Baby Birds...A Lesson Learned

Baby Robins in our backyard.

We have had several kinds of birds come to our yard and nest, including Blue Jays, Robins, Chickadees, Mourning Doves, etc.  Just a few days ago, we made a huge mistake.  Moses saw what we guessed was a crow.  It looked like it was still a nestling, and we thought that it had fallen out of it's nest, so we decided to pick it up and see if we could help it.  After contacting experts, we were surprised by what we learned.  

These Carolina Chickadees fledged the day after this photo was taken.

All birds are different, but most birds that you will find in your yard, will leave the nest about two weeks after they hatch.   They are fully feathered and will be able to flap, hop, and try to fly short distances.    They will stay on the ground for 2-5 days.  During this time, the parents keep close watch over the fledglings because it still can't take care of itself or fly.   The parents also continue to feed the baby, help it to recognize predators, and teach it to fly.

If you find a baby bird you should leave it on the ground or you could keep it from learning it's basic survival skills.  If you are convinced it is too young to be out of the nest and  you know where the nest is, carefully place it back in the nest.   

This is the baby bird that we found.  Moses was able to walk right up to it and pick it up.  It would not eat from us and was able to hop and fly short distances.  We placed it back where we found it after we realized our mistake.  His parents were able to continue caring for him.

Moses putting the baby back where it was

Here is a video we took of the Chickadees that hatched in one of our birdhouses.   We got to see them the day they hatched.   We also got to see them take their final flight from the nest.  We watched one of them learning to make its way around in some brush!!!

By Ethan

WHAT IS A BIRD

Red Tailed Hawk.               

Here is what I have learned about birds: 


A bird's beak is made out of the same stuff our
nails are made out of, which is keratin.  They have strong
scaly legs and sharp toe nails. All birds are
different from each other.  Most of the time male and female birds look different.  In some species, the male and female look alike.

Red Tailed Hawk.



All birds have feathers,
two strong powerful wings, and one
strong beak.  Some birds have curved
beaks, some birds have long beaks,
some birds have short plump bills.  Not all
birds can fly,  like the Kiwi Bird.
Birds lay their eggs in nests,  but all
nests are not the same.  Some bids
make their nests on the ground,
in cliffs,  city's,  trees, holes,  poles,
or stands.  some birds are herbivores,
some birds are carnivores,  some are
 omnivores.  All birds
have different songs except the
northern mockingbird,  who mocks other birds.
Lots of birds migrate.

 I love birds and I love to learn
more about them!

Posted by Luke

RAPTORS

The raptors are a large group of birds, with many things in common and many things different from each other. What makes a bird one though is: talons (that is what you call a raptors feet and claws) , sharp curved bill, keen eye-sight and they have to either be a carnivore or scavenger. 

First up, the Owls. All of these have either heart or disk-shaped faces, short, extremely sharp and hooked bills and some have "ear tufts" on the top of their head, as shown above and below.

 Some can also turn their heads all the way around!

 Second, Hawks. These have long tails, broad-short wings and long hooked bills.

 Next, Falcons. All of these have a black stripe under their eyes, long bill and tail. 

Below is the smallest Falcon, an American Kestrel. 

 

Last but definitely not least, the Eagles! The biggest in North America is the Golden Eagle. These have even longer bills than all the others, way longer and sharper talons, super huge wing-span and extra long tail

Sorry there were no vultures!

 POST BY ETHAN

HOW TO HOLD A MONARCH BUTTERFLY

So lets just say for a minute that you have caught a Monarch butterfly, and you don't know how to hold    

it.

It's very simple. First take your index and second finger and gently grasp the upper part of the wings, as  

shown above.

 Secondly and last, you use the same two fingers on the other hand and grasp the first four legs (the other two are usually under the wings along with the abdomen). You can only hold butterflies like this that are in the brush-footed family because they have much stronger legs and wings. This is pretty much 

all that you need to know on how to hold a Monarch butterfly.

POST BY ETHAN

KING OF WINGS

Hummingbirds pretty much are the king of all fliers. The reason for this is, unlike other birds, is that they flap their wings in figure-eights!!! This is what gives them their amazing maneuverability.

When they want to go up, they push harder on the downward stroke. For down, harder on the upward stroke, etc. They can even hover while they are feeding! 

 This is one beautiful (and cool) little bird.  

POST BY ETHAN

OUR LONE SURVIVOR

The Monarch is definitely the most amazing (and beautiful) butterfly in North America. They are very easy to raise, so, we did.                                                                                                                                    All you need is:                                                                                                                      

• A non-air tight container with holes in top to make sure that the caterpillars have plenty of air.
• A poop catcher (I used a sheet of paper, you really need this because they poop a whole lot).
• Milkweed (the caterpillars will only eat plants that are in this family).
• Something for them to pupate on, such as a twig or they may rather use the lid of the container.

I went into a field to catch Monarchs to tag, but instead I found something better, a huge Monarch caterpillar! I plucked him and his plant, and I went out to see if I could find any more. This I did and succeeded, I found about 6. 

I took them inside and put them in my container with the poop-catcher (paper) in the bottom. I provided them with fresh milkweed when needed. They munched and munched  and grew and grew until most of them were huge. However only one of them lived, the lone survivor.

          One way to keep your milkweed fresh is to put it in a zip-lock baggy and refrigerate.

Welp, our caterpillar grew to pupation point, and this he did. He hung from a pair of claspers at the end of his body (ours chose the ceiling to hang from) and turned green and wrinkly (He had not fully developed his cocoon just yet). We found the shriveled skin underneath the cocoon.

Here it is fully devoloped.

 Finally it went from this... 

 all the way to this!!!

 You could actually see the wings and abdomen developing inside of that tiny little chrysalis.

 The very morning after it turned blue, we all of the sudden found this! We tagged and released our little lone survivor, and as soon as he was out of our hands, he started on his long, hard journey South.

POST BY ETHAN

INSECT COLLECTING

Insect collecting is one of my favorite things to do. It is fun doing it, but its not just to have fun, its to study and learn more about them. My favorite group of insects are the butterflies and moths. All of them  really have iridescent brown scales on their wings, but when the light reflects on them, they become the beautiful creatures we see fly around our backyards.

 In this post I wanted to talk a little bit about insect collecting.

This is a link to the kit that I have:

Insect Collecting & Mounting Kit

Step #1. The Net.

 The net is used to catch most of your insects.  Mine is 2' deep and you would want to have one at least this deep...the deeper and wider, the better. When you see one and are about to swing, try and sweep in on it from above. As soon as it is in the net,  quickly either put it on the ground or fold it over. Either way works just fine, although, I fold it.

Step #2. R.I.P.

For this you only need a jar with plaster or a cotton-ball and poison. Just "load" your jar with the poison and drop your bug into his chamber of doom.

Step #3. Preserving

Fold a butterfly or moths wings together and slide into a glassine envelope. It should stay good like that for a surprisingly long time, up to 60 years! Use Vapor tape to preserve pinned and processed insects. 

Step #4. Labeling, pinning and drying.

 Use tweezers to spread wings (if it has any) and slide a pin through its thorax (middle part between head and abdomen). Spread its wings with wax-paper an a board made for this purpose. On one label write the place and date of capture along with capturer's name. On another write latin and common names.

These are some of the butterflies and moths that I have collected and processed.

POST BY ETHAN

Insect Collecting & Mounting Kit