Return to Home

Waterfowl

__________________________________________________

Many species of waterfowl migrate to the south for the winter and back north again to breed.  The lengths of day and night have long been considered to be the timing mechanisms for these birds with variations from one year to next credited to the weather. We describe them in the off years as being "early or late."  There are two problems with this concept. The first is that the birds seem to be early or late at the same time. The second is that migration ultimately times other important events, such as copulation and the hatching of the eggs.  The weather is too variable for a bird, or any other life form, to rely on.  In Biological Time, the lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens caerulscens) of La Pérouse Bay in Hudson Bay, Northern Manitoba, Canada, are provided as an example of a migrating bird whose major events are precisely coordinated to the phases of the moon.  The hatch times of this bird are consistently around the darker nights of the lunar cycle (see data).  For hatching to have occurred with a precise solar-lunar timing, there must have been other similarly cued events leading up to it, such as migration to the breeding area, nest building and mating.  But more importantly, the finding demonstrates that these animals are never early or late, but just on a different calendar than we time them against.  They are on their Biological Time. 

Other common birds, such as spotted owls (Strix occidentalis Xantus) and ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), are also cited in this work as having solar-lunar rhythms. The former calls more frequently during the darker nights of the moon than the lighter ones and the peak drumming periods of the latter coincides with the Full Moons during the breeding season in April and May. The drumming behavior of this wooded bird is an element of its courtship.  The estimated copulation dates coincide with the latter peak in drumming.  Nez Perce tribal wildlife biologists in Idaho only count these birds during the dark of the moon to ensure that their data is collected under relatively uniform conditions.

Timing the behavior and events of birds by the moon is not a new concept. The calendar of the Cree Indians in Canada is solar-lunar and marks the events of waterfowl and other animals. The Cree are not alone since the Cheyenne, Kiowa, Omaha and Sioux similarly gauge the events of waterfowl by the moon. Ducks and geese are an important source of protein for the Cree and knowing when major events of these birds occur, such as in- and out-migrations and egg laying, is critical. In the past, the Cree didn’t have the luxury of 24-hour fast food restaurants and supermarkets to fill their bellies when the game bags were empty. There is a fine line between survival and starvation in the sub-arctic. They had to know when and where to find their food or they perished. Their very calendar depicts the need to know the patterns of animals to provide food for the nation. You can hear the Biological Time knowledge in the names they gave their months.

Other Indian Tribes in North America, such as the Nez Perce in Idaho and the Thompson from British Columbia, have this knowledge for a wide range of plants and animals in their solar-lunar calendars. They too needed it to survive.

To purchase copies of Biological Time

Return to home page