Weston, MA; 22 March 2020

This excursion happened on March 22nd, 2020, starting at around 2:15pm, in Weston, MA, near my home. The weather was slightly chilly, probably mid-high 30’s (Farenheit) with a light breeze. It was also very sunny, with very few thin clouds in the sky. There were no other people around while I was out, just some sounds of occasional cars on nearby roads. I was in a wooded area behind my house, which was also adjacent to a few other people’s properties as well. I was walking around this wooded area, but every time I thought I was getting close to the birds I was hearing, I could not see them. They seemed to notice me coming and move away. I was able to get some audio recordings of the birds calling, although I was not completely sure of all of my identifications.
I could only really hear one, maybe two individuals of each species I encountered. Of the birds I heard, it seemed that the individuals were mainly sitting in one area, and not moving around very often, or at all. I believe that the individuals I heard were mostly trying to notify their neighbors of their presence, laying out the land of their home territory. I feel like the various species of birds I encountered were not in the same few trees, or very near those same trees, so I believe that they were trying to tell each other to not come near each other and to find their own territory. They also may have been trying to find and communicate to other individuals of the same species, to see if any other individuals of the same species were around the general vicinity.
Since I did not actually see any of the birds I encountered, I could not see any of their plumages. But of the birds I heard in the area, it appeared that the birds did not move unless they really needed to, i.e. when there was a danger in their vicinity (like me), or if they needed to defend their territories from other birds and species. For example, following the Blue Jay that I encountered, I followed its call to where I heard it, but when I entered its territory and stopped walking to listen, I noticed that it was no longer in its territory, but moved away to where I was not walking from. When I left its territory to find another bird, I listened behind me and noticed that the Blue Jay may have moved back into its original territory after I vacated it.

Posted on March 23, 2020 04:28 PM by bicke1359