{"id":13819,"date":"2015-03-15T07:00:50","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=13819"},"modified":"2017-12-06T10:51:42","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T15:51:42","slug":"for-sub-arctic-birds-the-north-country-is-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2015\/03\/15\/for-sub-arctic-birds-the-north-country-is-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"For sub-arctic birds, the North Country is Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given the prolonged deep-freeze we\u2019ve been having, it\u2019s hard to believe vacationers are flocking to the North Country for its comparative warmth. When the mercury (or whatever that red stuff is in today\u2019s thermometers) drops down and stays there a while, several arctic and sub-arctic bird species shift farther south to \u201ctropical\u201d climes such as ours.<\/p>\n

\"Gray<\/a>

Gray jay.. Photo: Cephas<\/a>, creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

The first time I saw a gray jay, I thought a blue jay must\u2019ve gone through the wash with a little bleach. Dark gray above with a lighter belly, the bird also known as the camp-robber, Canada jay or whiskey-jack is about the size of a blue jay, but a little more puffy-looking and lacking a head crest. They\u2019re cute as a button, and will eat from your hand if you let them.<\/p>\n

Be careful; gray jays are in the crow family, a clever and highly curious clan. They\u2019ll graduate from eating crumbs out of hand to nicking your sandwich or even flying into the kitchen if the door\u2019s open a bit too long (happened to me). Still, they\u2019re adorable, and I love seeing them.<\/p>\n

Red crossbills aren\u2019t as bold, and since you won\u2019t find them hanging around your compost pile or kitchen door, you\u2019re less likely to encounter them. Native to boreal spruce-fir forests, they specialize in extracting seeds from cones. I\u2019ve seen them on Adirondack roadsides, presumably picking up grit, and once stopped to examine a road-killed specimen.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/a>

Red Crossbill male. Photo: Eugene Beckes<\/a>, creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

If you\u2019re lucky enough to spot a crossbill, you might think it\u2019s in need of an orthodontist. As their name implies, crossbills have a lower beak, or mandible, that crosses to either the right or left (in equal numbers, I\u2019m told) of the upper one. This helps them pry apart the scales of cones to winkle out the seeds that lie between the scales.<\/p>\n

In sub-zero conditions it seems like nothing\u2019s more uncomfortable than cold feet. Two birds of prey that visit us in winter, the snowy owl and the rough-legged hawk, have found a solution. In addition to vacationing here in the \u201cwarm\u201d south, their other secret to surviving winter is to sprout feathers on their toes.<\/p>\n

\"Rough-legged<\/a>

Rough-legged hawk. Photo: Eugene Beckes<\/a>, creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

As you drive along northern NY State\u2019s roads this winter you may notice\u2014in between whiteouts\u2014hawks perched here and there on utility poles or in trees, hunting rodents and rabbits. If you\u2019re lucky you may get to see one hovering or even swooping down on prey. A high percentage of these are rough-legged hawks. (Most red-tail hawks, our most abundant hawk species, go farther south during winter.)<\/p>\n

One of the largest of hawks, rough-leggeds have wingspans of 50 to 60 inches, and are one of only two hawk species to have home-grown down boots. Their plumage pattern varies a lot, but generally their wings are white underneath with some dark areas close to the body and possibly dark wingtips. They have one or two dark bands near the tip of an otherwise white tail.<\/p>\n

\"Snowy<\/a>

Snowy Owl. Photo: Larry Master<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the most picturesque and recognizable winter visitors is the snowy owl. The male is nearly pure white, while the larger female has some brown scalloping on her chest. Like most owls, snowies have feathers right to the ends of their toes. On their native arctic tundra, snowy owls feed mostly on lemmings and small rodents. But because they\u2019re the heaviest owl species, they can take down some good-size prey, including ducks, geese, muskrats and raccoons.<\/p>\n

Maybe we could learn some tricks from these hardy vacationers. Wear down-filled clothing, including boots. Definitely go south for the winter. Mooching food from neighbors is optional.<\/p>\n

Paul Hetzler is a horticulture and natural resources educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Given the prolonged deep-freeze we\u2019ve been having, it\u2019s hard to believe vacationers are flocking to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[72,884,99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13819"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13833,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13819\/revisions\/13833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}