THE WILD SIDE
By Maria de Bruyn
Columnist
Hello, readers! Hopefully, you all will have weathered the icy temperatures, slick roads and frost-covered pathways and streets with no problems this past week. It looks like we’ll have more snow and perhaps ice the coming days, so fingers crossed we all stay safe and warm.
Besides the slightly warming sunshine that made it easier to shovel my driveway a few days ago, another bright spot in my days was the arrival of the migrant purple finches (photo above), who occasionally visit our area in the colder months. The males are quite stunning with their rose and purple hues. The females are not as colorful, characterized by gray-brown and white stripes.
The sunshine has certainly been a boon for the birds, many of whom have been puffing up their feathers to keep warm as described in my previous column. It must be my imagination, but it looked to me as if three of the birds shown above looked rather perturbed with the state of things. Only the beautiful male flicker did not seem too bothered by the cold.
The American crows in particular seem to have trouble getting rid of frost on their feathers as they were bedecked with white spots much longer than the other birds on the day with the most precipitation. The ground feeding birds like the white-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos and Carolina wrens seemed to be having success in still finding some bugs but I also scattered seed on the ground to help them get enough to eat.
The Eastern gray squirrels have also been grateful for the seed strewn on the ground. They still attempt to get up feeder poles to reach the seed and suet feeders, but the poles are too far from jumping off points and the baffles keep them from climbing up the poles. To my surprise, I haven’t seen many Eastern chipmunks lately. They may be using up food stored in their underground burrows. Neighborhood deer often nap and sun in my yard. They’ve browsed much of the remaining vegetation, and I understood how hungry they’ve been when to my surprise I saw them eating bamboo.
Keeping water sources liquid has been a bit challenging at times, since it’s been so very cold. Handwarmers under dishes aren’t doing much and I have no heated bird bath. But pouring boiling water into frozen water dishes has quickly melted ice, at least for a while, and provided the visiting birds with something to drink during the frigid days.
I know that my yard nest boxes have been occupied at night by birds seeking shelter, but I admittedly hadn’t thought about making them cozier for the occupants until I read a remark about it in social media. So, I gathered feathery vegetation to line the nest boxes and to make them cozier and warmer. In addition, after seeing the posting below on social media, I installed a small basket in one of my holly bushes in the hope it will serve some of the chickadees.
The $0 Life Raft. Save a Wren tonight. Voices of the Wild Earth, January 25 at 12:02 PM
We fill feeders to give them calories. But calories are useless if you freeze to death before you can burn them. For the Carolina Wren, a winter storm is a math problem: they lose heat faster than they can make it. Their solution? The “Roosting Pocket.”
1. The Physics of Freezing. Small birds fight a losing battle against the “Surface-to-Volume Ratio.” They have too much skin and not enough mass. On a windy night, a lone wren burns 15% of its body weight just shivering. If the wind hits them, their insulation fails. They don’t wake up.
2. The “Huddle” Strategy Wrens are smart. They survive by stacking. They pack 3, 4, or 5 birds into a tight ball to share body heat. But they need a container to do this. In nature, they look for hollow trees (which are rare in suburbs). Without a cavity, they are exposed.
3. The DIY Pocket You can build a life raft in 2 minutes.
The Object: A small wicker basket, a birdhouse filled with wood shavings, or even an old wool hat.
The Placement: Tack it inside a dense bush (for camouflage).
The Angle: This is critical. Opening must face DOWN and away from the prevailing wind.
Facing down traps the rising heat inside (like a hot air balloon). It prevents snow/sleet from blowing in.
The Result: You create a “dead air” microclimate. Tonight, that old basket might hold a pile of four wrens, sharing warmth and surviving the storm because you gave them a wall to lean on.
Q: Can I use a metal can? R: NO. Metal conducts cold. It will suck the heat out of the birds (heatsink). Use wicker, wood, or wool (natural insulators).
Q: Will they actually use it? R: If placed right, yes. Place it 4-6 feet high, inside a bush (Thuja or Holly is best). It may take them a few weeks to find it, but once they do, they will return every night.
My wishes for all of you in the coming weeks are that you stay warm and dry and that you may be able to provide the creatures where you live with a little extra sustenance and shelter.
Maria de Bruyn participates in nature-oriented citizen science projects and volunteers for the Orange County Senior Center. See more of her photos on Blue Sky (@mdb2024.bsky.social), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bruynmariade/), and in blogs (https://mybeautifulworldblog.com). This contributor can be reached at: Information@TheLocalReporter.press.
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