Column: Nature’s World, by Al Batt

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

“How are you doing?” I ask.

“Everything is nearly a copacetic. I’ve been ice whaling with Rottweiler. Rottweiler’s father wanted a dog. Lake Inferior freezes from the bottom up. The colder it gets, the easier it is to catch fish. I strap myself to a lawn chair while I ice fish in case a gigantic perch tries to pull me into the lake. I smoke the fish in the clothes dryer. The secret is to not use too many fabric softener sheets. I like winter, but one of the things I miss when winter hits is seeing Ivy climbing up the walls of my house.”

“Ivy winters in Florida, doesn’t she?” I respond.

“She does. She goes to Florida to get away from Minnesota. Then she’ll come to Minnesota to get away from Florida. I got a call yesterday from someone who said, ‘Hello, we’re taking a short survey…’ I hung up on him. You can’t find a survey much shorter than that. Cranston got a tattoo of a housefly on his arm. It’s so realistic that people keep slapping it. He finally found a job. He’s making good money in Dakota.”

“Is he working in the oil fields in North Dakota?” I say.

“No, he’s working in South Dakota. He’s trimming the nose hairs on Mount Rushmore.”

 

Lame duck

We think of a lame duck as an elected officeholder continuing in office during the period between a failure to win an election and the inauguration of the successor. It could also be a mallard with a broken foot. At the time in which I was doing Christmas bird counts, I tried catching a lame Canada goose (bad leg) and a lame American white pelican (wing). I had hopes of nabbing them and taking them to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville. Securing the big birds would have allowed me to say, “Yippee!” I don’t use that word near enough. I had no luck. My attempts at capture were lame.

A varied thrush

This from Tom Jessen of Madelia, “Our varied thrush is still here in Madelia and getting famous! (Deb said she first saw it around Dec. 15 and it was positively identified on Dec. 21). Birdwatchers from all over have either driven by and seen it from the street or have sat right here by the kitchen window for a front row view.”

T.J. added that birdwatchers are wonderful people. I agree and I was pleased to have passed the word on the bird.

Q and A

Rich Chapman of Albert Lea asks if raccoons hibernate. They do not. What they do has been called going into torpor, winter sleep, partial hibernation or becoming dormant. They do sleep for long periods. The raccoon is known for waking occasionally and leaving the den. I saw one in our yard when the January temperatures hit 40 degrees. He looked fat and tired. Mating occurs in February and March. They might hit the snooze alarms, but raccoons become active and although they are nocturnal, they can be seen during the day while trying to find a mate. Most of the time, if the temperature goes below 27 degrees, which is likely fewer than the number of honorary degrees that Oprah has, raccoons retreat to their dens, usually located in hollow logs and trees. They can have more than one of these dens and sleep in the one they feel is the most secure. They can also burrow underground to make dens. It isn’t unusual for raccoons to hibernate together. A woman in Swift County found 23 raccoons sharing an abandoned house. Homeowners have discovered them in chimneys and under decks.

Debra Stolarcek of Albert Lea writes, “We saw a flock of robins in Eagan on Jan. 12. Any ideas?” To many, robins are a harbinger of spring. My mother said a robin needed three snows on its tail before it was truly spring. Some robins get more snows than that, because I see them in Minnesota every winter. These might be robins that have migrated from farther north or they could be birds that don’t migrate. Some may stay here or they might continue to meander south. Winter robins tend to travel in flocks and over-winter in ravines and other wooded areas where they have an open water source. Their primary foods are the leftover fruit on such trees as buckthorn, cherry, crabapple, hackberry, mountain ash, etc. A lack of food would cause the birds to move. Some robins will eat suet or fruit at feeders. The big movement of male robins north follows the 37-degree isotherm. Robins survive. Life outlasts winter.

I wander

I was speaking in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and did a good deal of birding there. I saw a lot of RGV roadkill while on the way to see some redheads (red-crowned parrots). RGV roadkill is fruit that had fallen from a truck.

Albert Lea Christmas Bird Count

This Christmas bird count was held on Dec. 29. There were 45 species counted. The 10 species with the highest numbers, in descending order, were Canada goose, American tree sparrow, house sparrow, rock pigeon, snow bunting, American crow, house finch, pine siskin, dark-eyed junco and Lapland longspurs.

Among the birds seen were red-headed woodpecker, northern shrike, red-breasted nuthatch, bald eagle, American robin, fox sparrow, common grackle, American white pelican and trumpeter swan. There were more wild turkeys seen than ring-necked pheasants, more pine siskins than American goldfinches and more Eurasian collared-doves were spotted than mourning doves. There were good numbers of common redpolls and a Carolina wren was coming to a feeder in the yard of Jim and JoAnn Malepsy in Albert Lea. My thanks to everyone who helped count the birds.

Nature lessons

Because they locate food by sight, tying yellow ribbons onto feeders might help attract goldfinches.

Ravens begin nesting near Prudhoe Bay in late March when temperatures can be 30 below.

Thanks for stopping by

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” — Denis Waitley

“You don’t get harmony when everybody sings the same note.” — Doug Floyd

DO GOOD.

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