Sunday Sunday

I have been reading most of the day. Not the most exciting book but it does keep my interest and I am enjoying it. I want to finish it before I go to Michigan, I am also working on the funeral service for my friend and brother Oliver who died yesterday. It was his wish that I do his service. He was one of my officers in 1980 when I was Master of Arcadia Lodge and a good friend. It will be on Friday morning. These are not something I enjoy doing but because he wanted me to do it I feel honored and will do my best.

I have been thinking the last couple of mornings about birds and what they eat and the fact that they must put small stones or gravel in their gizzards to digest their food. I have no idea why I have awakened the last couple of mornings thinking about this and did some research which you can read here. I did enjoy reading about the birds and also found out that they have a rather interesting lung system.

Birds breathe using a unique system in which air follows a one-way route through the respiratory system. This system is unlike our lungs, in which the air backtracks where it came from. Their system of respiration (breathing) is very efficient - much more efficient than our system.

Birds have two relatively small lungs (where gas exchange occurs), but the lungs are augmented by bellows-like air sacs (where no gas exchange occurs). These air sacs keep the lungs perpetually inflated (even when the bird is exhaling). Our lungs alternately fill and empty out. The bird's respiratory system takes up 20% of a birds's volume (our respiratory system takes up only 5% of our volume).

In the bird's respiratory system, air first flows through air sacs (located even inside their hollow bones) that direct fresh, oxygenated air into the tube-like lungs (parabronchi, where gas exchange occurs) both when the bird inhales and when it exhales.

This system increases birds' respiratory efficiency and gives them enough oxygen for flight. Source.

I got up in the middle of the night and turned on the air conditioner. The house was warm. That enabled me to actually sleep to 8:00 and since the boys went out when I got up at 4:00 AM they slept some more also. I hope you had a nice Sunday. I am still coughing and still sick of it. Thanks for stopping by, Hugs, j-bird