BirdNote Daily

Seabirds have no problem drinking sea water. The salt they take in is absorbed and moves through their blood stream into a pair of salt glands above their eyes. The densely salty fluid is excreted from the nostrils and runs down grooves in the bill. As the drop gets larger, the bird shakes its head to send the salt back to the ocean. A seabird's skull has a pair of grooves for the salt glands right over the eyes.
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In the UK for years, milk came in bottles with foil caps. Great Tits, a common songbird, learned how to peck through the foil. The skill spread. But how? Researchers trained Great Tits in different ways of opening a box and re-released them. Knowledge of how to open the box spread rapidly, with most birds copying the trained bird in their group. In a follow-up study, the researchers made one method of opening the box more effective. Many birds quickly switched to the better method, suggesting the tits can stand up to peer pressure if they see there’s a better way of doing things.
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During migration, Snow Geese gather in the tens of thousands. They coordinate their movements, flying in a big, compact flock, which makes it harder for a predator to pick off a single bird. It is truly something to see.
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Related to shearwaters and petrels, the Northern Fulmar will eat just about anything it finds on the surface of the ocean, from fish and squids to dead whales. While some have snow-white bodies and gray wings, others are dark gray all over. That’s because fulmars are polymorphic, which is to say they come in multiple colors or “morphs”. The difference is genetic and doesn’t depend on age, sex, or season. This color variation may offer behavioral or habitat-based advantages to fulmars and other polymorphic species like Snow Geese, screech-owls, or Red-tailed Hawks.
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Long, upward slopes called escarpments offer a good chance of seeing some of the many raptor species found in Belize. Shaped like a compact Red-tailed Hawk, White Hawks are white overall with black markings and scan the landscape for reptile prey. Bat Falcons have a darkly barred chest and cinnamon belly, and chase down swifts, dragonflies, and the bats that give them their name. Ornate Hawk-Eagles stand over two feet tall and are capable of catching monkeys.
More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.
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