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Hummingbird Migration Update: March 15, 2001
Today's Report Includes:
- Latest Migration Maps and Data
- Egg-to-Fledgling Countdown: Challenge Questions #3, #4, #5, #6, and #7
- Teacher Tip: Sharing the Body Heat
- Got a Question for the Expert?
- Discussion of Challenge Questions # 1 and #2
- Get Ready! Unpave the Way for Hummingbirds
- Get Set! Help Track the Migration
Latest Migration Maps and Data
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds began arriving along the Gulf Coast on February 26. See what has happened with the migration since then!
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird Courtesy of Lanny Chambers, Hummingbirds.net |
Thanks to Mr. Mike Patterson of Oregon's Neawanna
Wetland Ecological Observatory, students will have two hummingbird species to track this spring. Sightings
of the Rufous Hummingbird, collected by Mr. Patterson's study, "Hummingbirds and Flowers," are provided
below. (Rufous Hummingbird data will be included in future updates along with Ruby-throated Hummingbird data.)
Students planning to map the migration of this western species will need a map that extends all the way to Alaska!
Rufous hummers travel farther north of any other hummingbird species.
Be sure to visit Mike Patterson's Web site, "Hummingbirds
and Flowers" where you can learn about the purpose of his study. "The more folks we have thinking
about what the data might mean, the better," said Mike.
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Rufous Hummingbird Courtesy of Mike Patterson |
Egg-to-Fledgling Countdown
A fantastic Journey North exclusive starts today! Join us on a photo safari as we peek into a hummer nest to watch the eggs hatch and the babies grow. In a series of dazzling photos in each report this season, we'll follow babies from their eggs to the empty nest when they leave. Here's the start of our adventure, complete with five fabulous challenge questions. Please click on each photo to examine in greater size and detail. This will help you answer the questions, and perhaps raise some new questions of your own. Here we go!
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Photos courtesy of Dorothy Edgington |
Challenge Question #3:
"In Lansing, Michigan on June 1, the sun rises at about 6:02 a.m. EDT and sets about 9:09 p.m. EDT. So about how much time does a female hummer spend incubating her eggs on June 1 in Lansing?"
Challenge Question #4:
"Why do tiny birds like hummingbirds and chickadees lose body heat so much more easily than large birds like ravens and loons?"
Challenge Question #5:
"Hummingbirds build their nests out of lichens, bud scales, thistle and dandelion down, and spider silk. How many reasons can you list as to why these materials are perfect for hummer nests?"
Challenge Question #6:
"Think of some reasons why hummingbirds almost always lay exactly two eggs."
Challenge Question #7:
"Why do you think the eggshell looks so thin and papery compared to a chicken egg?"
(To respond to these questions, please follow the
instructions below.)
Teacher Tip: Sharing the Body Heat
Before your students try to answer Challenge Question #4, consider this: When you touch your face, you can feel the heat your body is producing leaking out into the air, or onto your hand. Try it! Your muscles and blood and organs produce the heat. The amount of heat a warm-blooded animal produces is related to its body's volume. The bigger the volume of the body, the more of these heat-producing tissues fit inside. Fur or feathers help hold heat in, but some body heat always escapes. How much work must a bird's body do to keep warm? Explore this question by creating your own "cubic birds" that resemble the size of some birds we already know. Find our fun lesson about volume, surface area and body heat here:
Got a Question for the Expert?
Your questions are now being accepted for Hummingbird Expert Lanny Chambers. Send them BEFORE the deadline of 5 p.m. (Eastern Time) on March 16, 2001. Here's how:
Home on the Range: Discussion of Challenge Question #1
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The Welchner homeschoolers in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, were really thinking:
"Perhaps the birds with a small range can't handle temperature fluctuations as well as the others. Maybe the small range birds like to feed from certain food sources that only grow in a small range. Maybe they prefer nesting on certain species of plants that grow over a small range."
Good answer! Some birds are "generalists." This means they can adapt to a wide range of habitats or
food items. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds manage to fly thousands of miles through unfamiliar areas twice a year,
and can feed from a variety of flowers and trees, taking sap from sapsucker holes as well as nectar. They also
eat a wide variety of insects. Other species are "specialists"--that is, they are limited to a very specific
environment. Even though it is common within its tiny range, and feeds from many kinds of tropical flowers, the
Coppery-headed Emerald is not known to leave its home in the mountains of Costa Rica--this species doesn't even
wander to neighboring Panama or Nicaragua!
Curious and Clever: Discussion of Challenge Question #2
Last time we asked, "Why would a pair of tropical hummingbirds take time from feeding to closely examine recording equipment?" You had lots of good ideas about this! Here they are:
Jessica said,
"I think they listen to the recording stuff because they are very curious!"
Conner added,
"A pair of tropical hummingbirds take time from feeding to closely examine to see if the recorder is dangerous."
Benjamin and Evan of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada said,
"They might have thought it was a new type of bird feeder that they could take advantage of or they might have thought it was watching them."
Kasey (in Mrs. Voelker's class) says,
"I think the hummingbirds examined the recording equipment because hummingbirds are just curious. The hummingbirds went after the red button because they are attracted to red."
Marc and Stacie wrote,
"I think the reason hummingbirds would take time out from feeding to observe recording equipment is most likely a sound that the equipment was emitting. Probably a frequency higher or at least in audible to humans, but audible to hummers....possibly similar to some of the sounds they might make but we can't hear."
The hummers can't tell us what they were thinking, but Laura Erickson, who told us the story, agreed that their
curiosity has a lot to do with it. "Learning about new things in their environment may clue them in to new
food resources, or let them know about a new predator! A four-foot-long cord is shaped a LOT like a snake, and
in the tropics, a lot of snakes are dangerous to birds." Good thinking, everyone!
Get Ready! Unpave the Way for Hummingbirds
Besides tracking their migration, we hope you'll help hummingbirds along the way by creating habitat for them. You can access many helpful people and resources through Journey North's Web site to help you make life better for the wildlife that shares your home. Join thousands of other students doing habitat projects. When your project is complete, report back to Journey North and we'll add your site to our "Unpave the Way for Wildlife" map, showing where hummers and other critters will find good habitat.
Get Set! Help Track the Migration
 Report your Hummingbird sightings to Journey North. |
- Report when your Hummingbird feeder is up. As soon as you place your hummingbird feeder outside, report to Journey North. Now you're ready to watch for your first hummers!
- Report the FIRST Hummingbird you see this spring. Let us know when your Hummingbird safely arrives after its long migration.
If you have any questions, contact us: our feedback form
How to Respond to Today's Challenge Questions:
IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail message.
1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-humm@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #3 (or #4 or #5 or #6 or #7).
3. In the body of EACH message, give your answer to ONE of the questions above.
The Next Hummingbird Migration Update Will Be Posted on March 29, 2001
Copyright 2001 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form
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