White-tailed jays are corvids—they belong to the same family as our local scrub jays, the Steller's jays that you might see up in the mountains, crows, and ravens. Photo by Tad Motoyama
The New Year opened with the hatching of two baby South American bushmasters. The bushmaster is the largest venomous snake in the New World, and few facilities are breeding these shy animals. When these little snakes are old enough, they will find homes in European zoos. Native to the tropical moist forests of Central and South America, this is the largest venomous snake in the Western hemisphere with some specimens known to reach nine feet in length. Bushmasters are threatened in the wild by habitat loss and fragmentation. The bushmaster genus, Lachesis, is named for one of the three Fates in Greek mythology. Clotho would spin a person’s life line and Lachesis would measure it out. Atropos—namesake of deadly nightshade’s genus (Atropa) and the narcotic atropine, which is derived from it—would cut the thread of life.
Rock doves' wild relatives nest on cliffs, and this is one reason they have adapted so well to city life where our giant concrete "cliffs" provide them perfect homes. They are low maintenance birds that can thrive in a wide range of conditions. More than 150 different domestic varieties have been developed by humans—some for meat, others for show by fanciers, and still others for their remarkable navigational ability. Scientists discovered that pigeons have special adaptations that enable them to navigate by sensing the Earth’s magnetic fields as well as drawing on sounds, smells, and visual cues based on the position of the sun. Pigeons can find their way back to their home roost even if they are released from a distant location blindfolded. Throughout history, humans have made use of this ability. Pigeon racing is a popular sport in many countries and during World Wars I and II, the U.S. Army Signal Corps used pigeons to carry messages. The birds were more difficult to trace than conventional communication lines. One retired Army bird named Levi lived to be 31 years old. Feral pigeons, though, usually live between two and three years.
Pigeons, like flamingos and male emperor penguins, produce "crop milk" to feed their young. It is not truly milk, but rather a secretion from the upper portion of the birds' digestive system. Pigeons and doves are also the only birds that are able to drink water without having to tip their heads backward.
"Crop milk" is a secretion from the upper portion of the digestive system. In this video, you can see how the parent bird regurgitates this nourishing food for the hungry chicks. Video courtesy of Ray Cash