Table Of ContentJanuary
January
I
The New Year's baby, clad in nothing more than diaper
and banner, has no mother to change it or feed it or
rock it to sleep. It doesn't even have a propped-up bottle
to stave off hunger.
Perhaps we would have been wiser, and kinder, to choose
a different symbol for the coming year. The chickadee
shows the exuberance and spirit of the jolliest baby, and has
more probability of surviving the winter on its own.
Chickadees face the New Year with optimism grounded in
This is the perfect day to
start a "year list"—a list of reality, enthusiastic even as they brave the fiercest blizzards.
ail the birds seen during the Chickadees wear even less clothing than the New Year's
calendar year. Starting
baby, but scales and special circulatory adaptations protect
afresh on January first,
their feet from frostbite, and their birthday suit of thick
you'll find even the most
ordinary starlings and down insulates them against bitterest cold. They eat frozen
sparrows new and exciting, dinners of seeds, suet, and insect pupae and larvae and sip
at least for a moment. In
from dripping icicles, yet maintain their body tempera-
northern places, a year list
tures at 104 degrees, with heat enough to spare to warm
won't grow rapidly until April
or May, but winter birds are our hearts. Our hopes and dreams for the coming year
like diamonds—all the more make a heavy burden for a half-naked orphan babe; let
precious for their rarity.
them take wing in the form of a chickadee.
Notes
2
In fall, Black-capped Chickadees form flocks. The
year's young separate from their siblings and join
different groups; this prevents them from choosing a
closely related mate when the time comes. Flocks are more
efficient at finding food and spotting predators than
individual birds would be.
Nuthatches and Downy Woodpeckers associate with
these flocks in winter. Like mail carriers, they move
through woods and backyards and feeding stations on a The best feeder fare Is
fairly regular route, and neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor sunflower seed, for both its
nutritional value and Its
hail will keep them from their appointed rounds. Unlike
appeal to a wide variety of
mail carriers, they aren't rooted to the ground lugging
birds. Suet Is an excellent
letters and packages, and they lightly flit from place to
supplement for Insect-
place. One moment the feeder is empty. Next moment, eating birds. Peanut butter
there they are—chickadees clinging to a suet bag and attracts many species,
including Boreal Chickadees.
darting in and out of the sunflower feeder, a Downy
Cracked corn spread on the
Woodpecker stolidly hammering at the old apple tree, two
ground or in a low tray Is a
nuthatches bickering over a peanut. A Blue Jay hears the good choice for juncoes,
commotion and flies in to investigate. The feeder bustles Mourning Doves, and
sometimes grouse. Blue
for ten minutes or so before the flock moves on, but it'll be
Jays and squirrels are
back. You can depend on it.
especially fond of peanuts.
Notes
January
January
3
Bald Eagles are earthbound in winter more than in
other seasons. Magnificently graceful in the sky, they
have an awkward bulkiness on the ground that makes one
wonder whether perhaps Ben Franklin wasn't right.
Eagles can't spend their hours leisurely angling for fish
above sun-dappled waters when an eight-inch slab of ice
blocks the way, so they gather at dams, eagle-styled fish-
monger shops where they pick up dinner already filleted
Bald Eagles winter as far and chopped into bite-sized pieces. Some eagles with a
north as Alaska, gathering fondness for fresher fare have figured out a more intriguing
in large numbers along open
angle. They search above frozen water for little huts, each
water, especially near
conveniently set alongside a hole in the ice. When an eagle
dams. They're attracted
to roadkills, occasionally spots one of these setups, it perches in a tree and bides its
eaten mice and rats, and time. Eventually a human comes out of the hut, pulls a fish
aren't above raiding bait
out of the water, and sets it on the ice. This person, who
pots or grabbing a slow-
is clearly not interested in eating the fish, quickly disap-
witted duck from the water.
pears back into the hut leaving the fish just ripe for the
One winter a &ald Eagle
visited a bird feeder near taking, there for all to see. Sometimes the eagle carries the
lake Superior every morn-
whole thing off, but sometimes it just picks at it a bit,
ing to eat a hard-boiled
leaving the bones and head as a gratuity for fine service and
egg. It made for an enviable
an excellent meal.
entry on a bird feeder list,
and scared away squirrels
to boot.
Notes
January
4
Uncontrollable shivering is evidence of hypother-
mia in humans, but it's a worthless indicator of
discomfort or danger in birds. Northern Cardinals and
Blue Jays begin shivering when the temperature drops
below 65 degrees, and smaller birds like nuthatches and
chickadees shiver when it's even warmer.
A bird is like a well-insulated cabin, but instead of
burning wood or oil, it metabolizes food and harnesses the
heat by shivering. Small songbirds maintain a body tem-
For added insulation to
perature of about 104 degrees, which requires a lot of conserve heat produced by
shivering, birds grow a large
shivering, which, in turn, burns a lot of fuel. In extremely
number of extra feathers in
cold weather, some birds feed continuously from dawn
early winter. White-throated
until dusk. Fortunately, many birds can turn down their
Sparrows average about
thermostats to conserve fuel during long, hungry nights. 1,525 feathers in October,
The Black-capped Chickadee may drop its temperature and well over 2,500 in
February. "Feather light"
over 12 degrees at nighttime.
isn't an exaggeration. This
huge number of body
feathers makes up less
than 10 percent of the
white-throat'e total one
ounce weight.
Notes
January
5
Fat and cholesterol are fearsome entities to humans,
especially after the holiday season, but fat keeps birds
alive during the winter. In autumn, birds pig out, building
up fat reserves against hard times ahead. Long-distance
migrants can actually double their weight with fat depos-
its. Winter birds don't lug around that much extra bulk,
but when food is adequate they do maintain about 10
percent of their weight in fat. Fat deposits form under the
skin, in the muscles, and in the peritoneal cavity. Excess fat
Suet is popular with wood-
peckers, jays, chickadees, can be a nuisance in day-to-day living, but seldom threat-
and nuthatches. When a ens a bird's health. Unlike humans, birds accumulate
warbler spends the winter in
virtually no fat in their heart muscle, even when obese.
the northern United States,
Birds convert fat to energy twice as efficiently as they
it's usually found at a suet
feeder. Birds eat suet as is, convert carbohydrate or protein. That's why black-oil
but some people prefer to sunflower seed makes a better choice than the less-fatty
melt it and skim the purified
striped variety, especially during the worst of winter.
white fat that floats to the
Suet, 100 percent saturated animal fat and fatty veg-
top. Other ingredients are
often added to this "ren- etable oils, is transformed into fluff and fire in a
dered" suet—cornmeal, chickadee and jaunty impertinence in a Blue Jay—
peanuts, and peanut butter
magical stuff indeed.
are especially good choices.
Notes
6
The stark blacks and whites of a winter landscape
have no finer contrast than the pink glow of an
adult male Pine Grosbeak. The plumage of females and
young males, gray accented with russet or yellow, is more
subtly beautiful. Pine Grosbeaks have daintier beaks than
other grosbeaks, and their smaller heads aptly give them a
gentler appearance.
Pine Grosbeak plumage is thicker and softer than the
finest velvet, as they sometimes give us opportunity to Pine Grosbeaks usually
discover firsthand. Many birds of the Far North are appear In northern forests In
early winter, but are nomadic
unafraid of humans, but the Pine Grosbeak is uniquely
like other northern finches.
tame when approached. The first one I ever saw caught my
They're shy and unobtrusive
attention by whistling from a bare elm in a Madison,
at feeders, taking little but
Wisconsin, park. I whistled back, and it hopped to a lower, sunflower and vanishing the
moment more feisty Evening
closer branch. We whistled back and forth for a while, the
Grosbeaks appear. Pine
bird steadily coming closer. I reached out, and it suddenly
Grosbeaks also dine on
hopped onto my finger. We studied each other for twenty
mountain ash berries and
seconds or so, and then it hopped leisurely onto a nearby crab apples, and take salt
branch and resumed whistling. The bird's claws were cold and grit on roadsides. They
sometimes associate with
and sharp, but something in its eyes penetrated deep into
winter robins; the two spe-
my spirit; the memory warms me even today.
cies are similar In size and
shape, tricky to separate by
silhouette In flight.
Notes
January
January
7
A nighthawk is as out of place in Minnesota in
January as a fish in the Sahara. Many nighthawks
leave the North Country in August, and virtually all are
gone by September's end. They winter in South America,
and sensible ones don't return until late May.
But convalescent nighthawks sometimes spend the sea-
son in my living room. On sunny days, these left-behind
birds gather in the warm patch of sunshine on the carpet,
Nighthawks, like all native and, like wind-up sundials, move with the sun throughout
American birds, are pro- the day. When I hold one up to the window to see snow,
tected by law and cannot be
something most nighthawks never hope to see, he placidly
kept as pets. Only licensed
gazes at it the same way that he studies TV or watches my
rehabilitators can legally care
cat across the room.
for injured or orphaned birds,
and then only temporarily. To The Common Nighthawk has a huge mouth, but its
become rehabilitators, people beak is tiny and fragile and its vestigial tongue worthless for
must apply with their state
manipulating food; this relative of the Whip-poor-will can
department of natural
eat nothing on its own except flying insects.
resources and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service and must I hand-feed my January birds mealworms, crickets, and
demonstrate proficiency at a mixture of dry dog food and other ingredients. They
the necessary skills. Only
accept their captivity with equanimity, but sometimes I
researchers and educational
sense an almost palpable yearning for a Brazilian sunset.
Institutions can be licensed
to keep birds permanently. How I wish I could oblige them.
Notes
CL The Blue Jay inspires bitter hatred or devoted
C-X love—as with a cat, no one is apathetic about a Blue
Jay. This curious, opportunistic omnivore eats plenty of
insects and plant material, but in spring and summer it
fuels human hatred by stealing eggs and baby birds of other
species, mainly to feed its own hungry brood. It also acts
as a raucous alarm clock that simply cannot be turned off.
But what else in the universe combines brains, beauty,
and a perky little crest in an elegant three-ounce package? The word jay probably
Blue Jays are related to crows, ravens, and magpies; many comes from the Roman
name Gains. 131 ue Jay calls
people consider these corvids to be the most intelligent of
are described as "jay, jay,"
all birds. And the world is a finer place because of jays. They
but the name originated In
plant more acorns than they eat, reforesting for future
Europe, where jays don't say
generations. They do steal eggs and baby birds, but in turn "jay." The word Is also slang
perform an invaluable service by alerting other birds of for a simpleton or rustic.
That derogatory meaning
even more dangerous predators. Jays valiantly protect their
was augmented with the
mates and young, and many mate for life. A group of jays
unpopular first chief justice,
was once recorded feeding and guarding an old, partially John Jay. The silliest jay
blind jay, and even protectively leading it to water. expression Is "naked as a
jaybird" Jays wear no fewer
clothes than any other bird
except Donald Duck.
Notes
January
