| INTERESTING ODDS & ENDS archive #10 |
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| An Extreme Way to Protect Wildlife! (From Bird Watcher’s Digest, January/February 2006) In the Falkland Islands there are thousands of penguins breeding among approximately 15,000 – 25,000 land mines! Gentoo, King, Rockhopper and Magellanic Penguins are thriving in this atmosphere due to a complete lack of interference from humans, sheep or other larger predators. The Penguins are too light to set off the mines and the areas are clearly marked as dangerous to humans. This situation is not likely to change since the de-mining process is difficult due to the soil composition. Extreme indeed, but working as 1500 penguins successfully breed among the mines. |
| Blinking Tower Lights Better for Birds (from Birder’s World Magazine, February 2006) Collision with towers has been a problem for birds and a challenge for bird lovers for years. Now, new studies have shown that the simple act of changing the lighting on towers can result in significant reduction in bird deaths. When tower lighting was factored into a study, it was discovered “that guyed towers with white or red strobe lights or red blinking incandescent lights led for far fewer bird deaths than guyed towers with non-blinking red lights. Towers with non-blinking lights accounted for 83 percent of carcasses, those with blinking and strobe lights 17 percent.” Of course “such changes would require action by federal aviation-safety agencies.” |
| Interesting Facts About Bird Eggs and Incubation (from Audubon Magazine, September/October 2005) Bird eggs “are as closely bound to the struggle between life and death as any breathing creature…Recent studies have shown that eggs have surprising intricate means of interacting with their surroundings…” The egg is not as solid as it appears but is “pocked” with at least 7500 tiny pores, allowing “gases to move between the embryo and the atmosphere”. In order to grow and mature properly the embryo must be heated to about 95 degrees Fahrenheit; in most cases this means heating must be done by the adult. By not incubating the egg the parent can keep the embryo in suspended animation until all the eggs are laid. In this way incubation, hatching and fledging can be done at the same time for all eggs. “The myriad tiny blood vessels in an adult bird’s brood patch – a featherless area of highly vascularized tissue on its breast – can quickly radiate heat to eggs. The patch is extremely sensitive to temperature variations, so the adult can tell when to turn its eggs or when to stop incubating for a while.” There is some evidence that suggests that “the beating of an embryo’s heart, or chemical signals traveling from an egg to an adult, can affect heat transfer from the brood patch…” |
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| A Site About Long Island Birds & Birdwatching |
| California Condors Consume Unhealthy Items (from Bird Watcher’s Digest, January/February 2006) The California Condor is being successfully released into the wild after captive breeding and their future looks much better than it did 20 years ago. However, will they be successfully bred only to be doomed by the garbage they now consume? In 2005 a sickly nestling that was losing its feathers and had an impacted crop was removed from its nest and the following items were taken out its crop and stomach: “4 bottle caps and a screw top, 3 electrical fittings, 5 washers, 12 22-caliber shell casings, a 38-caliber shell-casing, a shotgun shell, several pieces of plastic bags, about a quarter cup of each of broken glass and plastic, small pieces of fabric, 4 small stones, a metal bracket, a piece of wire, and a few small pieces of rubber.” Trouble for the Condor??!! |
| Interesting Woodpecker Facts (from Wildbird Magazine, March/April 2006) Around the world, there are 215 species in the woodpecker family; “in the Western Hemisphere, they occur from the tundra regions of North America to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America….They are absent from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Madagascar…likely because woodpeckers are poor dispersers, and relatively few species are migratory.” - To maintain their grip on tree trunks woodpeckers have two toes pointing forward and two pointing backward. The “backward-pointing outer toe, can rotate laterally or forward when tree climbing.” - The woodpecker tail acts almost like another foot when it comes to bracing the bird on the tree; it functions as a brace. “The enlarged tail bones…accommodate large tail muscles. Then climbing vertically, a woodpecker uses these muscles to push its tail against the tree surface to counteract the force that it applies with its feet.” The stiff shafts of the tail withstand this applied force, affording the brace effect of the tail. - Woodpecker bills are heavily reinforced to withstand repeated impacts as the bird hammers on tree trunks. “Woodpecker bills have a horny sheath that grows rapidly with wear. This keeps the laterally compressed, chisel-like tip sharp, despite heavy use.” Species (like Flickers) that use their bills less and spend time foraging on the ground have narrower, more curved bills that are “pointed rather than chisel-tipped”. (Some woodpeckers can strike “an estimated 150 strikes per minute”.) - In order to withstand the bill strikes woodpeckers have “larger-than-typical neck and shoulder muscles compared with most species groups.” Also, “the trajectory of each hammer stroke is almost perfectly straight, minimizing rotational and shearing forces that would wrench the bill from the skull.” The brain of the woodpecker is also “small compared with their overall body size, resulting in a lower surface-area-to-brain-mass ratio.” This distributes the impact over a larger area. The brain case is reinforced as well as the muscles at the base of the bill which contract just before impact absorbing impact. - Woodpecker tongues are used for foraging and are among the longest found in birds extending “nearly two inches beyond the bill tip in some species.” The tongue is also highly specialized; “species that probe deeply…have point-tipped tongues used to spear prey. Backward-facing barbs help to hold the prey…In contract sapsuckers possess bristly-tipped tongues designed for drinking sap.” Also, aiding the tongue, are large salivary glands found in many woodpeckers; “the sticky saliva helps the tongue to capture small prey.” |
| Interesting Tidbits (from Birder’s World Magazine, April 2006) - Common Terns fish “on the fly”. “they fly low over the water and, facing into the wind, hold their positions as they look for prey.” They then “swoop down and either pick them (fish) from the surface or, folding their wings, shoot into the water like an arrow.” - Green Herons are one of the few birds to use tools when hunting. They “will drop mayflies, feathers, and other bait and then strike at the fish that come to investigate.” - The King Penguin does not build a nest and incubates its only egg “atop its feet and presses it against an un-feathered patch of skin located low on its belly.” - Wandering Albatross will stay with, and be fed by, their parents until they are about 278 days old (over one year). “Most Wandering Albatross will not return to nest on land until they are five, six, or even seven years old.” - There are more than 320 species of hummingbirds, all occurring in the Americas. “Male hummingbirds make use of their vivid colors to drive other males out of their territories and impress eligible females during mating season.” |
| Chickadee Tricks to Surviving Winter (From Bird Watcher’s Digest, January/February 2006) Tiny little birds, very cold temperatures…how do they survive? Some interesting facts: - Chickadees increase their feather count by 30 percent during winter. - Chickadees hearts beat about 2,000 beats per minute to produce enough heat; to do that in cold weather they will eat up to 20 times as much food during winter than warmer months. - Chickadees can remember for up to 28 days where they have stored food. - Plumpness is good when trying to keep warm but makes the bird slower in getting away from predators, so Chickadees hang out in larger groups and with other birds like the goldfinch and nuthatch; safety in numbers! - At night Chickadees sleep in large groups, huddled together for warmth, usually in tree hollows. When sleeping their heart beat slows to 500 beats per minute and body temperature drops up to 20 percent. |
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