Birding Articles

Saturday, August 15, 2020

What is that bird? Molting at your backyard feeders

What is that bird? Molting at your backyard feeders 


Plumage is the word used to describe the feathers on a bird. It is the variety of plumages we see on bird species that attract us, from the bright yellow of a male American goldfinch in the summer, to the mottled brown and greys of a great horned owl.  Possessing feathers makes birds unique from all other animals, as they are the only animal world-wide that has feathers.

                Birds around the world have a variety of different plumages, ranging from very colourful to very subdued, and each variation has its own purpose. Plumage colour can vary from species to species, or differ between males, females, or juveniles of the same species. For example, male house finches are a striking peachy-red in your backyard, while the females have predominantly grey/ brown streaks for colouring. Spotted Towhees and Dark-eyed Juncos are great examples of birds where the juvenile appears similar to the adults but also different as the juveniles have a surplus of brown streaks compared to their adult counterparts.

                For some species of birds their plumage will change depending on the time of year, with the most noticeable change occurring when birds shed their brightly coloured breeding plumage to don their winter plumage. The bright-coloured plumages we see on some birds in the summer can take a lot of energy to produce, a process made easier when nutritious food is naturally available. But as summer comes to an end birds naturally molt (replace old feathers with new) to become more energy efficient in the fall and winter, when natural food can be hard to find. Sometimes post-molt the birds we recognized so easily in the spring and summer can become harder to identify; for example the once canary-yellow male American goldfinch will become a greyish-yellow in the winter. Or the European starling, recognized for its glossy black iridescent feathers and yellow bill, becomes a black bird with copious white spots and a dark coloured bill in the fall.

Molting American goldfinch (Google)

                Molting for most birds will happen twice a year- in the spring birds will molt from their winter plumage to their breeding plumage, and then in the fall they will lose their breeding plumage in favour of their winter plumage. For juvenile birds they will undergo a molt where they will lose their juvenile plumage and start to look more like the adult of their species. For some birds the transition from juvenile plumage to adult plumage can happen the same year they hatched, or years later after they mature. When birds molt it can sometimes be difficult to identify them, as some birds can naturally lose large patches of feathers before the new feathers grow in, creating bald spots and making them look a little rough. The good news is that although the birds look disheveled, they are still able to fly, even if they’re missing a lot of their feathers.

Molting Bluejay (google)

                For some birds molting is serious business and can make them vulnerable to predation. Most songbirds will undergo a partial molt in which they only molt some feathers, allowing them to still fly. But for some water-fowl, like Mallards and Canadian Geese, undergo a complete molt, where they replace every one of their flight feathers during a single molt period.  During a complete molt you often will find waterfowl staying close to water, as they are unable to fly until their flight feathers grow back. A quick wander around Buttertubs Marsh, you will notice there are no brightly coloured male Mallards or male Wood Ducks, but what looks to be an excess of their female counterparts.  Male ducks have what is known as eclipse plumage, where they closely resemble the females after they have lost their brightly coloured breeding plumage.


Wood duck male in breeding plumage vs. eclipse plumage (Photo:natruallycurious)

                A bird’s plumage serves multiple purposes from courting, camouflage or simply to keep a bird warm when the weather is cold or dry when it rains. Plumage can also be used for communication, especially during territorial disputes. This can be seen with male Red-winged Blackbirds that will use the red and yellow spots on their wings to show dominance in territorial displays with other males.  Biologists have used the patterns of molting feathers to help us understand bird behaviour, changes in nutrition in a bird’s seasonal diet, and to help us understand how old a bird is. There are a lot of reasons why a bird will undergo a molt, and types of molting varies widely across birds species. You can easily witness how birds change their plumage seasonally by watching the birds visiting your backyard feeder. Over the next couple of weeks some signs of molting will be obvious, like the colour change for the male American goldfinch. But for most birds molting will be subtle, perhaps a couple feathers missing here and there as they all prepare for the change in season.


Dark-eyed Junco growing new wing feathers and a red-tailed hawk missing some feathers. Two subtle signs of molting. (Photos: Google)

 Thank you and happy birding!

 Nicole


Are you curious about how changes in plumage can be used for aging birds? Check out the work of VIU Professor Dr. Demers and the VIU Bird Banding Station.

 

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Get Ready for Hummingbirds - Colin Bartlett


GET READY FOR HUMMINGBIRDS
Written by Colin Bartlett


Are you ready for the arrival of the hummingbirds? In the Nanaimo area it is around the middle of March that the Rufous Hummingbirds return. My rule of thumb is to have to hummingbird feeder out for the birds the first week of March for any early birds that may arrive. Also watch for when the Red Flowering Currant blooms as this is another indication as to when the hummingbirds will be arriving, they are usually feeding at these plants within a couple of days of them blooming.

To prepare your hummingbird feeders first give them a good cleaning using a cleaning solution of one part bleach to nine parts water. This will help to disinfect it for a clean start. Cleaning your hummingbird feeder is very important so look for a feeder that can be taken apart easily and cleaned.
If placing out a new feeder I recommend placing it in a spot that is easy to view and can be close to the house. My hummingbird feeders are in the morning sun and the hummingbirds are there first thing, so don’t think the feeder needs to be in the shade so the solution won’t ferment as the solution needs to be changed at least once a week. Also have the feeder in an open area where the hummingbirds can see it as they do find their food sources by sight. A hummingbird sees their food source through their ultra violet vision and red stands out when seen in their ultra violet sight as a food source, and this is why hummingbird feeders are red in colour. Other bright colours also work but if you are having trouble attracting hummingbirds to a feeder that is not red, try wrapping a red ribbon tightly around the bottle to help catch the hummingbirds eye. Once the hummingbirds have found the feeder remove the ribbon as the hummingbirds now know that this is a food source.
Hummingbirds have a great memory and return to the exact location of where the hummingbird feeders were hanging last year. Moving a hummingbird feeder to a new location may take the hummingbirds a little time to find it in t he new location. It may be easier to place the feeder in its original location and once the hummingbirds have returned slowly move the feeder along to the new location and the hummingbirds will follow.

Now that the hummingbirds have found the feeder I recommend a sugar water mixture of  (1) one part white sugar to (3) three parts water, and it is not required to add food colouring to your sugar water mix, as this can cause throat infections in the hummingbirds. Do not use commercial honey when making your nectar mix, as this can also be harmful to the hummingbirds. If making a large quantity of mix you can bottle and store the remainder in the refrigerator but only for a couple of weeks and then make a new sugar water mix. Hummingbirds are attacked to the sweetness, but I do not recommend using a sweeter mixture other than the one to three this time of year. If you make your nectar mixture stronger it will attract more birds but you could also be harming them. Backyard bird feeding is a supplementary feeding, it is not to replace the natural feed.

Since the sugar water mixture does ferment you will need to change mixture about every 5 days and every 3 days during hot weather. Frequently cleaning helps to keep mold from growing which affects the sugar water solution, and the health of the birds.

If ants and wasps are a nuisance the only way to eliminate them is to find a hummingbird feeder that does not leak. It is the food source, or sugar water, that leaks from the feeder that attract the ants and wasps.

The Rufous Hummingbirds are the busiest when they first arrive in March and into April but this busy activity will subside around the end of April as the males will established their territories and the females are beginning to nest. When the young fledge the activity around the feeders will be busy again in June and July before they begin their journey back south.

If you are in an area where the hummingbirds are plentiful you can estimate how many hummingbirds are visiting your feeders by how many cups of sugar water are used in a day. For every cup of sugar water used in a day, 65 hummingbirds are visiting your feeders. In some areas we know of backyard birders going through five or six cups of sugar water a day, that’s almost four hundred hummingbirds flying around the backyard.

With March now upon us it is time to get you hummingbird feeder out.

Good birding!!