Birds are good people

Staff

Published Saturday, June 21, 2008

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

  “How are you doing?” I ask.

  “I applied for a job as a signalman on the railroad. A mucky-muck from the railroad interviewed me. He asked me, ‘What would you do if you realized that two trains were heading for each other on the same track?’”

  “And you had an answer?” I say.

  “You bet. I told him that I’d switch tracks for one of the trains. Then the guy asked, ‘What if the lever broke?’ I said that I’d run down the track and use another lever.”

  “I’ll bet he was impressed,” I opine.

  “I have no doubt, but he kept up with the questioning. He asked, ‘What if that lever had been struck by lightning?’ I was prepared for that. I told him that I’d run to the signal box and phone the next signal box.”

  “Did you tell him to put that in his smipe and poke it?” I ask.

  “No, I don’t have that moron gene that you have. The guy asked me what I would do if the phone was busy. I told him that I’d use my cell phone to call someone to stop the train.”

  “And he asked what if you had lost your cell phone,” I say.

  “Exactly. I told him that I’d run into town and get my Uncle Caleb.”

  “Why would you do that?” I ask.

  “Because Uncle Caleb hasn’t ever seen a train wreck.”

Nature lessons

  Birds are good people.

  Sooner or later, if you listen hard enough, all birds sing, “Louie, Louie.”

  A hanging tube feeder is not a good choice for attracting cardinals.

  Since 1980, Minnesota has averaged 33 days with hail each year.

Avian Hall of Fame

  The phoebe was the first bird in North America to be banded for study. In 1804, John James Audubon tied a silver thread around a phoebe hatchling’s leg to see if the bird would return to the same site the next year. It did.

Something fishy

  A vacationing woman from Toledo, Ohio, received 25 stitches in her face. She was in the Gulf of Mexico swimming near St. Petersburg, Fla., when a flying pelican hit her and ripped open her cheek.

  “It was like somebody took his fist and smashed it into the side of my face,” said the victim.

  The pelican was killed on contact.

  The pelican likely was trying to catch a fish and the swimmer got in the way or it mistook the woman for a fish. The Ohioan was in the wrong place at the wrong time because pelicans do not attack people.

  This is a cautionary tale. If you were thinking of dressing as a fish today, you might want to rethink.

A duck stamp

  If you’re a hunter, buying a duck stamp each year is a familiar activity because it’s required by law to hunt migratory waterfowl in the United States. If you’re a birder, photographer or conservation-minded citizen you should buy a duck stamp. I buy one and I have never shot at a duck in my life.

  Created in 1934 as federal licenses required for hunting migratory waterfowl, federal duck stamps are a vital source of funds for protecting wetlands, wildlife refuges and endangered species. Federal duck stamps have generated more than $700 million and protected over 5.2 million acres of waterfowl habitat in America and this habitat feeds and houses about one-third of the nation’s endangered and threatened species. Nearly 98 cents out of every dollar collected from the sale of duck stamps and duck stamp merchandise goes directly to the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to purchase wetlands and wildlife habitat for inclusion into the National Wildlife Refuge System — the only federal lands where wildlife comes first. Purchasing a duck stamp is easy and will give the satisfaction of knowing you’re contributing directly to the protection of America’s natural heritage. A current stamp gives you free access to any U.S. National Wildlife Refuge open to the public. The federal duck stamp costs only $15 and is available at most post offices.

Cliff swallows

  My father called them “Bridge Swallows” because so many of the birds nested under bridges. Their nests are gourdlike structures built of mud with a tubular entrance hole near the bottom. This swallow is a master mason that constructs its mud nest under the eaves of buildings or on cliffs, as well as under bridges. Cliff swallows are colonial nesters. A female will sometimes lay its eggs in the nest of another cliff swallow. The other female will care for the foreign eggs as if they were her own. It takes a pair one to two weeks to build a nest. They will reuse old nests if they are still functional. They incubate four to five eggs for 15 days with the nestling stage lasting as long as 24 days. They infrequently have a second clutch.

Q and A

  “What do you call a group of vultures?” A group of vultures is called a “venue.”

  “Why are warblers called warblers when they don’t all warble?” The warbler’s common name comes from werble, which meant to sing sweetly. The songs of the warblers vary greatly, so many do not warble.

  “What is the gestation period of a deer? 200 to 205 days. A cow’s gestation period is about nine months.

  “Why do I see a Canada goose pair with so many babies?” Canada geese molt all of their flight feathers at once, leaving them unable to fly and vulnerable to predation. Some geese that breed here may leave their young with another family of geese and fly north to molt. Even when this behavior doesn’t occur several families of geese often conglomerate into a large flock while the birds are flightless, allowing more eyes to keep a lookout for danger. I don’t know how it is decided who gets the goslings — only the geese know. The adults regain the ability to fly about the same time that the goslings reach the flight stage. Some geese go on a molt migration northward when they have failed nesting or are non-breeders. The geese not going on a molt migration will find an area lake, pond, or marsh that is safe for molting.

Let’s go gallivanting

  Please join me on a NatureScape Tours journey to Ecuador in January. For more information, call 866-820-0088.

The Pelican Breeze

  Please join me as I host cruises on Albert Lea Lake on the Pelican Breeze II on June 29, July 13, Aug. 17, Sept. 21 and Oct. 5. Please phone 507-383-2630 to make a reservation. Your presence will make for a perfect day.

Thanks for stopping by

  “Your life is what your thoughts make it.”— Marcus Aurelius

  “That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.” — William J.H. Boetcker

  DO GOOD.

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

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