Beyond Your Backyard ❄ "Birds are Fowl Weather Fowls"

By Kimberly Epp

(Adapted from my column last year)

We have been experiencing some unprecedented and prolonged deep freeze conditions here on the prairies, and as we try to keep warm in our homes have you wondered about the birds and other wildlife? How are they able to survive? How can we help?

While feathers are excellent insulators, the legs and feet of most birds lack this protective covering.

For this reason, legs and feet are a major source of heat loss for birds. Birds’ feet are mostly bone and tendons, so, unlike mammals, they have a limited supply of nerves, blood vessels, or muscles to freeze.

Their feet are also covered with scales which, like our hair, aren’t living tissue and thus are less susceptible to freezing. Don't forget, birds are direct ancestors of dinosaurs!

Many birds, including the winter birds that spend their time here year-round, waterfowl, gulls, and penguins, etc. have what is called "counter-current heat exchange system".

Arteries and veins in their legs run parallel and in contact with each other. As the warm blood of the arteries enters the legs, the heat is transferred to the returning cold blood of the veins. This allows the cooler blood to get heated up somewhat before reentering the body, which minimizes the heat lost to the cold air.

Under very warm conditions, the countercurrent heat exchange mechanism can be bypassed.

During extremely cold weather, heating the core takes less energy than heating the entire body.

A Black-capped Chickadee puffs it’s feathers out to stay warm much like you do with a jacket - photo credit unknown

Birds such as chickadees can actually lower their body temperatures into a state of near hypothermia as they huddle together at night in order to help them survive the long winter nights.

The energy from the food they ate all day has to last all night to keep them warm, so when it is very cold, energy is conserved by going into near hypothermia.

Birds exhibit behavioral adaptations as well, such as standing on one leg and tucking the other among breast feathers, reducing by half the amount of unfeathered limb surface area exposed.

You may often see this with Canada Geese...a flock of them standing in a field, using just one leg as they warm the other. Also, by sitting down and covering both legs, even on ice, heat loss from limbs is minimized.

You can help our backyard birds out by putting out protein rich foods such as suet, black oilseed, peanuts and pine nuts.

Try to do this every day.

Place the feeders in sheltered areas, but also where the birds can keep their eyes out for predatory birds.

The birds need this fuel for the long nights when they must huddle together for warmth.

If you have any bird houses, you could also put them out. Add some insulating nesting material. Keep them in a sunny area but sheltered from the wind.

❄Read more here about how birds and other wildlife survive the cold and snow by clicking here

https://www.mjindependent.com/lifestyles/2020/1/15/the-tricks-wildlife-use-to-survive-deep-freezes

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Epp is an Environmental Educator and writer and is also the Past President of the Moose Jaw Nature Society. She can be reached at kepp@shaw.ca or at (306) 681-3198.