The Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Gulls are medium-to-large-sized sea birds with long pointed wings, a stout, slightly hooked bill, and webbed feet. They are plentiful in temperate coastal areas and throughout the Great Lakes. Although these gulls habitually may feed from garbage dumps and landfills. But the most take natural prey.

Gulls nest primarily in colonies, although some of the larger species also nest solitarily. Many populations migrate annually between breeding and wintering areas. North American gull species range in size from Bonaparte's gull 33 cm bill tip to tail tip to the great black-backed gull is 76 cm.

The Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) is 64 cm, has the largest range of any North American gull, from Newfoundland south to the Chesapeake Bay along the north Atlantic and west throughout the Great Lakes into Alaska. Along the Pacific coast, the similar-sized western gull (L. occidentalis) is the ecological equivalent of the herring gull.

Both species take primarily natural foods, especially fish, though some individuals of both species forage around fishing operations and landfills. The increase in the number of herring gulls in this century has been attributed to the increasing abundance of year-round food supplies found in landfills.

However, birds specializing in garbage have such low reproductive success that they cannot replace themselves in the population. An alternative explanation of the species' expansion is that cessation of the taking of gulls by the feather industry in the late 1800s. This has allowed gull numbers to return to pre-exploitation levels.

Body Size

Adult females are normally 800 to 1,000 g significantly smaller than males 1,000 to 1,300 g in both the herring gull and the western gull. The chicks grow from their hatching weight of about 60 to 70 g to 800 to 900 g within 30 to 40 days. Once after which time their weight stabilizes. The Adults show seasonal variation in body weight.

Habitat

Nesting colonies of herring gulls along the northeastern coast of the United States are found primarily on sandy or rocky offshore or barrier beach islands. In the Great Lakes, they are found on the more remote, secluded, and protected islands and shorelines of the lakes and their connecting rivers. Smaller colonies or isolated pairs also can be found in coastal marshes.

The peninsulas, or cliffs along seacoasts, lakes, and rivers, and occasionally in inland areas or on buildings or piers. Gulls are the most abundant seabirds offshore from fall through spring. They are only found predominantly inshore during the breeding season in late spring and summer season. Herring Gulls forage predominantly offshore, within 1 to 5 km of the coast. In all seasons the number of birds feeding at sea outnumber those feeding inshore.

Inshore, Herring gulls forage primarily in intertidal zones but also search for food in wet fields, around lakes, bays, and rock jetties, and at landfills in some areas. In Florida, herring gull presence at landfills is restricted to the winter months December through April. They may consist primarily of first-year birds that migrated from more northerly populations (e.g., from the Great Lakes).

Herring Gull Diet

Gulls feed on a variety of foods depending on availability, including fish, squid, crustacea, molluscs, worms, insects, small mammals and birds, duck and gull eggs and chicks, and garbage. Gulls forage on open water by aerial dipping and shallow diving around concentrations of prey.

At sea, such concentrations often are associated with whales or dolphins, other seabirds, or fishing boats. In the Great Lakes, concentrations of species such as alewife occur seasonally when spawning. Gulls also forage by stealing food from other birds and by scavenging around human refuse sites i.e., garbage dumps, fish plants, docks, and seaside parks.

Individual pairs of gulls may specialize predominantly on a single type of food; for example, three quarters of a population of herring gulls in Newfoundland were found to specialize either on blue mussels, garbage, or adults of Leach's storm-petrel, with 60 percent of the specialists concentrating on mussels between 0.5 and 3 cm in length.

Diet choices may change with the age and experience of adult birds as well as with the availability of prey. Females take smaller prey and feed less on garbage than do males). Females to feed more on smelt (100 to 250 mm) and males more on alewife (250 to 300 mm) in the Great Lakes region.

Adult gulls sometimes attack and eat chicks of neighboring gulls or other species of seabird. Juveniles up to 3 years of age forage less efficiently than adults. In the Great Lakes, herring gulls' high consumption of alewife during their spawn may result in high exposures of the gulls to lipophilic contaminants that bio-magnify.

Metabolism

It is estimated an annual energy budget for free-living female herring gulls that breed in the Great Lakes and an annual energy budget for free-living juvenile herring gulls in the Great Lakes in their first year. Between September and March, the non-breeding season, they estimate that adult females require 250 to 260 kcal/day.

Following a dip in energy requirements to 210 kcal/day when the male feeds the female during courtship, the female's needs increase to peak at 280 kcal/day for egg production, then fall to approximately 210 kcal/day during incubation. The energy required to forage for food for the chicks is substantial, rising through July to peak in August at 310 to 320 kcal/day.

However, then declining again until September when feeding chicks has ceased. These estimates compare well with those derived from Nagy's equation to estimate free-living metabolic rates for seabirds. Except that the energy peaks required is to produce eggs and to feed chicks are not included in Nagy's model. The overview of seabird energetic and additional discussion to approaches and models for estimating metabolic rates of free-ranging seabirds.

Molt

Herring Gull chicks are downy gray with dark brown spotting and molt into a dark-gray or brown mottled juvenile plumage. At the end of the first year, portions of the plumage have paled, and by the second year, gray plumage develops along the back and top of wings. By their third year, young gulls resemble dirty adults, and they acquire their full adult plumage by 4 years.

The adult gulls, at least in some populations, begin their primary feather molt during incubation and complete the molt by mid-to-late fall. They molt and replace the large body feathers from mid-summer to early fall.

Migration

Herring gull populations along the northeast coast of North America tend to be migratory, while adult herring gulls of the Great Lakes are year-round residents. Along the western North Atlantic, most herring gulls arrive on their breeding grounds between late February and late April.

They remain until late August or early September when they leave for their wintering grounds along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts or well offshore. Therefore, the adult and older sub-adult herring gulls in the Great Lakes area are essentially non-migratory. Thus, in contrast to other fish-eating birds in the Great Lakes system that migrate south in the winter, herring gulls are exposed to any contaminants that may be in Great Lakes' fish throughout the year.

The post-breeding dispersal away from breeding colonies starts in late July and ends in August, with all ages traveling short distances. Great Lakes herring gulls less than a year old usually migrate to the Gulf or Atlantic coast, traveling along with river systems and the coast.

Herring Gull Nest

Herring Gulls nest primarily in colonies on offshore islands, and nest density is strongly affected by population size. Naturally, males arrive at the breeding grounds first and establish territories. Both sexes build the nest of vegetation on the ground in areas that are sheltered from the wind but may be exposed to the sun. Males feed females for 10 to 15 days prior to the start of egg-laying.

Breeding Activities and Social Organization

From the laying of the first egg until the chicks are 3 to 4 weeks old, one or both parents will always be present. Males perform most territorial defense, females perform most incubation, and both parents feed the chicks until they are at least 6 to 7 weeks old. All gulls are strongly monogamous; pair bonds can persist for 10 or more years and usually only are terminated by the death of a mate or failure to reproduce successfully.

Males may be promiscuous in populations with more females than males. Herring gull colonies often are found in association with colonies of other species, including other gulls. In some nesting colonies, gulls attack chicks of neighboring gulls and other species.

Herring Gull Range

During the breeding season, herring gulls defend a territory of several tens of square meters around the immediate vicinity of the nest. Their daily foraging range depends on the availability of prey and on the foraging strategy, age, and sex of the gull. Also, they are using radio telemetry on gulls in the Great Lakes.

This has demonstrated that some parents with chick’s forage at specific locations within one km of the colony. Whereas other parents make extended flights to destinations across a lake more than 30 km away. Similarly, gulls that feed at sea may range tens of kilometers from their nest whereas gulls from the same colony feeding in the intertidal zone may travel less than one km. Males typically range farther than females and take larger prey items. At sea during the nonbreeding season, gulls may range hundreds of kilometers during a day.

Population density. As described above, population density is determined by available nesting space, size of the breeding population, and quality of habitat. Small islands with good feeding areas nearby can have several hundred nests per hectare. In poor quality habitat, some pairs nest solitarily without another nest for several kilometers.

Herring gulls and western gulls usually do not start breeding until at least four years of age for males and 5 years of age for females. However, in a given year, 15 to 30 percent of adults of breeding age does not breed. Most breeding females produce three-egg clutches, but individuals in poor condition may lay only one or two eggs.

Herring gulls will lay replacement eggs if all or a portion of their original clutch is destroyed. Hatching success appears to be influenced by female diet, with garbage specialists hatching a smaller percentage of eggs than fish or intertidal (mussel) specialists. Predation, often by gulls of the same or other species, also contributes to egg losses.

Many herring gull chicks that hatch die before fledging, most within the first 5 days after hatching. Adult mortality is low (around 10 percent per year), and some birds may live up to 20 years. Subadult birds exhibit higher mortality of 20 to 30 percent per year.

Similar Species

1.     The western gull (Larus occidentalis) (64 cm), found on the Pacific coast of the United States, is the ecological equivalent of the herring gull and is similar in size (53 cm); males range from 1,000 to 1,300 g and females from 800 to 1,000 g.

2.     The glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) is larger (69 cm) than the herring gull and is the predominant gull breeding in the high arctic. Birds from Alaska are slightly smaller than birds from eastern Canada.

3.     The glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) is similar in size to the herring gull (66 cm) and is the primary breeding species north of the Columbia River. This species hybridizes extensively with the herring gull in Alaska.

4.     The California gull (Larus californicus) is smaller (53 cm) than the herring gull. This species breeds primarily in the Great Basin Desert and winters along the Pacific coast.

5.     The great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) is the largest species of gull (76 cm) in North America and breeds from Labrador to Long Island.

6.     The ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) is of average size (45 cm) and is the most common breeding gull in the Great Lakes and northern prairies.

7.     Franklin's gull (Larus pipixcan) is a small (37 cm), a summer resident of the Great Plains.

Read More – The Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina)

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Green Frog (true frog family)

Order Anura, Family Ranidae. These are typical frogs with adults being truly amphibious, living at the edge of water bodies and entering the water to catch prey, flee danger, and spawn. This profile covers medium-sized ranids. Also, all frogs are somewhat poisonous to some degree, but most of them aren't harmful to humans.

Description

The green frog (Rana clamitans) is usually found near shallow freshwater throughout much of eastern North America. Two subspecies are recognized: R. c. clamitans (the bronze frog; ranges from the Carolinas to northern Florida, west to eastern Texas, and north along the Mississippi Valley to the mouth of the Ohio River). However, the R. c. melanota (the green frog; ranges from southeastern Canada to North Carolina, west to Minnesota and Oklahoma but rare in much of Illinois and Indiana, introduced into British Columbia, Washington, and Utah.

Body Size

The green frog is a medium-sized ranid usually between 5.7 and 8.9 cm snout-to-vent length. Its growing period is mainly confined to the period between mid-May and mid-September. But the females are generally larger than males. But the adults typically weigh between 30 and 70 g. The average lifespan of Green Frog is approximately 16 years, fairly long compared with other frogs.

Habitat

Adult green frogs live at the margins of permanent or semi-permanent shallow water, springs, swamps, streams, ponds, and lakes. Green frogs primarily to inhabitant the banks of streams. They also can be found among rotting debris of fallen trees. Juveniles prefer shallower aquatic habitats with denser vegetation than those preferred by adults. Moreover, Green frogs inhabited aquatic habitats about two-thirds of the time and terrestrial habitats the remaining time. The green frog relies on terrestrial habitats for feeding and aquatic habitats for refuge from desiccation, temperature extremes, and enemies. Ponds used by green frogs are usually more permanent than those used by other anuran species.

Food Habits

Adult R. clamitansare terrestrial feeders among shoreline vegetation. They consume insects, worms, small fish, crayfish, other crustaceans, newts, spiders, small frogs, and molluscs. The terrestrial beetles often are their most important food item but noted that any locally abundant insect along the shoreline may be consumed in large numbers. There is a pronounced reduction in food consumption during the breeding period for both males and females. During the breeding season, males spend most of their energy defending breeding territories, and

Green Frog females expend their energy producing eggs. Fat reserves acquired during the rebreeding period compensate for reduced food intake during the breeding period. Also, green frogs consume most of their food in the spring and eat little during the winter. Food eaten in the spring, summer, and fall consists mostly of terrestrial prey.  whereas winter food is composed mostly of aquatic prey.

Juveniles (sexually immature frogs) eat about half the volume of food as do adults over the course of a year. Green frogs eat their cast skins following molting; the casting of skin is frequent during midsummer.

Temperature regulation and daily activities. Green frog's activity period varies by frog size, with larger frogs being primarily nocturnal, small frogs being diurnal, and middle-sized frogs (5 to 7 cm SVL) being equally active during day and night.

Hibernation

Adult green frogs overwinter by hibernating underground or underwater from fall to spring. The frogs hibernating in mud and debris at the bottom of streams approximately 1 m deep. The adults usually hibernate in restricted chambers within rock piles or beneath plant debris, while juveniles are more often found in locations with access to passing prey. The frogs begin emerging when the mean daily temperature is about 4.4C and the maximum temperature is about 15.6C for 3 to 4 days. Juvenile frogs enter and exit hibernation after adult frogs.

Breeding activities and social organization

Green frogs breed from spring through the summer, spawning at night. Female green frogs stay in a nonbreeding habitat until it is time to spawn. In preparation for breeding, males establish territories near the shore that serve as areas for sexual display and as defended oviposition sites. Males establish calling sites within their territories where they attempt to attract females. Females visit male territories to mate and lay their egg masses. The masses are contained in films of jelly and are deposited in emergent, floating, or submerged vegetation; they hatch in about 3 to 6 days. Adults are solitary during non-breeding periods.

In the southern part of their range, green frog tadpoles metamorphose into frogs in the same season in which they hatched, while in the northern part, 1 or 2 years pass before metamorphosis. Tadpoles that hatch from egg masses laid in the spring usually metamorphose that fall, while those hatching from summer-laid eggs typically overwinter as larvae and metamorphose the following spring. 

The most tadpoles are 2.6 to 3.8 cm SVL at the time of transformation. Those that transform in late June or early July grow rapidly, adding 1.4 to 2.0 cm SVL in the first 2 months and 0.4 to 0.7 cm SVL more before hibernation. Tadpoles that transform at approximately 3.1 cm SVL may reach between 5.0 and 5.8 cm SVL before hibernation. Therefore, newly transformed frogs often move from lakes and ponds where they were tadpoles to shallow stream banks, usually during periods of rain.

Home range and resources

The species' home range includes its foraging and refuge areas in and around aquatic environments. During the breeding period, the male's home range also includes its breeding territory. It is roughly 80 percent of adult frogs captured in the spring and again in the fall occupied the same home ranges.

Population density

During the breeding season, green frog densities at breeding ponds can exceed several hundred individuals per hectare. Adult male frogs space their breeding territories about 2 to 3 m apart. The sexual maturity is attained in 1 or 2 years after metamorphosis; individuals may reach maturity at the end of the first year but not attempt to breed until the next year. Most females lay one clutch per year, although some may lay two clutches, about 3 to 4 weeks apart. In natural populations, green frogs can live to approximately 5 years of age.

Similar Species

1.       The river frog (Rana heckscheri) is slightly larger than the green frog (8.0 to 12.0 cm SVL) and is found in swamps from southeast North Carolina to central Florida and southern Mississippi.

2.       The leopard and pickerel frogs (Rana pipiens and its relatives, and Rana palustris) are medium-sized and strongly spotted. There are four leopard frogs whose ranges are mostly exclusive from each other but overlap with the green frog. The pickerel frog has a similar range with gaps in the upper Midwest and the southeast.

3.       The mink frog (Rana septentrionalis) is only slightly smaller (4.0 to 7.0 cm) and is found on the borders of ponds and lakes, especially near waterlilies. It ranges from Minnesota to New York, north to Labrador.

4.       The carpenter frog (Rana virgatipes) is about the same size as the green frog (4.1 to 6.7 cm) and is closely associated with sphagnum bogs and grasslands. It has a coastal plain range from New Jersey to Georgia and Florida. The bullfrog and pig frog are much larger ranid species.

Read More – The Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) / The Himalayan Cutia / The fire-tailed myzornis / Pando – The One Tree Forest / Great Blue Heron
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The Honey Bees are Beneficial

Of the many tiny animals that share the planet earth with us. However, there are only a few insects that people usually accept as beneficial. The most are regarded as disgusting or frightful.  Insects often garner a bad reputation because of their unfamiliar appearance and habits. Honey bees are, maybe the insects with the best public image.

We see them as industrious (busy as a bee) and we appreciate their main product, honey, as setting the standard for all that is ecstatically wonderful and sweet.  Honey is only likely because thousands of bees harvest the nectar from flowers converting the sugary liquid to enjoyable honey.  And honey bees pollinate a vast variety of food crops.

Honey Bees Types?

In general, bees can be separated into two groups, the bees which are naturally social insects, and the ones which are solitary. All bees collect nectar and pollen and make honey, but the solitary bees make only enough honey for themselves and their progeny. Each mated solitary bee makes a nest with approximately ten brood cells.

The social bees, such as the European honeybee, make large stocks of honey, most of which can be removed without damaging the viability of the hive. Solitary bees make their homes in twigs, in the ground, on adobe walls, in mud, in locations where other animals have already made holes, in wood, cardboard, another material.

Most solitary bees overwinter in their nests and re-emerge in the spring when temperatures and other climatic conditions are appropriate for their spring activity. Almost all the genera of solitary bees are beneficial for fruit crops

Why We Love Honey?

Honey is a healthy food as enthusiast sees honey as an alternative to sugar. Many home remedy proponents extol the use of honey as a cure for various ailments.  We even call our loved ones Honey as a term of endearment. The Quran is full of positive references to honey. 

The Bible says (the land of milk and honey) and several ancient and modern works refer to bees and honey. Prehistoric cave drawings show people harvesting honey from wild bee colonies and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics depict early beekeeping activities. With the good and sweet there is a down side people get stung sometimes. Even Winnie the Pooh found that bees could get a little nasty when disturbed.

But, in general, bees and their honey have a long and well-established history of acceptance and respect. In agro forestry techniques such as windbreaks, alley cropping, and riparian buffer strips, tree and shrub species can be selected to favor bee forage. Raising honeybees in forests, windbreaks, tree alleys and riparian buffer strips improves the direct economic return from applying these management techniques.

Honey Bees are Important Pollinators

While honey is nice, the honey bee’s real importance lies in its performance as a pollinator. The value of just the almonds produced in California each year with the help of honey bees is more than twice the value of all the honey produced in the United States in any given year.

The apple and blueberry, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, cranberry and many other crops benefit from bee pollination.  More than 100 agricultural crops in the United States are pollinated by bees.  About a third of the food Americans eat comes directly from the pollination honey bees perform.

Moreover, heritable behavioral polymorphisms of the honey bee, such as pollen-hoarding, can enhance fruit and seed set by a floral host (e.g. cranberry). But only if more favored pollen hosts are absent or infrequent. Then, honey bees' broad polylactic, flight range, and daily idiosyncrasies in floral fidelity will obscure specific pollen-foraging differences at a given floral host, even among paired colonies in a seemingly uniform agricultural setting. It has been estimated that every third bite of food is dependent, directly or indirectly, on the active pollination of a food plant.

The Killer Bees (AHB)

Some of the tales stated about this bee are incredible.  The Africanized honey bee (AHB) or killer bee as it is sometimes called, is said to attack for no good reason. This is a bee that is hard to handle for beekeepers who want to move colonies around to pollinate various crops.  Stories suggest that the AHB often invades the unmanaged colonies of normal bees and takes them over in a sort of insect blitzkrieg.

The AHB or killer bee has been depicted in science fiction movies like “The Swarm,” “The Savage Bees” and in the Fox TV movie “Deadly Invasion.  The Killer Bee Nightmare, “threatening our lives, our property, and our whole way of life. There is no question this bee is more defensive as well as aggressive to protecting its home and beekeepers and others have gotten stung multiple times in accidents.

Irrespective of myths to the contrary, Africanized honey bees do not fly out in angry swarms to arbitrarily attack unsuccessful victims. Monitoring with bees allows us also to evidence the application of molecules, not permitted under certain circumstances or even forbidden.

Honey Bees Poisoning Symptoms

The most shared symptom of bee poisoning is the appearance of excessive numbers of dead bees in front of the hives. Another common symptom is lack of foraging bees. Ferociousness in bees may be caused by most pesticides. Stupefaction, paralysis, and abnormal activities of bees are usually caused by chlorinated hydrocarbons and organ phosphorus insecticides.

Regurgitation of the honey stomach contents is often caused by poisoning with organo phosphorus insecticides. Bees may perform abnormal communication dances on the horizontal landing board at the hive entrance while under the influence of insecticide poisoning. Disorganized behavior patterns may lead to lack of recognition of affected field bees by guard bees.

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How Does Tsunami Formed

The peoples often think How Tsunami Occurs? The tsunami is a series of ocean waves, which carry water to the large, every now and then reaching heights of over 100 feet about 30.5 meters, to the earth. These walls of water can reason widespread destruction when it crashes countries. These gigantic waves generally caused by large underwater earthquake tectonic plate boundaries. When the bottom is flat limit add to or reduce suddenly moves above the water, and that will start the tsunami waves.

Most of the tsunami, 80 % occur in the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a geologically active tectonic movements are regular in volcanoes and earthquakes. Tsunamis can also be reasoned by landslides or underwater volcanic eruptions. They can even be launched, as they were frequently in the ancient past of the Earth, with the result of a huge meteorite plunging into the ocean.

The tsunamis in the race to the sea up to 500 miles about 805 kilometers an hour as fast as a jet.  At that pace, can traverse the whole expanse of the Pacific Ocean, less than a day. And their long wavelengths mean that they lose very petite energy along the way. In the deep ocean, tsunami waves can come into sight only a foot or so high. But the move toward of the coast and enter shallower water, they slow down and start to grow in power and height.

Top of the waves move quicker than their funds do, causing them to rise sharply. Tsunami waves from the bottom, below the top of the lower wave, often arrive at the shore first. When it happens, it generates a vacuum effect that sucks the coastal sea water and exposed to the harbor and the sea floor. This withdrawal of sea water is a significant warning sign of a tsunami wave as crest factor, and the enormous amount of water usually hit the beach five minutes or so. To be familiar with this phenomenon can be lifesaving.

A tsunami usually consists of a series of waves, normally called a wave train, so destructive force may be compounded as consecutive waves reach the shore. People know that a tsunami should keep in mind that the risk is not past the first wave and would need an official notification that it is secure to vulnerable sites. A few tsunamis are not on the coast as gigantic breaking waves, but more like a tidal surge flooding quickly in coastal areas.

The most excellent defense against a tsunami early warning that permits people to seek higher ground. The Tsunami Warning System, a coalition of 26 nations headquartered in Hawaii, maintains a network of tide gauges and seismic equipment to recognize tsunamis at sea similar systems have been projected to protect coastal areas in the world. Read More – Spectacular Golden Chains of Laburnum

The Baya Weaver Bird (Ploceus philippinus)

The variety that builds the more elaborate nest is the Baya (Ploceusp. philippinus). The Baya Weaver Bird is also found all over the subcontinent, Java, and Sumatra. The male resembles the female during the "off" season but after the spring and autumn molts, he assumes canary-colored crown and other yellow patches, well distributed over most of his otherwise brown and white body.

Baya Weaver Bird decoration loses when their is no nesting to occupy his attention. The bird’s flocks are found in scrub, grasslands, cultivated areas, and secondary growth. Also, these birds are best identified for hanging retort-shaped nests woven from leaves.  The Baya Weavers love to live and build in colonies and usually select for the purpose of the neighborhood of a convenient tank or of a terraced rice field.

Being graminivorous animals they find that paddy fields furnish valuable granaries for a food supply. The nests found in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka almost habitually hang from the north and east exposures of the trees. In which they built and thus are least endangered by the battering winds of the Southwest Monsoon.

Though, the much has been written about the amazing nests of Ploceus. They're are several interesting points connected with there construction that have escaped most observers or that do not appear to have impressed writers sufficiently and propose with the aid of a series of photographs taken in situ to point out some of these curious happenings.

While the Tailor Bird does her best to conceal her nest (in which she succeeds an admirably) the Weavers build there homes quite in the open where they can be seen of all men. They're are a number of nests in a colony that had settled in a large tree growing about the center of a Sri Lanka. They came and went as if no human being were near them.

Wherever placed the main objects sought shelter from bad weather and safety from enemies. These provisions are reflected in the suspension of the nests on the sheltered side of a tree on branches detached from other limbs and by the peculiar form and swinging character of the nesting houses.

They're is, however, one precaution always taken the nest hangs free in air and swings from the tree on which it is built in such fashion that it cannot be approached from below or from neighboring branches and when that end is accomplished the birds may suspend there nests from quite low points, often not more then fifteen feet from the ground.

The terminals of palm fronds and other branchlets about twenty feet from the earth, or surface of a pond, our favorite sites. According to some writers, the Weavers, instead of building a new nest once or twice a year, may repair an old one, the chief evidence of which is the color contrast between the nest and the Old grass employed in the process.

Indeed a tree colony of several dozen nests may exhibit at the same time a collection of structures that vary in age from old specimens battered by months of wind and rain to new and fresh nests on which the builders are still working. In some of the latter from one to four white eggs may be hatching; from others issue little chattering cries that betray the presence of hungry fledglings.

The shape of the Ploceine nest has been likened to various objects retorts, inverted bottles, flasks, etc. But to Newton's similitude comes nearest to it.' He compares it to a stocking hung up by the toe, the heel enlarged to receive the eggs, as entrance and exit are made through the leg. The material out of which the nests are made is mostly pliant grass stems and other tough fibers, especially strips of palm fronds.

The bird's strip from the leaves of palms, plantains, agaves, and other stringy plants fine but very strong threads for the weaving process. The bird collects them in this manner. Usually, bird bites a small piece from the base of the palm, sisal, hemp, or another fibrous plant, repeats the incision towards jerks his head away from the leaf, thus tearing off a fine cord, perhaps a line in breadth that corresponding length to the distance between the two incisions.

It examined with a lens this weaving material from many nests and believes the description to be most accurate. Moreover, watched the birds repairing the exterior and arranging the material of there nests and have often seen them tugging at a length of the fiber, part of which has already been woven into the nest. Also seen them flying in the air with the free end of a strand in there bills, so that it might be drawn taut and smooth before inserting it beneath other fibers for the support of the nest wall.

As a preliminary to the construction of the nest proper, the birds wrap a considerable amount of fibrous material around a chosen limb or frond. Often it is as much as three or four feet from the top of the pendant next to the further end of this anchorage, thus securing a firm hold upon the tree. The small strips are not only wound around the branch but are plaited together so securely that it is impossible with an ordinary effort to separate them.

The plaiting is than continuous downwards from the branch to form a stout aerial stalk from 3 or 4 inches to a foot in length. The end of which is evidently expanded into the globular structure of the nest proper. The long diameter of this bulb is from 5 to 6 inches; it's short diameter about four.

Having shaped this upper chamber and located the future egg chain bet, the birds next build a strong, compactly woven transverse band or bridge that divides the lower part of the space into two unequal chambers. In every large colony are found what looks like unfinished nests that do not in the building get farther then this perch or roost stage, looking, like an inverted basket with a handle.

So far as they go, these structures seem strong and well-finished, giving rise to many speculations as to there status. Are they made in an excess of home-building zeal by the male bird upon who's feet and beak time hangs heavily? Or, are they shelters to which he may retreat and rest secure from the torrential Monsoon?

The main argument favoring this hypothesis is of course. The finished appearance in various cases of the canopy itself, it's thick, smoothly plaited walls. Hence, the rounded edges of the perch, and absence of any attempt to completing the base of the globular chambers or the entrances pout. It is suggested that the canopy is a nest deserted after partial construction on account of some fault in it an egg chamber too small, a neck not strong enough, etc.

Whether the canopy is deliberately planned as a shelter for one or both birds, or whether it is only a partially built and deserted nest, their can be no doubt that the non-incubating male has been seen occupying the structure and using it as a perching convenience and their is no doubt that, whatever the original purpose of these structures, the canopy does make an admirable refuge from wind, rain and hot sun.

The illustrations show more plainly then any description of the forms and the relative size of the completed nests and so-called canopies both before and after removal from the tree-colony. One colony, placed in a Halamba tree, furnished four canopies, as well as two full-lengths and one short nest. On the ground beneath the tree were picked up evidently detached by the wind--five full length and two short-tube nests.

In another tree, it can be found seven canopies and five nests. Three egg chambers held a single egg and two had two eggs each. All the canopies had, on or near there margins. Farther the small lumps of dried mud, about which something farther will be said; on the other hand, very few nests showed these deposits. The lowest structure was 12 feet from the ground. The average was 16 feet and the highest about 25 feet.

A small but for many reasons interesting colony had nested in a Damba tree. It numbered two canopies one definitely unfinished nest, one long (with it's entrance tube fifteen inches) and two completed but shorter nests. The long nest contained fledgling’s inches.

The length of the shortest tube was 3 inches; the others varied from 6 to 15 inches.  The circumference of the smallest nest was 14 inches; of the largest 18.50 inches. The longest nest measured, overall, 37 inches; the shortest 17 inches.

As for the four canopies, the total length of the shortest was 12.75 inches; of the longest, 16.50 inches. The height of the chamber varied from 4 to 6.50 inches. Thus the width of the bridge or perch is one half to one inch. The diameters are the two entrances from 2.25 by 3.75 inches to 3.50 by 2.50 Inches.

The circumference of the largest canopy was 20 inches; of the smallest 15 inches. Hence one sees that the nests and canopies vary noticeably in size and capacity. The smaller of the two cavities divided by the transverse roost or perch is the one continued into the long tube-like entrance. As soon as when the egg-chambers finished. Female bird confines her concentration to the completion of the interior of the nest and leaves the work on it's exterior to the male.

They seem to work together, although the male gathers most of the building material which he pushes through the walls. It is than woven back and forth as long as possible that is until thick, tough, solid, basket-like walls are the result. The male bird now completes the entrance-spout strengthens the walls of the upper nest and, in some instances begins a second nest like the structure already mentioned. During the nest building, both birds enjoy them thoroughly.

Also, the male bird often sings a little song when he joins with his mate in weaving the nest material. Even after the eggs have been laid and the female has commenced incubating the male continues to lengthen the entrance tube and to put what he regards as the finishing touches on his house.

Also, it is often seen him diligently pushing fibers into place and pulling them back and forth on the surface of the nest to the accompaniment of a sweet little warble. I have never found a smooth firm margin on the end of any entrance tube; it is always frayed, thin and loosely woven, presenting a decidedly unfinished appearance.

The length of the cylindrical entrance tube--generally two inches in diameter varies greatly, as will be seen in the illustrations. Indeed the longest one I ever saw was in the private aviary of Mr. Shore-Bailey of Westbury, England, who has been very successful in breeding these birds in captivity. One of his nests has the entrance tube more then thirty inches long.

The length, strength, and thickness of the various external components of the Weaver Bird's nest depend largely upon the building capacity of the male bird. As with male humanity, this varies greatly. Long after the female begins to sit he may continue his task of nest building. If he is possessed of the building urge he strengthens the attachment of the structure to the tree above, adding more strands of fiber to and lengthening the rope that is already wound about the branch above.

This suspension cord is also increased in sustaining power by short fibers of palm or agave, plaited with strands already in position; and the walls of the nest chambers themselves are consolidated by similar material worked into there thickness. Meantime the tubular entrance is extended and the upper two-thirds of it farther strengthened.

When the young birds are first hatched they are probably fed by the parents with food brought in by way of the long tube but in some instances, at least, opening remade by the male bird from the outside directly into the egg chamber and the fledglings re-fed through these holes. One of the most fascinating habits of the Baya is the manner in which he enters and leaves the nest. I have watched the process many times and have always gazed in wonderment.

Even the so-called Chimney Swift entering his home may learn something from a bird that, apparently without agitating the shaky structure of his domicile flies up to the narrow chimney-like structure and out again without hesitation. I have seen the male in the midst of a job of repairing the roof suddenly take it into his head to visit his brooding wife. Flying or tumbling down the side of the nest he spread his wings just in time to stop his fall a foot or two below the entrance. Apparently, without effort, he turned in midair and shot, like lightning, into the cylinder above him.

Some do not believe any other bird could have done it. Legge, who has wings at the moment of entering the tube and runs up it to the egg chamber. Be that as it may, Ploceusis secure in his home, for he is certainly the only animal that can fly, crawl, run, or creep up the smooth, fragile, tube that leads to the interior of his nest. The completed nest is a firm springy contrivance and so well woven that when thoroughly dried it is used by the natives for filling mattresses.

Sometimes during nest building, the birds bring in small lumps of wet clay which they stick to a variety of parts of the interior of the nest and it's walls. So, it found curious deposits in varying quantities in almost all the nests examined. One had about a tablespoonful of plastic mud deposited on three diverse localities, including one small patch in the egg chamber. On the other hand, a few had no mud deposits and others had very little. Just what these clay deposits mean is by no means clear.

Indeed none of the numerous explanations is satisfactory, especially reject the generally accepted theory that the mud is employed to balance the nest in the wind, and to prevent it's being blown about while tile birds are entering and leaving it; nor can I adopt Layard's guess that tile birds use the clay as a sort of whetstone on which to sharpen there bills. In the first place, half a tablespoon of dried mud plastered midway of a large and longs winging nest can have no influence whatever upon it's equilibrium in even a mild breeze.

Than again, many nests have no mud in there structure at all. Of course, the natives, as usual, have there interpretation of the phenomenon--the bird uses the clay as a candlestick on which is stuck glowworms to lighten the darkness of the nest! Perhaps I may add another and to my mind more plausible theory-•-the habit is the survival in Ploceus of some ancestor who built his nest partly or entirely of clay.

The black clay deposits in Baya's nest, than serve no useful purpose at all. They are just vestigial remains of a household economy, as the sleeve buttons on one's coat! One is reminded of stone what similar example in the habits of birds completely unrelated to the Weaver. But this genus is in an evolutionary sense flanked on the one hand by genera (Micropus, Taehornisw) hose nest material is partly mucus and partly other material, and on the other by genera who's nests have little or no mucoid matter in there makeup.

However that may be, our Weaver Bird is a highly intelligent animal, and whether one attributes his remarkable house-building to instinct, to reason, or, as is most probable, to a combination of these faculties, he makes a very attractive captive and an engaging presence in an aviary large enough to afford him plenty of room in which to build and breed.

He is, though, impatient of avian relatives, and is very likely to quarrel with other birds placed with him in the same flight. T. B. Fletcher (Birds of an Indian Garden, 1924) tells us that Among the natives of Punjab a popular rhyme contrasts the helpless monkey with the resourceful; house-building Weaver.

In that, the former cannot protect himself from the weather in spite of his human hands and feet. This verse is quoted for the benefit of small boys and girls who object to learn, just as the busy bee is held up for infantile admiration of Western lands." Read More - Red Breasted Robin – Friendly Garden Visitors

[caption id="attachment_28440" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Female P. p. philippinus Male burmanicus showing bright yellow crown Male P. p. philippinus (India) Male philippinus displaying at the nest Nests hanging from palm (Phoenix sp.) fronds White-rumped munia using an abandoned nest

What are Drunken Trees

What are Drunken Trees?

Drunken trees are a stand of trees displaced from their normal vertical alignment. This most commonly occurs in northern subarctic taiga forests of black spruce under which intermittent permafrost or ice wedges have melted, causing trees to tilt at various angles. Some trees survive their soil eroding and continue to grow. Others collapse or drown as the subterranean ice melts. As they are staggered across the landscape, people often refer to them as 'drunken trees.'

Drunken Trees are also called, tilted trees or a drunken forest may also be caused by frost heaving, and subsequent palsa development, hummocks, earth flows, forested active rock glaciers, landslides, or earthquakes. In stands of spruce trees of equal age that germinated in the permafrost active layer after a fire. They tilting begin when the trees are 50 to 100 years old, suggesting that surface heaving from new permafrost aggradation can also create drunken forests.

What is Permafrost?

Permafrost soil or rock remains below 0 °C for at least two consecutive years. It forms a solid matrix in the soil which can spread to a depth of hundreds of meters. Permafrost is permanently frozen ground. Nonetheless, climate change has caused much of that ground to melt at an unprecedented rate. The ground buckles and sinks, causing trees to list at extreme angles. Further, the permafrost prevents trees from developing deep root systems. Also, those areas where the permafrost temperature is close to the melting point of water.

Drunken Trees Relations with Climate Change

The climate variations, or loss of surface vegetation from fire, flooding, construction, or deforestation, can thaw the upper extents of the permafrost. This is creating a thermokarst, “the scientific name for a ground slump caused by melting permafrost”. The thermokarst undermines the shallow root bed of trees, triggering them to lean or fall. Thermokarst lakes are enclosed by a ring of drunken trees leaning toward the lake, which makes this land features simply identifiable. When permafrost melts, it affects a lot of erosion; a lot of trees can't stand up straight. If the erosion gets worse, everything goes with it.

Drunken trees may ultimately die from their displacement, and in ice-rich permafrost. The entire drunken forest ecosystem can be damaged by melting. Drunken trees are not totally new phenomenon dendrochronological evidence can date thermokarst tilting back to at least the 19th century. Permafrost is naturally in disequilibrium with climate, and much of the permafrost that remains is in a relict state. However, the rate of thawing has been increasing, and a great deal of the remaining permafrost is expected to thaw during the 21st century. At times the trees survive the pressure and continue growing, uprighting themselves to vertical. However, on the other side, trees collapsed or drown from rising water tables as subterranean ice melts. Because such trees seem to stagger across the landscape, people often call them "drunken trees."

Moreover, Al Gore cited drunken trees caused by melting permafrost in Alaska. This is as another evidence of global warming, as part of his presentation in the 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth. Alike warming leading to permafrost thawing in neighboring Siberia has been credited to a combination of anthropogenic climate change, a cyclical atmospheric phenomenon known as the Arctic oscillation.

Moreover, the albedo positive feedbacks caused by both when melting ice expose bare ground and ocean which absorb, rather than reflect, solar radiation.  The melting permafrost isn’t just affecting the trees. But it is also having an enormous impact on the people that live and work in the zone. Thus, slumping land cracks pavement breaks pipelines, and causes sinkholes to open, swallowing roads, and buildings. Source: CP

Nature's First Aid Kid

Be it a headache, an injury or a wound, our first instinct is to reach for a painkiller. But did you know that your kitchen holds several remedies to ease and manage pain and discomfort? The next time you need something to make you feel better, try some of nature’s own medication. Put Together a Natural First Aid Kit. Here's what you should keep on hand. 

Aloe Vera

Applying aloe vera on wounds helps them heal faster as glucomannan a compound in aloe vera fights inflammation and helps speed up the growth of healthy new cells.

Apple Cider Vinegar

A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar diluted in water is the ideal remedy for people suffering from heartburn on a regular basis. the mixture, taken at least half an hour before a meal, helps keeps acidity at bay for 24 hours. Apple cider vinegar contains acids like tartaric and malic acid that help breakdown fats and proteins, elements that cause acidity and acid reflux before the food reaches the esophagus.

Blueberries

A cup of blueberries a day helps fight UTIs (Urinary tract infections) or bladder infections as they contain a compound known as tannin that doesn’t let bacteria latch onto the wall of the bladder to cause infections.

Buttered Vegetables

Latest research shows that consuming your veggies with a dash of butter helps absorbs carotenoids better boost your immune system thereby fighting commons colds more effectively.

Cherries

Eating at least 20 cherries daily helps fight chronic pain caused by arthritis, headaches, gout, etc. Cherries contain anthocyanins that help fight inflammation. Research suggests that by eating cherries daily you can cut back on medicines and help ease the pain to a minimum.

Cloves

This is not an old wives tale; cloves or clove ail is known to make toothache disappear for at least two hours. Cloves contain a compound known as eugenol that has powerful anesthetic properties;

Fish Oil

Fish oil contains two essential omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA that help fight inflammation. Research shows that people suffering from chronic pains such as rheumatoid arthritis, sinusitis, joint pain, and swelling were able to reduce their drug intake once they started a regimen of fish oil supplements. Eating fish regularly also helps people with gastrointestinal troubles such as frequent indigestion, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, etc.

Garlic

Garlic oil does wonders for earache as it contains compounds known as allicin that helps fight bacteria, especially in the ear.

Ginger

Ginger helps soothe muscle and joint pains by blocking pain-triggering hormones. Add two teaspoons of ginger to your meals daily for at least two months to reap the benefits of gingerols, the component in ginger that helps block pain.

Honey

If you are suffering from mouth sores, try dabbing the sores with honey; it contains natural compounds that fight inflammation faster than any other medicine for mouth sores.

Lemonade

Two glasses of lemonade a day can help prevent kidney stones. Lemons contain citrate that breaks up calcium in the urine and prevents it from depositing in the kidneys.

Oats

Start your mornings with a bowlful of oats and see your endometrial pain fall sharply within six months. Oats are gluten free, and gluten is the main cause of pain in endometriosis.

Pineapples

Pineapples contain proteolytic enzymes that aid in speedy digestion and break down of proteins. A cup of pineapples daily can cut down bloating and flatulence within 72 hours.

Turmeric

Remember how, when you were a child, your grandma made you drink a glass of milk with turmeric in it whenever you injured yourself? Turmeric contains a compound known as curcumin that blocks pain producing hormones. Latest research shows that people given turmeric in their diet had a drastic fall in pain related to arthritis and fibromyalgia; some studies suggest it may be more effective than ibuprofen.

Vitamin D

Research showed that some people experiencing chronic pain also suffers from low levels of vitamin D and that they experienced a drastic drop in the severity of pain when their vitamin D levels were raised. Sunshine is an excellent source of vitamin D as it helps produce this nutrient naturally walks in the sun is an ideal way to boost your vitamin D.

Walnuts

If you have excessively dry skin, try eating walnuts as they contain powerful omega 3 fatty acids that help nourish the skin.

Yogurt

Eating at least two cups daily can help ease PMS symptoms by almost 50%. Yogurt contains calcium that helps soothe the nervous system even hormonal influx. Source: CP