How hot is it? It's so hot that the pesky squirrels have taken a break from trying to get to my bird feeders. So hot that the birds won't sing. So hot that the water in ponds and creeks has heated up and made fish too lazy to bite.
We humans retreat to our air-conditioned homes, offices and malls to cope with scorching heat. But how do wild creatures keep their cool?
A thing to remember is that wild creatures over millenniums have adapted to weather extremes, evolving their own ways of dealing with winter's cold and summer's heat.
When it's hot as blazes, many animals do like we do — simply find a shady spot and stay put during the hottest part of the day. Black bears may look for bogs or other wet spots to wallow around in to stay cool.
Wild creatures eat less and naturally slow down their daily routines during extreme heat. Many songbirds stop calling and foraging for food and retire to thick shrubs and dense tree canopies during the heat of the day.
A lot of creatures, especially snakes and other reptiles, go underground during the hottest hours — into burrows or under big rocks and logs where temperatures may be several degrees cooler than the surface.
Many animals beat the heat by coming out only at night or at dawn and dusk. Several of Georgia's mammals — foxes, skunks, bobcats, white-tailed deer, opossums, coyotes, flying squirrels — already are that way by nature. They are crepuscular, or most active at evening and in the dark.
Some animals have built-in air conditioners — their ears. The ears of deer, rabbits, foxes and other animals are engorged with blood vessels that help radiate heat from their bodies into the air. Bats and some birds, such as vultures and cormorants, employ a similar principle by stretching out their wings to release heat.
In humans, sweating helps cool the body. But many animals cannot sweat or they sweat very little. Instead, they pant, or breathe rapidly like dogs to increase the volume of air moving in and out of their bodies. Birds do something similar — they keep their bills open during hot weather and pant like a dog. A bird may get rid of half its body heat this way. Some birds that are still nesting also may dip their breasts in a stream or birdbath, then sprinkle the water over their eggs or babies to cool them off.
Like us, many animals also "dress" lightly for the hot months. Some birds, such as the American goldfinch, have far fewer feathers this time of year than in winter. Furry animals also have less hair to allow more air to reach the skin.
To help wildlife survive the heat, the most important thing right now is to provide lots of clean water, preferably in a birdbath.
In the sky: The moon will be last quarter July 10, rising about midnight, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Venus and Jupiter are low in the east just before sunrise. Mars is high in the west just after dark and sets in the west before midnight. Saturn is high in the south at dark and sets in the west around midnight.
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