Tanya Loos

Nobody enjoys days and nights with extreme wind – buffeting us about and generally contributing to a horrid sense of unease as we shelter in our houses. But what about small birds?

Recently in Daylesford we had at least 24 hours of wind, with gusts in the middle of the night of over 90 km/hr. Valli our poodle cross was terrified and I must admit I did worry about branches or even trees crashing onto the house. My friend Louise was camping at a property out near the SA Vic border and she said she worried all night for the little birds out in such awful conditions.

Most little birds that perch in trees and shrub at night are part of the order Passeriformes or perching birds. The smallest are birds such as the Spotted Pardalote or Weebill, and the largest are ravens and lyrebirds. All of these birds have bodies built for flight – specially shaped wings and breastbones, and their feet and leg anatomy helps too.

WEhen a perching bird squats, the leg tendons, which are located on the rear side of the ankle, automatically cause the toes to grip. (From Wilson, 1980, Scientific American)

When we want to hold on to something tightly, we grip hard with our muscles. When a perching bird such as a fairywren wants to perch on a branch, they curl their toes around the branch, relax their muscles and then the tendon is fully engaged – locked on as it were. This mechanism allows the birds to relax and even sleep without falling off the perch!

I imagine the fairy wrens and robins aren’t getting much shuteye on those windy night but at least their leg anatomy is such that they don’t need to hold on for dear life. I expect that they would select night roosting sites that are deep within bushes, in sheltered gullies or particularly solid trees.

This article is filled with conjecture, because unlike heat waves, bushfires, and to a lesser extent floods and heavy rain, the effects of severe wind on birds hasn’t been studied as much. A browse through the literature reveals a lot of info on the effect of wind speeds on sea bird foraging. For smaller perching birds that eat insects, particularly flying insects, finding food is tough during high winds as the insects are less mobile, and also harder to detect.

So adult birds can hunker down and get through a wind patch, albeit a bit hungry. But where wind become very damaging and deadly is during breeding season. Severe wind blows nests out of trees, and also the young birds. In fact the whole branch or tree that the nest is in can come down, meaning it is not just the nests in foliage that are affected, also the nests tucked into bark and birds in hollows.

If an open type nest comes down at your place, and the parents are still around, you can place the nest ( and nestlings!) in a container and pop it back in a shrub or tree out of harms way. If you type baby bird bucket Australia in your search engine there are plenty of tips.  Always ring your local wildlife rescue or Wildlife Victoria for advice when helping injured or orphaned animals. And here is to less wind as we move into the warmer months!

Tanya Loos is a local naturalist, author and environmental consultant who loves to work in the environmental not-for-profit sector. She is the author of “Daylesford Nature Diary” available from her website or from Paradise Books in Vincent Street, Daylesford.

Have you got any nature questions for Tanya? Send them in!Â