neighbor, named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: I experienced the sight of empty toilet paper and bread aisles in a store. I drove north on Winter, a street in Wakefield, Neb. Running low on gas, I turned down the radio. That seemed to help. After fueling to my car's content, I taught a couple of writing classes. Brilliant kids. It was a beautiful spring day. Then a terrible thing happened while I was having lunch. Someone claimed winter was over. "No!" I screamed. "Take it back. Say you were just kidding." It was too late. Within a few hours, we had a winter storm complete with sleet, ice and snow. Most everyone who traveled the same path I had described the weather as crappy. I'm going to get myself a snow globe that after I shake it, a tiny snowplow appears and pushes snow. A van ahead of me dispensed copious amounts of snow from its roof. Vans in snowy areas should have A-frame roofs.

A travelogue

I'm fortunate that work has allowed me to travel to many places on this old world. Like Forrest Gump, I’ve been many places. Traveling is wonderful as long as I have a home to return to. Unmoored traveling isn't for me. I haven't been everywhere, but I've been to Louisiana where I learned to never cook an alligator in a crockpot. And Hungary where a collective noun might be a goulash of Hungarians. I visited Kansas and discovered the poor man's banana tastes like a cross between a banana and a mango. It's a paw paw. In Sacramento, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill designating lace lichen the California state lichen, making California the first to have a state lichen.

I visited Republican City, Neb., named after the Republican River. Why the Republican name? Jefferson and Madison opposed Hamilton’s Federalists, usually calling themselves Republicans or sometimes Democratic-Republicans. A republican was anyone who believed in government without a king or aristocracy. In the 1780s, the river was known to French traders as “Fourche des Republiques”—the Forks of the Republicans. The Republicans were a band of Pawnees living there at the time and the river was given their name.

Nature notes

Looking out the window is worth the effort. Snow hadn’t been elusive or overwhelming. The DNR says January is our snowiest month on average, followed by December, March, November, February and April. When spring comes, can winter be far behind? We need a change of scenery, but we get an in-between season called sprinter.

I listened to a male cardinal sing his spring song. “What-cheer, cheer, cheer, birdy, birdy, birdy, birdy.” A black-capped chickadee whistled, “Spring’s here,” “Sweet-ie,” “Love you,” or “Fee-bee.” A white-breasted nuthatch celebrated the increasing daylength by giving voice to “Wha-wha-wha.” Blue jays voiced a musical queedle-queedle. Drumming woodpeckers provided a percussive accompaniment.

I heard a house sparrow cheep. I’ve heard them called cheap birds. In India, the Nature Forever Society has tried to rally conservation interest by declaring March 20 World Sparrow Day and naming it the state bird of Delhi. The Society’s president said, “The house sparrow is one bird which is seen by everyone, by kids, by adults, by people from various socioeconomic strata. It is a bird of the common man.” The house sparrow is the default little brown bird we see in parking lots and yards, on street corners and sidewalks, and on farms.

Snow melts first at the foot of the trees because the dark color of trunks absorbs energy from the sun. This heat energy is absorbed by the snow around the base causing it to melt.

Thank you for stopping by

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” ― Vincent Van Gogh

Do good.

AL BATT/BLUFF COUNTRY READER An American tree sparrow perched in a tree. Snowmelt sends them north to the tundra

I spent part of my day peering through red twig dogwood.

It looks like home to this pair of Canada geese.

Things were tough then too

March 22, 2020

**Seen at The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument over Interstate 80 located three miles east of Kearney, Nebraska,**

Travelers left inspiring or warning messages for those who followed.

Sandhill cranes feeding on waste corn (90% of their diet along the Platte River in Nebraska) lift my spirits.

The song of the western meadowlark cuts through the Nebraska wind.

LeMars, Iowa, was declared the Ice Cream Capitol of the World by the Iowa State Legislature in 1994.

Al Batt: Why didn’t Ben Franklin want eagle for U.S. emblem?

March 21, 2020

Al Batt: Why didn’t Ben Franklin want eagle for U.S. emblem?

By Al Batt

Email the author

Published 9:00 am Saturday, March 21, 2020

Nature’s World by Al Batt

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

“How are you doing?” I ask.

“Everything is nearly copacetic. I had a tough year today. I’m going to stop playing cards with Still Bill. It takes him forever to play a hand. That’s no surprise — his shadow runs off and leaves him behind. If Still Bill can’t sleep, it’s because he hadn’t been doing nothing hard enough. But the reason I’m never playing poker with him again is that he cheats.”

“How can you tell?” I say.

“It’s obvious. He never plays any of the cards I’d dealt him.”

Naturally

In the ordinary process of noticing nature, I find amazement. Nature offers touchstones that help me navigate my life.

Judging by the tracks in the snow, a raccoon had gotten its steps in during the night. Skunks, raccoons and opossums don’t hibernate but hole up in sleeping places in burrows and elsewhere if the weather isn’t good for foraging or courting.

Red-winged blackbird males returned to call on territory. “No, you shut up,” they yell at the other males.

Lorine Niedecker wrote, “A monster owl out on the fence flew away. What is it the sign of? The sign of an owl.”

A pair of compact birds, white-breasted nuthatches, moved up, down, and around a tree. I sometimes call a nuthatch a tree mouse. The male called a “who-who-who-who or what-what-what-what.” The active and agile birds often start high in a tree and move down it headfirst, probing into bark crevices for food.

I heard the whinnying call of a downy woodpecker. It’s a downy — descending at the end. The rattling call of the similar and larger hairy woodpecker doesn’t descend in pitch at the end.

Q&A

“Why do some birds stand on one leg more often than others?” They are more ambitious. They want to get a leg up on the competition.

“Do bald eagles wait until they have laid all their eggs before incubating?” No, incubation begins after the first egg is laid. meaning that in a nest where two eggs hatch, there will be the oldest sibling and the youngest sibling.

“Is it possible to tell male and female robins apart?” It can be difficult to tell them apart but there are subtle differences. Males typically have a darker head (often black) and the female has an overall paler color.

“What kind of a stomach does a bird have?” A typical bird’s stomach has two parts. The first has acidic juices that are good at breaking down things like soft-bodied insects, worms, soft fruits, and nectar. The second section is the gizzard, which has powerful muscles that crush and grind hard foods like acorns. The gizzard needs help to do its job. This help comes in the form of grit the bird has swallowed. A bird has a crop. The crop stores food temporarily and initiates the digestion process before food enters the stomach. It’s a thin-walled pouch at the base of the esophagus where birds store food before sending it to the stomach.

“Why didn’t Ben Franklin want the bald eagle to be this country’s national emblem?” Charles Thompson, one of the key designers of the Nation’s symbol, wrote that it was “born on the breast of an American Eagle without any other supporters to denote that the United States of America ought to rely on their own Virtue.” Benjamin Franklin was against the bald eagle being a national emblem. He said the bald eagle was a bird of bad moral character because of its tendency to steal fish from other birds and a rank coward when facing a kingbird.

“How far can a baby wood duck jump from a nest box and survive?” A duckling can take 65-foot leap of faith, maybe more, and waddle away happily into a new world.

Thank you for stopping by

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” — Vincent Van Gogh

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”

— Norman Maclean in “A River Runs Through It”

Do good.

Al Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society. Email him at SnoEowl@aol.com.

Pictured is an American tree sparrow in a tree. Snowmelt sends them north to the tundra. - Al Batt/Albert Lea Tribune

Pictured is a tree mouse. – Al Batt/Albert Lea Tribune

Al Batt: Is there a most recognizable bird in the world? If so, what is it?

March 20, 2020

Al Batt: Is there a most recognizable bird in the world? If so, what is it?

By Al Batt

Email the author

Published 9:00 am Saturday, March 14, 2020

Nature’s World by Al Batt

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

“How are you doing?” I ask.

“I’m a dollar or two ahead, so I put a down payment on a free lunch. I have a weather rock. It’d been infallible. A dry rock means fair weather, a wet rock means it’s raining, a dusty rock means it’s a drought, a swaying rock means it’s windy, a shadow beside the rock means it’s sunny, a white rock means it’s snowing, and if the rock is underwater it’s a flood. It no longer works.”

“How can that be?” I said.

“I didn’t update it to the newest operating system.”

Naturally

The sun’s strength was impressive. It enticed chipmunks from their burrows. The trees were encompassed by dark circles at the base of their trunks. When the sun shines, a tree absorbs more heat than the surrounding snow does because of the tree’s dark-colored bark. The trunk warms and radiates heat, which melts the snow around the foot of the tree. The same thing happens to telephone poles and fence posts. A red-winged blackbird sang “Look at me!” House finches tried to sing in the spring. These lovely singers, called Hollywood finches when they were sold as caged birds, are year-long residents here and provide needed flashes of color. Some of them undergo short-distance migrations south. Purple finches look similar, but are winter guests in southern Minnesota. The red on a male house finch is concentrated on head and breast. The redness of a purple finch male spreads to most of his body.

I strolled about the yard, adding mud to my boots. Long walks and birdwatching are prescribed by doctors to patients in Scotland’s Shetland Islands as part of treatments for chronic illnesses. The National Health Service Shetland rolled out what has been called nature prescriptions to help treat a range of afflictions, including high blood pressure, anxiety and depression. I wonder if I could send a bill to my insurance company for my walking shoes? Probably not.

I hope there will be enough good weather.

Q&A

“How big a territory does a pair of hawks have?” The red-tailed hawk is the hawk we commonly see. They usually hold a nesting territory of 1.5-2.0 square miles, but could be larger if food was scarce.

“What is the most recognizable bird in the world?” I’m speculating wildly, but I’d guess it would be the peacock, the male peafowl.

“What good are prairie dogs?” In addition to providing food and shelter for associated species, prairie dog burrows enrich the soil and improve vegetative quality by aerating the soil and allowing water to flow underground. Prairie dog activities increase and diversify the composition of grasses and forbs within their colonies, creating habitat favored by other wildlife. Their long-term use of a grassland appears to promote short, perennial grasses.

“Do robins mate for life?” I read that Aristotle considered earthworms to be the intestines of the earth. Robins consider them lunch. Robins don’t mate for life. Pairs generally stay together during a breeding season, which can involve two or three nestings. Sometimes the two return to the same territory and end up together for another year. A robin has about a 50% chance of living through a year.

“Are horned larks a sign of spring?” Maybe, sort of. Somewhat. Horned larks commonly winter in southern Minnesota, with lower populations found shivering farther north. The horned larks that migrated south begin returning north in early February through late March. They can be seen feeding along the graveled edges of rural roads. They fly at a vehicle’s approach before landing in a field and disappearing by blending into the ground. Horned larks have a horizontal posture and their song is a high-pitched tinkling. High breeding densities of horned larks are found throughout the heavily cultivated regions of the western and southern parts of the state.

“How much does a chickadee eat each day?” Smaller birds generally need more food relative to their weight than do larger birds. A black-capped chickadee eats 35% of its weight per day. A blue jay eats about 10% and a hummingbird as much as 100% of its weight each day.

Thanks for stopping by

“I can’t imagine a world without koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, dunnarts, black cockatoos … compassion.” — from the comic strip “Mutts” by Patrick McDonnell

“The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air, the fragrance of the grass, they speak to me. The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky, the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me. The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning, the dewdrop on the flower, speaks to me. The strength of the fire, the taste of the salmon, the trail of the sun, and the life that never goes away, they speak to me. And my heart soars.” — Chief Dan George

Do good.

Al Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society. Email him at SnoEowl@aol.com.

Pictured is a male house finch. – Al Batt/Albert Lea Tribune

The Hammer family operated Hammer Motel from 1947 to 1987 in Kearney, Nebraska. A smaller replica of the sign was added to the Great Platte River Archway.

March 19, 2020

Al Batt: Things to look for while awaiting spring

March 18, 2020

Al Batt: Things to look for while awaiting spring

Published by rkramer@bluffco... on Mon, 03/09/2020 - 12:52pm

By :

AL BATT

Bluff Country Reader

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

"How are you doing?" I ask.

"Everything is nearly copacetic. I'm still waiting to see if my morning coffee intake uses its powers for good or evil. I used to be married until she got smart and dumped me. We never fought. I guess I did, but she never fought back."

"How did she control her anger?" I say.

"She cleaned the toilet."

"How did that help?" I ask.

"She used my toothbrush."

Naturally

A tufted titmouse, which fortunately for me had decided to spend the winter in our yard, has fit in well. It even participates in the mobbing of accipiters. I listened to it as it joined chickadees, nuthatches, and blue jays in a verbal assault on a raptor. The birds had mob connections. When smaller birds join forces to ward off larger or predatory birds, it’s called mobbing. The sounds call in the cavalry. Tufted titmice produce fussy, scolding call notes and, when predators are spotted, a harsh distress call that warns others of the danger.

A friend sent me a video of a squirrel burying the blueberries she'd tossed outside. The squirrel was burying the berries in the snow. It was caching food in a refrigerator that would melt. Seems to be a foolish endeavor, but who am I to judge the behavior of a squirrel or anyone else?

Q&A

"Do crows migrate?" Some do. American crows are commonly observed during the winter in the southern two-thirds of the state but are rare in the north. You might notice crows carrying sticks and nesting materials at this time of the year.

"Should bluebird nest boxes face a certain direction?" Research done by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology revealed eastern bluebirds will nest in boxes facing in any direction. In Minnesota and other northern states, nest boxes facing in easterly directions fledged more young on average than boxes facing other directions. This suggests a benefit to east-facing boxes at northern latitudes, where night temperatures tend to be colder. This benefit couldn't be detected in the south.

"Why do birds stand on one leg?" A foot tucked into belly feathers reduces the amount of heat a bird loses through unfeathered limbs. A bird sometimes alternates feet to minimize heat loss and conserve energy. A bird might tuck its beak under its shoulder feathers for warmth and to lessen heat loss.

"Are most spruce trees named Bruce?" Yes.

"What percent of a bag of black-oil sunflower seeds is made up of shells?" The hulls make up 35 to 45 percent of the weight.

"Why are they called cedar waxwings?" The elegant birds were named cedar waxwings because of their strong attraction to the red cedar tree (a juniper) with its blue fruits and due to the bright red on the wing feathers that is waxy red secretions.

"Do bluebirds mate for life?" Sialis.org says, "The answer is probably maybe sometimes." Bluebirds form pair-bonds during the breeding season and are generally socially monogamous — a single male and female form a basic social unit. A study of eastern bluebirds indicated about 95 percent of the time, nestings involved one male and one female.

Things to look for and think about while awaiting spring

1. Maple sap flow is triggered by thawing days followed by freezing nights.

2. Chipmunks are out and about.

3. Migrating Canada geese arrive.

4. Marcescent (withered, but persistent) leaves drop from red oak and ironwood trees.

5. Wild turkeys have started their spring courtship with the toms gobbling, flaring tails, and strutting.

6. The bulk of the noisy, male robins tend to follow the 37-degree average daily isotherm as they move northward. There is a wide variation among individuals, but that temperature means food is available. An isotherm is a line drawn on a map linking places having the same temperature. A customer of this column told me when a robin is sighted near a house, it foretells good fortune for the inhabitants of the house. We should all be lucky folks.

7. House finches sing long, jumbled warbling songs of short notes, which often end with an upward or downward slur, as if the bird was either asking a question or had forgotten its song.

8. Our timepieces spring ahead on March 8. Meteorological spring begins on March 1 and astronomical spring starts on March 19.

Driving by Bruce's drive

I have a wonderful neighbor, named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: It was springlike in the house, but winter was being an unwelcome companion outdoors. An icy driveway brightens my day like a total eclipse. There was so much ice, I considered getting a polar bear. I decided against it as I'd have to build a polar bear house and I doubt I'd get around to finishing it. It's as the sign on the wall of the cafe read: "We never finish anyth."

There isn’t an off-season for family and friends.

I attended a game in which a group of polite hecklers were bothering an opponent shooting a free throw. "It's not just a boulder, it's a rock," they yelled.

Not long after that my granddaughter, Joey Batt, splashed a three-pointer to help Minnesota State win a game and the courtside announcer proclaimed, "A JB3!" Joey was one of five members of the all-freshmen team for the 16-team NSIC.

I paid my respects to a basketball-playing friend not long ago. I did so by bringing a sympathy card that was too big for its envelope, expressing condolences, hugging, and sharing stories about the deceased. Larry Pence of Albert Lea had been my basketball and softball teammate. I watched Larry play basketball in high school. I was a few years younger and was charged with the task of keeping a shot chart. I was given an official school clipboard and an official school pencil. The Coach gave me the usual advice, "You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead." He'd learned a lot from watching Laurel & Hardy films. The shot chart was made up of letter-sized paper displaying an approximation of a basketball court. Anytime a player shot, I'd jot down the player's number on the paper reflecting the spot on the floor where the attempt occurred. If the shot was made, I circled the number. If the shot was missed, no circling was required. I don't know how I got the job. The responsible students must have been out sick. I kidded Larry that I didn't have to sharpen the official school pencil once during his games because I never needed to circle his shots. That was far from the truth. He was a fine player and a fine friend.

Nature notes

The blue jays were talkative. Mark Twain wrote, “You never saw a blue jay get stuck for a word. He is a vocabularized geyser.”

A snowplow grumbled by. It sounded tired. I was happy to see it. February was cold, but its warm sunlight melted snow. It had given itself plenty of snow to melt. “Light tomorrow with today!” said Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Freed from home by the snowplow’s good work, I drove around entertaining my camera. Most of the miles were on rural roads — some gravel and some hard surface. The snow gave a soft wind visibility. I saw more bald eagles than cows. How times have changed. You could say I drove the wrong roads, but it’s what I saw.

I saw a few pheasants. The loss of food due to a persistent cover of snow and/or ice is a killer. Waste grain, an important food source, becomes unavailable under a deep accumulation of snow. I read once that 300 kernels of corn per day maintains a pheasant’s weight. Captive pheasants have been able to survive several weeks without food, but they don’t expend energy avoiding predators and staying warm. A healthy wild pheasant could go three days without food. The annual survival rate of ring-necked pheasants is around 50 percent. Hens are more likely to succumb to starvation than roosters as the females enter winter in poor condition due to the high energy demands of nesting and rearing chicks. Strong winds can sometimes be beneficial to pheasants as they might free feeding areas of snow. Another problem for pheasants is the lack of suitable winter cover.

Meeting adjourned

"Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." — Proverbs

Do good.

AL BATT/BLUFF COUNTRY READER Trumpeter swans in a heated discussion not involving the presidential primary.

Seen at The Archway in Kearney, Nebraska. The pioneers had arduous journeys. And I find a flat tire painful.

Seen at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota.

Subarus do not come from the factory with bumper stickers on them. It just seems like it.

March 18, 2020

Al Batt: Long walks and birdwatching to enjoy spring-like weather

Published by rkramer@bluffco... on Mon, 03/16/2020 - 1:36pm

By :

AL BATT

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

"How are you doing?" I ask.

"I'm a dollar or two ahead, so I put a down payment on a free lunch. I have a weather rock. It'd been infallible. A dry rock means fair weather, a wet rock means it's raining, a dusty rock means it's a drought, a swaying rock means it's windy, a shadow beside the rock means it's sunny, a white rock means it's snowing, and if the rock is underwater it's a flood. It no longer works."

"How can that be?" I said.

"I didn't update it to the newest operating system."

Naturally

The sun's strength was impressive. It enticed chipmunks from their burrows. The trees were encompassed by dark circles at the base of their trunks. When the sun shines, a tree absorbs more heat than the surrounding snow does because of the tree's dark-colored bark. The trunk warms and radiates heat, which melts the snow around the foot of the tree. The same thing happens to telephone poles and fence posts. A red-winged blackbird sang "Look at me!" House finches tried to sing in the spring. These lovely singers, called Hollywood finches when they were sold as caged birds, are year-long residents here and provide needed flashes of color. Some of them undergo short-distance migrations south. Purple finches look similar but are winter guests in southern Minnesota. The red on a male house finch is concentrated on head and breast. The redness of a purple finch male spreads to most of his body.

I strolled about the yard, adding mud to my boots. Long walks and birdwatching are prescribed by doctors to patients in Scotland's Shetland Islands as part of treatments for chronic illnesses. The National Health Service Shetland rolled out what has been called nature prescriptions to help treat a range of afflictions, including high blood pressure, anxiety and depression. I wonder if I could send a bill to my insurance company for my walking shoes? Probably not.

I hope there will be enough good weather.

Q&A

"How big a territory does a pair of hawks have?" The red-tailed hawk is the hawk we commonly see. They usually hold a nesting territory of 1.5-2.0 square miles, but could be larger if food was scarce.

"What is the most recognizable bird in the world?" I'm speculating wildly, but I'd guess it would be the peacock, the male peafowl.

"What good are prairie dogs?" In addition to providing food and shelter for associated species, prairie dog burrows enrich the soil and improve vegetative quality by aerating the soil and allowing water to flow underground. Prairie dog activities increase and diversify the composition of grasses and forbs within their colonies, creating habitat favored by other wildlife. Their long-term use of a grassland appears to promote short, perennial grasses.

"Do robins mate for life?" I read that Aristotle considered earthworms to be the intestines of the earth. Robins consider them lunch. Robins don't mate for life. Pairs generally stay together during a breeding season, which can involve two or three nestings. Sometimes the two return to the same territory and end up together for another year. A robin has about a 50% chance of living through a year.

"Are horned larks a sign of spring?" Maybe, sort of. Somewhat. Horned larks commonly winter in southern Minnesota, with lower populations found shivering farther north. The horned larks that migrated south begin returning north in early February through late March. They can be seen feeding along the graveled edges of rural roads. They fly at a vehicle's approach before landing in a field and disappearing by blending into the ground. Horned larks have a horizontal posture and their song is a high-pitched tinkling. High breeding densities of horned larks are found throughout the heavily cultivated regions of the western and southern parts of the state.

"How much does a chickadee eat each day?" Smaller birds generally need more food relative to their weight than do larger birds. A black-capped chickadee eats 35% of its weight per day. A blue jay eats about 10% and a hummingbird as much as 100% of its weight each day.

Driving by Bruce's drive

I have a wonderful neighbor, named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: I had a neighbor named Claude Bias. Claudie, as most called him, was one of those people who not only didn't try to keep up with the Joneses, he was most comfortable lagging far behind them. Claudie didn't have electricity on his farm. He had countless canines instead. He had so many dogs, I feared Claudie would succumb to a Roverdose. He didn't.

The legend of Gene Dodge

I headed down the Hog Highway — I-90. It's used to haul hogs to Hormel or to ride hogs to Sturgis. I was on my way to watch a basketball game in Sioux Falls. I listened to a tournament game on the radio. The skilled announcer painted effective word pictures. He talked of referees working with the official timekeeper to make sure there wasn't a second too many or too few on the clock. Being an official of any kind at an athletic event can be challenging. Fans yell, coaches yell, and a few gifted players might consider themselves above fouling. They don’t realize that a star is nothing but a mass of compressed gas.

You've heard the reports. A coach said something harsh to a referee. The referee responded, "What did you call me?"

The coach replied, "Guess. You've guessed at everything else."

Another coach asked a ref, "Would you call a technical foul on me if I thought you were the world's worst referee?"

The official replied, "Definitely not. I'm no mind reader."

"Good," said the coach, "because I think you are the worst."

I had a coach who offered his eyeglasses to a ref saying, "Here, you need these more than I do."

Gene Dodge was a fine man, proprietor of Dodge's Hardware, and heavily involved in community affairs. He was a responsible, well-mannered citizen, but got his blood up during high school basketball games. He had one-sided, strident discussions with referees he found flawed. The story goes that to curb his badgering of the arbiters of fouls and other violations, the school made him the official timekeeper, a serious position.

It worked well until a game when Gene couldn't take it anymore. A referee had become an example of all that was wrong with the world. After taking a heap of heckling, the frustrated referee said to Gene, "I thought you were supposed to be the timer?"

Without missing a beat, Gene said, "And I thought you were supposed to be a referee."

Thoughts during a timeout

If you want your home to be more wildlife-friendly, leave a door open.

If your cellphone battery lasts a long time, you probably have a life.

The ancient Egyptians worshiped cats. Anyone who has been online knows we do too.

Good moods don't need reasons.

Putting money into a vending machine demonstrates optimism.

Nature notes

Winter isn’t an easy companion. The citizens of the yard stay busy because they need to eat. Goldfinches generally become more common customers at the feeders during the second half of winter, as if inspired by a coach’s halftime talk. Juncos trilled as if it were the next season. Horned larks fed on roadsides. The darling of the yard and my minimum daily bird requirement, a chickadee, sang of spring.

I stumbled outside into a day exactly my size and found an owl pellet. Owls swallow small prey whole. The gizzard is a thick-walled organ that uses digestive fluids and grit to grind and dissolve the usable tissue from the prey. The types of tissue that can be dissolved by an owl's digestive system include muscle, fat, skin and internal organs. Bones, teeth, feathers, fur and insect shells collect in the gizzard. The bird regurgitates the indigestible materials as pellets.

Meeting adjourned

This was part of the obituary for a friend, Jack Moon of Kiester: "In honor of Jack, kiss your sweetheart, hug your kids, entertain your grandchildren, go for a long ride in the country, practice your faith, read a good book, sing a song, volunteer in your community, tell a joke (over and over again), enjoy nature, be a good neighbor and live every day as the blessing it is."

Do good.

AL BATT/BLUFF COUNTRY READER Shown is a purple finch male.

It’s a pleasant walk to and from the blinds in the early morning at the Rowe Sanctuary in Minden, Nebraska. It’s a great spot to see some of the 600,000 sandhill cranes there.

If I’m leading a birding trip, it leads to good food at places like Burchell's White Hill Farmhouse Inn outside Minden, Nebraska.

These were cranes I saw in Nebraska. I don’t believe they were sandhill cranes.

Speakers from a drive-in movie theater as seen at The Archway in Kearney, Nebraska.