The Secret Life of Birds Revealed Marilyn Ellis, OMN, CIG Oregon Master Naturalist Certified Interpretive Guide
You can be a birdwatcher without. 1. Knowing what species they are by name OR 2. Recognizing an individual species call At the end of this presentation, you will: Notice birds and Understand them as you have never done before. Be able to Apply your knowledge to the most common birds you see in your own backyards.
What exactly is a bird? What makes them unlike any other creatures on this earth? How can they fly such great distances? What do their songs and calls mean? How can they build nests without hands and tools? What makes a bluebird blue? Why do Hummingbirds Sparkle? And other secrets revealed!
Bird (burd) n. 1. Any of a class of warm blooded, two legged, egg laying vertebrates with feathers.
Throughout Human History We Have Always Thought That Birds Were rather Celestial Perhaps That Is Why We Put Wings On our Angels
Bird Biology and Behavior A Brief Overview
They have 5 fingers just like us. Two are fused together. Their thumb (alula) helps turn their wings in the direction they want to go.
What you think is the shoulder is actually the wrist!
What you think is a backward knee is actually the heel. Birds have really big feet Birds stand On their toes! Big birds Walk Little birds Hop and Scratch
5 Air sacks in addition to their lungs. 7 times more air capacity than a mammal of the same size. Oxygen fuels the muscles for long migrations and quick escapes They don t feel the burn the way we do!
Bird bone structure makes bones strong but lightweight. Also Pneumatic (air filled)and able to store even more air for fuel. (Bird bone cross section) Biomimicry at its best!
Bird eyes are actually larger than their brains. Diurnal birds can see in ultra violet light. Thus they see more colors than we do. An eagle can read the small print of a newspaper from the length of a Football field.
If we had eyes the same size as a bird in relation to our skulls, we would look like this
How Do They Fly? Lift and Thrust: Legs and Wings Acceleration: Drop from a high perch or cliff, running, skimming water, flapping wings. Drag: Tail (Controls navigation and landing) Aerodynamic shape
The Miracle of Flight 1. Strong, light skeleton 2. Pneumatic bones to store additional air. 3. 5 additional air sacs (oxygen tanks) inside body (absent in Ostrich, Emu, Cassowary who have lost the ability to fly) 4. Hemoglobin is super packed with oxygen 5. Fused bones in hands for rigidity and strength 6. Feathers structured to catch the wind 7. Enlarged Keel to house powerful flight muscles
Feathers Are Adapted, evolved reptilian scales Made of keratin (same as fingernails) Molt symmetrically Feather care (preening) is a birds first priority Poor feather quality, lack of preening is a sign of serious illness
Structure (prism)is for Blue and for Sparkling! Refractive Light
Why Do Birds Migrate? Because They have Zugunruhe! German for Restlessness
Yep! We get it too! Long summer days create chemical changes in our bodies. Sun hits our retinas at a different angle, just like other animal creating Metabolic and hormonal shifts. We long for Winter so we can sit by the fire, drink hot chocolate, So we can Wear boots and fuzzy sweaters. By Spring, we are fat and eager to get moving again. Looking forward to long walks and sunshine and flowers, Getting House in order. Getting back to business!
The Urge to Migrate in animals is also due to Food Scarcity Need to breed in large colonies Climate Less disease spread if population is dispersed And is necessary for Survival of the species.
Why some migratory birds fly in formations Drafting or slipstreaming align in a close group reducing the overall effect of drag due to exploiting the lead object's slipstream. V formation: As a bird flaps, a rotating vortex of air rolls off each of its wingtips. The air immediately behind the bird gets constantly pushed downwards (downwash), The air behind it and off to the sides gets pushed upwards (upwash) If another bird flies in either of these upwash zones, it gets free lift.
Starlings, Shorebirds, Sandpipers Whirl! Particularly effective against Peregrine Falcons
The Language Innateness Hypothesis (Noam Chomsky) A linguistic theory of language acquisition which holds that at least some knowledge about language exists in humans at birth There are Universal Aspects in all languages, Human and Non Human that we can understand simply by tone, pattern, tempo and cadence.
WHAT ARE THEY SAYING OR NOT SAYING? Most vocal early morning and late afternoon Calling and Singing Contact with others Courtship Defining size of territory Hey You, Go away Frenzied Predator Alert! Silence Afternoon Siesta Hiding from a Predator Hawk,Squirrel, Cat, Dog, or YOU!
How does an animal without hands or tools build a nest? Birds are Avian Architects!
Architectural Principles For Nest Building Above ground suspended nests always have these principles 1. Tripod shaped foundation 2. Then Framing around it 3. Then filling In spaces 4. Then shaping and soft lining inside 5. Then decorating outside
Tripod structure framing Filling in spaces Shaping and lining Decorating the outside
The Bird Hokey Pokey
Don t mistake a squirrel s nest (Drey) for a Crows Nest Squirrel Dreys are Round Balls. A Crows Nest is a Saucer.
Fun facts about Birds you are most likely to see in the forest Songbirds
Woodpeckers
Owls
A CAVITY NEST IS MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
1.Listen to birds and guess what they are saying. 2. If you hear a danger call, look for the reason! 3. How many Dee s did you hear the Chickadee Call? 4. Are they walking or hopping? 5. Notice when and if Blue turns to Grey 6. Tell everyone you know what you have learned 7. Protect them! 8. Enjoy!
A trained Anthropologist s approach To Bird Watching
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived HDT, Life in the Woods
Gorgeous photos and graphics In every OMN Toolkit
My Favorite book on Corvids Fun to read. Lots of Amazing stories and Observations. Each chapter A work in its own right.
I Hope you Love Birds too. It s Economical It Saves going to Heaven Emily Dickinson