A Long time Super Hero-the Red Poll
Where were you born?
I know, in a hospital, with the air temperature hovering near 70 degrees Fahrenheit, electricity to light the way for the doctor who delivered you. Not the red poll. Don’t be insulted, I’m comparing your birth (and mine) to a bird’s. Red poll are birds of the high northern latitudes of the earth. Some find adequate habitat in treeless tundra. Are you shivering yet? The average annual temperature of a tundra biome is -18 degrees F.
Now to explain, the red polls does not winter in the tundra. But-every red poll is born in the tundra. And, let me remind you as we continue that another word for this area of the world is arctic.
Nesting temperatures range from 37-50 degrees Fahrenheit during the short summer days. The temperature seldom rises above 50. We think female red polls incubate their 2-7 eggs for just 11 days. It’s cool for baby red polls who are born naked. You might say red polls are acclimated to cold weather-born with it. The entire life of a red poll is spent in cool and severe cold weather. We often think birds and animals migrate to get away from winter. The red poll spends winters in winter. They migrate from the arctic to northern parts of the United States-there winters are long and temperatures often sink below zero. True, red polls are miniature versions of the bird family, but they are not wimpy. Try spending your entire life with the temperature range from 50 to minus 30-with bird feathers to keep you warm.
Another fact supporting the non-wimpy claim is weight. The adult red poll weighs between 3/10 and 7/10-of an OUNCE! This mind-numbing reality must include the fact that in this less than one ounce bird package are found more than 100 feathers, a complete respiratory system: windpipe, trachea, lungs and more. Don’t forget there are also complete circulatory, muscle and skeletal systems in this less than one ounce miracle call red poll. They are non-wimpy lightweights.
All these systems work at temperatures below zero. Not simply for an almost 14-hour winter night, these systems work every winter night, every winter day until spring. At some point in spring the tiny red poll migrates to the Arctic-to mate and build a nest and raise young there. It seems to me the red poll deserves super hero status.
Why red poll? The poll is part of the bird’s head. It is just behind or right between the ears. The top of this little bird’s head, or the poll…is decorated with red feathers. Got it? Red poll.
Amazing nature things intrigue me. The red poll is a fascinating bird. What delight there is in sharing earth with such a creature.
How can such complete strength, power, and perfection exist in the miniature package we call the red poll? The ancient shepherd Job knew. Shepherds knew how nature worked, they spent their lives outside. Job had these words in answer to the question…
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.”
Job 12:7-10
This bird is a female. Male red polls have pinkish feathers on their chest. They don’t mind.