Junior Wildlife Conservationist Quiz
When barred owls call, and somehow this one caught a fish, they often cause turkeys to gobble. Turkey hunters use barred owl calls to help find where turkeys are located in order to hunt them. (photo by Roger Hill)
1. What American hawk is the only one that hunts in groups?
The Harris hawk of the southwest United States is the only raptor that hunts in groups. One photographer filmed a group of five chasing a rabbit in relays to tire it. At one point, the rabbit hid under some brush. Then, one hawk walked in after it like a bird dog. When the rabbit flushed, several other hawks pounced, killed and then ate it! Now, that’s team work!
2. How long does it take for birds to lay eggs?
The cowbird can lay an egg in seconds. It is in such a hurry because it lays its eggs in other birds’ nests, a phenomenon called nest parasitism. A bobwhite quail needs 3-10 minutes to lay an egg; an hour or so for geese and turkeys. The common murre, a sea bird, can breed and still lay fertile eggs after several months! Why? Murres need to be at sea for long periods to gather enough food to survive, and thus are not together very much with their mates.
3. During spring migration, timing is everything for birds. Why?
The winter of 2009 in Minnesota was long and cold. When insect-eating birds flew into the state on their migration north to nest, many died of starvation because they found no bugs. Many insects need temperatures above 60 degrees F for a period of two to three days to hatch.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources received many reports from people finding dead swallows, bluebirds, kinglets, sparrows, robins and warblers — all insect eaters. In one town, 19 dead swallows were found in nine different nest boxes. At one state park, 27 swallows and two bluebirds were found dead in nest boxes.
Things were so bad for the birds that people were asked to put out meal worms for the bluebirds and other worm-eating birds. A similar late spring occurred in 1969, when there was a late April snowfall in Minnesota.
True or False?
1. Some Minnesota bald eagles are dying from lead poisoning.
True. University of Minnesota veterinarians and researchers say bald eagles in Minnesota have been dying of lead poisoning for years. And they say the evidence now is overwhelming that the source of that poison is fragmented lead bullets in deer guts left by hunters.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper reported that bald eagles are ingesting lead when feeding on deer entrails, carcasses or wounded animals that later die. Of the 100 to 125 eagles brought to the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center each year, 80 percent have elevated lead levels. The incidents of lead poisoning in eagles correspond to the deer hunting season. One way to avoid poisoning eagles is to bury your gut piles or use non-lead ammo.
2. Unlike human eyes, many birds can see ultra violet light that helps them find food.
True again. Kestrels, a small falcon, locate vole trails because their urine reflects ultra violet light. Studies are also being conducted to see if ducks avoid nesting in certain areas because they see predator urine. Also, ducks have three times the visual acuity as humans; that is, they see more detail further away than we do.
3. Blueberries reminded early settlers of whooping cranes.
False. It was another berry, not the blueberry. Early settlers noted the blossom of a berry that grew in swamps looked like the head of a whooping crane so they called it the craneberry, which we know today as the cranberry!
Mystery Photo
What type of owl is this and what do these owls have to do with spring turkey hunting? (by Roger Hill)
Leopold’s Lesson
In his book A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold wrote “One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring.”
There’s nothing really profound here other than Leopold is reveling in the fact that winter is over when the geese arrive – a joy only people who live in areas that have long winters can really appreciate. There’s one message here, however, for today’s youth: you have to BE OUTSIDE to hear the geese! Forget looking at the calendar on your computer and instead step outside each day and listen for the geese, day or night, you never know when they’ll come. But when they do, you’ll know glorious spring is upon you!
Nature’s Rhythm
Phenology focuses on the study of periodic plant and animal life-cycle events that are influenced by climate and seasonal change in the environment.
Queston: The title to Rachel Carson’s famous book Silent Spring refers to what spring behavior of birds?
The title Silent Spring refers to the spring territorial songs of birds. Carson’s book documented the terrible toll human chemicals were taking on birds, a carnage so vast that in many areas the spring was silent because there were no birds left to sing.
