The Beginning of Torpidity?

We find our hero shivering in the cool morning. Fall is in the air as the morning temperature was trying to sneak into the 40's. Joe was on station last night and again or still on station this morning. When I went out to fill the bird feeder there was definitely a chill in the air.

As I ate breakfast I watched the circus begin. First nothing but Joe. Then a couple of who-who birdies. Then a few sparrows. Then a lot of sparrows. Then the quail arrived. The hummers were next. Everyone invited their friends and there were hundreds of birds about the yard. Birds chasing each other. Little squabbles here and there. Some sparrows landed on the pampas grass fronds and the fronds would bend down, some more than others, depending on the size of the frond and the size of the bird. To me the birds were playing teeter-totter. We were only missing a few clowns and elephants to make the circus complete. WOW!!! What a show.

The hummers must be getting ready to go south as they are drinking the sweet juice pretty fast AND there are up to 4 birds drinking at the sweet juice bar at the same time. In the middle of summer only one bird at a time drinks and if another approaches one of them is chased off. Not so during the migration preparation. It's like they have better things to do than fight over who owns the feeder for the next couple of minutes. The hummers were also feeding at the different flowers in the yard. We must have had about a dozen hummers here this morning.

As you might imagine, with all those birds around there has to be a few that don't know about Joe the eating machine. Joe was on station and here comes this little sparrow hopping down to the water. "Ah geez," I say to myself, "already someone is going to get eaten." The bird is no more than 10 inches from Joe. It is on the same rock as Joe! It is drinking water and has it's back to Joe. An invitation for disaster. If ever there was a bird trying to commit suicide this was the one.

Joe just sat there! The bird finished drinking and stood around for 10 seconds or so and then flew off. Joe never moved a muscle.

A little later I saw Joe had pretty much moved out of the water. Her hind legs were still in the water (see the picture). I think she was trying to warm up. Amphibians are what is referred to as "cold blooded." This means their body temperature is close to that of their surroundings. So when it gets cold they slow down. Eventually slowing almost to a stop as torpidity slowly sets in (as explained in my August 30, 2008 post).

Anyway you look at it today was that little birds lucky day. Who knows what may have happened if the temperature was a few degrees warmer this morning. You never know when your number is up.

While I look forward to the changing seasons I'll miss Mother Nature's Show. Of course I'll be looking forward to a new show in the spring. In the mean time I'm watch'n to see what surprises M.N. pulls off in my backyard this season.