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BACKYARD SECRET: ONE-WAY CHIPMUNKS WARN OTHERS WHEN A PREDATOR IS NEAR
Chipmunks are common residents in Georgia yards. While they can be regularly seen during the warmer months of the year, at no time are they more often seen than from late summer throughout autumn. This is the time when chipmunks are busy gathering and storing food for winter.
As you might expect, this is a time when they are more likely to cross paths with predators. When one chipmunk sees a hawk, fox or other predator they warn the other chipmunks in the area that danger is close by. Remarkably, they warn their cohorts when a predator is near using two distinct calls. One is uttered when an aerial predator is close by. A totally different call is vocalized when the threat comes from a ground predator.
Now that is pretty neat!
A CROW, A WREN, AND A SQUIRREL – WILD DRAMA
Most of the most memorable wildlife sightings seem to take place when and where we least expect it. Such was the case this morning.
After eating breakfast, my daughter placed some leftover scrambled eggs in a dog bowl sitting on her back porch. In a few minutes, an American crow flew in and walked over to the dog bowl. It then proceeded to pick out all of the scrambled eggs and drop them on the floor beside the bowl. After eating a bit of the eggs, it slowly sundered out into the yard and began eating dog food scattered on the ground. While the crow was eating the dogfood, a gray squirrel showed up and ate a sliver of the eggs. My daughter said that while dining, the gray squirrel held the food like it was eating a potato chip.
All the while the squirrel was dining, a Carolina wren was loudly fussing as it flew between the house and a nearby planter. The squirrel did not seem upset with the wren’s behavior. My daughter said that while eating, the squirrel sat on its haunches and held the food in its front feet like it would a potato chip.
When the squirrel departed, the wren dropped down and picked up the largest piece of the scrambled eggs and flew off.
This drama lasted only five minutes as my daughter and granddaughter watched drama less than 10 feet away through a glass door.
Now that is the way to start the day!
THE VALUE OF LEAVING DRY CONEFLOWER SEED HEADS
With each passing day, the beautiful coneflower blossoms that adorned our gardens throughout the summer wither and die. When this occurs all that remains are prickly brown seed heads. When this happens often your first impulse is to prune cut them off. If you want to help many of the seed-eating birds that have called your yard home throughout the spring and summer, resist the urge to snip them off.
The reason for this is each seed head contains 200-300 nutritious seeds. Since the seed heads persist into winter, they provide seeding-eating birds with a source of food when food is scarce. Indeed these natural seed feeders are an asset to any backyard.
American goldfinches are particularly fond of the seeds; however, other birds dine on the nutritious seeds too. The list of the birds that compete with goldfinches for this bounty include blue jays, mockingbirds, Carolina chickadees brown-headed nuthatches and cardinals.
BACKYARD SECRET – FUELING RUBYTHROAT MIGRATION?
During the past few weeks the hummingbirds that have been visiting our feeders seem are on a feeding frenzy. The reason for this is they are trying to store enough fuel (in the form of fat) to power their fall migration.
Prior to migration, an adult female ruby-throated weighs roughly 1/10th of an ounce (3.5 grams). These long-distance migrants will consume enough nectar and insects to increase their weight to 5.5 grams (0.194 ounces). Each gram of this stored fat enables a hummingbird to migrate 300 miles.
THE TIMING OF THE FALL RUBYTHROAT MIGRATION
If you have been feeding hummingbirds, you have probably noticed that the number of rubythroats visiting your feeders has dropped significantly. This reason for this is rubythroats are heading south on their fall migration. Interestingly, the timing of their departure is dependent on their sex and age. Let’s take a quick look at the timing of the migration in Georgia.
If you take a close look at the birds visiting your feeders, you will notice that currently few adult males are still using your feeders. The reason for this is adult males are the first to leave. While some adult males will begin migration as early as July, most will leave in August. The adult females are the next to leave they begin their southward trek in August. The last to depart are the hummers that hatched this year. Most of these birds migrate in September.
BACKYARD SECRET – KILLDEER CAN FEED AT NIGHT
One evening this week my granddaughter called to ask me, Is it unusual see killdeer feeding in a brightly-lit parking lot at night?” She posed the question because she and her friend spotted two killdeer feeding alongside puddles of water in a large well-lit parking lot.
While killdeer do most of their feeding during the daylight hours, they do feed at night. Killdeer will hunt for food during the non-breeding season on moonlight nights. In addition, they also forage for food at night in open areas such as parking lots and athletic fields that are bathed in bright artificial light. It seems that the bright lights often attract a bounty of insects such as moths and beetles.
BACKYARD SECRET – BUTTERFLIES HAVE AN ODD WAY OF TASTING THEIR FOOD
We taste food by placing it in our mouths; such is not the case with butterflies. Unbelievably, butterflies taste food with their feet. It seems that when a butterfly lands on a flower, before it unrolls its straw-like proboscis and begins dining on the flower’s nectar, they taste the potential source of food through their feet. They are able to accomplish this amazing fete because their feet are cloaked with cells (chemoreceptors) that let a butterfly know whether the flower contains sugary nectar.
BACKYARD SECRET – HOW MUCH NECTAR DOES AN ADULT E. TIGER SWALLOW EAT IN A DAY?
The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is one of the largest butterflies commonly seen in Georgia yards. In spite of its relatively large size (wingspan -3.5 – 5.5 inches), this colorful butterfly consumes only 0.0014 – 0.0105 ounces of nectar daily. To put this in perspective, a standard-sized paperclip weighs only 0.04 ounces.
