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Readers have lots of questions about birds
Phil Dickinson
A leucistic bird, such as this robin, lacks pigmentation in some of its feathers.
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Published: August 26, 2008
Since the Bird's-Eye View column started several months ago, Phil and I have received many e-mails from readers, often with questions about the most recent column. But several are recurring themes, so we thought it might be helpful to address a few of these questions.
Q. What is the strange-looking bird at my feeder? It looks like a cardinal (or robin, or some other common species) but it has a lot of white feathers.
A. The bird is indeed a cardinal (or robin, etc.) that is leucistic. Leucism (LUKE-ism) is a condition where a bird lacks pigmentation in some of its feathers, so those feathers look very pale or white. In unscientific terms, it's like partial albinism. I say "unscientific" because true albinism is a complete lack of pigmentation. In a bird exhibiting true albinism, all the feathers are white, while the eyes, bill and legs appear pink. Leucism has been observed in all types of birds. Nevertheless, it is always interesting to have a leucistic bird show up at your feeder.
Q. The cardinal that comes to my feeder is bald. Is it sick?
A. All birds replace their feathers as they wear out. This is called moulting, or molting, and most songbirds moult all their feathers at least once a year. Moults are usually timed to take place just after the breeding season. Cardinals often exhibit a very rough appearance during their moults with patches of feathers missing and, not uncommonly, entirely bald heads. The old feathers have fallen out but the new ones may not grow in for a few weeks. This happens in both male and female cardinals, but there is nothing wrong with the birds and they will grow in new feathers eventually -- certainly well before cold weather arrives.
Q. How can I discourage grackles, etc.?
A. The blackbird with the long tail is the Common Grackle. Short-tailed blackbirds may be cowbirds, starlings or female grackles. (Red-winged Blackbirds, Rusty and Brewer's Blackbirds seldom show up at bird feeders.) There are generally two issues to consider when blackbirds overpower your feeders: the kinds of food and the design of feeders. These birds prefer sunflower seeds (as do a lot of desired birds), corn and millet. A lot of commercial birdseed mixes have these three and other seeds, including some that almost no birds will eat. So my first recommendation is to stop using this kind of mix and focus on seed types that attract desirable birds, but not grackles and the like. The second is to assess your feeders and see if they are enabling these seed gobblers to overwhelm the feeders.
Wright's Backyard Birding Center on Country Club Road and Wild Birds Unlimited on Hanes Mall Boulevard, both in Winston-Salem, or the Wild Birds Unlimited at Oak Hollow Square in High Point, have good selections of feeders and seed, and can give you advice on the best kinds of feeders to deal with your needs.
Q. How do birds keep cool during this hot weather?
A. Birds employ several means of coping with hot weather, as you might guess. But they don't sweat, since they don't have sweat glands. They do pant, though, and this is one of the most common ways that birds cool themselves. A more extreme version of panting is called gular fluttering. Several kinds of birds, including cormorants, pigeons and owls, have a gular pouch. An example is the big expandable part of the pelican's bill and throat. When it gets really hot, you can watch a perched pelican's throat flutter. That's just a more active way of moving air over a part of the body that has a lot of blood vessels. Gular fluttering helps cool the blood and the bird.
Birds will also look for shade to escape the heat, and they probably decrease their food consumption, too. This decreases their activity level because they are not moving around hunting for food, resulting in less body heat.
It is important to make sure that birds have clean drinking water -- especially during hot summers when rainfall is rare. In addition to getting clean, birds probably use baths to occasionally cool off, too.
■ Bird's-Eye View is a joint column by Ron Morris and Phil Dickinson. Today's column was written by Morris. Morris retired after 24 years as curator at the N.C. Zoo. He has studied birds around the world and is currently the vice president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County. Dickinson is a legal writer. He has been an active birder for 15 years, and is a past president of the Audubon Society of Forsyth County and chairs the conservation committee. If you have a birding question or story idea, write to Bird's-Eye View in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101-3159, or send an e-mail to birding@wsjournal.com. Please type "birds" in the subject line.
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