Bird Behaviour Eh

nature Earl Plato RUDE BIRD BEHAVIOUR - Why? Kevin Cook, a free lance nature writer, gave me some insight as he contended two seasonal events that may help to explain this phenomenon. Firstly, he said that many people report seeing "rude" behaviour among birds during winter months. Moreover, he continues, with the assumption that during winter people expect to see birds at feeders and thus notice bird behaviour more closely. Secondly, seasonal flocking brings birds into proximity where they can act rudely to one another. Cook says that many bird species seasonally exchange their individual lifestyles for collective lifestyles. They flock together during winter even though they spend their spring and summer defending territories against their own kind. How come? Cook says that these behaviours contrast so starkly that one could imagine a great cosmic switch had been thrown somewhere. Switch on and the birds behave independently; switch off and the birds behave collectively. Yes, a cosmic switch does exist and is actually called photoperiodism. The natural process of photoperiodism has been recognized for countless centuries. The Bible talks about "evening being light." On about March 21st we have equal day and night and on about June 21st we have the greatest amount of daylight. Summer has arrived. Daily hours of daylight and darkness vary cyclically, and therefore predictably through a calendar year. With the exception of those species that inhabit caves and the great, dark depths of lakes and seas, earth life responds according to how much sunlight it absorbs.With much exposure to sunlight an organism produces a certain set of hormones in higher quantities, and they dominate corresponding life functions. Make sense? As the supply of sunshine dwindles - Sept. 21st and then Dec. 21st, when the least amount of sunshine in our area is available, the hormonal balance shifts, causing changes in the bird's behaviour. Kevin Cook contends that when you watch a pair of nesting robins chase away other robins, you are actually witnessing a cumulative response to a given supply of solar radiation. This supply steadily increases from the first day of winter. It teaches a critical point near the first day of spring, at which time the robins begin enjoying more hours of daylight time than of darkness. This flips the switch. The increasing sunlight stimulates the production of hormones that ultimately dictate a change in robin behaviour. The robins abandon their winter flocks, establish territories, mate and rear young. Think about it. It makes sense.