Great backyard Bird Count - Starts this Friday

This Friday, I will be participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count. It runs from Friday, February 18 through Monday, February 21, 2011.  It is the first time I have submitted data for this citizen science project. I don't think it will be much different from Project Feederwatch, that I participate in.

The Great Backyard Bird Count, like Project Feederwatch, monitors the abundance, distribution and winter bird movement of birds in North America.

I think it is important to count and submit data on urban birds. An article, last year, in the scientific journal Nature, revealed that ecologists have neglected the study of urban ecosystems.  There is a notion afoot, that animals and plants must disappear (die off) in the presence of humans. The numbers are often reduced, but many animals live in cities. What I often write about is how we can provide good lives for all the inhabitants of the city, human and non-human.

Hoarding: The top two ways to hoard

Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Squirrels have been frantically gathering nuts and seeds for the past few weeks.

I noticed the hurried actions of the squirrels that visit my garden.

I decided to do a little research.

It seems there are two kinds of storing food for the winter. Scatter-hoarding and larder-hoarding.

Scatter-hoarding involves spreading food items in numerous hiding places. We see this when we watch quarrels bury nuts in many different locations. I see it when forgotten or ignored sunflower seeds pop up in odd places in my garden.

Blue Jays also scatter-hoard small acorns in a wide area up to one mile away.

Then there is larder-hoarding

Larder-hoarding is placing all the food items in one place. Chipmunks do this. Chipmunks must be able to defend or hide their food store so others can't find them.

Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus)

Nuts such as hickory nuts and red-oak acorns are good for stored food because they are dormant seeds. Just by their genetic makeup these large seeds aren't scheduled to germinate until the following spring. But, by that time, the animal has eaten what it needs.

When I watch squirrels collecting sunflower seeds to bury, I notice that the squirrel removes the shells first. I thought this was odd. Wouldn't the seed keep better if the protective coating was on it?

Squirrels enjoy sunflowers seeds, too.

What I have since learned about squirrel nut-burying behavior, is squirrels also remove the fragrant husks from hickory nuts before burying them. I guess this is to keep nut-stealing animals from sniffing out fragrant sunflowers and eating the squirrel's store.

So, you want a piece of me?

Bird Migration Routes - Do You Live Near One?

Flyways map courtesy Fish & Wildlife Service

Flyways are heavily traveled routes bird use during migration. During migration, birds tend to follow physical features such as coastlines, mountain ranges and river valleys.

In the 1930's investigators became impressed by what appeared to be four broad, heavily traveled "highways" in North America. This concept was based on several thousand records of migratory waterfowl.

The "highways" were only approximate and many birds migrate outside of them.

W.W. Cook identified seven generalized routes for birds leaving the United States on their way to various wintering grounds (see map above). The routes by which birds return northward in the spring are not as well known.

Look over the following list and the map above to see if you live on or near a migration route. 

Main Migration Routes in North America

Atlantic Oceanic Route (route 1) This route mostly travels across the Atlantic Ocean. It stretches from Labrador and Nova Scotia to the Lesser Antilles, then through a small group of islands to the mainland of South America. Since this route is almost entirely over water, the only way humans know about it, is through observations on islands like Bermuda and those islands along the way. Birds usually fly this route by both day and night.

Atlantic Coast Route and Tributaries (route 2) The Atlantic coastline is a regular route of travel. It has many famous birding hotspots for observing both land and water birds. About 50 different kinds of landbirds that breed in New England follow the coast southward to Florida and travel by island and mainland to South America. At no time are these air travelers out of sight of land. It is not however the favored migration highway. Only about 25 species of birds use this route to go to their winter homes beyond Cuba to Puerto Rico. This was known as the Atlantic Flyway. This is the route that covers the sky over Philadelphia, Delaware and the Jersey Shore.

Mackenzie Valley-Great Lakes- Mississippi Valley Routes and Tributaries (route 3) This migration route is the longest of any in the Western Hemisphere. It extends from the Mackenzie Valley past the Great Lakes and down to the Mississippi valley. Its northern end is on the arctic coast in the regions of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska and the mouth of the Mackenzie River. The southern end lies in Argentina.

For more than 3,000 miles, from the mouth of the Mackenzie to the Mississippi delta, this route is uninterrupted by mountains. Because it has plenty of trees and water, the area is a great place to view great numbers of migrating birds. During the height of migration, going to birding hotspots in the Mississippi Valley, allow birders to can see large numbers of many species. Swarms of birds are spotted on the islands off the coast of Louisiana. This was known as the old Mississippi Flyway. (route 4)

This route begins in the Mackenzie River delta in Alaska. Some places in this area, such as the National Bison range at Moise, Montana, have food in such abundance that birds stop here during migration to refuel. This was known as the old Central Flyway.

Pacific Coast Route (route 5) The Pacific Coast Route is not as long or heavily traveled as some of the others. Because of the nice living conditions, many species of birds breeding along the coast from the northwestern states up to southeastern Alaska either do not migrate or else make short journeys. This route has its origin chiefly in Western Alaska around the Yukon river delta. Large numbers of arctic-breeding shorebirds also use this route. This was known as the old Pacifc Flyway.

Pacific Oceanic Route (route 6) This route is mainly over water. It extends from the islands of the Bering Strait through the islands of the central Pacific and northward along the Asiatic Coast. Many seabirds that breed in the far northern coasts, southern coasts and islands migrate across the Pacific away from land and except when the breeding season approaches. Incredibly, birds navigate to tiny isolated islands in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean.

Arctic routes (route 7) Some arctic nesting birds travel only a short distance south in winter. They fly mainly along the coast. The best defined arctic route in North America follows the coast of Alaska.

More Information:
Flyways.us
http://www.flyways.us/flyways/info

Information courtesy of: "Migration of Birds: Routes of Migration",http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/migratio/routes.htm March 09, 2007. 

Animal Migration

Dark-eyed Juncos migrate to my backyard in the fall and stay until spring.

Fall migration has begun and the animals are on the move.

What's Behind Animal Migration?
Migration is the mass movement of large groups of animals or people from one place to another. It is often because conditions have changed so that staying where they were will make life difficult.

Hibernation is staying in the same place and sleeping through the worst conditions. Many small-bodied mammals tend to deal with the seasonal changes by eating so much that they put on a layer of fat and by hibernating in the winter.

Aside from certain tropical and evergreen forest areas where migrations are relatively uncommon, a large number of both aquatic and terrestrial species move from one habitat to another at some time during their lives.

Why Do They Move?
I think the reasons behind the moves are pretty obvious. The changing temperatures seem to be the biggest factor causing animals to move.

Here in the north it gets cold. Autumn and winter bring heavy rains, snow and ice storms. The plants and insects that birds, butterflies and other animals depend on for food, disappear.

These food sources go dormant or die with dropping temperatures. Another reason for mass movement is reproduction.

Animals, particularly birds, move to areas that are very favorable for raising young. Birds migrate north in the spring to take advantage of the emergence and abundance of insects and other foods.

The same individuals reappear every year in an area. They often arrive within a few days of a certain date each year. An example would be the cliff swallows of Capistrano which return to the town every year around March 19th.

Human often migrate due to war famine, disaster, disease and bad living conditions.

Many factors are thought to trigger mass movement. Most fall into one or two categories.

1. Programmed events at predictable intervals in lifestyle or life cycle. 
2. Seasonal variations – change in day length, temperature, or abundance of food, episodic, density population movements, over large populations beyond environment carrying capacity 

Who Moves?
Many animals move. Some travel thousands of miles and some just dig a few feet deeper into the mud of a pond, lake or stream. The most common travelers are birds. Birds like insect-eating songbirds, artic terns, Canada geese and many others move from one area to another as the weather takes a turn for the worse and food becomes scarce.

Who else moves?
Monarch butterflies, wapiti, caribou and many fish also migrate. Some high mountain dwelling animals move from high mountain tops to the lower mountain valleys. They move from high mountain elevations to lower elevations to escape severe winter storms. The heavy snow and ice makes finding food difficult. The wapiti of Yellowstone Park move to the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, and caribou move from the tundra to the coniferous forests.

Animals That Move

• Atlantic Salmon Sockeye Salmon 
• Monarch butterfly 
• Painted Lady butterfly 
• Broad tail Hawks, 
• Red Wing Blackbirds
• Canada Geese 
• Wapiti (elk) 
• Caribou 
• Moose 
• Birds 
• Lobsters 
• Bees 
• Tortoises 
• Bats 
• Fish, brittle starfishes 
• Newts and toads
• Insects 

How Do They Navigate?
Animals seem to use several ways to find their way as the move from one place to another. Animals use a variety of environmental information to locate their positions and appropriate travel paths.

Most species have been found to use more than one type of information to navigate. Young individuals may also learn from older more experienced adults.

Ways by Which Animals Find Their Way

• star navigation 
• the position of the sun, moon and stars 
• gravitational field of the earth
• magnetic fields 
• ultraviolet light (on overcast days) 
• polarized light (on overcast days) 
• environmental odors (like the smell of the ocean) 
• coastline and shoreline configurations 
• water currents 
• visual landmarks 

Here in Philadelphia we will be watching the migration of songbirds and birds of prey in the coming weeks. And the migration of Monarch butterflies along the New Jersey shore.

Those dead animals we see now along the roads are migrating and not making it across the road. I have seen dead opossum and skunks in the last week or two. The dead animals tell us who lives near us, sometimes without us knowing it.

Sources Consulted “Migration”, by Sneed B. Collard in Magill’s Encyclopedia of Science: Animal Life, vol. 3 Lemurs– Respiration, , p. 1036 – 1041. "Migration" by Valerius Geist, PhD in Grzimek's Animal LifeEncyclopedia. Vol. 12: MammalsI. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 164-170. 17 vols.