Birds and the heat wave
Unprcedented in recorded temperature history, the heat wave with temps above 40C for 5 straight days in the Interior of BC is impacting bird behaviour.
Smaller birds are more active in the first hour of daylight and then are not seen for the rest of the day outside of hedge rows. Sparrows and tanagers in particular do not even show up at the feeder or the fountains after 9:30am . European banded doves have been notably absent for the entire heat wave. Crows and magpies are still being seen at the fountain, with robins out once or twice after dawn in daylight hours.
All birds big and small displaying open beak behaviour whenever perched. Birdbath has not been used once - very unusual.
Honeybees and wasps flying to any water source from the fountains to the pool. Dragonfly observed dying upon landing on the ground in the front yard.
Comments
This raises the question of which birds are capable of cooling down in hot weather by wetting themselves. For most of the bird types you mention, the skin is unlikely to get wet even during bathing in water, and because the water rolls off the feathers as well there is probably no evaporative cooling to speak of when such birds splash themselves at a bird-bath. So the birds visit the fountain to drink but desist from their usual bathing. Your thoughts?
That makes sense to me for sure.
Something to add, we ended up getting some serious fires all through the area and heavy heavy smoke in the 6 weeks following this post. The days when the smoke was really bad (one could not see the sky at all) the only birds in the yard at any time of day were crows, starlings, magpies, collared doves and robins (the last 2 in far fewer numbers than usual). That would go on for days but as soon as there was a day when the smoke cleared the smaller birds would be seen again.
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