April 2011

Hello friends! What has happened to the weather this winter? I think I want to become a snowbird and travel farther south instead of staying here. But right now my snowbird friends are heading back here from Central and South America. They were lucky and missed out on all the cold weather! I am hanging out at the beach, trying to warm up. It looks like a bird Spring Break right now with all of the birds here. Most of these feathered friends are collectively called shorebirds, or waders of the shores, wetlands, and grasslands. These birds share common characteristics of long bills, legs, and toes, and drab color and include sandpipers, plovers, oystercatchers, avocets, and stilts. The longer legged birds walk out into deeper waters and the longer the bills, the deeper they probe in the sand, mud or water looking for food.

Most shorebirds build their nests on the ground. Therefore, their colors camouflage with the earth tone colors - dull reds, browns, blacks, whites and grays. 

They undertake some of the longest migration trips of birds. The Godwit flies nonstop thousands of mile from Alaska to South America without resting, eating, or drinking water!  They walk around mudflats and wetlands, probing in the mud or water looking for invertebrates, like insects and mollusks. The Red Knot flies from the Canadian Arctic Circle to the southern part of South America, but they do stop along the way. You can see them in Alabama during migration! Heading north, these birds stop along the shores in Delaware, where they feed on horseshoe crab eggs. These birds are in trouble because many of these crabs have been harvested for fish bait; thus the birds have less food and many do not make it back to the breeding grounds.  Fortunately, this harvesting has been stopped.

Some of these birds have interesting stories.  We see these two birds at Dauphin Islands and along the Alabama coastline, too! The US Fish and Wildlife Service has been monitoring, or watching, these birds. They band them with multiple, colored plastic bands.  Then, when people like you and me see them and report the colors and order of the colors in a band, scientists can tell where these birds have been and why their numbers are decreasing. Many of these birds are threatened or endangered because their habitats are disappearing, not just in the breeding grounds, but all along the migration routes, from Canada and the US to South America.  A habitat is the kind of plants and other surroundings where they live, just like your home is your habitat.  Several of these species, such as plovers and oystercatchers, breed in Alabama along the coastline. Ornithologists, people who study birds, are monitoring the shorebirds that breed in Alabama. These birds are feeding along the shore where oil from last summer’s oil spill is still found in the beach sands.   Others feed on the marine life that has been harmed by the oil on the ocean floor.

 The United States Fish and Wildlife Services has a Shorebird Sisters Schools Program with lessons for your teacher at http://www.fws.gov/sssp/index.html. You can even find a classroom in another part of the world to e-mail or write letters to share information about shorebirds.

My bird friends at the Alabama Ornithological Society will have a shorebird workshop at their spring meeting in April. You don’t want to miss this chance to learn about these very beautiful and interesting birds. UH-OH! Gotta go! A raptor’s coming! See ya’ next tiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmee….

August 2010

Can you believe what has happened to the Gulf of Mexico? I have several friends that live along the coast who eat fish and other aquatic creatures. These friends, Pelicans, seagulls, and terns, fly over the water searching for fish swimming near the surface of the water. When they spot the fish, my friends dive into the water to catch their food. With oil on the surface and under the water, some of my friends dove through the oil to get their meal. Then these birds are covered in oil., which prevented them from flying very well. Many people have been working very hard to catch my friends and other animals who are covered in oil and try to help them.  The animals are put into sheltered areas away from a lot of noise and activity.  The volunteers massage warmed vegetable oil into the bird’s feathers to loosen the crude oil.  The birds stay under heat lamps to keep them warm during this cleaning. Then the birds are put into a tub of Dawn dishwashing detergent. Their feathers are gently scrubbed, one-by-one. Volunteers use a toothbrush around their eyes and head. This cleaning take an hour. After the bath, the birds are then put under dryers. This whole process takes seven to ten days. Birds stay in rehabilitation until they can catch and eat fish. The cages resemble their natural habitat. My friends have now moved to Texas and Florida here they have been released. I don’t know if they will come back to Alabama or stay in their new environment.

I want to tell you about a few human fledglings who have been raising money to help my friends and humans along the Gulf Coast.

Have you heard of Olivia? She is an 11 year old girl who has raised over $110,000 to help with the clean-up of the Gulf Coast area. Olivia wrote to the National Audubon Society with her idea to help raise money. She wanted to sell her paintings and give the profits to them.   They agreed to her idea, thinking it will bring in about $25,000. She painted 500 bird pictures but that wasn’t enough. People all over the US wanted more. Five of her pictures were selected for prints and are mailed when you donate. You can read more about her and her birds on her Facebook page “Save the Gulf: Olivia's Bird Illustrations.” She is also one of the youngest recipients of the Global Appreciation Award from the World Heritage Cultural Center's event in NYC on Sept 25^th. What an awesome fledging?

Many children have sold lemonade and donated the proceeds to help clean birds who have been covered in oil. Some of these fledglings are four year old Jonathan from New Orleans, and Maddie, Roy and Morgan from Cullman, Alabama.  I want to thank these fledglings for helping my friends and making a difference.

All of these children wanted to do something to make a difference because they felt strongly, or passionately, about it. In this case, they were passionate about the oil spill. What do you feel passionate about? Have you tried to make a difference? Post me a note to let me know what you have done to make a difference!

Fall 2010

It sure has been very c-c-c-c-cold this winter! I hope y’all have been keeping warm! Well, of course, you have. It’s easy for people to keep warm. You just put on more clothes or turn up the heat in your house. My friends and I don’t have that capability. Have you ever wondered how we (birds) stay warm when it gets so cold? Well, I’ll share our secret with you.

We have several adaptations that help us stay warm. Feathers are one of the most important adaptations. We have different kinds of feathers. Most of us have soft, fluffy, down feathers, which are next to our body.  This is like having a down jacket. When we are cold, we fluff up our feathers, putting a layer of air between them and trapping the heat next to our bodies. Not only does this help insulate my body against the cold temperatures, but it also makes me look bigger, too!

For most of my friends and me, our legs and feet are covered in special scales, which keeps heat loss very low. Near my legs in my body the arteries that carry my blood from my heart to the other parts of my body are right next to my veins which contains blood returning back to the heart. Usually, the arteries and veins are not very close to each other. Before the blood reaches the legs and feet, most of the heat has transferred to the blood in the veins, warming it up before it gets to the heart. There is enough heat in the arterial blood to keep the feet and legs from freezing. This is not a trick that I control because it works automatically, just like your blood flow works automatically for you. Some of my northern bird friends have feathers on their legs to help keep them warm during those cold, northern winters.

We eat a lot of food in the fall to build up a layer of body fat to keep us warm and give us energy. This high energy food not only provides that layer of fat to insulate us form cold, but it also gives us the energy to shiver- quickly shaking our muscles. You shiver when you are cold, too. Shivering raises our body temperatures, but this is a short-term trick against the cold weather.

I could have all the adaptations in the world, but if I don’t use them, they won’t help me. We have a few other tricks to keep us warm. Some birds will roost together in large numbers. My chickadee, titmouse, and nuthatch friends do this. They will crowd close together in tree cavities, roost boxes or in evergreen trees and shrubs. They share body heat by snuggling close together in those small areas.  I do not like to be that close to others. Birds like me will find shelter near areas that have residual heat (places that are still warm from the day). We might sleep next to a tree trunk, a building, or something dark in color. We also like to find evergreen shrubs and trees. The year-round leaves keep the wind, rain and snow away from us.  We might also stay in a roosting box or birdhouses to get out form the weather.

During the day, my friends and I may sunbathe in winter. We may sit in sunlight or slightly spread our wings and tails to allow the sun to heat up our feathers and skin as much as possible. When we sleep, we may tuck our beaks under our wings. This means we are breathing the warm insulated air from around our bodies instead of the cold, outside air.

One last method some birds use to keep warm is called tupor. These birds slow down their body functions to conserve energy at night, therefore, requiring less energy (calories) to maintain proper heat. Body temperatures are generally lowered a few degrees.  It is not the same as hibernations because tupor is just overnight, hibernations lasts from many weeks or months. Hummingbirds, chickadees, and swifts regularly use tupor to survive cold temperatures. This can also be very dangerous because the reduced body functions also means slower reaction times to escape predators.

During normal winters, know that my friends and I are OK, but during very frigid winters, we may need a little help from you. Planting evergreen trees and shrubs, creates a sheltered place for us to get away from the wind, rain and snow. Brush piles can help protect us, too. My winter friend, the Fox Sparrow, likes brush piles. Keeping your feeders filled with bird food that is high in fat and calories (suet, black oil sunflower seeds) give us the energy we need. Providing water for us to drink, by breaking the ice in birdbaths or pouring hot water on the ice, will give us a better chance to survive than waiting for the ice to melt. Many of you helped my friends and me this winter and I want to thank you for your extra help!

Winter 2009

     Hi BOYS AND GIRLS! MY name is Millie Mocker or Mimus polyglottos, which means “many
tongued mimic.” Oh, you may know me better as Northern Mockingbird. Funny that my common name has “northern” in it when I live in the South, too! I belong to the family of mockingbirds and thrashers, also know as Mimidae, and order of Passerines, Passeriformes.
     I overheard a group of birders talking about needing a column for children in The Yellowhammer. I thought, “I could do that! I could fly all over the state of Alabama and introduce children to my friends and where they live. So, to make a long story short, I volunteered to write the column, and here I am!
     Before we get to know my other feathered friends, I want to tell you about my mockingbird family and me. We are long, slender birds, about 9”–11” long. Our feathers are gray to gray-brown with a grayish-white breast. We have white outer tail feathers and white wing patches. I have yellow eyes with a black eye stripe, but some of my friends have reddishbrown eyes. My black bill is short, thin and slightly curved downward.
     Some people do not like us because we sometimes sing at night. When we sing we repeat the sounds or phrases in groups of three or more. I have a special talent, too. I can mimic, or imitate, sounds. I can sing like other birds or sound like a barking dog, creaking car door, or a ringing cell phone! Once when I made the cell phone sounds, a lady reached in her purse and answered her phone. She was surprised when no one was on the other end.
     We also are very territorial. We fiercely defend our territory from intruders— even people. I’ve been known to fly down and use my wings to hit people to make them leave. I even chased a big hawk away. I flew around and around him as he soared. Then I landed on his back and “rode” him for a minute. When I jumped off, he flew away. I am very brave! I also don’t play well with other birds because I just don’t like to share my food of insects and fruit. Sometimes
I eat small frogs and lizards, too. Yummm!
     We live in open areas in both farms and cities throughout most of the United States. Male and female Mockingbirds work together to build a cup shaped nest using leaves, twigs, and grass. The female will lay three to fi ve eggs, which hatch in two weeks. Both parents take care of the babies who will leave the nest about 10-12 days later. Two broods are usually raised during the summer.
     Well, I think you know all about me now. I will have a friend with me in the next posting! TTFN (Ta-ta for now)!