Keep your pants up

The trick for animals to stay cool in very hot weather is to find ways of expelling heat from their bodies. Humans have large areas of skin containing sweat glands. Evaporation of sweat from the skin creates a cooling effect. Dogs have sweat glands on their paws (where there is no fur) but mainly rely on panting to cool down. When a dog pants moisture from the respiratory tract and the tongue evaporate also creating a cooling effect.

Unlike dogs and other mammals, birds do not have sweat glands. Their primary source of cooling is to breathe rapidly evaporating moisture from their throats and respiratory systems. Birds also exchange heat with the environment through patches of bare skin, on the legs and under the wings. The normal hot weather pose I observe in my chooks is panting, having wings held out to facilitate cooling and to be sitting somewhere in the shade.

In the recent spell of very hot weather a trip to the local bush reserve revealed all the native birds doing the same thing – perched in the shade, wings out-stretched and panting rapidly, see pictures.

The downside to this type of cooling is that a lot of moisture is lost from the body by panting. This moisture must be replaced. A good way to attract birds into your garden, particularly in summer, and providing them with a source of rehydration is to place numerous water sources around (in locations where predators can’t get them!)

That way they can keep their pants up and be cool.