From stashing food to roosting in groups, birds have the means to flourish.
To withstand winter, birds take extra measures to stay warm and energized. Instead of reaching for mittens and long underwear like humans, birds grow more feathers, hide extra food and put on extra weight to fight the cold.
Cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers and goldfinches all stick it out in colder regions while other birds fly to substantially warmer climates for winter. Some birds that stay in the northern U.S. breed in the far northern reaches of Canada in summer and fly only as far south as necessary to find food in winter. This means spending the winter in midwestern backyards, where their special adaptations help them keep warm and find food.
Juncos and American tree sparrows add extra weight for the coldest months of the year, gorging themselves when they can. The fat deposits they develop help them survive when seeds from plants and shrubs are covered with snow. Some species even change what they eat when their normal food sources are unavailable.
この記事は Birds & Bloom の December/January 2019 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は Birds & Bloom の December/January 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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Sense or Nonsense? - Why some birds can taste and smell - but others can't
Does a porcelain berry taste like a blueberry to a gray catbird? Does a block of lard smell like frying bacon to a northern flicker? The short answer is no. While some avian species do have a well-adapted sense of taste or smell, they can't distinguish between flavors and odors the way humans can. They're not picking up every ingredient in the suet you put out, says José Ramírez-Garofalo, an ornithology researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey and the director of Freshkills Biological Station in Staten Island, New York.
Maple Mania - Amazing facts about this fall foliage mainstay
Amazing facts about this fall foliage mainstay
Food-Focused and Fierce - Meet Canada jays and learn why they eat almost anything they can find
Even if you haven't heard of Canada jays, you've heard of their relatives. Members of the corvid family, they belong to the same group as American crows, blackbilled magpies, and jays including blue, Steller's and scrub. "Unlike many of the other jays, a Canada jay doesn't have a crest of any kind; it just has a rounded head," says Dale Gentry, director of conservation for Audubon Upper Mississippi River.In 2018, the Canada jay's name was changed from gray jay, but Dale thinks the former adjective was fitting. "Most of its body is shades of gray with some white," he says. "There are different subspecies that have different physical traits, but most of them have some lighter coloring on their foreheads, upper breasts and throats, each with a darker streak that starts at each eye and goes back."
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