Sleeping Birds Remain Alert
Apparently birds have the ability to literally sleep with one eye open to watch for predators.
Researchers recently studied four groups of shorebirds and waterfowl. The scientists found that birds at the edge of the flock experience what’s called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep. Biologists say the birds sleep with one eye open and also with one half of the brain awake. Should they perceive a threat, they are already awake enough to immediately alert the flock of danger. (From June Birder’s World)
* They’re cute but destructive: Richard Vaux passed along a tip for keeping deer from eating the flowers: “Take several whole knapweed plants, crush them slightly and let them soak in a bucket of water in the sun for a couple of days. Then spray the water on your plants.”
Of course, the spraying must be repeated after it rains or the sprinkler has washed the knapweed tea off the plants.
On a side note, knapweed is listed as a noxious weed in the Northwest states so if you have it growing on your property, this is good incentive to pull it up and make use of it.
* Resign yourself: You might as well just go ahead and start naming the black carpenter ants that come and go from your house. They could be around for a while since worker ants can live as long as seven years. (From May Martha Stewart Magazine)
* Check it out: Those who are really serious about their birdwatching might want to look at a new book, “The Bird Almanac: The Ultimate Guide to Essential Facts and Figures of the World’s Birds” by David M. Bird (Firefly Books, $19.95, 512 pages, ISBN: 1-55209-323-9).
The bulk of the book is a world checklist of birds. But the book also includes lists of mascot birds (American goldfinch for Washington, mountain bluebird for Idaho), international birding groups, publications, festivals, tour operators and rare bird sighting hotlines.
* Backyard journal: Wrens don’t sing the pleasing songs of warblers and finches, but, still, it’s charming to have them flit around the yard. A nesting pair crossed the annoyance boundary, though, by building a nest in the dryer vent. With the prospect of a house fire caused by a vent clogged with lint and twigs, these wannabe parents had to be evicted. The male let his thoughts be known, but the pair packed up and moved on.