TUFTED TITMOUSE & BROOD PATCHES I discovered a Tufted Titmouse that had been hit by a car on the road near my house. Unfortunate at any time of the year but especially during breeding season! BROOD PATCH--I used this opportunity for education to show you a brood patch. During nesting season, hormones cause birds to lose their breast/abdomen feathers to reveal a brood patch/bare skin--this skin becomes loose and swollen through water retention and expansion of blood vessels-- which assists in keeping eggs warm during incubation.Transfer of heat is more efficient. CLOACA/VENT-- I also am showing the cloaca-- Birds have only one opening for their digestive, excretory and reproductive systems. This cloaca receives feces from the large intestine, uric acid from the kidneys, and either eggs or sperm from the gonads. These are released to the outside through the vent. Male songbirds develop a cloacal protuberance during the nesting season. This is a swelling of lower portions of the ducts that carry sperm from a males testes to his cloaca. Breeding season is a very energy intensive time of year for the birds-- I believe this is a female Titmouse. There may be a clutch of eggs in a tree cavity nearby that will not hatch now. I am hoping there were no nestlings yet.
Posted on: Sat, 03 May 2014 13:18:21 +0000
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