Joann Merritt's Essays

Quantum Leaps Of A Weight Watcher
February, 1992

This narrative carries very little weight, a mere 5 to 6 ounces, but please take time to read and consider these small matters. Bird weights can vary geographically, northern individuals are generally larger and heavier than those from warmer zones. Their weights can also vary seasonally, many birds gain by storing considerable fat before their migration flights and then lose weight during the breeding season and while tending their young. Additionally some small species lose as much as 12% of body weight in cold weather, weighing the most in late afternoon and least in the morning. Any Weight Watcher knows that! John K. Terres in Birds of North America gives a variance for each species, for instance the Brown Creeper weighs from 6.5 to 9.8 grams. I’d like to enumerate our diminutive winter visitors in Midland, using their median weights, while limiting the combined total to no more than six ounces.

Just a bit of imagination is required to quantum leap to a winter forest where woodland birds actively forage among the evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs. This down-sized forest is located in town on Country Club Drive. Here we observe the heavyweights of the flock, a Downy Woodpecker weighing in at a hefty 3/4 to 1 ounce followed closely by the 3/4 ounce White-breasted Nuthatch. We also watch the Carolina Chickadee, Brown Creeper, American Goldfinch, Red-breasted Nuthatch and the Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped and Pine Warblers as they travel up, down, around and through the trees occasionally calling or singing. In the north woods Burr finds a curious Winter Wren who pops up from a woodpile as he and Burr investigate each other.

Next we quantum leap to the marshy Rail Crossing of Monahans Draw to view the Common Yellowthroat and hear the pleasant chattering of the Marsh Wren, then to the Merritts backyard feeding station, aka hub cap, to look at the Pine Siskin. A final royal leap takes us to the hackberry grove at Buchanan Ranch to search for the kinglets. The Golden-crowned Kinglet has l,ll9 contour feathers in addition to numerous downy feathers and yet weighs only 1/6 to 1/4 of an ounce. This should prove the truthfulness of the expression “light as a feather.” After the kinglets weigh in I add them to my list making a total of 15 species, and each bird a fascinating source of entertainment, with a combined weight of approximately six ounces.
C’mon, join the MIDNATS, happiness is only a few ounce away.

WEIGHT WATCHER’S SPECIAL FOR JANUARY -- Namesake of Duchess of Rivoli, the Anna’s Hummingbird, makes guest appearance in Midland.