by Winding Pathways | Nov 14, 2024 | Birds, Nature
Turkeys sweep up all available seeds.
While feasting on a recent turkey dinner we glanced outside to see enthusiastic hungry wild turkeys trotting towards us. Hunters consider the gigantic birds wary and elusive. Ours aren’t. Whenever we scatter birdseed, they dash from the woods and sometimes even follow us when they see us carrying the can that holds seed.
Turkeys are fun to watch and delicious to eat. Beef, pork, lamb, and chicken all originated in the Old World and were brought to North America during early settlement days. The turkey is the only major American native food animal that’s today eaten around the glove. It took a double route to the dinner table.
Turkeys Crossing the Ocean…
Early European explorers discovered wild turkeys in the vast forests of eastern North America and watched their domesticated cousins scratching around Native American villages, especially in Mexico and Central America. By the 1500s sailing ships bearing live domestic turkeys were heading for Europe, where they soon became an esteemed food. Today, European farmers produce about 13 million tons of the tasty birds.
…and Back Again
A century or so after being introduced to Europe, the Pilgrims brought domestic turkeys with them when they crossed the Atlantic westward. For the turkey species, it was their second ocean crossing. During the next 250 years, Americans ate both wild and domesticated turkeys.
Too Much of a Good Thing
They overdid it. Overhunting, combined with massive habitat destruction, reduced wild turkey numbers to around 30,000 by the early Twentieth Century. Although millions of domestic turkeys lived on farms, wild ones survived only in remote forests and swamps. They seemed on the verge of extinction.
Help for Endangered Turkeys
That quickly changed. Thanks to the efforts of the National Wild Turkey Federation and state wildlife agencies, turkeys made a remarkable comeback. Flocks were captured, moved to places that seemed suitable for them, and released. They quickly multiplied and began expanding.
When we moved to Iowa in 1978 biologists believed the husky birds could only survive in large forests. Iowa only has a few big woods where wild turkeys were released. Soon the birds proved the experts wrong. They began expanding and even moved into cities and towns. Wild turkeys are so common today that efforts to catch and move them to new habitats aren’t needed.
Turkey Sub-Species
The National Wild Turkey Federation’s website includes much about the history and habits of this remarkable bird. According to them, turkeys live almost coast to coast from Canada to Mexico in five subspecies.
The Eastern wild turkey lives across about half of the eastern portion of the United States. It has chestnut brown tips on its tail feathers. Gobblers can reach 30 pounds and sport a long beard. Hens are much smaller and sleeker.
The Osceola wild turkey makes its home in Florida. Its tail feathers are tipped in brown on a bird that’s smaller than the Eastern.
The Rio Grande’s tail feathers are tipped in tan. It’s also a smallish subspecies with only a medium length beard.
The Miriam’s sports white-tipped tail feathers. It lives in the mountain west. Although it has a short beard it can be as large as the eastern subspecies.
Finally, there’s the Gould’s wild turkey that only lives in Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Mexico. It is the rarest subspecies.
There is also a totally separate wild turkey species. It’s the Ocellated. This gorgeous beardless bird lives only in southern Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala.
Turkey Behavior Entertains
Showing off.
We never tire of hearing wild turkeys’ springtime gobbling, watching them strut, and sometimes spotting them fly up into tall trees in the late evening. How they keep warm enough to sleep in their treetop perches during blizzards astounds us. Turkeys are also fun to watch at our feeder, although they gobble up so many seeds there’s little left for smaller songbirds.
by Winding Pathways | Nov 7, 2024 | Birds, Chickens, Garden/Yard, Nature
Cardinals and other birds visiting wintery backyard feeders need grit. They’ll appreciate finding some near the sunflower seeds and millet.
The old saying that something’s as scarce as a hen’s teeth is as true for the chickadees, cardinals, and goldfinches that visit backyards as it is for the hens in our coop. Birds have no teeth. Before they can digest coarse corn and wild seeds it must be thoroughly chewed. How do they do it?
What Is Grit?
Seeing birds along wintery roads solves the mystery. They’re picking up and swallowing tiny pieces of rock that will descend into their gizzard. A gizzard is a powerful muscular pouch that grinds tough seeds against grit, resulting in a seed slurry that then moves through the bird’s digestive system. Grit is a bird’s teeth.
When Is A Good Time to Spread Grit?
Birds flock to the seeds.
During warm months birds have no trouble finding tiny stones in bare patches of earth, but when the world is blanketed in snow or ice, they can’t find grit. Winter is when they appreciate swallowing a few tiny stones near bird feeders.
What Types of Grit Are Best?
As we fill our feeders at Winding Pathways, we sprinkle grit in with seeds and dribble some on the ground. We use two kinds of grit. When we have it on hand, we prefer baby chick grit that we buy at a farm store. It is tiny pieces of sharp quartzite that’s especially effective in grinding seeds in a gizzard. It’s sized for tiny baby chickens, so it’s just right for backyard feeder birds. When we don’t have it on hand we use regular sand. Traction and kid’s sandbox sand both work well and can be purchased at most home supply stores.
How Much Grit?
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Birds flock to the seeds.
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Sprinkle grit once a week to help birds in the snowy season.
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Spread grit when the ground is snow or ice covered.
Birds must have grit, but they don’t need much. A handful in and around feeders once or twice a week is plenty.
Other Uses
Grit’s useful around the house. When walkways are snow-slicked humans are mostly likely to slip and fall. Tossing grit on slippery walkways creates traction for people and may prevent a painful fall. Birds spot it there and occasionally pick up a few pieces. We keep about 50 pounds on hand and use most of it for traction and just a tiny fraction for our birds.
This winter when filling bird feeders scatter a bit of grit. Cardinals and other birds will appreciate it.
by Winding Pathways | Oct 31, 2024 | Nature, Reflections/Profiles, Trees
A national forest amid Nebraska’s grassy Sand Hills! Yup. Several units of the Nebraska National Forest are scattered about the central and northwestern part of the state.
In the 1990s we drove through miles of grassland with nary a tree in sight and then camped in a sprawling forest of Ponderosa pines and red cedars in the Forest’s Bessey Unit almost dead center in the Cornhusker State. How can there be a forest on land that nature intends to be a prairie?
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Nebraska grasses and fields.
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Fire spreads easily when branches touch
History
In 1902 University of Nebraska botanist Charlesy Bessey encouraged Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot and President Theodore Roosevelt to plant trees and create a forest in the grassy Sand Hills. The nation was facing a lumber shortage and most Americans valued forests over prairies and deserts, so they agreed.
Efforts
Millions of trees were planted close together over the 90,000-acre Bessey Unit. Many grew well; when we visited 30 years ago, they were mature and gorgeous.
Rolling hills along the Loup River.
A fire tower was also built and staffed to watch for fires. Sure enough, fires broke out and killed many of the trees. Fire is an efficient sorter. Grass is highly fire-resistant. Many trees are not.
Return to Nebraska’s National Forest
Decades later we camped there again in September 2024 and were amazed at the change. Although the Forest Service Campground remains in trees, much of the former forest has quickly returned to grassland, due to several fires.
We saw thousands of dead trees with stacks of trunks piled along the road.
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Grasses line a dirt road
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Nebraska’s grassland sandy soil.
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Recovering dead trees.
Lesson
Attempting to create a forest in a grassland was an ecological disaster. Over time nature is reclaiming land that should have been managed for what it is – healthy grass sprinkled with millions of wildflowers.
Continued Activity
Trees grow in the nursery
The Bessey Unit includes a modern nursery where the Forest Service grows trees for replanting on land in the western United States. The surrounding land is a fascinating place to see first-hand the result of past management based on a misunderstanding of the environment.
The campground’s trees were spared fire and remain a shady place to camp for anyone driving across vast Nebraska. Great opportunities exist here for education and enjoyment of the trails. But, it needs maintenance. So does the now abandoned fire tower. For information check usda.gov/nebraska.
by Winding Pathways | Oct 24, 2024 | Bugs, Garden/Yard
Wooly bears show up this time of year.
On a warm October afternoon bears were in our yard! Not to worry. They were wooly bears. Caterpillars. We like them and follow them as they scurry along as fast as their tiny legs can go.
Where are they going and how do they know how to get there? The answer to the first is simple. Wooly bears spend the late summer munching on plant debris, but when nights cool, they sense winter’s onset.
A wooly bear wandering around in October is looking for a snug place to overwinter. That could be in a rotting log or tucked under a porch. We often find them in January tucked in between chunks of firewood. When we discover one, we gently move it to another nearby safe spot so we can continue bringing in wood and it can continue slumbering until spring.
How Do Wooly Bears Know?
We can’t explain how they know where to find a place to overwinter. Maybe it’s a random search or somehow, they can sense safe places. It’s a fascinating mystery of nature.
What ARE Wooly Bears?
Wooly bears are cold-blooded, so their “wool “doesn’t help them stay warm. They have an amazing survival strategy. As the temperature drops to freezing a wooly bear’s heart stops beating. Then its gut freezes. Then its blood freezes, and soon the entire insect is frozen solid. Fortunately, frost crystals are outside its cells, so when warm weather arrives the wooly bear thaws and goes about its business.
How Many Species Are There?
There are eight species of wooly bear in North America. The adult phase is called an Isabella moth.
Predicting Weather
Winter Predictor?
Wooly bears are fun. We love watching them cross our driveway and twist their way through grass stems each fall. Can they predict the severity of the oncoming weather? Some people think so and carefully examine the bands of color on the caterpillar’s bristles that look like wool. We don’t take chances on wooly bear weather predictions and keep plenty of firewood on hand.
Woolly Bear Festival
Vermillion, Ohio, treasures its wooly bears. So do the 150,000 people who attend the Woolly Bear Festival, held annually in late September. It may be the Ohio festival attended by the most people.
by Winding Pathways | Oct 17, 2024 | Ruminations
Routine Visit Leads to Cataract Surgery
A midsummer routine checkup by my ophthalmologist, Dr. Brian Privett, changed my vision – for the better.
Wearing thick glasses was a way of life.
During most of my life, I have suffered from extreme myopia. I could see things inches in front of my eyes clearly but anything further away was only a blur. I wore thick glasses for years.
That changed nearly 20 years ago when I had PRK eye surgery. Similar to the better-known Lasik, a skilled eye surgeon and amazing technology altered my corneas. The impact was dramatic. For the first time, I could see distant objects clearly without glasses. And, I had peripheral vision not possible with my old glasses.
My vision remained outstanding, except for increasingly needing reading glasses for close work. This is a condition called presbyopia that virtually everyone experiences as they age.
Cataracts
Thick glasses
During my recent summer visit, Dr. Privett noted that my vision, although good, was somewhat diminished by growing cataracts. Most everyone also experiences them as they age. Cataracts are a stealth condition. They grow so slowly that it’s hard to detect a loss of vision. All I was aware of was increasing difficulty driving at night. Oncoming headlights and streetlights were surrounded by fog.
I wasn’t overly bothered and could have delayed cataract surgery, but during the visit Dr. Privett said, “Your cataracts aren’t too bad, but they will get worse and sooner or later you’ll need to have them removed and a new lens inserted. Having surgery sooner is a wise strategy as you’ll have more years to enjoy good vision and it’s often better to do surgery when a person is younger,”.
Decisions
That sparked an instant decision. I immediately scheduled surgery. Dr. Privett removed the cataract from my right eye and inserted a Vivity lens on July 31. He did the same procedure on my left eye a week later. Then followed about a month of eye drops.
It’s taken time to get accustomed to my “new” eyes. Perhaps the most striking experience was driving through Cedar Rapids on a dark night about a month after surgery. I was astounded at how clear the lights were. My night vision was excellent.
Adjustments
Cataract surgery isn’t perfect. I still need close-up reading glasses and my eyes are light sensitive. So, I carry and use readers and sunglasses depending on where I am and what I’m doing. In early October I ordered new glasses that include progressive lenses that should enable me to read and transitions that darken when I’m out in the sun and lighten inside the house. I’m expecting my new glasses to provide outstanding vision in many situations.
Enjoying life without glasses.
Modern eye surgery is miraculous and is the result of excellent medical research, advanced technology, and skilled surgeons like Dr. Privett. I encourage everyone to get periodic vision examinations and to follow the advice of their ophthalmologist.
Information
Many websites provide cataract information. One of my favorites is the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Privett and other ophthalmologists are affiliated with the Iowa Eye Center. The American Academy of Ophthalmology website helps people living anywhere to find a skilled eye physician near where they live.
