My Science School

During summer months, not just us, even wildlife struggles with soaring temperatures and lack of water. With just a little thought, we can make their lives easier.

Birdbaths

All the regular places that normally provide birds with water are likely to have dried up, leaving them looking for newer options. While the search can be physically exhausting in itself. not finding water can add to an animal or bird's stress, and can even be fatal.

The amount of drinking water to be made available to birds is not much. Birds also enjoy bathing, and it helps them keep their bodies cool. Both their drinking and bathing needs can be met through birdbaths. When buying birdbaths, do make sure they are wide and shallow; deeper ones can lead to accidental drowning, especially among smaller birds. It is important to keep the birdbaths filled and cleaned regularly Birdbaths may provide water and moments of fun to even smaller creatures such as squirrels.

Food

As mercury shoots up, it may become difficult for animals to go looking for food. While grains and seeds can be put out on plates for birds and squirrels, milk, boiled eggs and rice can be made available for stray dogs and cats. Bowls of water too can be kept outside the houses for stray animals. Sweets, fried snacks, junk food, etc. are not suitable for stray animals, and may even trigger allergic reactions in them.

Watering plants

Plants and trees are home to an innumerable variety of insects, reptiles, and amphibians. Keeping plants watered will help these creatures survive too. In fact, it is said that during summer, earthworms may bury themselves so deep into the soil that birds may not find enough to feed on. So when insects grow well in well-watered plants, they become healthy meals for birds and other creatures. In addition, keeping flowering plants healthy will help butterflies feed on nectar. This helps in pollination, and butterfly caterpillars become food for birds.

Watch out!

It is said that encounters with snakes near residences may increase during months since these reptiles are actively seeking out shaded places to tackle high temperatures. While it may not be possible for us to provide them shelter, it is very important to be aware of our surroundings - they may find shelter in shrubs, among tall grasses, small covered spaces such as a motor box, etc. Irrespective of whether they are venomous or not, it is important to ensure they are not harmed. One can seek the help of wildlife rescuers so the creatures are captured carefully and let off into the wild safely.

Caring for pets

• Take them out for a walk when the sun is down.

• Play with them indoors.

• Ensure there's plenty of cool water available for them.

• Never leave them in a car, even for a few minutes.

• Make sure they get a lot of rest in a well-shaded place.

• If there are signs of heat stress, give them medical help immediately.

Picture Credit : Google 

Sparrow serves the ecosystem of the earth. Sparrows mostly prefer seeds of millet, thistle, weed and sunflower seed. However, they also eat fruits and berries. During this process, sparrows spread seeds to places away from the fruit tree. This is important for germination of the seeds, because if the seeds fall close to the parent plant, they would have to compete for nutrition with the mature plant. This would reduce the chance of germination of the seed as well as growth of the plant once the seed germinated. By spreading seeds, sparrows help the survival of many plants that are the producers in an ecosystem.

 Although primarily seed-eaters, sparrows also feed on small insects and worms such as caterpillars, beetles and aphids. Some of these creatures destroy certain plants. Sparrows keep their population in check; otherwise, the insects would have eaten certain plant species to extinction. Here also sparrows play an important role in preserving the ecosystem.

Most birds of prey, such as eagles and falcons, eat other smaller birds. Snakes, which are also secondary consumers, are known to eat sparrows. For example, sharp-shinned hawks prefer sparrows for food.. Hence by providing food for the secondary consumers, sparrows play an important role in their survival and in preserving the ecosystem.

Picture Credit : Google 

The greater rhea is a flightless bird native to South America. It is the largest bird in both North and South America and is related to ostriches and emus. It is 4 feet tall and weighs about 26 kg. It is much smaller than ostriches (which are 9 feet tall and weigh 140 kg) and emus (which are 7 feet tall and weigh 56 kg).

The greater rhea has a light-coloured head and neck with beautiful blue eyes. It has fawn-coloured feathers on its body and powerful long legs, which it uses to outrun predators. Even though its large wings are useless for flight, they are used for balance and for changing direction as the bird runs.

Rheas are opportunistic feeders that eat plants, fruits, seeds and also insects, lizards, birds and other small game. Unfortunately rheas also like to eat crops, which annoy many South American farmers. As more open grasslands are converted to farmland, this problem is likely to become even more severe.

In the wild, the greater rhea lives for about 10 years. Did you know that in August 2000 a captive group of rheas escaped a farm in Germany and established a population in Northern Germany? You could call them pioneer rheas like the pioneers that settled America!

Rheas are farmed for their eggs and meat. Their skins are used in the manufacture of leather and hunting has reduced their numbers considerably. Today, regulations are in place that limits both hunting and farming the greater rhea for commercial use. This species is listed as ‘Near Threatened’ by the IUCN.

Picture Credit : Google

You may have heard of singing birds but have you heard of dancing birds? The American woodcock is perhaps one of the most comical and cute dancing birds found in nature. Unlike the stately peacock which shakes its magnificent tail in an elegant rain dance, the homely little woodcock walks with a typical bobbing gait that looks like it is grooving to ‘Hakuna Matata’ from the movie Lion King!

This rounded, fluffy bird has a combination of brown and black feathers (rather like our own sparrow) except that it has a freakishly long beak! It uses the beak to dig out its favourite food - earthworms. Its funny walk is also supposed to make insects move on the ground, making them easier to spot.

If it perceives a threat, it freezes in response till the threat passes. Its eyes are set far back on its head, giving it a panoramic vision that helps detect predators. This biological adaptation has actually pushed its brain down and in an upside down position relative to other birds! Also, compared to other birds, woodcocks migrate at a leisurely pace. They hold the record for the slowest flight speed for a migrating bird at 8 km/h.

The woodcock usually makes its nest on the ground, concealed among fields with adequate ground cover and in shrub thickets. The female typically lays about 1 to 5 eggs and incubation lasts for 22 days. The male takes no responsibility for the chicks and does not help feed the female or offer any sort of protection to the family (rather a bad example of a parent!).

The woodcock is found in forests, fields and meadows in the eastern half of North America including Canada. It is considered the king of game birds in America and is hunted for its tasty meat in these countries.

Fortunately this plump fuzz-ball is still found in large numbers in America and is listed as ‘Least Vulnerable’ by the IUCN.

Picture Credit : Google

The frigatebird is an extraordinary bird. It is a sea-faring bird but has a major disadvantage. Its feathers are not waterproof. It would drown if it landed on the water. So it has developed a method to stay aloft while flying over the sea for weeks at a stretch without touching down!

It makes use of the warm air currents that rise up from the ocean which form cumulus clouds. It is the only bird that deliberately flies through these clouds. It does this to make use of the updraft of air currents in the cumulus clouds which help it to fly using minimum effort.

When it needs a meal, instead of swooping down to the ocean to catch fish, it bullies other birds into dropping their catch and neatly steals it mid-air! This is why these birds are also called the pirates of the sky! In appearance too they look somewhat like villains. The frigate bird has sleek black feathers, a long hooked bill and a deeply forked tail. The male adult also sports a bright red throat pouch - rather like a red scarf on a swashbuckling pirate!

It has an 8-foot wingspan and has the largest wing surface area compared to its body weight, of any bird. What this means is that the frigate bird's wings can make the maximum use of ocean currents and fly for longer periods of time. It thus flies higher and faster than any other sea bird. It reaches a top speed of 153 km/h during flight and soars well above 4000 m above sea level! This altitude is unbelievably high for a seafaring bird. 

There are 5 species of frigatebirds currently in the world, of which 2 species are critically endangered, while 3 species are widespread (listed as Least Concern).

Picture Credit : Google 

Spotting a white-throated needletail swift is not easy. They do not hop about on the ground for one thing. In fact they never land on the ground if they can help it. And they are one of the fastest birds in the sky, reaching a top speed of around 170 km per hour! So it may be difficult to get a good look at them as they whizz past.

This greyish brown swift has a white throat patch, as well as a whitish patch on its back. It measures around 21 cm and weighs 120 grams. It is found in Australia, Central Asia, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain and Siberia. It is called needletail due to its tapering tail, which is not forked as with other swifts.

It builds its nest in rock crevices, cliffs or high up in tall trees. It avoids hunting on the ground and catches its food on the wing. It eats insects like beetles, flies, bees, locusts, grasshoppers, cicadas and moths. The needletail has very short legs which it uses only for clinging to vertical surfaces.

It constructs a cup-like nest made of twigs and straw stuck together with its own saliva. The female lays 2 to 7 eggs and both parents incubate the eggs for a period of around 23 days. This bird was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801.

It is listed under ‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN Red List.

Picture Credit : Google 

The ultimate speed king on the planet, with no competitors on land, water or the air, is the peregrine falcon. This superbird achieves an unbelievable speed of 321 km/h during its famous downward ‘stoop’ (dive) to catch prey.

This large-sized falcon has a blue-grey back, barred underparts and a black head. It hunts birds like pigeons, ducks, songbirds and gulls.

It has special tubercles in its nostrils to guide the air and prevent damage to its lungs during a dive. Its vision is 8 times better than a human's and it has a third eyelid to protect its eyes during those super-fast dives. It swoops down in a curve to decrease drag and strikes its prey mid-flight, knocking it out!

The word peregrine means wanderer or pilgrim. These birds may fly around 30,000 kilometres every year from Europe to Africa during winter.

The peregrine falcon has faced many unforeseen threats over the years. One of the birds it likes to hunt is the pigeon. However, during the First World War thousands of peregrines were killed because they were a threat to messenger pigeons carrying important military messages to and fro.

A large number also perished due to the rampant use of the pesticide DDT, which entered their systems through food. This pesticide made peregrine eggs brittle and a huge number of eggs broke, depleting their numbers drastically. After many countries banned the use of DDT, population figures have been picking up. They are currently listed under ‘Least Concern’ in the IUCN List.

Picture Credit : Google

When we think of birds, we perhaps think of their resplendent colours. But did you know that not all birds are colourful? In fact, it was presumed for long that how colourful birds were depended a lot on the region they lived in. A recent study has confirmed this.

The research has shown that "tropical species of songbirds are indeed more colourful than their non-tropical counterparts". The study analysed over 4,500 species of songbirds (also known as the passerines) globally from the collection at the UK's Natural History Museum. Songbirds were chosen because "they represent around 60 per cent of all bird species". The study involved cutting-edge computer technology to analyse the colours and intensity in the plumage of birds. The "colourfulness score" thus obtained for birds across the globe revealed that it "is generally highest at the Equator and decreases with increasing latitude towards the poles". Birds in the tropics (regions of the Earth around the Equator), showed more colours than those living in other regions, north or south. Also, though in certain cases males and females look different, both are more colourful in the tropics than in other places. So, what exactly is causing this?

It is said that several factors, including climate, food, and the amount of light in their habitat, impact how colourful bird plumage is. The study showed that the most number of colourful species of birds were from rainforests and those that consumed fruits and floral nectar. "And there was also a positive association between colourfulness and the diversity of the bird communities." The variety and population of songbird species are higher in the regions closer to the Equator than others. So the study suggests that the colourfulness could be the result of evolution for identification-"this enhanced colourfulness may help them to distinguish themselves from all the other birds in their rich tropical communities".

Picture Credit : Google