21.07.2023 - 22:34 / awaytogarden.com

birdnote q&a: your questions answered on what’s ‘home’ to a bird, and how they stay warm

IN 2002, THEN-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of Seattle Audubon Chris Peterson heard a short public-radio show called StarDate. “We could do that with birds,” she said to herself. In 2005 her thought became BirdNote, a two-minute, seven-day-a-week public-radio “interstitial” (as short programs are called) that—like all birds of a different feather always do—caught my ear. More recently, a lot of you commented on one of my bird stories by asking 150-plus questions, and I had an “aha” of my own: I’d ask BirdNote if they’d collaborate on answering them, in words and audio clips. The first in our series tackles the subject: How do birds make themselves at home—even in winter?

Ellen Blackstone of the BirdNote team (who describes her job there as “writes/edits/finds photos/posts to the website/sits in on recordings”—sort of like my job at A Way to Garden) was kind and patient enough to be our teacher. Remember, parts of each answer are in the 2-minute clips you can stream (all in the green links–or you can read the transcripts of each episode at those links if you prefer). Here we go:

nest, versus roost

Q. The topic of where birds prefer to live, and especially the role of the nest in their lifestyles, seemed to provoke my readers’ curiosity—and also probably some misconceptions. What’s “home” to a bird?

A. The great number of migratory species are all away from their nests–some as far as a different continent–during the nonbreeding season. Even among the residents, the majority of birds do not use their nest as a home but only a place to raise their young.

Exceptions would be some hole-nesters that roost in their cavities throughout the year, but they are a real minority. Those might be chickadees or their cousins, the titmice, or perhaps

greening trees Nature bird sh-t Ellen Blackstone