what is the condition of the birds in the summer day ?
Answers
Answer:
During the most sweltering summer days or heat waves, birders may worry about how birds will keep cool. Wild birds, however, are well adapted to hot climates, and they have both physical and behavioral characteristics that help them beat the heat.
Explanation:
Birds have a naturally higher body heat than many other creatures. While optimal temperatures vary for different species, the average bird has a body temperature of 105 F (40 C). Furthermore, birds' high metabolic rate and active lifestyle generate even more body heat that must be controlled if the bird is to stay healthy and cool.
How Birds Keep Cool
On hot days, birds have several ways to regulate their body temperatures to keep from overheating. Physically, birds have evolved to adapt to different temperature ranges, and their behavior can also help them keep cool.
Physical Adaptations
While birds do not have sweat glands, physical characteristics that help birds in hot climates keep cool include:
Respiration rate: Birds have rapid respiration rates that allow greater heat dissipation through regular breathing, even without panting or opening their bills.
Bare skin: Bare skin patches on the legs, feet, and face to allow greater heat loss than if every area were covered with feathers. Even small patches such as a fleshy eye ring can help dissipate heat. Some birds can even swell those patches to increase the surface area if they are hotter and need to cool off more quickly.
Bill size: Some tropical birds, most notably toucans, have large bills with a rich blood supply. On a hot day, the birds can increase the blood flow to their bills to help release heat. When the temperature cools, that blood flow slows, and heat is retained within the body instead.
Behavioral Adaptations
How any animal behaves can affect its body heat, and birds have developed several behaviors that can help them keep cool in hot weather,
Seeking shade: More birds can be found in shady areas during the hottest times of the year, particularly near water sources and low to the ground. The more layers of branches and leaves above the ground, the more heat will be absorbed and the cooler the shade will be.
Spreading feathers: When a cool breeze provides some relief from the heat, birds may puff out their feathers or flutter their wings to let the circulating air reach their hot skin. They may also hold their wings away from their bodies to lower their body temperature.
Urohydrosis: Some birds, most notably vultures, will urinate on their bare legs to take advantage of evaporative cooling. The white residue from their urine and feces can also help reflect more sunlight to keep them even cooler.
Helping Wild Birds Keep Cool
While wild birds have many ways to keep cool even on the hottest days, conscientious birders can easily help their backyard flock avoid the heat.
Use birdbaths: Provide a birdbath filled with clean, fresh water for birds to drink and bathe. The depth of the basin should be no more than 1 to 2 inches to accommodate even small bathing birds easily. On the hottest days, this water may evaporate quickly, so check regularly to keep it filled or take steps to keep the basin filled even without monitoring.
Consider misters and drippers: Moving water with audible splashes and visible sparkles will act as a billboard to passing birds that a refreshing drink or bath is available. Some bird species, such as hummingbirds, prefer misters or drippers instead of deeper birdbaths, and providing multiple water sources will ensure all the birds can keep cool.
Create shady landscaping: Plant native trees and shrubs at several levels to provide plentiful, deep shade and shelter from the hot sun. Make your bird-friendly landscaping do double duty by also choosing plants that will provide natural food sources for backyard birds. Avoid pruning trees and bushes in the summer when birds need the cool shelter the most.
Shade accessories: If you provide bird baths and bird feeders in your backyard, try to position each one to be protected from the majority of the midday sun. Even if it makes the accessories less visible from the air, the birds will soon find them and will frequent them much more during the hottest seasons. This will also help keep food fresh and water free of bacteria or algae growth.
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