Nature’s Q and A

Al Batt, Nature's World

Published Saturday, November 29, 2008

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

“How are you doing?” I ask.

“I feel good, but I’ll get over it. I just need to make it through this annoying time between naps. Thanksgiving was great. I felt like Jed Clampett must have felt when he was shooting at some food and up through the ground came a bubbling crude. I do get a little sad after all the eating is done. I don’t have much use for an empty plate. I have a transparent lunch pail so I can tell whether I’m going to work or coming home.”

“You are to eating what CEOs are to bonuses,” I say.

“The human race is wonderful. I should put you up for membership. I’m going to work off some turkey by cleaning my house. It’s a bit messy.”

“A bit messy?” I say. “Your hovel is so cluttered, you could lose a car in it. It’s so dirty, you wear flea collars around your ankles. A cow couldn’t find her calf in your house.”

“You ought to try doing a little work. Then maybe you’d understand what those ‘Men at Work’ signs mean.”

“I’ve been working,” I protest.

“You want me to build you a monument? I have dirt to scratch and eggs to lay. I’ve got to find a new job.”

“You lost your job at the spice factory?” I ask.

“I didn’t lose the job. It’s still there. It’s just that someone else is doing it. Besides, it was a seasonal job.”

The cardinal

The name “cardinal” comes from the Latin word “cardinalis” meaning “important.” John James Audubon had this to say about the cardinal, “In richness of plumage, elegance of motion, and strength of song, this species surpasses all its kindred in the United States.”

Nature lessons

A bald eagle can cruise at 40 mph and can hit 100 mph in a dive.

A honey bee may forage up to three miles away from its hive.

Often when mallards sleep, they form a line with the duck on each end keeping one eye open. Researchers have found that each eye of a duck controls that hemisphere of the brain associated with that eye. In other words, one-half of the duck’s brain is asleep and the other half is awake and alert for danger. It’s not unlike a man watching a football game on Thanksgiving Day.

A honey bee queen can lay up to 2,500 eggs a day — up to two million in her lifetime.

Q and A

“Why do large numbers of crows fly into the city at night?” They do so to roost. Roosting is period of inactivity for a bird that is similar to our sleep. In many species, roosting is a solitary or semi-solitary activity during the breeding season but is done communally the rest of the year. Crows are very social and are at or near the top of the scale of avian intelligence. Crows figure things out. In winter months they gather at night and appear to be discussing things that happened during the day. Perhaps they pass along information on good feeding sites. Why do crows gather in cities?

The reasons are not completely understood, but there are many theories. Cities are warmer than rural areas in the winter months (the “heat island” or “heat bubble” effect) and can offer more shelter from wind than the countryside. Older trees that match roosting requirements for crows are found in a city’s cemeteries, parks, various campuses, and along streets. Artificial lights enable crows to see predators such as great horned owls at night and allow crows to safely flee from danger. The streetlights act as large nightlights. Crows don’t see well at night and owls do. There are fewer owls within cities than outside of them. Cities provide sources of food for crows with garbage, rodents and littered food available. As possible class valedictorians of our bird world crows are clever enough to realize that humans don’t shoot at them inside the city limits due to prohibitions on the discharge of firearms there.

“Are humans the only species with baby teeth or do other animals have them?” Most mammals are diphyodonts. That means that over a period of time they will have two sets of teeth--deciduous (baby) and permanent.

“Are golden eagles bigger than bald eagles?” It takes about five years for bald eagles to acquire their white heads. Because of that, immature bald eagles are frequently mistaken for golden eagles. Native Americans called the eagle the thunderbird because they believed the big birds caused thunder and lighting. Bald eagles are about 27 to 35 inches long with a wing span of 71 to 89 inches. The golden eagle is 27 to 31 inches long. Its wing span is 72 to 82 inches. A golden eagle may weigh slightly more than a bald eagle. Female eagles are larger than the males.

“Do crows migrate?” American crows are partially migratory. Some migrate and others are residents. Crows in the southern parts of their range do not migrate. They may make some changes in the space they occupy as they move about to forage and roost. Crows migrate from the northernmost parts of their range. I have read that crows migrate out of those areas where the minimum January temperature averages 0 ° F. Crows can be seen crossing the Great Lakes in spring and fall, and these birds undoubtedly are migrating to and from parts of Canada.

SUNSPOTS

  There were no recorded sunspots in the month of August 2008. This was the first full month since 1913 that the sun has not shown any evidence of solar magnetic activity. During the last 1000 years, each time this has happened, it has coincided with significant drops in global temperatures. These nonexistent sunspot cycles were linked to three global temperature events called the Dalton, Maunder, and Sporer Minimums. Each of these events led to a rapid cooling of the planet. One was severe enough, lasting roughly from 1600 to 1750, that it is known as “The Little Ice Age.” Some scientists believe that the current lack of sunspot activity might mean that colder times are ahead for the planet over the next few decades.

Thanks for stopping by

“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.” — Mark Twain

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” — Helen Keller

DO GOOD.

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