Naturally

Naturally

  Winter’s wardrobe is discarded for one of green things and colorful birds. Even the gulls offer much more than the color of snow.

  Thanks to "Finding Nemo," I know what the gulls were saying. The eating machines shouted one word repeatedly, "Mine! Mine! Mine!  Mine!"

  Spring is when many birds are singing this, "Shut up and listen!"

Monk parakeets in Chicago

  The first monk parakeets were discovered in Hyde Park in Chicago in 1973. The trees and green spaces maintained by the University of Chicago provided them with their preferred diet they and structure for their large nests (up to six feet long) where as many as ten pairs of raucous birds live.

  The late Mayor Harold Washington considered the monk parakeets to be good luck, the USDA attempted to eradicate them because the birds were regarded as agricultural pests in their native South America.

The colorful parakeets survive brutal, monochromatic winters. They present a welcome bright, green color. Monk parakeets don’t nest in cavities, eat pretty most any vegetative material, and do visit backyard bird feeders.

  While they have not become an agricultural pest in Illinois, monk parakeets build their giant nests on manmade structures like light poles and transformers. ComEd says that the nests can cause a fire on utility equipment or outages. ComEd does proactively remove nests on its structures.

  How did the parakeets end up in Chicago? In the pet trade, they are called Quaker parrots. It’s certain that they arrived through the pet trade.

Q-and-A

  "How many native bee species are there in Minnesota?" Up to 400. Most are solitary bees, living in nests in the ground or in cavities in stems or trees. Honeybees are among the most recognizable and beneficial of the insects that live in North America, but they aren’t native to North America. Honeybees were imported by European settlers. Prior to the arrival of the Old World settlers, honeybees were unknown to Native Americans. Thomas Jefferson reported that honeybees were called "white man's flies." The name acknowledged that the appearance of honeybees in America was associated with the arrival of the Europeans. When a colony of honey bees was discovered, white settlers wouldn’t be far behind. The first honeybees likely came from England and arrived in Virginia in 1622. By 1639, colonies of honeybees were found throughout Massachusetts. Some of the colonists who arrived at Plymouth likely brought bees, sheep, cows, and chickens across the Atlantic.

  "Do ugly fruits really repel spiders?" These things are hedge apples or osage oranges. They do not work to discourage spiders. If you crushed them and sprayed the juice around, there would be some repellency for a relatively short time. A friend bought some and said that the only way they would get rid of spiders would be if you dropped the hedge apples on the spiders.

Nature lessons

  A Stanford University research team revealed that the extinction of the passenger pigeon is believed to have been a major factor in the proliferation of Lyme disease. When the birds existed in large numbers, the acorns on which they subsisted would have been too scarce to support the large populations of deer mice that flourish today. These mice are the main reservoir of Lyme disease and the acorns make up a significant part of their diet.

  Henry Ford was convinced that the passenger pigeons had all drowned in the Pacific Ocean en route to Asia.

  Starling bills turn yellow in spring and stay yellow during the breeding season. By fall, the beak becomes black and it remains so through the winter. 

Albert Lea Audubon Society

  The Albert Lea Audubon Society presents Stan Tekiela and his "Uncommon facts about common birds" on April 1 at Albert Lea’s Southwest School's Little Theater at 7 p.m. For more information on this free event, call 377-5046.

Thanks for stopping by

  "We must look for a long time before we can see."--Henry David Thoreau

  "Find what makes your heart sing and create your own music."--Mac Anderson

DO GOOD.

© Al Batt’s 2014