DAY 330: HOOKED ON SUGAR

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Everything about hummingbirds is rapid. An iridescent blur to the human eye, their movements can be captured with clarity only by high-speed video. Slowed down on replay, their wings thrum like helicopter blades as they hover near food. Their hearts beat 20 times a second and their tongues dart 17 times a second to slurp from a feeding station.

It takes only three licks of their forked, tube-like tongues to reject water when

they expect nectar. They pull their beaks back, shake their heads and spit out 

the tasteless liquid. They also are not fooled by the sugar substitute that sweetens most diet cola.

From Harvard Medical School.

DAY 329: COLOURFUL HOOPOE EGGS

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Preen gland secretion causes hoopoes’ eggs to change colour, possibly giving signals about the robustness of the mother bird, researchers have found.

Hoopoe females use cosmetics on their eggs - and the eggs gradually change colour when they are incubated, from bluish-grey to a more saturated greenish-brown. This happens because secretion from the preen gland – a substance birds use to preen and protect their feathers – is transferred from the female hoopoe’s gland to her eggs directly with the bill and by means of belly feathers.

(Springer Science + Business Media)

DAY 328: FEED THE BIRDS, TUPPENCE A BAG

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For many, feeding birds at ponds and parks is a cherished childhood memory; one they lovingly recreate for their children and grandchildren. (Think Mary Poppins!) Yet tragically, thousands of birds die annually due to a condition overwhelmingly caused by people who don't know this beloved activity can be deadly.

"Angel wing" is a deformity commonly found in ducks, geese, swans and other waterfowl. There has been little scientific study done on the condition, yet most wildlife and waterfowl experts agree the overwhelming cause of angel wing is an unhealthily high protein and/or carbohydrate-based diets. The disorder causes the last joint in one or both wings to unnaturally twist outward, rather than lie flat against a bird's body. 

Birds with angel wing are stripped of their ability to fly, and therefore their main method of defence. Since the affected birds are unable to escape predators, they are often maimed or killed by them. Additionally, when life-threatening weather conditions develop, they are unable to fly away to safety, and instead starve, succumbing to injuries or freezing to death. 

The birds most likely to contract angel wing are those residing in parks, on ponds and in public areas where people feed them unhealthy food. Because birds grow much more rapidly than humans, each day's nutrition has a direct effect on development. Even a few days of improper eating can cause irreparable damage. Research suggests feeding waterfowl an unhealthy diet can accelerate growth, causing the wing to develop too quickly for proper bone support. 

(D.R. Millman, Director of Cape WildlifeCentre, New England, www.livescience.com)

DAY 327: BROWN PELICANS & EL NINO

California brown pelicans completely failed to breed at their nesting sites in Mexico this year, surveys have found. Scientists are reluctant to blame any one cause for the drastic decline in fuzzy-headed baby pelicans, but a similar drop in breeding numbers struck during previous El Niño events.

Overfishing of sardines and habitat loss could also be hurting the pelican population. But this year is the biggest drop in baby pelicans seen in nearly five decades.  Scientists have yet to officially declare an El Niño, but forecasts call for a 78 percent chance of the climatic event occurring by summer.

The pelicans' behaviour this year suggests they're already responding to the developing El Niño.

How warm water hurts baby birds:

An El Niño is a natural climate cycle that displaces cool water in the Eastern Pacific Ocean with warmer water, which disrupts fish populations. During previous El Niño years, brown pelicans trailed their shifting food supply, flocking to more northerly fishing grounds earlier than usual, studies found.  Their food migrates, and so they need to track their food.

However, more research is needed to link this year's decline to El Niño. For example, while El Nino conditions favour a boom in sardine populations, anchovies are at a low point in their natural cycle, and the oily fish is a favorite food for breeding brown pelicans.

 (www.livescience.com)

DAY 326: BIRDS & SOLAR ENERGY PLANTS

I've just read the following report on website motherboard.vice.com:

Two months ago, 34 birds were found dead or injured on the site of the Ivanpah solar plant owned by BrightSource Energy in east San Bernardino County, California. Almost half suffered from singed feathers after running afoul of the plant’s reflected beams of sunlight, according to a report from The Desert Sun. This was not an isolated incident: another 19 were found dead at the 500-megawatt Desert Sunlight plant, which is also located in California.

So what’s going on here? Why are birds dropping like their winged-brethren, flies, around these plants and what can we do?

The Californian desert has become a popular place to build solar energy plants because of the abundant space and, of course, the sun. However, the region also serves as one of the four major north-to-south trajectories for migratory birds: the Pacific Flyway. So while it seems like an ideal locale, birds who fly over these structures face some new and unusual hazards.

When it comes to death by solar farm, birds typically die in one of two ways. In the first, the glimmering sheer of solar panels might trick birds into thinking they are actually part of a body of water. And so the birds, especially waterfowl in this scenario, dive towards the panels, looking for moisture and food, only to find themselves, bones broken, dying in the middle of the arid California sand.

Blunt force trauma aside, others feel the wrath of the harnessed sunlight. At the right (or really, wrong) angle, the potent radiation bouncing off solar mirrors are enough to burn a bird’s fragile wings, abruptly sending the creature downward towards the ground and impending death. They’re like tragic avian Icaruses, except without an easily digestible moral lesson behind their fatal crashes.

Anthropogenic threats to birds are everywhere, but they vary according to the environment. In cities, the seeming invisibility of windows confuse the animals, who smash into the impenetrable glass barriers headfirst, an accident that can either stun or kill. Statistics differ: the American Bird Conservancy cites the annual number of bird deaths via window strikes at 300 million to one billion birds whereas the US Fish and Wildlife Service says its anywhere from as low as 97 million upwards to 972 million.

Whatever the actual number, it’s clear window strikes are a major concern, even causing some urban planners and architects, like those in Portland, to reconsider building methods. Will massive solar projects become the desert’s equivalent, inadvertently perplexing birds and luring them to their doom?

Since solar technology is still a neophyte in the world of energy solutions, we can’t yet know. So far, the numbers at single sites are comparatively low. But numbers only tell a part of the story: some of the victims are endangered or otherwise protected by the federal government under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. That should undoubtedly factor into future discussions on this issue.

In the future, scientists will need to undertake studies of the interactions between migratory birds, their travel patterns, and humanity’s quest for solar energy. Answers will not be quick to obtain. Much more research has been conducted on how wind power and birds mix, and the scant research covering bird mortality and solar plants is based on plants much smaller than the projects being built today.

As Eric Davis of the US Fish and Wildlife Service told The Desert Sun, “Bird migration studies have to wait for bird migrations… This is going to be months and years of trying to better understand the problem and then make better management decisions as we gain more scientific understanding.”

Ultimately, when the research is complete, sorting out this scenario will involve an unpleasant and morbid calculus. What can be done to minimize migratory bird mortality? And since no solution will likely ever be perfect, how many birds might we “permit” to die? Thankfully, the current impact is quite low, but questions like these serve as a necessary reminder that even green projects have an impact on their surrounding environment.

DAY 325: MAGPIES

The magpie is considered the villain of the animal kingdom - a pilferer obsessed with stealing trinkets. But it appears that it has been unfairly maligned all along. For despite its centuries-old reputation, new research suggests that the bird is not attracted to shiny objects after all. In fact, as animal psychologists discovered, magpies are actually quite repelled by unfamiliar items.    

Psychologists from the University of Exeter discovered that, contrary to popular belief, magpies are actually frightened of new and unfamiliar objects, rather than attracted to them.

The idea of the magpie as a pilferer that steals sparkly items for its nest is a common theme in European folklore:

Rossini made it the theme of his 1817 opera The Thieving Magpie, in which a servant girl is executed for stealing silver jewellery that had been pinched.

But scientists at the University of Exeter have now debunked the myth, proving that magpies are not the flighty thieves we thought they were.The Tintin comic ‘The Castafiore Emerald’ has a similar plot, in which a prized emerald stolen by a magpie.

The researchers carried out a series of tests on wild magpies and a group of the birds housed at a rescue centre. Under carefully controlled exposed to both shiny and non-shiny items and their reactions recorded.

Lead researcher Dr Toni Shephard, from the university’s Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, said: ‘We did not find evidence of an unconditional attraction to shiny objects in magpies. Instead, all objects prompted responses indicating neophobia - fear of new things. We suggest that humans notice when magpies occasionally pick up shiny objects because they believe the birds find them attractive, while it goes unnoticed when magpies interact with less eye-catching items.

DAY 324: (WO)MANNING UP TO FINISH.....EGYPTIAN GEESE

                          

So, my blog hit the dust for a few weeks while I concentrated on 'other things...'
But I'm back, and although I may miss a few days here and there, I really want to complete 365 posts.......

Today's newspaper featured a shot of an Egyptian Goose strolling up Government Avenue in the Cape Town Gardens, looking very aggrieved and peeved at being photographed, as only a goose can.  

The accompanying article stated that these birds are protected in South Africa.  I wasn't aware of that, especially since there are so many of them.  

Apparently they were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians - (whoopdeedooo!)

More info is that they are extremely territorial to their own species and will fight other pairs who try to move in on their turf.  Go, geese, go.

They like to live near water but are happy to nest in holes in big trees. They have been seen nesting in niches in the steeple of the Methodist Church in Greenmarket Square.  (Either the Deacons aren't doing their jobs, or the geese have religious leanings, LOL.)

To end on a negative note, and why not?.... They are considered pests on many local golf courses!

DAY 323: NINE BIRDS

Some odd facts concerning the very sad recent loss of life on Malaysia Flight 17:

Along with the 283 passengers and 15 crew members, the flight also carried

• 2 dogs 
• 9 birds
• 9.4 lb. 'SHIPMENT OF POT'                                                                                                                                                      The above is according to the cargo manifest the carrier posted on its website.

Of everyone on board, the birds would have been the only ones with a fighting chance of
coming out of it alive.....one wonders!

DAY 322: MORE ALBATROSS

A most vivid description of the Albatross is that of James Anthony Froude in his 1886 book, Oceana, in which he wrote how the Albatross:

 "..........wheels in circles round and round, and forever round the ship - now far behind, now sweeping past in a long rapid curve, like a perfect skater on an untouched field of ice." 

He tells of the almost effortless way that the bird flies near the water with rarely a stroke of its wings, seeming to disappear between the high and low waves, then rising above the waves' crests with a tiny adjustment to the inclination of the wings which are usually parallel with the sea.  But when turning to rise or to change its direction, the wings can point at such an angle that one aims at the sky whereas the other points to the water.

DAY 321: THE WANDERING ALBATROSS

The Wandering Albatross is the largest living flying bird.

Here, to give you some perspective concerning size, is the famous David Attenborough

seated next to an Albatross CHICK!!  

 

An adult male weighs about 25 pounds - that's the size of a Thanksgiving turkey.

It has a wingspan of twelve feet. So an adult human could lie down under the outstretched wing and be completely covered.

Individual birds are also very long lived. The typical age for an albatross to reach is about seventy or more years.

They fly over distances of up to six hundred miles in one day.

When the young albatross leaves the nest for the first time, it will spend at least seven years flying out at sea before returning to land for the first time. During that maiden flight, a typical albatross will cover something close to one and a half million miles. In its lifetime, an albatross will normally cover fifteen million miles - the equivalent of flying to the moon and back eighteen times!

In recent years, their numbers have been rapidly declining, putting them on the Red List for conservation status. Their decline is due to over fishing the oceans by humans.

Will anything survive our greed?

DAY 320: FLY AWAY......

There's no way I can write a happy blog today, after seeing my youngest child off at the airport, as she returned to Dubai at the end of a two week holiday with us. I've never experienced two weeks going as fast as these two did!

So here are two birds leaving the birdhouse and going who knows where.....
But Keren is blessed as her and Wayne leave on Tuesday for a four week holiday in the USA, and will be spending their birthdays on 25th and 26th July in Disneyworld.  Hope Mickey Mouse and Cinderella are there to help them celebrate!  Wayne would probably prefer Goofy......

DAY 319: SURFER DUDE

Introducing the great, the brave, the clever Surfer Dude Egyptian Goose 
(I think!)  

Now, nobody can say that in this blog, you don't see some unusual sights..... 

In the cold winter weather, he's very brave and probably very lonely as no other right thinking dudes would be surfing.  Probably has a juicy fat fish in his sights!

DAY 318: OPERATION RESCUE

My friend was walking over the Clearwater bridge at dusk when a drunken man on a bicycle stopped her, almost toppling off as he waved an arc with his arm: “There ish a shick pelican by zhat biiig tree. Can ya do shumthing?” He knew he wanted that pelican saved, but he needed all his concentration just to stay on his bike. He’d picked the right person — my friend is a regular Gerald Durrell who used to collect animals and insects from the wild as a child in the dubious belief that they would be better off under her care and protection – ants, tortoises, rivetingly exciting cocoons.

As she was observing the large flapping bird to figure out what to do, another friend texted her about something and, hearing about the pelican, said she was driving right over. Pelly was by now trying to commit hari kiri by waddling out onto the busy highway so they parked the car between him and the highway, at which point he ducked under the car and they were stuck. Now my friend is the sort of person who swerves on her bike to avoid ants, oblivious of her own death and the impending pile-up behind her, so here she was out on the busy highway trying to push Pelly back the way he had come so at least he wouldn’t get squashed.

 

By now another compassionate motorist had stopped to help, and the three of them had to conclude that this was the not the way to go about the rescue. So the friends went home and picked up a large cardboard box, thick gloves, a blanket, and a flashlight. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to pick up the closest thing we have to a pterodactyl when he doesn’t want to be picked up. The only advice they’d managed to garner from any animal welfare person on the phone was “Grab it by the beak”, which seemed a bit of a tall order. After an adventure in the darkening undergrowth, they did manage to throw the blanket over him, grab his beak, and put him in the box.

They drove to the well-known sea bird sanctuary in Indian Shores where, despite the late hour, a competent bird person was waiting. She picked Pelly up by his wings and his beak, making it look rather simple considering, and took him in for rehabilitation. He had been starving, but she managed to fix him.

 

In this way, at least five human beings were involved in the rescue of one bird, and everyone felt better for their part in it. There is nothing particularly remarkable about this tale. There are countless small, unnoticed acts of kindness like this all over the world every single day, and also countless huge acts of heroism.    

By Luna Kadampa

DAY 317: BLUE CRANE 3 - SATELLITE TRACKING

A nest of hungry baby Blue Cranes!

New wind farms are planned which will undoubtedly increase the threat to the Blue Crane – particularly in the Western Cape, conservationists warn.   

The Western Cape is a hot spot for wind turbines and these will unfortunately have a negative impact on the birds.   

More powerlines will mean more mortalities, so the Endangered Wildlife Trust is raising funds for a research program that will allow them to monitor cranes' movements and advise developers and the authorities where wind farms should be sited to have the least possible impact.  This will include fitting satellite tracking devices to 15 cranes and employing a PhD student to help develop a conservation strategy.

(Cape Argus report 2 July 2014)

DAY 316: BLUE CRANE 2 - & POWER LINES

Some of the Blue Crane’s movements are still a mystery to conservationists - and this species is being seriously threatened by high mortalities from collisions with power lines and electrocutions on pylons.   

As a result, its conservation status is vulnerable and there are only about 25,000 of these beautiful birds left in South Africa.  Past populations were estimated at about 1000,000 individual birds.

(Cape Argus report 2 July 2014)

DAY 315: BLUE CRANE 1 - OUR NATIONAL TREASURE

The majestic Blue Crane is South Africa’s national bird & a prized symbol of royalty on the subcontinent.  There are three crane species in South Africa – The Blue Crane, the critically endangered Wattled Crane and the Grey Crowned Crane.  

They are not an uncommon sight when driving in our part of the world - up the West Coast of the Western Cape - often seen in the fields and quite a thrill to see. How many have you spotted lately? 

About half of the Blue Crane population is found in this province’s Overberg & Swartland agricultural regions, where because of changing agricultural practices that support the birds and because of greater conservation awareness, numbers are actually rising.

(Cape Argus report 2 July 2014)

DAY 314: DANCE IN THE RAIN

Dance in the Rain by Shel Silverstein

So what if it drizzles
And dribbles and drips?
I'll splash in the garden,
I'll dance on the roof.
Let it rain on my skin,
It can't get in---
I'm waterproof.

DAY 313: PELICAN DIVE BOMBER

PELICAN 'BOMBS' BATHER IN FLORIDA from news.bbc.co.uk A woman recently required 20 stitches to her face after a pelican crashed into her in              the sea off Florida - apparently diving for fish. The bird, which died as a result of the collision, ripped a gash in Debbie Shoemaker's               face as she bathed near the city of St. Petersburg.  The city fire chief said he had never heard of a diving pelican hitting a person. It's worthy of note that pelicans grow to up to 13kg. & can dive from heights of                    18-21 meters.

DAY 312: BYE BYE GOOSEY GANDER

I read something quite sad today - authorities over a city park in Mobile, Canada have recently euthanized 200 geese.  Apparently the park had become overrun with geese and they could see no other solution to the problem of the over-population of the area by geese.  People feed the geese and ducks in the park, and the resultant faecal problem, as one can imagine, was out of hand.

As geese are homing creatures, they would simply have returned to the park if an attempt had been made to relocate them.  There are still 100 geese and 40 ducks left in the park, so one wonders how long if will be before this exercise has to be repeated.......

DAY 311: EXCEPTIONAL PELICAN BEHAVIOUR

 

In October 2006, a pelican swallowed a live pigeon in St. James Park, London!

According to tourists watching it, the pelican walked to the pigeon and grabbed it by its beak, starting a 20 minute struggle which ended when the victim was swallowed:"head first while flapping all the way down". 

This behavior has also been filmed in a zoo in Ukraine. 

In the Basel Zoo (Switzerland's largest zoo) a Great White Pelican named 'Killer Jonny' (are you listening, Hollywood movie directors?) is hunting and eating any duck  (or other smaller bird) that enters the pelican exhibit. Today, there are rarely any ducks seen on the pelican lake, while on all other bodies of water they are seen in normal numbers.

On the South African island of Malgas, biologist Marta de Ponte was the first to discover Great White Pelicans eating Cape Gannet chicks. The pelicans were then captured on film in a BBC documentary, exhibiting this behaviour.  The same breed of pelican has been observed swallowing Cape cormorants, kelp gulls, swift terns & African penguins.

DAY 310: MR. BASHFUL - THE SHY PELICAN

Introducing a little part of what you can see of Mr. Bashful!!  Cute.....

There's a super little clip from Australia on YouTube showing a small flock of pelicans in shallow water - the photographer obviously drew nearer & nearer to get a better angle, so the pelicans moved further & further away......except for one little guy who decided to hang in there, but simply turned his head (and big bill) away so that he couldn't see the photographer.  So cute...... 

This reminded me of the fable about ostriches putting their heads in the sand - which, by the way, is totally untrue. 

DAY 309: PELICANS ALL IN A LINE

                                                   

Pelicans can sometimes be seen forming a line, as above, or a u shape......

they aren't just swimming around, enjoying the sunshine, they are working hard for their food! 

This is how they surround the fish and round them up for the kill, and it is by cooperating together that they have success.  They also drive the fish into shallow waters by beating their wings on the surface. Then when the fish are congregated in the shallow waters, they scoop them up in their large spacious bills.

DAY 308: PELICANS ....... are pretty?

Pelicans are pretty?  
No, they are actually pretty silly looking birds. 
They have giant bills with a funny pouch that can hold lots of fish. 

Unfortunately a mouth crammed with fish is a tempting target for other species. Some birds will peck at a pelican as it is feeding so it can steal food from the pouch. 

In the Galapagos, penguins follow pelicans as they feed, because little fish escape the pelican’s bill and are easy picking for the penguins. Sometimes things get nasty, and the penguins go right into the pelican’s mouth and steal its fishes. It seems like a pretty rough deal for the pelicans. 

In addition to feeding, pelicans use their pouch for thermo-regulation. When pelicans get too hot, they ripple the pouch, which allows for evaporation and lets the birds cool down.

DAY 307: PELICANS FOUR - BEAUTIES!

After all the weird & funny poses of pelicans I've been showing, I thought it only fair to show how lovely they actually are - & how photographers can show them not just at their funniest, but looking good!

Amazing how their bills look almost translucent, and how beautifully they pose together.  Think of photos of yourself over the years - in some you look pretty darn good, but in others you wonder - what planet did SHE come from.........
or maybe that's just my outlook! 

DAY 306: PELICAN THREE - MANNA FROM ABOVE

Here's yet another weird pelican pose.

Photographers must wait hours for perfect or unusual shots, and their 
patience is rewarded when it all comes together.  

Thinking about that makes me realise that with wild life, it's all about
food, and their constant ongoing desperation to fill their tummies in
order for them and their offspring to survive.  In the case of this pelican,
one wonders if it was expecting manna from above......

DAY 305: PELICANS TWO - UNFLATTERING TO SAY THE LEAST!

We all get photographed from time to time when we are:
- in an unflattering light
- eating something and looking like a horse
- having a bad hair day
- looking plain u-------gly

Well, poor Mr. Pelican here was definitely caught with his mouth wide open and way off centre.  But I doubt whether he would care, if he knew, because all that matters is that he caught his prey and enjoyed the meal.  

DAY 304: PELICANS ONE - DANCING FOR JOY?

What an awesome moment the photographer caught here!  This pelican looks like he's dancing for joy, and having a good laugh at the same time!

There are more than half a dozen species of pelicans, but all of them have the famous throat pouch for which the birds are best known. These large birds use their elastic pouches to catch fish—though different species use it in different ways.

Many pelicans fish by swimming in cooperative groups. They may form a line or a "U" shape and drive fish into shallow water by beating their wings on the surface. When fish congregate in the shallows, the pelicans simply scoop them up. The brown pelican, on the other hand, dives on fish (usually a type of herring called menhaden) from above and snares them in its bill. 

Pelicans do not store fish in their pouch, but simply use it to catch them and then tip it back to drain out water and swallow the fish immediately. 

(Info from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC website)