BirdNote Daily

The Andean-Cock-of-the-Rock sounds like a cross between a chainsaw and a squealing pig. The national bird of Peru, male birds of this species sport a splendid bright red plumage along with a head crest reminiscent of a knight’s battle helmet. Females choose their mate from among a group of bickering males, then build a nest high on a cliff wall.

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There are five million bird eggs stowed away in museums across the world — and the study of eggs, called oology, can give us great insight into birds. The link between DDT and the decline of Peregrine Falcon populations was identified in part using museum and personal egg collections, and this evidence helped lead to a ban on DDT. And today, Peregrines can still be seen zipping across the sky.

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There used to be a saying about somebody who doesn’t eat much — “she eats like a bird.” But how much does a bird typically eat? As a rule of thumb, the smaller the bird, the more food it needs relative to its weight. A Cooper’s Hawk, a medium-sized bird, eats around 12% of its weight per day. For a human weighing 150 pounds, that’s 18 pounds of chow, or roughly six extra-large pizzas. And that perky little chickadee at your feeder eats the equivalent of 35% of its weight. You, as a 150-pound chickadee, will be munching 600 granola bars a day. And a hummingbird drinks about 100% of its body weight per day. That means you’ll be sipping 17½ gallons of milk.

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Every summer, puffins — like this Horned Puffin — grow blazingly colorful layers over the bases of their huge beaks. But in the winter, puffins lead very different lives, and they shed their bright ornamentation. Puffins in winter are largely solitary — and silent. They spend about seven months alone at sea, before returning once again to their colonies to breed.

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Dwain Vaughns, II, worked as a pilot for 11 years until he developed a rare chronic pain condition called complex regional pain syndrome after an accident. As part of a recreational therapy program, Dwain signed up for a birding trip, but that day he found himself struggling with a racing heart rate. But by stopping and listening to the birds, he found that his heart rate and pain decreased. In the details of bird flight, Dwain sees echoes of his time spent flying planes.

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For birds and other animals with good natural insulation, winter provides a striking benefit as they scavenge. Bacteria function very slowly or not at all in the cold, preventing dead bodies from rotting. In northern latitudes, ravens and other scavenging birds take advantage of winter's cold storage. When a caribou, moose, or deer dies in Canada, Alaska, or other cold place in the winter, it's available to be eaten for months. Bacteria must wait until spring warms the carcass before they can begin to consume it.

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To out-sip their competition, Sword-billed Hummingbirds have a distinct adaptation: these birds’ beaks are longer than their bodies. Found in temperate forests from Venezuela to Bolivia, these hummingbirds rely entirely on tube-like flowers that other species could never reach. While most birds can use their tongues to clean their feathers, the Sword-billed Hummingbird’s long beak gets in the way – so they use their legs to scratch themselves instead.

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Male birds are often the larger, flashier sex that courts choosy females, who in turn raise their chicks. But not always. Female phalaropes -- like this Wilson's Phalarope -- challenge each other over territories in which to house a cluster of males half their size. And the males do all the childcare. Other stay-at-home dads include most of the ratites, like ostriches and emus, as well as several species of jacanas.

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Great Black-backed Gulls have a reputation as serious predators of other birds. During the nesting season, they’ll prey on eggs and nestlings of other seabirds. They’ll also hunt adult seabirds including puffins and grebes, as well as songbirds as big as a grackle.

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Here and there along winter shorelines, little flocks of pale, silvery shorebirds probe at the water's edge, keeping pace with each wave's ebb and flow. These are Sanderlings, small sandpipers that stay through the winter. Rachel Carson, in Under the Sea Wind, described Sanderlings as running "with a twinkle of black feet." Learn more about the Sanderling at Audubon's online Guide to North American Birds.

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