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Birds
Source: Manila Bulletin
Author: None
Date: 2002-04-13
 
Aerospace engineers designed planes like birds, while poets, songwriters, novelists compose songs, write poetry and novels about birds, nature’s earliest tourists, who fly across skies, graced with beauty, form, color, instincts and yes, intelligence.





Maligned people are often insulted when called “bird brained,’’ wrongly implying these fantastic creatures to be stupid. The truth is that studies and astounding data about birds by scientists, show uncanny human behavior and skills in birds. The Int’l Center for Study of Bird Migration at Latrun tracked birds with satellite transmitters fitted to birds, followed by radar, birds on migration routes, with cameras placed in nests, breeding and wintering sites. The Bird Migration Society, gathered data or bird positions around the world, every few hours, with date, time, latitude, longitude and distance of migration noted. The Israel Bird Radar station, which observes them February to June, closely monitored birds in autumn, the season of breeding, when video cameras were placed on nests. When flocks of migrating birds were seen on radars, surveillance of their activities and flight patterns were studied. At bird stations, education, conservation, research and ecotourism are objectives. Of over 9,000 species of birds, many fascinating facts were discovered. Unfortunately, some birds living on small islands have become flightless and when predators come, they fall victims, becoming vulnerable to extinction. The eagle, the more coveted species, can see afar with radar sharp eyes for miles, glide gracefully and swoop down on preys with powerful talons, whose image is carved on many countries’ and US old silver and gold coins, commonly forms part of royalty logos.





The answer to the classic question of which came first, the bird or the egg, may never be known, even as more data are learned about these creatures. The bird eggs vary in sizes from tiny 0.2 grams to about 9 kilos of the extinct elephant bird egg. Like aircrafts, birds fly long distances with great mobility and range, navigate skies without computers or equipment, and at times, female birds dispense from the air fertile eggs when formed, for less baggage weight. Despite fragile exteriors, bird eggs are robust, oval-shaped, as an arched bridge, with egg surface withstanding pressure without breaking, and are critical factors, when one considers weight of a sitting mother bird pressing on it. It takes about 26 lbs. to crack a swan’s egg, and about 120 lbs. to level an ostrich egg. Birds’ nests and skills in building them are interesting in their intricacies of construction and a basic similarity between humans and birds appear in making homes. Male skills in building nest, is important to a female in her choice of a partner, so that a wren in attracting a female, constructs more than one nest with changes of nest designs, to suit female wiles, until she is happy. She has offspring protection in mind, to conceal their young from predators. Nest materials are usually leaves, sticks, moss, lichens, feathers, mud, while the yellow-faced Australian honey-eater bird, filches thick fur off the back of koala bears, to line up a nest. Ovenbirds are fine nest craftsmen, building clay domes to stick nests with tunnel entrances and underground rooms. The female carefully studies design of her nest, and when undesirable to her, the male destroys the nest outright, and builds a new one to please her.





The highest and most extraordinary nest construction in the world was a domed nest 6 ft. high and across, made of reeds, sticks, grass and weighed up to 50 kilos, built on a tree fork, on a cliff, or on ground. In Venezuela, oil birds build nests in the darkness of caves. In Asia, edible nests of Swifts, made entirely from bird’s saliva, is a delicacy and some say an aphrodisiac, cooked into popular delicacies of birds’ nest soup. The hard, basket-shaped cup, built high on top of roofs or caves are made of concentric rings of a protein-rich goo, secreted by a male’s enlarged salivary glands, using his beak to dribble long sticky strands, and a shuttle to weave a cup-shaped bracket onto the cave wall. Other birds do not bother to build nests, but live off other birds’ nests, as the cuckoo bird, which removes an egg from a host nest to place her own, carefully mimicking color and pattern of host eggs, a nature’s mystery, at how all these are done. However, once mother bird sees strange egg, she throws it out. The Honeyguide chick are born vicious, armed with a murderous hook-tipped bill, who attacks and kills the host species and drops its “weapon’’ once the deed is successful. Extended family ties are also evident. In British Colombia, the female Goldeneye geese chases another female off the nest, but takes care of orphaned offsprings. The Australian Magpie geese, headed by a male and 2 egg-laying females, as they ferry their young across the river, snap at crocodiles, who may have baby geese dinner ideas. Herons, kingfishers, egrets, ernes and many long-beaked species are skilled fishermen, gliding on rivers to snatch fish with grace, speed and ease.





Myths exist about birds being more virtuous than humans, as some birds are symbols of class and romance. Courtship, togetherness inspired poets and writers to dwell on and sell such ideas, pointing to the romantic dove displayed on weddings, who waste away or die at the loss of her partner. Well, there are birds who deceive their partners to gain edge over others and ensure that their chicks grow and continue their lineage. Scientists have further attested to bird jealousy, homewrecking and two timing as with the Australian fairy wren, a more promiscuous bird, where both female and males have multiple partners. The Kiwi species in New Zealand, is one of the shiest birds. Geese, ducks, and swans, that inspired the “Swan Lake’’ opera ballet, develop fully with the eggs, and leave their nests only when chicks are ready to fend for themselves. In Argentina, the cuckoo duck, is the most sufficient bird, where the mother drops her eggs in nests, the next day, the hatched young, ups and leaves to fend for itself.





Migrating birds, about 500 million of them flying across skies twice a year, monitored at junctions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, are also nature’s farmers, gardening the earth, as carriers of seeds of tropical flowers, trees and greens. The Falcon, a known hunter, were used as air messengers by royalties and kings, tying secret notes on their legs. The Turkey vulture in Trinidad rainforests, has a keen sense of smell, while pink flamingos live in pastel color contrasts in hot, shallow soda lakes and lagoons of Africa. In cold Antarctic, penguins are deep sea champions, the emperor penguin, the most adapted to the cold than any other animal, are only samples of these wonders. Some birds sing. In fact, humans must compete with the avian choir to be heard when they sing on elevated tree branches for the sound to be carried and to travel by air. Britain’s skylark soars high on open gardens. Best time to hear them is at dawn. Some migratory species have international repertory, nesting in Europe and migrating to Africa to sing in winter. Ravens have calls to each other, singing in duets in dense and green tropical forests. African shrikes are famous for duets. Australian magpies give amazing sonar performances, while many others with their tweeting and chirping, break the morning silence and fill with music quiet jungles and forests.





And smarts? On a university campus in Japan, carrion crows and humans line up patiently, waiting for traffic to stop. At red light, the bird hop in front of cars and drop walnuts they gathered along paths of wheels. After the light turns green again, and cars proceed with traffic, they fly away and let vehicles drive over the nuts. When its time to cross again, they come and pick up the nuts for a hearty meal. If cars miss some nuts, they transfer the nuts on
 

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