May 2008 BirdNote Episodes:

Mother Birds

Avian motherhood is a mixed bag. Peregrine Falcon mothers share duties fairly equally with Peregrine dads. (See a live Peregrine nest-cam.) At the other end of the spectrum is the female hummingbird, which usually carries the entire burden of nesting, incubating, and tending the young. And then, there’s the female Western Sandpiper. She finishes a nest the male has started and lays a clutch of eggs that almost equals her body weight. Then they share incubation duties. But Mother Sandpiper usually leaves the family just a few days after the eggs have hatched. She needs a break!

Burrowing Owl

The ten-inch-tall Burrowing Owl is diurnal, most active during the day. It migrates south for the winter and returns each spring to an ever more uncertain fate in Washington. This charismatic owl is in serious decline in the Northwest – as well as elsewhere in the West – due to intensive agriculture, destruction of ground squirrel colonies, and elimination of sage habitats. There’s more at BirdWeb. Find your local Audubon and go on a field trip—start here.

International Migratory Bird Laws

In May, we celebrate migratory birds, including this Common Yellowthroat. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 gave much needed protection to birds, especially migratory songbirds. In 1940, the US and 17 other countries throughout the Americas signed a pact to "protect and preserve - in their natural habitat - representatives of all species…of their native flora and fauna.”
To find a celebration of International Migratory Bird Day in Connecticut, click here. For celebrations around the country, click here.

Do Birds See Color?

Have you ever wondered if a hummingbird can recognize colors other than red, or if other birds see color? Some male birds literally shimmer with brilliant colors—the Wood Duck and peacock, for instance. But color is probably lost on nocturnal birds, which may actually be colorblind. The eye accounts for 15% of the weight of a bird’s head; of a human’s, only 1%. Hummingbirds are thought to be sensitive to ultraviolet light, since the flowers from which they drink display patterns visible only in ultraviolet light. Learn more!

Woodcock's Sky Dance

It is an ancient music. The mating song of the male American Woodcock. To hear it, step out into the dusk of a quiet spring evening in the Connecticut countryside. In the twilight, or in the moonlight, you may hear him more than see him spiral high in his sky dance. The air rushing past his wing feathers makes a twittering sound.
Learn more about the American Woodcock at Cornell's AllAboutBirds.

Barn Swallow, Natural Pest Control

Barn Swallows have adapted to nesting near people, and often build their cup-shaped mud nests in barns and garages, and on protected ledges. There may be several nests near each other. The good news? These twittery, flittery birds love to eat the insects that we humans consider pesky. A Barn Swallow is slapping mud on your house, and you're dreading the clean-up. Well, consider the 60 insects per hour, a whopping 850 per day, that each bird eats. For more information about this natural pest control, please visit BirdWeb.org.

Trans-Gulf Migration II

In spring, millions of songbirds--like this Orchard Oriole--migrate north across the Gulf of Mexico, from the Yucatan to the southeastern US. When the weather is good, the trip is easy. But when birds encounter storms or headwinds, many may die. Why risk such an end, when they could migrate north along the length of Mexico? It’s likely that many birds evolved to take the potentially perilous trans-Gulf route because it is direct and considerably faster, putting the birds on the best breeding territories more quickly. Learn more about trans-Gulf migration—click here.... and here.

Rufous Hummingbirds' Marvelous Nest

The nest-building skills of the female Rufous Hummingbird are a marvel. She first weaves a cup of soft, fluffy plant material, then envelops it with moss, and binds it with strands of spider web. The final touch: layering the outer surface with lichen flakes to provide perfect camouflage. Smaller than a walnut half, the nest soon harbors two eggs the size of shelled peanuts. A favorite nest site is the fork of a downward-drooping twig, perhaps low in a shrub or up higher in an old conifer. Learn more on BirdWeb.

The Diminutive Downy Woodpecker

As part of their spring courtship, Downy Woodpeckers perform a spectacular “butterfly flight”—the male and female seem to dance in the air, holding their wings high, and flapping slowly and lazily like butterflies. A crimson red splash on the back of the head distinguishes the male from the female. It's the smallest woodpecker in North America, and you might miss it, as it pecks for insects on trunks and branches of trees. Learn more about this diminutive bird at BirdWeb.org.

Williamson's Sapsucker

Williamson’s Sapsuckers nest in western mountain forests. The radically different plumages of the male and female so confounded 19th-century naturalists that, for nearly a decade, the birds were thought to be of different species. Sapsuckers are unique among woodpeckers in drilling neat rows of tiny holes—or sapwells—in the trunks of trees. The sap provides food for the sapsuckers and snags small insects that are eaten by hummingbirds and warblers. Learn more about this bird at BirdWeb.

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