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Signs of Spring Update:
February 28, 2003
Today's Report Includes:
- Get Your Bluebird Feeders and Nest Boxes Ready!
- Fun with Bluebirds
- Spying on Nestlings: Challenge Question #7
- Current Happenings: Sniff Sniff--Spring Is in the Air!
- Generalist or Specialist: Discussion of Challenge Question #6
Get Your Bluebird Feeders and Nest Boxes Ready!
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| Photo copyright 2002 by Dennis Malueg |
One of the most popular harbingers of spring is the bluebird. Three different species of bluebirds live in North America. Their ranges are different but all nest in nestboxes, and all can learn to visit feeders for mealworms. Some bluebirds are already returning north, so it's time to order mealworms and get nest boxes set up if you want to attract bluebirds to your area.
You can buy bluebird nestboxes in some wild bird or gardening stores, or from some birding clubs. Mealworms make perfect bluebird food. But unless your yard is near good habitat for bluebirds, it will be hard to attract bluebirds even with the best bird houses or the tastiest mealworms. Learn how and where to build bluebird nesting boxes and find out four dangers to protect bluebirds from. It's all here:
To get more information about bluebirds, check out
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Bluebird
Family Sharing Mealworms Photos by Mary Strasser |
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If you have bluebirds nesting near you, there are many fun projects you can do with them. Try some of our projects, from making bluebird feeders to keeping a bluebird diary. Find ideas and directions here:
Spying on Nestlings
Bluebirds nest inside old woodpecker holes and other tree cavities, and inside bluebird boxes. That makes the babies very hard to see. But there is a way we can see everything that the nestlings are up to; we can spy on them with a nest cam. How can we set up this kind of project? See how a Michigan teacher got her whole school peeking in on a robin nest, and look at all kinds of birds with our list of URLs for nest cams from all over the world.
Look at the photos taken inside one bluebird box during a nesting season:
Eastern Bluebirds remain in the nest for 15 - 20 days. Their larger relatives, American Robins, remain in the nest for 13-15 days. Think about the differences between their nests, and then try to answer:
Challenge Question #7:
"Why do you suppose bluebirds take longer to fledge than their larger cousins? Try to come up with at least two reasons."
To respond to this question follow the instructions below.
Current Happenings: Sniff Sniff--Spring Is in the Air!
Most of the time we look and listen for signs of spring, but those aren't the only senses that can detect changes in the season. We can feel the warmth of the sun and taste maple syrup. And on February 21, in Norwalk, Connecticut, Gail Robinson used her nose to find a sign of spring. "The smell of a skunk was in the air this morning, in spite of piles of snow everywhere!"
This seemed like a crazy, mixed up week in the weather. In Duluth, Minnesota, crows are carrying sticks and chickadees are singing their spring song. But race organizers announced that the John Beargrease Sled Dog Race, a popular event that normally starts in Duluth, would start 25 miles away because there was so little snow on the ground in Duluth that the dogs couldn't pull sleds. A day or two after they made the announcement, over six inches of snow fell. All winter the brown ground had been absorbing enough heat from the sun in the day and holding onto it at night that temperatures hadn't plunged very far below zero. But the whiter ground reflected the sun's heat during the day and didn't hold heat in at night, allowing the temperatures to reach almost 20 below zero! Yet on the coldest morning, chickadees were still singing and crows still flying in pairs, carrying sticks and making courtship calls.
In Dickenson, North Dakota, Lincoln School sixth grade teacher Rosella
Perdaems spotted irises sticking out of the ground on February 22. "They
were surrounded by snow so I barely noticed the green sticking out. It
was a hopeful sign for me."
Ann Sarg, a fourth grade teacher at the RISD Environmental Studies Center
in Garland, Texas, made a list of signs of spring her class has noticed:
- Daffodils have been blooming in our woods.
- Crows and Carolina wrens are building nests.
- First violet bloomed Feb.11.
- Henbit in bloom.
- American elms showing green.
- Frog eggs in pond.
Remember
to share your sightings of first frogs, earthworms, red-winged blackbirds,
barn swallows, emerging leaves, flowing sap, melting ice and other spring
events. To report any interesting signs of spring, just click on the owl
icon at the top of any Journey North page.
Generalist or Specialist: Discussion of Challenge Question #6
Last time we asked you to "Name some reasons why more animals on the Endangered Species list are specialists than generalists."
Generalists can usually eat a wider variety of foods and live in a wider variety of habitats than specialists. Specialists are unusually well-adapted to use one kind of food, or to live in one particular habitat. That makes them better-adapted than generalists for one particular food or habitat, but if something bad happens to that food or habitat, the specialist can die out.
Also, because generalists live in more habitats, they are often more widespread. That means that over time they become more genetically diverse. That makes the whole species less vulnerable to disease or predators, because at least some individuals are likely to be able to survive in a dangerous situation.
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-spring@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge
Question # 7
3. In the body of EACH message, give your answer to ONE of the questions
above.
The Next Signs of Spring Update Will Be Posted on March
7, 2003.
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