Signs of Spring Update: May 2, 2003 Today's Report Includes: Mayday! Here Come the Warblers Pay Attention! Challenge Question #22 Fun with Warblers Current Happenings: Spring is Busting Out All Over Bugs in Winter: Discussion of Challenge Question #19 Timing Migration Right: Discussion of Challenge Question #20 Gutsy Birds: Discussion of Challenge Question #21 Year-end Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts! Mayday! Here Come the Warblers For many birdwatchers, May is the most wonderful month of the year, because May is when warblers flood through North America. The birds that started moving across the Gulf of Mexico in April are working their way north, and more birds join them every day. Cape May Warbler Nashville Warbler Cerulean Warbler "When I was a little girl," says Journey North science writer Laura Erickson, "I saw a flock of colorful, tiny birds in the maple tree right outside my bedroom window. They were different colors: greenish and black and white and bright yellow and orange. One kind was very blue. I didn?t know what it could be. They were the same size as my grandpa?s canaries, so I thought maybe these were special--even magical--canaries. Years later, when I was an adult, I received a field guide for Christmas, and opened it up to a page with those same magical birds: warblers!" Laura shares some delightful warbler facts with us in this week?s report. Read on! Pay Attention! Blackburnian Warbler Many people don?t notice warblers; they?re tiny, and many have fairly quiet songs. But when people discover them, they?re usually delighted to see these beautiful and dainty little creatures. Can YOU see warblers? Flocks of them pass through just about every backyard in America during spring migration. But unless you?re paying attention, they?re hard to notice. They often associate with chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches?birds that stay in an area all year round. Think about the advantages local birds have over the migrants who come to an area each spring, and then send us your answer to this question: Challenge Question #22: "Why do we usually find warblers associating with chickadees, titmice and nuthatches?" (To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.) Another reason to pay attention is that you never know what you might find during migration. When I (Laura Erickson) was a teacher, I took one of my classes for a bird walk one May morning to my favorite park. One boy spotted a beautiful warbler with a golden head and big beady black eyes looking right at him. He shouted, "Look! A Prothonotary Warbler!" I birded in that park every morning and had never seen a Prothonotary Warbler there; the boy wasn?t using binoculars, so I gently told him that it was probably a more common Yellow Warbler. He looked very disappointed. But the next moment, I heard a warbler singing, "Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet!" It really WAS a Prothonotary Warbler! A moment later the whole class got to see him singing away at the top of a tree, as thrilled to see the beautiful bird as they were to finally prove that their teacher made mistakes, too! Hear a Prothonotary Warbler song recorded by Lang Elliott Fun with Warblers! Warblers feed on crawling, hopping, and flying insects. Their bodies are tiny (many are only the weight of 2 nickels) and since they're warm-blooded, they must have enough food to maintain their body temperature. So they can't risk arriving in the north before they are guaranteed of enough insects to eat. Field Guide Pages: Sibley Guide to Birds How many warblers can you find this month? Whenever you see or hear chickadees, look carefully in the trees to try to spy some warblers. They?re tricky to identify. To help you learn how to use a field guide and recognize some warblers in a fun way, Journey North?s resident artist Mary Hosier has designed some cool games to play: Field Guide Art: Make a Class Mobile! Play Matching Games with Mary?s Warbler and Habitat Cards Current Happenings: Spring is Busting Out All Over Today's Red-winged blackbird map link to data here Bloodroots and daffodils, Barn Swallows and salamanders: Spring is busting out all over! While some species are just beginning their migration, Red-winged Blackbirds are almost all on their breeding grounds now, as today?s map shows. Meanwhile, many people from throughout the eastern U.S. spotted Rose-breasted Grosbeaks this week, and hummingbirds continue to spread north. Orioles are starting to appear at feeders, too, and bluebirds are nesting in the southeast. Bumblebees and butterflies are becoming active, and in some places fish such as steelhead trout are swimming on their watery migration to their spawning grounds. In Waterford, Virginia, Nicole Hamilton heard her first Chimney Swifts on April 27. She writes, "The chimney swifts arrived back in our chimney last night from their overwintering grounds in Peru. I checked my journal and last year they arrived in the chimney on 4/26 so it's within a day. I love having them here for the summer. Their chirpings and wing sounds in the chimney warm our hearth like nothing else I know. Just wonderful!" Hear Lang Elliott?s recording of a Chimney Swift Bugs in Winter: Discussion of Challenge Question #19 Last time we asked, "How do chickadees, woodpeckers, and nuthatches find insects in the north in the middle of winter?" When it?s below freezing, cold-blooded insects don?t move about, but they?re still out there. The adults of many species of insects die before winter, but their babies are still there?-usually as eggs or pupae. Chickadees and other insectivores look for egg cases, or the swellings called galls on many weeds, as those usually have an egg case or insect larva inside. If they find a cocoon or chrysalis, the birds tear into it. Birds that search for insects in winter are extremely observant, and they pay attention to tiny details in order to notice food items. Timing Migration Right: Discussion of Challenge Question #20 We asked, "How do birds that require insects insure that there will be enough food for them at their destination when they start their migration?" Some years we have a cold spring when insects are late. Other years we have a warm spring, and insects become active earlier. And very often there is a warm spell in March followed by snow and even blizzards in April! Birds wintering in the southern U.S. often begin migrating early in warm years and late in cold years, so their arrival dates in various places can differ by several weeks. But most of these species, like American Robins, can actually turn around and head back south if the weather takes a turn for the worse. Birds in Central America have no idea what kind of weather conditions might be happening in the U.S. or Canada, so they tend to leave their wintering grounds close to the same time each year, to arrive in the U.S. during April, and to work their way up to the northern states and provinces closer to the same average time each year. Gutsy Birds: Discussion of Challenge Question #21 Last time we asked: "Why must intestines be longer to digest plant matter than to digest insects and other animals?" This was a tricky question! First you have to know that the cells of plants have cell walls, while the cells of animals have just a thin cell membrane. Then you need to think about why that?s important. Cell walls are hard to break through to get the nourishment inside the cells. To digest them, animals need long intestines, and they often need special structures to mash the tissues and break down the cell walls. Mammals that eat only plants often have special grinding molars (back teeth). Some mammals that eat grasses even have an extra stomach! Birds that eat plants often swallow little stones and grit, which stay in a special part of their stomach called the gizzard. And longer intestines help the animal get more of the nutrition out of these cells, too. Since animals don?t have cell walls, their tissues are much easier to digest without the added weight of longer intestines and more complicated stomachs. Year-end Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts! Please take a few minutes to share your suggestions and comments in our Year-End Evaluation Form below. The information you provide at the end of each year is the single most important tool used to guide our planning. Journey North Year End Evaluation Please share your thoughts Thank You! 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 #22. 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 May 9, 2003. Copyright 2003 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form