cdenagy's Journal

I went for a bird walk in Topsham, Vt around my house which is in the middle of a forest with new and old growth. It was May 3rd around 11:30 am and around 65 degrees.

I went for a bird walk around the house I was dog sitting in Shelburne, VT on Saturday April 29th around 2pm. It was warm and bright and around 60 degrees. The houses were set back from the road and neighboring large fields behind them. I first could hear a Black-capped Chickadees singing their usual song but could not locate them in the neighboring trees. I then continued my walk around the area to see if I could spot anything else. That is when I noticed two European Starlings walking around and pecking at the ground. I thought it was very interesting to observe two of them together because I can probably conclude that they are a mating pair due to the time of the season. I then concluded that they could be nesting in the shed like structure that was located in the neighboring yard because these birds are cavity nesters. They will line their nest with pine needles, grass, and other materials the can find. They can find this all with in the neighborhood which is a great resource for these local dwellers. This may be different from other species like an American Robin who nest in trees and use twigs, mud, and other other materials to build a nest in the branches. They could gather there materials needed from the ground located close to their nesting site because small twigs and leaves are generally found under trees or bushes.

As I continued my walk I came across an American Robin singing so I stopped to listen to it for about 10 minutes to do the mini activity. The strongest song was the near by Robin and I began to hear other birds that were further away and I could not detect exactly what they were. The robin was standing tall and singing so I am assuming from this behavior that this bird could be potentially attracting a mate. I think if it was defending its territory I would have seen it move around more and sing in different directions to defend its territory. If this specific robin was defending its territory, I would consider it prime territory because it is located by a house with a bird feeder on the porch.

Nearing the end of my walk I noticed House Finches in the bushes along with what looked like a bird of prey flying over head but I could not ID it because it was too bright and I wasn't wearing sunglasses.

I went for a bird walk in centennial woods on Thursday April 17th at 11 am. It was cloudy but bright and 40 degrees.

I went for a walk around campus and the neighboring streets on April 8th around 4 pm. It was cloudy and the temperature was around 35 degrees. It started to snow later into the day. As I began my walk around campus starting from my house, I saw an American Robin which was on walking around on the grass until I was close enough that I scared it away. I then continued my walk up to campus and entered the waterman parking lot on the South Williams Street entrance. Here I saw an American Crow pecking (maybe eating) at a tree and later saw it fly from on tree to another with a small stick it seemed to playing around with. I thought this behavior was very interesting to observe. After a while I decided to move along and my next bird encounter was seeing a flock of European Starlings fly about 200 feet in front of me then quickly disappeared over a rooftop. My next sighting was slightly off main campus on a residential street where I heard then saw multiple House Sparrows in a hedge/bush chirping away. It looked like they were getting ready for the night at this point and gathering in a safe place. They were very interesting to listen too and watch bounce around as soon as I would get too close. I then ended my walk with seeing two Mourning Doves in my backyard along with three Dark-eyed Juncos in a small/medium side tree/bush.

I was surprised I didn't see any spring time migrants on my walk. My next walk I hope to set off in the mourning so that I can catch the birds at a more active time in the day. My one suspicion as to why I haven't seen any spring migrants particularly facultative migrants is because the weather has taken a dip and has snowed later into "spring" than expected. Thus, this could through off or delay these facultative migrants into returning. The birds I did see however were some on the same ones I have been seeing all winter. I believe that these birds have adaptions that allow them to forgo migration. Some of these adaptions might include a wide range of diet that is available in all seasons or perhaps warmer down feathers to add onto the physiological adaptions that allow for birds to keep warm during the winter months. This would probably account for when I did the mini activity I didn't see a migration pattern or line because these birds all have migration maps depicting that they are there all year round.

I decided to go for a bird walk around where I live in Burlington to see what birds are living around me. I wanted to compare and contrast from what I have been seeing in heavily forested habitats to a more urban site. Thus, I went for a walk on March 15th around 4 pm and it was still light out and not too cold. I started my walk at my own house where I saw Dark-eyed Juncos hanging around the large tree in my backyard. They were all perched on separate branches bouncing around. I had a hard time hearing them communicate because they were a good distance up the large tree. From what I observed, there was limited communication between them but I then decided to make the pshh sound to see what they would do. After some time passed, they became more vocal seeming to communicate about me, not to me because they became more activate in a way to investigate.

I then furthered my walk around neighboring streets with little luck except for seeing some European Starlings. They were definitely more social than the Dark-eyed Juncos because their proximity and vocalization were much more prominent. I saw them fly up from a lawn and fly in a group formation which was very interesting to see because of the sophisticated communication that occurs in order to do fly with their particular movements. I then decided to down to church street to see if there were any birds hanging around rooftops and other spots. I came upon Rock Pigeons who were on Church Street high on a rooftop resting. They were close to each other but not touching, I did not hear any vocalizations to indicate any communication in that form but their body language did. It's interesting to notice how some birds will have their own personal space when it comes perching while others don't mind touching.

On my way home I came across a flock of American Crows perched in a tree with some coming and going. There was a lot of vocal communication occurring among all of them, it was quite noisy. They seemed to be taking a break of sorts because the ones in the tree were not pruning, eating, or directing interacting with others. They were stationary yet vocally active. My best guess as to what they were "talking" about, was where they were going to perch for the rest of the night because at this time the sun was about to start setting when I came across them. This made me think about their dark black plumage almost making them look a part of the tree because it was getting darker. This could have been an evolutionary adaptation for camouflage during night time. In contrast, the Dark-eyed junco also had interesting plumage but in a different way. Its light feathered stomach and dark head made it hard for me to locate them in the tree while looking up. Their white stomach looked like the sky while the dark parts looked a part of the tree branches. This makes an excellent evolutionary adaptation because if a predator is looking up into the tree it will have a hard time locating the bird as well as if it was looking down from the sky it would only see dark feathers which will blend into the tree.

On March 6th, I decided to bird watch at my parents house in Topsham, VT. The house is in the middle of the woods far from neighbors and we have a bird feeder set up in a tree roughly 20 feet from the house. I decided to start my walk at 2:00 by sitting on our porch to see what birds will happen to come by the feeder on that sunny afternoon. This is where I saw Red-breasted Nuthatches and White-breasted nuthatches. They were all very actively trying to eat the food that was presented at the feeder. A common action was to fly away to a nearby area and then come back to move another bird out of the way. They were all pretty active climbing up and down the tree pecking away at the bark along with checking out the feeder for food. I then decided to enter the woods because I heard an American Crow. During my walk through the woods, I saw two Downey Woodpeckers (a male and a female), one Hairy Woodpecker, and Black-capped Chickadees. The woodpeckers were active up and down the trees pecking the bark for which I am assuming was for insects.
Some of the evolutionary aspects that I witnessed that keep them alive during winter was the fluffing of the feathers to keep heat in. This behavior allows for the birds to have an insulated layer between them and the cold when they are not actively moving. The Black-capped Chickadees really exemplified this evolutionary behavior when they were perched on a branch. The woodpeckers were also very active searching for food. This behavior aids in survival during the winter because with all their caloric expenditures they need lots of food and can possibly cache their findings when sources are scarce. The White and Red-breasted Nuthatches were also utilizing the abundance of food at the feeder in order to keep their caloric intake high.
From my observations, these birds were budgeting their time to mostly finding/eating food. But, I can conclude that they are balancing this time to sleeping/not actively moving in order to preserve energy during these colder months. In warmer seasons, they wont necessarily have to devote as much time to finding food and preserving energy but rather reproducing which takes up a lot energy and time. Their food sources in warmer times will also be different because insect populations and vegetation are more abundant than in winter. During my walk, I noticed that there were a couple of dead pine trees (snags) with hallow holes in them. I was unable to check to see if anything was living inside because they were to high for me to reach. I did not notice any size of snag and size of hole correlation because there was only two to base my prediction on. However, I can conclude that the Downey and Hairy Woodpeckers may utilize these spaces to overnight in order to have some protection from the elements and keep their body temperature up.

On Thursday February 15th I went on a walk through Centennial Woods at 3:00 pm. The sky was clear, the sun was shining, and it was about 35 degrees. I entered the woods by the commuter parking lot and I immediately heard an American Crow and saw it fly above me. Once deeper within the woods, I heard a woodpecker pecking a tree and spent some time trying to locate it. Once I found it, I tried to identify the species but even with my binoculars it was too far up the tree for me to accurately identify it. I spent some time observing its behavior. It was very quick, calculated, and was moving all over the tree pecking. It used its tail for support and gripped the tree with its toes. Further along on my walk, I noticed another woodpecker and was able to identify it as a female Hairy Woodpecker. I knew it wasn't a Downy Woodpecker because of the comma mark located on the side of its neck, color pattern, and beak to head ratio. I observed its behavior and saw it fly away when I noticed that there was an American Robin perched high up in the trees. It flew from branch to another when another Hairy Woodpecker came and started to peck the bark right next to the robin. I watched this interaction for a while until the American Robin finally flew away. As I was leaving I identified a Common Raven across the parking lot in a tree by its large body and tail feather shape. I quickly ran over to get a better look and watched it flap away. I was expecting to see much more birds on my walk but I think it was the time of day that I went which hindered how many I saw. I think next time, I will go earlier in the morning because they are much more active looking for food at that time.

The Common Raven's flight was powerful and used its large wings to generate enough lift and drag to propel it through the air. Its wing flaps were equally spaced out and it flew in a straight line. The shape of its wings aid in its slow flight style and thus aids in its habitat niche. The raven's physiology allows it to fly longer distances and fly at higher heights to look for food. I can use this to help me identify the Common Raven because it is different from other birds and also during flight you are able to see the fanned tail feathers (not square like the American Crow). The woodpecker on the other hand was very different. The woodpecker doesn't need to fly like the raven because it hops from tree to tree in search of food. The small elliptical shaped wings of the woodpecker aids its slow undulating flight pattern. It also uses its tail feathers to provide support while on the side of trees pecking. This aids in identification because other small birds like have the ability to fly further distances and can fly in undulating patterns.