Trip Notes

i decided to put trip notes in a new page titled "Trip Notes and Lists" so there's not too much on the front page. please add notes and things that you wrote during our trips that you think are useful.

Notes from Bronx Zoo Trip: Kingfishers

Dr. Sperling pointed out how Kingfishers (the kind around here is the Belted Kingfisher) burrow into river banks to make their nests, like little caves.

Notes from Bronx Zoo Trip: The Bird Trade

We saw an exhibit about the exotic bird trade and how parrots are caught in places like Belize and Brazil to be sold as pets. The exhibit said that 19 out of every 20 birds captured in the wild dies (i.e. only 1 out of 20 lives) due to stress, disease & temperature extremes experienced in transit. Dr. Sperling seemed to empathize with the people capturing the birds, stating that they are extremely poor. (Personally, I think they should be shot, along with the traffickers and the people who sell them in pet shops, AND the people who buy them...) I think they get paid something like $1 per bird by the traffickers. This is one of the reasons that many parrot species are endangered. An alternative offered by the exhibit was captive breeding. I have an idea: how about paying those people NOT to catch the birds and to report anyone who does?!?!

Notes from Bronx Zoo Trip: American Robins

Dr. Sperling made special mention of the Robins (Turdus migratorius) and how 2 parents can produce 60 offspring in their lives while only 2 ever survive to replace them. According to the exhibit on Robins, only 1/2 of the chicks ever leave the nest and 10 survive out of 100 to become breeding adults. (The numbers don't exactly match-up, but Dr. Sperling insisted that Robin parents only ever replace themselves, otherwise we'd be up to our eyeballs in Robins.)

He said to make note of how the babies die. Reasons for such high mortality include ants, foxes, weasels, etc. (eating babies from the nest), babies falling out of the nest (into water and drowning & onto ground and getting eaten by scavengers like Turkey Vultures, ants, etc.), babies getting lost during migration, among others. Crows are known to steal baby birds from nests as well. Also, if one or both parents are killed (by feral cats, window/car strike, hawk attack, poisoning, etc.) obviously the babies would have little chance of surviving. In Spring and Summer, Robins tend to fly low along the ground (often right in front of cars) since they are hunting for worms.

Also note that Robins are thrushes. The babies have streaked breasts just like other thrushes and only get the "red (orange) breast" as they mature (after 1st year?) Robins ARE protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, but they don't really migrate that far. They tend to migrate locally in winter to areas with berry bushes.

Robins are commonly referred to as the "first bird of Spring," but this is not exactly true. You can often find Robins around here in the middle of winter if you search around enough. Eastern Phoebes are the true first bird of Spring, as mentioned by Dr. Sperling. They are the first to arrive among the real migrants, usually appearing by mid-March. Remember, they are fly catchers, so it has to be just warm enough for insects to be out. My mom said that when Robins are sighted on the ground, it is a "sign of Spring" because that means that the ground is warm enough for worms to start moving around. (Remember: Eastern Phoebes bob their tail.)