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Health & Fitness

Naturally

BBRP, sapsuckers and corndog grass

Naturally

  Vultures, crows, and a red-tailed hawk were feeding upon dead deer. Nature’s undertakers. They all appeared to be getting along. The vultures soared overhead. Their aerial ballet looked effortless.

  Robins were everywhere. Their flight plans put on hold because of the weather. The robins sang. Fox sparrows joined the choir. Juncos had become the most numerous birds at my feeders as they sometimes do in the spring. Their incessant twittering was good company as I walked. As was a hermit thrush that hopped along the road I strolled upon.

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  The sun peeked out. It was welcomed by an increase in birdsong.

  The sun was in my ears.

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Nature news

   Lincoln Brower is concerned about the declining numbers of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico. There are 2.94 acres of roosts this year, containing 60 million butterflies. That is down from 1 billion monarchs on 52 acres. Brower blames the degradation of the forest in Mexico and the reduction in milkweed population in the US.

Bluebird (BBRP) Expo tidbits

  Mike Jeresek of Rushford said that bluebird chicks are able to fly about the length of a football field when they first leave the nest box.

  Kelly Applegate, Purple Martin Working Group Director, said that during its fall migration, a purple martin flew 2000 miles in 7 days. Martins spend 2 to 2.5 weeks resting (vacationing) before flying to their winter home in South America. In spring, one martin flew from Costa Rica to Brainerd (3300 miles) in 7 days. Purple martins don’t always arrive here during the best weather. They aren’t good at predicting the weather. 

  Keith Radel of Faribault said that vent holes are unnecessary on bluebird boxes, an entrance hole for chickadees should be 1 1/8-inch, and that cats live three times longer if kept indoors.

Q-and-A

  Tom Stockwell of Burnsville asked how to stop sapsuckers from hammering holes in trees. Sapsuckers drill holes in a line, creating sap wells from which they lap up sap with their tongues. They also eat insects that become stuck in the sap. Hummingbirds, warblers, and other birds sip sap from sapsucker wells. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers have yellow bellies and red foreheads. Males have a red patch on the throat where females have white. Sapsuckers are common over most of the state. They tend to choose sick or wounded trees for drilling and prefer tree species with high sugar concentrations in their sap, such as birch, maple, and hickory. To prevent sapsuckers from damaging trees, wrap a burlap bag or other heavy material around the damaged area. You could allow the woodpeckers to feed on a damaged tree in the hope that they will not move to other trees.

  "How far south in Minnesota could I see ravens?" Once, they were confined to the northeast and north central part of the state. The common raven has now been confirmed as nesting as far south as Benton and Washington counties and as far west as Kittson, Norman, and Pennington counties.

Nature lessons

  Corndog grass is a nickname for cattails. The narrow-leaved cattail is often seen along roadsides because it tolerates a more saline environment than does the broad-leaved cattail. The cattail is considered a candidate for biofuel production.

  Dead trees are full of life.

Thanks for stopping by

  "A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them."--Leonard Louis Levinson

  "I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs."--Joseph Addison

DO GOOD.

 

©Al Batt 2013

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