Bird of the Week – Black-capped Chickadee
Courtesy of the Arctic Tern, we are back to Alaska birds for a while. It’s winter, it’s dark and it’s cold. Only a few hardy birds tough out the Interior Alaska winter.
Black-capped Chickadee at -40 F
Chickadees have number of strategies to allow them to survive a Fairbanks winter. One of those strategies is piloerection, fluffing up their body feathers to increase the amount of insulation. As a result, this little fellow is more than twice his usual size. It’s still not very much; a half an inch instead of a quarter inch. Imagine spending the winter outside, at -40 F, with a half an inch of down insulation and no boots. Astonishing.
For more bird images, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
These are the little birds that yell at me if the feeders are empty :-\
I feed birds on my windowsill. It’s not as cold as Alaska (well, not often), but they need help and I give it to them. Lovely photo, as always, WC. Thanks.
… and no boots. Astonishing.
How do they do it without boots? Countercurrent exchange. Here are a couple of links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countercurrent_exchange http://askanaturalist.com/why-don%E2%80%99t-ducks%E2%80%99-feet-freeze/