Day 18 Sometimes You Got It And Sometimes You Don't

0.2 miles. Windy high in the twenties, threat of snow later today. Despite chasing birds with good potential, we got no new birds. My resolve to explore Strafford County more thoroughly led us there after deciding that Halibut Point Massachusetts was just too iffy. We dipped on the common murre at Walker's Point, the queen eider at Nubble Light, and the ducks were just too distant to pick out a gadwall at Jackson Landing. We did however hear a singing song sparrow at a feeder at the yellow house just past the rink. We had beautiful cedar waxwings along route 1 in Wells, and Harlequins at the Nubble. Three red breasted nuthatches at a feeder in Strafford.

We discussed food supplies for birds, noting that fruit has been generally removed from trees, especially the small fruit. Alder flowering occurs in early spring (March–May),
before the leaves appear, the inflorescences formed in
late summer the season before flowering. Fruit
maturation is in late August–September with the
seeds dispersed the following spring. . Therefore I guess the cones would still hold seed. They are nitrogen fixing, and provide cover for grouse and woodcock.

Did find a few rugosa rose hips remaining at the nubble, and saw some unknown species of rose along the road also with hips. An English website notes ,The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as Thrushes, Blackbirds, Redwing, Feildfare and Waxwings. I don't remember seeing birds eating the large rugosa hips. Illinois reports Among vertebrate animals, rose hips are eaten by upland gamebirds and some songbirds; this includes the Greater Prairie Chicken, Ruffed Grouse, Bobwhite Quail, Cardinal, and others. The White-Footed Mouse and Deer Mouse also eat rose hips and possibly the seeds. White-Tailed Deer and Cottontail Rabbits browse on the leaves occasionally. Birds that feed primarily on fruits, on the other hand, have reduced musculature of the gizzards and shorter intestines. This physical adaptation seems to ensure food passes through the gut quickly — in minutes rather than hours — allowing the bird to forage rapidly when food is available. And some believe the faster the seeds move through the bird’s digestive tract, the less time there is for seed damage. A chemical laxative, for example, was discovered in the fruit of a shrub in Costa Rica that induced early defecation, thereby reducing the time the seeds spend in the bird’s digestive tract.

Publicado el febrero 16, 2021 12:53 MAÑANA por mainebirder