How well can birds smell and taste food?

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 25 August 2011 11:15

How good is a bird’s ability to taste and smell? For the most part, not very. However, both are important senses to many species.

For a long time, ornithologists believed that most birds had little or no sense of smell, but recent research suggests that many birds have good ability to detect scents.

Some birds have an extraordinary sense of smell. From high in the sky, a Turkey Vulture can detect a gas given off by rotting flesh. (The closely related Black Vulture, with which the Turkey Vulture often roosts, is believed to rely on sight to find food. In fact, the sight of a Turkey Vulture on the ground, feeding on a carcass, is probably enough to attract a Black Vulture or two to join in the meal.)

How many kinds of birds are there? New species count

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 18 August 2011 11:07

Ever wonder how many kinds of birds there are?

The International Ornithological Congress says at least 10,448, but that will change. It’s some 500 species more than were recognized just 10 years ago.

Even today, new species are discovered, usually in a remote jungle of the Amazon region or in the Far East. However, most changes in lists result from re-categorizing known species.

Summer’s bounty and the birds

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 11 August 2011 10:46

Summer is the lush time in the plant and animal worlds, the season of bounty. And birds take advantage of it.

Billions of insects are found in the air, on trees and shrubs and along the ground and around waterways. Plants are putting forth countless fruits of all sizes and shapes — seeds and berries rich in nutrition.

It’s a huge smorgasbord for the birds, which are, in early and mid-summer, feeding their offspring. Later in summer, they use this cornucopia to fatten up for the flight south or to stock up for the coming cold.

How hot birds have been keeping cool

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 04 August 2011 13:51

The recent hot spell, during which temperatures exceeded 100 degrees on at least one day, affected birds as well as people. Birds, however, can’t flip on the air conditioning.

Birds have no sweat glands but recent research indicates they can perspire through their skin. Perspiration cools the body as the moisture evaporates, a process similar to the workings of an air conditioner. However, birds, like dogs, seem to rely more on panting as a cooling technique. On a very hot day, you will notice many birds with their beaks open as they give off excess heat through the lining of their mouths.

If you can’t catch 'em, join 'em: A fox's theory?

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 28 July 2011 10:32

Bears at the feeder are one thing, as we learned last week, but aren’t foxes supposed to be eyeing grapes, not birds and their seeds?

Not the fellow who has been visiting Mary Walsh’s backyard in Ridgefield.

“While I have not had any new birds visit my bird feeder recently,” Mary writes, “the past several days I have had a new visitor at my bird feeder. He appears to be a bird watcher, too!

“But I guess when you can’t catch the birds, you might as well join the birds. Snout to the ground, he appears to enjoy munching on the seeds that the birds have discarded.

Does a bear sit at the goods?

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 21 July 2011 12:34

Can your bird feeder attract more than birds?

Definitely, as Richard Herstein of Ridgefield found out earlier this month.

On Sunday, July 10, he awoke to find his Droll Yankee Flipper feeder stand bent at a 90-degree angle.

“I’ve continued to fill it with black oil sunflower seed during the summer months for as long as I can remember, and had just refilled it on Saturday,” he said.

“Probably time to remind your readers — of which I’m a regular — that they run the risk of attracting the occasional wandering bear if they feed the birds between, say, April and October.

“When shown the photo, my older brother reminded me that I should have known better than to tempt Mother Nature by feeding the birds during the summer.”

The ground-nesting bird with the broken wing

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 07 July 2011 10:50

Last week, we featured a bird whose nesting places are relatively unusual: The Chimney Swift. In its own way, the Killdeer is equally unusual, but in the opposite way. Instead of hiding in the throat of a chimney or hollow tree, the Killdeer nests on the ground, right out in the open, seemingly without a lot of concern about creatures nearby.

Ridgefielder Allan Welby proved that last weekend when he shot the accompanying photos of a mother Killdeer nesting in bark mulch at the Ridgefield Recycling Center, one of the busiest places in town.

Who’s that living in the chimney?

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 30 June 2011 11:11

Birds may nest in the wildest — or most domesticated — places.

Julia Gabriele of New Canaan discovered just how wild — and domesticated — this month when she found a bird had built its nest inside her chimney.

“The chimney is 215 years old and undergoing a much-needed renovation, but work has come to a complete halt as this mother is refusing to leave her nest — with five eggs in it! — and is in full assault mode on the workers!

“It’s amazing to me that a bird would find a nook nearly 20 feet down a chimney for a place to build a nest — how could she have thought her little ones would learn how to fly? Do you know if it’s common for birds to build nests so far down in a chimney?”

More fledglings: A baby hawk at the doorstep

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 23 June 2011 10:46

Judy Schweitzer of Ridgefield noticed last week’s column about leaving young wildlife alone, and recently had her own experience when a young hawk appeared at her front door.

“Hawks have been nesting near our house for several years now,” Judy writes. “This year there’s a nest high up in a tulip tree near our deck, and so for many weeks we have enjoyed watching the diligent but noisy parenting of a pair of Red-tailed Hawks. Judging by the sounds, it seems that the nest contained at least two hawk chicks.

“One stormy night a week ago (tornado night in Woodbury), one fledgling left or got blown from the nest and wound up on our front porch. At 7 a.m., when we first saw it, it was wet and disoriented. It took several hours before it got up the courage to hop up to a higher step, turn around, and begin preening.

The season of baby birds — on the ground

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 16 June 2011 11:14

This is the season when young birds of all kinds — from babies to fledglings — may be found on the ground.

Wyn Lydecker of Darien spotted a fledgling Blue Jay next to her driveway recently and called the Darien Nature Center to see what to do.

“They said to leave the bird alone, if it was in the shade,” she said. “The center told me that this is the time of year that the mother birds are pushing the babies out of the nest and that the mama would know where her baby bird was and would protect it from predators.

“This morning, the Baby Jay was still hopping around the driveway. I hope it learns to fly soon and that the neighborhood cats don’t get it.”