Nature notes

Nature notes

By Allen Batt

White-throated sparrows, whistlers extraordinaire, have joined the flickers in gleaning the ground for foodstuffs. The omnivorous bird is a short-distance migrant that winters in the southeast, northeast and lower midwest and as far west as Arizona and the Pacific Coast. The major breeding range of this species in Minnesota is in the northeastern and north-central parts.

The majority of songbirds migrate at night. These include warblers, sparrows, orioles, flycatchers, thrushes and cuckoos. Most are denizens of woods and other sheltered habitats and aren’t agile fliers. They use those dense habitats to avoid bird predators. Migration at night has its advantages. Birds don’t have to worry about falcon or hawk attacks. The air is usually less turbulent than during the day and it’s cooler at night. A migrating bird produces excess heat that needs to be released. Most of the heat is lost from their featherless legs. The colder the air temperature, the quicker that heat can be lost. Some species of birds migrate during the day. These include hummingbirds, pelicans, hawks, falcons, swifts and swallows. These birds are strong fliers. The larger birds take advantage of thermals that develop during the day. Swifts and swallows feed on the wing during the day as they migrate. Common nighthawks migrate both day and night, but the largest flights occur within two hours of sunset, with the highest numbers at dusk. They will detour to chase flying insects, swooping erratically on deep wing beats. It resembles the flight of a bat and the nighthawks can produce a booming sound from their wings as they pull up from a dive. This is the reason nighthawks are sometimes called “bullbats.”

Q&A

“Can baby loons swim?” Unlike adults, a loon chick can walk upright on land. They can swim immediately after hatching, but spend much time riding on their parents’ backs during their early days. This regulates their body temperatures and protects them from underwater predators. Chicks depend on their parents for food. One parent remains on the water’s surface with the chicks while the other catches fish to feed them.

Mary Guggisberg of Freeborn asked when trumpeter swans leave Minnesota? This swan is a regular breeding resident distributed throughout the state. Most Minnesota trumpeter swans remain here through the winter months where open water is available. It’s considered a short-distance migrant with the majority of Minnesota’s breeding population migrating only as far south to find open water and an abundant food supply. Power plant sites are welcome sights for wintering swans.

“Why did sunflower seed prices escalate?” There are many reasons: the war in Ukraine (Ukraine is a major exporter of sunflower products), increased shipping costs, seeds being planted for the production of sunflower oil used as a frying oil in foods, some farmers able to make more money by devoting sunflower acres to other crops, and, of course, the number one reason is that baseball players are eating too many sunflower seeds.

“We can put a man on the moon, but I can’t tell a downy woodpecker from a hairy woodpecker. Help.” If you can see them both at the same time, the hairy is much larger. The hairy is the approximate size of a robin and the downy is the size of a house sparrow. The downy is more abundant and the hairy likes the company of larger trees. I’ve found the best way to differentiate the two is by their bills. The downy’s bill is much shorter, roughly 1/3 the length of its head and the hairy’s bill is nearly the length of its head. When sizes and bills are compared, a downy is dinky and a hairy is huge.

“What is a lake vulture?” It’s a name I’ve heard people call bullheads or catfish because they are generalists and will eat whatever fits into their mouths.

Allen Edward Batt, American writer, speaker, storyteller, tour leader. He and his wife have one adult son.