Quality, not quantity, of diet is key to health of baby birds

Date: September 21, 2016

Source: Cornell University

In a new study that upends the way ornithologists think about a young bird's diet -- but won't shock parents used to scanning the nutritional profile of their children's food -- Cornell researchers have found that when it comes to what chicks eat, quality trumps quantity.

 

In recent decades, many aerial insectivores, such as tree swallows, have undergone steep population declines. Cornell researchers have demonstrated for the first time that the fatty acid composition in the tree swallow diet plays a key role in chick health and survival rates, potentially pointing to new ways to protect fragile bird species.

"This study really reforms the way ecologists see the food of wild animals," said senior author David Winkler, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "From a preoccupation with how much food is available, we need to turn our eyes to what kind of food is available."

For the study, researchers manipulated the ratio of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids [the good fat present in fish oil] to short-chain omega-3 fatty acids [the good fat in flax seeds] as well as the amount of food. Chicks given diets rich in long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) grew faster, were in better condition, had more efficient metabolisms and had a stronger immune response compared with chicks on a low LCPUFA diet.

The researchers found that chicks had higher growth rates and better body condition when they were fed a small amount of high-quality food than if they were fed a large amount of low-quality food.

Read on

Baby Birds Learn Calls From Their Mothers While Still In The Egg

By Pat Leonard

June 9, 2016

Rather like an expectant human mother playing Mozart to her unborn child, some mother fairywrens call softly to their eggs. Now, two recent studies conclude that two species of fairywrens can hear their mothers and even learn elements of her calls while still inside the egg.

Imitating their mother’s calls may ensure they are fed as nestlings, helping to distinguish them from the cuckoo nestlings that sometimes show up in nests. Retaining key elements of her call throughout their lives may also serve as a family “password” long after the young have grown and are raising chicks of their own.

Fairywrens are small Australian songbirds. Nine species occur on the continent where they can be common suburban birds, in places as familiar as chickadees are in the U.S. The males are often brilliantly colored in glittering blue or red, and the species’ unusual breeding habits have made their behavior a popular research topic for decades.

A series of experiments on Superb Fairywrens led by Diane Colombelli-Négrel and Sonia Kleindorfer of Australia’s Flinders University suggested the embryos were learning while still in the egg—contradicting a long-held view that embryos have limited learning abilities. Even among humans, it’s only been in the past few years that research has shown an unborn baby can begin to learn the sounds of speech when it is 30 weeks old.

Continued … 

Flapping baby birds give clues to origin of flight

Date:

August 28, 2014

Source:

University of California - Berkeley

Summary:

The origin of flight is a contentious issue: some argue that tree-climbing dinosaurs learned to fly in order to avoid hard falls. Others favor the story that theropod dinosaurs ran along the ground and pumped their forelimbs to gain lift, eventually talking off. New evidence showing the early development of aerial righting in birds favors the tree-dweller hypothesis.

Continued ...

Step Away from that Bird! - via Tony Whitehead

Media Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RSPB advice about baby birds

It’s that time of year when the south west RSPB Wildlife Enquiries Team receives lots of calls from the well-meaning public about the cute helpless baby birds they have discovered on the ground.

Morwenna Griffiths, speaking for the RSPB South West, says, “It’s vital that people resist the urge to intervene – this is a natural part of the bird’s development, so keep your distance and step away.

“Just before baby birds are ready to tentatively extend a wing, wiggle a tail feather and take flight for the first time, they leave their nest, or “fledge” as it’s called. Fledglings then spend a couple of days on the ground developing their final flight feathers.

“The fledglings will appear fully feathered and spend these days hopping around your garden in broad daylight – hence why so many members of the public are convinced they need rescuing.

“Another common fear is that the fledgling has been deserted by its parents. However, fledglings are extremely unlikely to be abandoned. They are probably off gathering food or more likely hiding nearby with a beady eye on their young, waiting for you to back away. Parents know best and are more than capable of looking after their own.

“Removing a fledgling from the wild significantly reduces its chances of long-term survival – so please don’t ‘kidnap’ the baby bird. There are only a couple of situations when the public should lend a friendly helping hand:

Immediate Danger

“If the baby bird is found on a busy road or path, it would then be advised to pick the bird up and move it a short distance to a safer place - this must be within hearing distance of where the fledgling was found. Similarly, if you discover your cat or dog eyeing up a fledgling in your garden we recommend that you endeavour to keep your domestic pet indoors for a couple of days – or at least around dawn and dusk..

Injury

“If an injured fledgling is discovered this should be reported immediately to the RSPCA on: 0300 1234 999

Sometimes  local vets treat wild birds for free, but please check with them first.

Nestlings

“If a baby bird is discovered on the ground that is either unfeathered or covered only in its fluffy nestling down, it has likely fallen out of its cosy nest ahead of schedule. Very occasionally it is possible to put these babies back in their nest, but only if you are 100% positive of the nest it has fallen from and it’s safe to do so.

“It is also important to remember that sometimes a parent bird will intentionally eject a chick from the nest if they sense it has an underlying health problem or is dying. It’s a harsh truth to stomach, as humans we want to fix things, but sometimes we need to allow the law of nature to run its full circle.

Adam Grogan, Senior Scientific Officer for the RSPCA says: “Our wildlife centres care for more than a thousand alleged ‘orphaned’ fledglings each year, picked up by well-meaning people. Most of these birds are not orphans and would have had a better life in the wild. Unless a baby bird is clearly a nestling, or is a fledgling that is injured or in immediate danger it is best to leave them alone.”

Ends

For further information and to arrange an interview, please contact:

Tony Whitehead, RSPB Press Officer, 01392 453754, 07872 414365

Birds vs. bees

BY PATTI ROTH

SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD

That buzz you might hear among some South Florida bird enthusiasts is about bees — reports that Africanized honey bees, known for their aggressive behavior, are taking over birds’ nesting sites.

In most cases, the bees moved into empty tree hollows or bird houses before birds had a chance to. But there are isolated reports of bees driving out birds that already occupied the nests and stinging baby birds to death, scientists say.

Richard Raid, a University of Florida professor, set up 400 nesting boxes for barn owls in the Everglades Agriculture Area. Over several years, bees established hives in about 50 of them, including at least one that was occupied by barn owl chicks. Raid assumes the babies were stung by the bees. “There’s just hundreds of them flying in and out of the box,” he said. “They totally displaced the owls. The adults never returned.”

In Coral Gables, bees set up housekeeping in several nesting boxes at the home of Daria Feinstein, a member of the Tropical Audubon Society. One of the shelters housed baby mynah birds. Feinstein describes the sight of the bees descending on the nest as something like a scene from a horror movie.

The problem is also attracting attention in other parts of the world, such as Guatemala, where habitat for scarlet macaws is threatened.

“It’s an underrated problem,” said Janice Boyd, an adjunct associate professor at Texas A&M University, whose work focuses on parrots. “In Guatemala, a high percentage of known nesting sites (for scarlet macaws) are taken over by Africanized bees.”

Two doctoral students at the University of Florida are working with Raid on a research project based in the Everglades Agricultural Area in western Palm Beach County, where Raid set up the barn owl boxes as a form of rodent control.

The entomology students are sharing their techniques with the Bird Lovers Club, a non-profit bird education and advocacy organization with members in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The club is putting up nesting shelters in a wetlands conservation area in Pembroke Pines and possibly other sites for spring nesting season. Cub Scouts from Pembroke Pines and Boy Scouts from Plantation built some of the boxes.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/09/3272515/birds-vs-bees.html#storylink=cpy