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And what to do if you find a collision-injured bird.
Dear Reader,
Dot’s Merlin app has remained mostly dormant for the past months, as the snow flies, temperatures plummet, and my local birds seem mostly absent or silent. Except, that is, for a gaggle of Canadian geese who apparently didn’t get the memo to fly south, and their frequent companions, mallard ducks.
Writer and birder Julia Zarankin calls these months “weird duck time” and says — counterintuitive as it may seem — that it’s a wonderful season for birdwatching. What’s so great about ducks in the winter? Winter is courtship season, when males don their most flamboyant feathers in order to attract a mate. “The beauty of winter birding — in addition to the wonderfully weird ducks you’ll see,” Zarankin writes, “is that you don’t need fancy equipment apart from a pair of binoculars and a capacity to be wowed.” Thanks to trees naked of their foliage, birds are far easier to spot. And who doesn’t marvel at winter birds’ capacity for survival? The brain of the black-capped chickadee, Zarankin tells us, grows 30% larger in winter in order to keep track of where they've stored their cold-weather snacks.
If you’re ready for some cold-weather birdwatching, consider joining in next week’s Great Backyard Bird Count (February 13 – 16). Getting involved is a cinch, no matter where you live. And rest assured, the data you provide really helps. In fact, scientists around the world rely on citizen science to help them generate data that advances our knowledge and helps inform decision making. Australia’s citizen scientists now contribute about 50% of the data in that country’s biodiversity database.
Bluedot contributor Kelsey Perrett told us more about the benefits of citizen science not only to research but to ourselves.
Ornithologically,
Dot
FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program) offers information on how to keep birds safe from window collisions.
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