Category: Vertebrates

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Rufous Hummingbird

Rufus Hummingbird Courtesy US FWS, Roy W, Lowe, Photographer
Rufus Hummingbird
Courtesy US FWS,
Roy W. Lowe, Photographer

Who doesn’t love hummingbirds! I’m always amazed how a tiny life form with a brain smaller than a pea is capable of such amazing intelligence and behaviors. In fact, a hummingbird’s brain is proportionally larger in size to their body than that of any other bird. And like the corvid family (jays, magpies, and crows), research has found that hummers have an amazing memory.

Now is the seasonal peak for hummingbird activity with young birds fresh off the nest. One of my favorites, the migrating rufous hummingbird, may join the milieu on their long distance marathon as they make their way from as far north as Alaska to winter in Mexico.

The feistiest hummingbird in North America, the brilliant orange male and the green-and-orange female are relentless attackers at flowers and feeders. These fearless competitors will challenge even the largest hummingbirds of the Southwest, which can be double their weight, and often win the contest! Rufous Hummingbirds are wide-ranging, and breed farther north than any other hummingbird. Look for them in spring in California, summer in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and now in the Rocky Mountains as they make their annual circuit of the West.

Rufous Hummers have the hummingbird gift for fast, darting flight and pinpoint maneuverability. Like other hummers, they eat insects as well as nectar, taking them from spider webs or catching them in midair.

Rufous Hummingbirds breed in open areas, yards, parks, and forests up to timberline. On migration they pass through mountain meadows as high as 12,600 feet where nectar-rich, tubular flowers are blooming. Winter habitat in Mexico includes shrubby openings and oak-pine forests at middle to high elevation.

They may take up residence (at least temporarily) in your garden if you grow hummingbird flowers or put out feeders. But beware! They may make life difficult for any other species that visit your yard. If you live on their migration route, the visiting Rufous is likely to move on after just a week or two.

Regarding feeders, make sugar water mixtures with about one cup of sugar per quart of water. Food coloring is unnecessary; table sugar is the best choice. Change the water before it grows cloudy or discolored and remember that during hot weather, sugar water ferments rapidly to produce toxic alcohol. If you are among those who have these dazzling sprites of amazing life stop by, consider yourself fortunate indeed!

This is Jack Greene reading for “Wild About Utah”

Credits:

Pictures: Courtesy US FWS, Roy W Lowe, Photographer
Text: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

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Andrea Explains Fitting the Bill

Andrea Explains Fitting the Bill

Andrea Explains Fitting the Bill: White-winged Crossbill, Courtesy and Copyright Paul Higgins, www.pbase.com/phiggins/
White-winged Crossbill
Copyright © 2009 Paul Higgins
More photos at pbase.com/phiggins/
and utahbirds.org Photo Gallery

Red Crossbill (female)
Copyright © 2009 Paul Higgins
More photos at pbase.com/phiggins/

Few among us would choose to eat a steak with a spoon or soup with a fork. And in the world of birds, it’s the same story – you need the right tool for the right job – and you can tell a lot about a bird by paying attention to its beak.Andrea Explains Fitting the Bill

Physiologically, beaks are a specialized extension of the skull and are coated in keratin – the same material that makes up our fingernails. And like our fingernails, the cutting edges of the beak can be re-grown as they are worn down by use.

Birds use beaks for a multitude of tasks including preening, weaving nests, and defending territories. However it is the task of eating that seems to dictate beak shape and size. Envision the hummingbird, for instance. Its long, thin beak – and corresponding tongue – is designed to reach deep into flowers to collect the nectar within. A hummingbird beak would not work for a woodpecker or a great horned owl. Likewise an eagle’s beak needs to be sharp and strong for tearing flesh, and wouldn’t suit the lifestyle of an ibis or a sparrow.

One Utah native, the aptly-named red crossbill, has one of the most unique beaks around. When closed, its curved top and bottom bills overlap crossways in what looks like an awkward and uncomfortable pose.

French naturalist Count Buffon, first laid eyes on a crossbill in the mid-1700’s. The bird was collected in the Americas, then shipped abroad for examination. Without observing the crossbill in its natural habitat, Buffon labeled its beak “an error and defect of nature, and a useless deformity.” More than 50 years later, Scottish-American naturalist Alexander Wilson observed a crossbill in the wild and determined that its beak ‘deformity’ was in reality a magnificently adapted tool. The crossbill’s diet consists mainly of the seeds of conifer trees, and it turns out that the bird’s curiously crossed beak is perfectly adapted to prying apart the scales of pinecones to get at the seeds within.

Members of the finch family, these birds are often seen in flocks and occasionally visit backyard feeders. They are easily identified by their unique beaks, which serve as a reminder that the right tool for the right job can sometimes seem a bit unconventional.

For more information and photographs of crossbills, visit our website at www.wildaboututah.org. Thank you to Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic.

For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.
Credits:
Photos: Courtesy & Copyright Paul Higgins(phiggins)www.pbase.com/phiggins
Text:    Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center, logannature.org

Additional Reading:

Benkman, Craig W. 1987. Crossbill Foraging Behavior, Bill Structure, and Patterns of Food Profitability. The Wilson Bulletin 99(3) p. 351-368 https://www.uwyo.edu/benkman/pdfs%20of%20papers/benkman_1987_wilsonbull.pdf

Conniff, Richard. 2011. The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth. W.W. Norton & Company: NY https://www.amazon.com/Species-Seekers-Heroes-Fools-Pursuit/dp/0393341321

Pearson, T. Gilbert (ed.). 1936. Birds of America. Garden City Publishing Company, Inc. Garden City, NY https://www.amazon.com/T-Gilbert-Pearson/dp/1331531268/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_0/144-1525643-4789824

Andrea Explains Fitting the Bill
Andrea Explains Fitting the Bill

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Riparian Zones and a Critter Quiz

Hello, this is Jim Goodwin.

In a minute I’ve got a critter quiz for you, but first, a word about the huge importance of riparian areas in semi-arid Utah, the second driest state in the union. Utah State’s Extension Service calls riparian zones the green ribbon of life alongside a stream. They are shadier, cooler and moister than adjacent environments.

And with a diverse mix of plants and animals, our few riparian corridors are heavily used by wildlife for food, rest and shelter.

Ok, now for our critter quiz.

What is the largest rodent in North America? Here’s a hint: they can be up to four feet long and weigh 40 to 60 pounds.

Did that do it? No? Alright, this clue will: They spend much of their life in water. They have a beautiful brown coat, a broad flat hairless tail and big orange buck teeth that continually grow, which is why they chew and chew and chew.

Click for larger picture, Beaver with branch in water, Courtesy US FWS, Steve Hillebrand, Photographer
Beaver with branch in water
Courtesy US FWS,
Steve Hillebrand, Photographer
Good, you got it . . . it’s the North American beaver. Or as Utah environmental author Chip Ward calls them: the Flat Tail Climate Hero for the restoration of damaged watersheds. Beaver are amazing aquatic engineers, second only to humans in their ability to manipulate their environment.

In our nation’s history, they’ve played a big role in literarily shaping our western landscape.
Joe Wheaton, Utah State wildlife and a beaver expert, rightly calls the work of the beaver “cheap and cheerful restoration” of our heat stressed watersheds.

In the wild, these mostly nocturnal animals, normally live five to ten years.
Fortunately, they are rarely killed for their pelts these days. Beaver are usually monogamous. They will produce up to 10 babies. The young kits will stay home until they are two or so, before they will take off on their own.

Beaver are master aquatic builders. the original geo-engineers. They build dams to flood areas for protection from predators, for access to their food supply, and to provide safe underwater entrances to their dens. Their dams create beautiful riparian habitat for many other animals, birds, fish amphibians, insects and plants. The flooded areas slow the flow of water and sediment downstream and raise the area water table.

Aspen, cottonwood, willow and dogwood are their preferred tree. Those trees regenerate quickly after beaver topple them. When their ponds freeze over, beaver jam smaller branches into the mud at the bottom of their pond for food storage.

Beaver dams can be 5 to 10 feet high and 150 feet across. They are constructed with branches, stones, and plants and plastered together with mud. Over 1200 beaver dams have been counted in northern Utah’s Bear River mountains alone. The World’s largest beaver dam in Canada is 2,789 feet in length. That’s more than 9 football fields.

Yes, sometimes beaver can be a nuisance to human property and activities. Often, learning to live with beaver and the many benefits they can bring, can be a solution. There are simple time-tested ways to prevent flooding. But if nothing works, they can be live trapped and moved to another area. There’s no need to shoot them.

Be a “beaver believer.” Here are some organizations you can check with to learn more:
Utah State wildlife researchers Wally McFarland and Joe Wheaton have created something called the Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool to track beaver dam building activities and their effects throughout the state.
The Bear River Watershed Council in Cache Valley and Mary O’Brien with the Grand Canyon Trust in southern Utah are excellent organizations to contact.

I’m Jim Goodwin for Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Image: Courtesy US FWS, Steve Hillebrand, Photographer
Text:     Jim Goodwin
Additional Reading:

Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool, https://brat.joewheaton.org/

Bear River Watershed Council, (disbanded, formerly at: https://www.brwcouncil.org/)

Grand Canyon Trust, https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/

Beaver Castor canadensis, National Geographic, https://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/beaver/

Big Bend Habitat Restoration Project: A Natural Work of Heart, Open Spaces-A Talk on the Wild Side, US FWS, https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2016/3/25/Big-Bend-Habitat-Restoration-Project-A-Natural-Work-of-Heart [Accessed March 31, 2016]

Beaver Dams Strengthened by Humans Help Fish Rebound
60-Second Science – July 25, 2016 – By Jason G. Goldman02:29 https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/beaver-dams-strengthened-by-humans-help-fish-rebound/ Also available through the podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/60-second-science/id189330872?mt=2

Restoring Degraded Waters, One Pest at a Time, Utah State Magazine, Utah State University, December 7, 2021, https://utahstatemagazine.usu.edu/environment/restoring-degraded-waters-one-nuisance-at-a-time/

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Get Involved With Plans To Manage Yellowstone National Park’s Bison

Yellowstone Bison, Male
Photo Courtesy National Park Service, Neal Herbert, Photographer

Talk about iconic species at Yellowstone National Park and you’ll most likely start with bison. So tightly are these animals tied to the national parks that they’re even on the Interior Department’s emblem.

But Yellowstone bison also are controversial. Many of these shaggy animals head out of the park in winter and roam into Montana. That can be a problem, as some in Montana’s livestock industry fear bison will transmit brucellosis — a disease that can cause cows to abort their fetuses — to their herds.

Since 2000, the Interagency Bison Management Plan has governed how the park’s bison will be managed in and out of the park. Now state and federal agencies with connections to Yellowstone are working to craft a new approach.

Everything likely will be on the table as that effort moves forward, including the park’s work to maintain its bison population at a specific number.

The National Parks Conservation Association along with other regional and national organizations earlier this spring sent a letter to Montana Governor Steve Bullock and Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk outlining important areas of consideration for the development of the new plan.

Those groups hope a solution can be found to killing hundreds of bison that leave the park during the winter months.

Caroline Byrd is executive director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. She says the effort to craft a new management plan “offers the opportunity to improve, update and shift the management of Yellowstone bison and reduce the annual cycle of controversy and conflict that has characterized the public debate regarding bison management for too long.”

A new management plan, she says, should be “rooted in science, reflect the changes that have occurred in the past decade, incorporate our knowledge and experience managing bison, and chart a new course for bison conservation and management that is good for bison, good for Yellowstone National Park, good for the State of Montana…”

You can lend your thoughts to the process, too, as a public comment period on aspects that should be covered in an environmental impact statement are being accepted into June.

To comment, visit Yellowstone National Park’s website (www.nps.gov/yell) click on the “Get Involved” link in the left hand column, and then on the “Planning” link.

For Wild About Utah, this is Jameson Clifton with National Parks Traveler

Yellowstone Bison
Photo Courtesy National Park Service, Neal Herbert, Photographer

Credits:
Image: Courtesy US National Parks Service, Neal Herbert, Photographer
Text:     Jameson Clifton, NationalParksTraveler.com.


Additional Reading:

Bison Gores, Tosses Australian Visitor Several Times At Yellowstone National Park, NationalParksTraveler.com, National Parks Traveler Staff,
Yellowstone bison might look tame as cattle, but an Australian man discovered they are not/NPT file photo A bison whose space was invaded by Yellowstone National Park visitors Tuesday … not released. This is the second bison goring incident this year in Yellowstone. Last month a 16-year-old …

Teenager Posing For Picture Gored By Bison At Yellowstone National Park, NationalParksTraveler.com, National Parks Traveler Staff,
Yellowstone bison might look tame, but they can quickly charge you/Kurt Repanshek A 16-year-old exchange student was recovering Saturday from being gored by a bison at Yellowstone National … A 16-year-old exchange student was recovering Saturday from being gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park. …

Agencies Working To Replace Interagency Bison Management Plan For Yellowstone National Park, NationalParksTraveler.com, National Parks Traveler Staff,
public ideas on how best to manage bison that leave Yellowstone National Park , the first step … the livestock industry in Montana largely opposes Yellowstone bison leaving the park and heading into lower … the park’s work to maintain its bison population at a specific number. A year ago Yellowstone spokesman Al …

Bison Removal In Yellowstone National Park Draws Protests, NationalParksTraveler.com, National Parks Traveler Staff,
Plans by Yellowstone National Park officials to remove roughly 1,000 bison from … and slaughter program, implemented by the National Park Service, is meant to keep the Yellowstone bison … support relocating Yellowstone bison to start herds elsewhere in their state. “(Montana) Governor …