Birds from Mars

Photo © Bartlett Tree Experts

It’s getting chillier everyday as we approach the winter season. Do you ever wonder what birds do to stay warm?

One thing that helps out a lot of birds is their use of a countercurrent heat exchange system. This is a system in their bodies that allows their core to stay warm while letting their extremities take on the burden of being cold. Birds do this using their extremely fast blood flow and their feet.

By flowing their blood quickly through their feet and back to their body, they’re able to maintain a colder foot temperature while regulating their body temperature. By removing the need to warm their feet, birds can save a ton of energy which is often in short supply during the winter.

Birds also often pull one leg up into their feathers to prevent major heat loss while staying stable on one foot. By doing this and occasionally swapping their standing foot they’re able to minimize the amount of heat lost through their feet.

Photo © Lew Harford

Don’t worry, this cardinal isn’t sick, he’s just in the process of molting, a regular and healthy behavior for many birds.

Molting is the process of shedding and replacing their feathers. This can be done for a wide variety of reasons, like getting rid of damaged feathers, replacing their seasonal camouflage, or prepping for upcoming weather conditions.

Molting tends to occur in a gradual pattern, allowing birds to stay flight-ready despite missing some of their ever important flight feathers.

Photo © Vice

Happy 4th of July everyone! Did you know the bald eagle, the symbol of strength and freedom here in the United States, loves to go dumpster diving?

Some locations around the US provide reliable food sources for bald eagles in the unexpected form of landfills, especially for the large populations of bald eagles in Alaska.

While eagles aren’t known for these scavenging habits, they, like many other birds of prey, are in fact opportunistic scavengers. As such, they’re not too picky about eating both live and dead prey.

Photo © citylifetofarmlife

Have you ever seen a chicken seemingly eating small rocks and gravel? Sure enough this normal chicken behavior related to their interesting digestive system.

When a chicken first eats some food, it will move down into their crop. The crop is effectively a food storage pouch for chickens waiting to digest their food. From there it will move to the proventriculus, or their stomach, which will provide digestive fluids much like our own stomachs.

Photo © Nature Picture Library/Getty

Many birds are known for their strange mating rituals, but have you heard of lekking?

A lek is a collection of male birds engaging in competitive displays to try to win the hearts of visiting ladies.

What this ends up looking like is an elaborate dance off for love, with the winner being hand-selected by the lady of his dreams.