Some birds sport colorful cummerbunds
It’s a wonderful time of the year to walk alongside a stream, lake or pond. You can venture into those places where you would otherwise be wary of those warm-weather hitchhikers: ticks and chiggers.
The chilly February temperatures are your friend; bloodsucking ticks are not to be found in this winter month.
(Hint! Hint! There is a major romantic holiday coming up in just a couple more days. What better gift than a nature hike with your loved one?)
When you do venture out near either a stream, lake or pond, I’d encourage you to be extra alert for a bird song that sounds like a machine gun’s rattle. It’s nothing of the sort, thank goodness. (One could only hope that your honey-pie would not get strafed by automatic weapon fire; after all, it is a hand-in-hand romantic outing, not a frantic flee for one’s life.) Instead, this distinctive bird call is but a benign clue to aid you in seeking out a bird called a kingfisher.
The bird’s name suggests its diet. The other portion of the name is in reference to the feathers on the top of its head (the “crown”).
Pay close attention to the color of the feathers on this bird’s tummy. Some of them have a belly band of orange-colored feathers; yet others do not. As you might surmise, one is the boy and other is the girl. If we were talking about mallard ducks, the rule that would apply has to do with gaudy male plumage and drab, plain-Jane female plumage.
Please note: This is an article that is focusing on kingfishers, not ducks.
The kingfisher female is all decked out in an orange-colored cummerbund, of a sort; the male kingfisher lacks that feature.
There is a reason for this discrepancy. Female kingfishers incubate their eggs in a darkened chamber at the far end of a long tunnel that they have excavated into a streamside cliff face. The extra color on a female kingfisher does not lure the attention of a nest-preying predator.
On this year’s special romantic holiday, be nature-aware.
Sometimes the girls are all decked out in colorful attire. Sometimes not.
Here’s hoping that the two of you enjoy a happy Valentine’s Day!
— Neil Garrison, NewsOK Contributor Neil Garrison was the longtime naturalist at a central Oklahoma nature center.