joeg170's Journal

I am back in Rhode Island for the weekend so I decided to take the opportunity to go birding down here. I was hoping I got to catch a glimpse at some species that I haven't seen in Vermont yet.

When I left my house the temperature was 60 degrees. It had been on-and-off raining for a couple hours at this point in the morning so as soon as the rain subsided for a moment, I hurried out the door to try to avoid getting soaked while birding. The sky had 100 percent sky cover and it was fairly windy.

When I got to Tuckertown Park I immediately heard and saw many American Robins on the grass. This is very common for southern Rhode Island. For the rest of my birding excursion I kept hearing and seeing more and more Robins.

After about 20 minutes, I saw a flicker of blue fly through the edge of the woods near where I was sitting. I sat for a few minutes trying to location the perched bird. Eventually I spotted this individual. At first I thought it was a Barn Swallow, but noticing its relatively shorter tail I decided to mark it down as an Eastern Bluebird. While watching it fly from perch to perch alone the edge of the woods, I noticed it was traveling closely to another Eastern Bluebird. I assume this was a mating pair I was observing. Them flying in pairs could be a common mating behavior or possibly a means to more efficiently search for food. I presume that there nest must be close by the edge of the woods where they were flying. Along with simply being a mate, I think that being with another individual increases defense as well. I noticed that they would both jump from one perch and fly to another at the same exact time as well. This could be a type of mating behavior or a means to increases defense.

A half an hour later I observed a pair of Tufted Titmouse flying and feeding on buds in close proximity to each other. In the same general location I saw a small group of European Starlings.

During my "Sound Map" I heard at least 12 different types of calls. I could identify the Robin, Starling, and the Tufted Titmouse, but the vast majority I could not identify.

I spotted so many species that I didn't know during this birding excursion and wasn't able to get pictures of them to look at them closer. I will try to go out tomorrow and identify more.

I departed my house at around noon on the 8th of April. The sky was very gray and it had been raining on and off since the early morning. It was slightly drizzling when I left my house on Colchester Ave. The ground was very saturated with water. I arrived at the entrance of Centennial Woods around 12:20. The trail was very squishy and saturated.

In just a couple minutes I spotted a single Red-winged Blackbird perched in a tree high above the trail. I could identify it because of the red patch on its wing. I tried to snap a picture before it took off, but I was unsuccessful. On the Cornell website later in the afternoon I found a migration range map and discovered that Burlington was on the edge of the Red-winged Blackbird's year-round and breeding ranges. Its year-round range extends from northern Vermont all the way down into Mexico. Its breeding range extends from the northern states of the continental U.S. north through the southern territories of Canada. I speculate that this individual was traveling north for the breeding season. This push north could have been motivated by a number of reasons including temperature changes and competition for resources down south. I assume that species that have a year-round range which extends farther south than Mexico are starting to move north and competing with the Blackbirds.

For the rest of my walk, I failed to find any more migratory species. I spotted an American Robin, a Black-capped Chickadee, a Downy Woodpecker, and an American Crow. For this assignment, I will talk more about the Black-capped Chickadee and its ability to live here year round as opposed to migrating to warmer regions for the winter. I have noticed from my own personal sightings and photos online that the plumage on Chickadees and vary quite a bit. During the winter months, it was pretty clear that Chickadees' plumage is very puffed up to conserve as much body heat as possible to survive the cold months. Another significant thing I noticed about their behavior is that in the winter their diet consists of seeds and berries. These resources are certainly around in the winter so their normal diet isn't altered too much to need to move.

I woke up early this morning and drove over to the Ethan Allen Homestead on the Winooski River near the new north end. The reason I chose to go there again was because the past couple times I have taken walks here, I have been successful in finding plenty of Black-capped Chickadees. The mini-activity this week included Black-capped Chickadees so I wanted to be sure I would find some.

This morning it was about 35 degrees Fahrenheit and overcast. The previous day had gotten to 50 degrees so when I arrived at the homestead and started walking around, I noticed a lot less snow in the field and a very saturated field.

When I first started my walk around 7am, I noticed a small flock of black birds (about 10 individuals) chirping and chatting in a nearby tree. After taking a closer look with my binoculars, I identified these birds as European Starlings. A couple days before this, I noticed these birds out my window as I woke up. They were in a massive flock (maybe 60 individuals) and chirping with a similar call. At first I had trouble identifying these as Starlings from my window because I have only ever seen pictures of these birds. My roommate informed me that they were Starlings and after this I started to recognize their unique call. These birds I saw this morning were making a similar call. They were trilling and chattering in a very high-pitch tone. I guess that this flock is communicating with each other about food because they quickly all fly away to a distant tree.

Last time I was in this location I observed Black-capped Chickadees in the woods about a half mile from the homestead parking lot, so this is where I ventured next. As I entered the woods, I caught a quick glimpse of a Downy Woodpecker before it jumped off the tree trunk it was perched on. I was able to identify it by its small beak size in comparison to its head size.

I continue searching around the forest for Black-capped Chickadees and after a short while I find a group of three bouncing around from tree to tree. I assume these little guys were searching for buds or seeds on these branches. Every time I see a Chickadee early in the day (before noon) they seems do be exhibiting this same behavior of jumping from branch to branch in small groups. I assume that this is a common activity for the early hours of the day for Chickadees.

Comparing the plumage of Downy Woodpecker to the Black-capped Chickadee, the Chickadee is shaped more circular and appears to have a fluffier and pump molt than the Woodpecker. Maybe this is because the Woodpecker has more body mass and therefor needs less feathers to maintain a healthy body heat.

While observing these individuals carry-out their routine morning foraging, i tried to "push" at them. At first I started soft because I was worried about scaring them away. To my disappointment, when I got louder they flew a few trees away from me. I tried again but wasn't able to get any successful results. Later I researching this "fish"ing and found that people have noticed that this attracts Chickadees. I will definitely have to try this again on a future birding excursion and see if I can get successful results. I'm thinking that a reason why this may work is that the "fish" sound sounds pretty similar to a hard wing beat. Maybe the Chickadees are interested in investigating loud wing sounds in search of food.

I left the wooded area around 8:00 and walked back to my car. While walking back to my car, I spotted what I thought was an American Crow fly overhead and captured a pitiful photo of it as it passed. I was wondering if someone could identify it from my terrible photo. It turns out what I saw was a Turkey Vulture. I am assuming that the person that identified it noticed the profile of its outstretched wings how how they angle forward a bit more than a Crow's wings. I'm really surprised and happy that people from the community came forward and helped me identify this individual.

I arrived at the Ethan Allen Homestead Education Center around 7:00am. The night before it snowed 1 or 2 inches and the entire homestead was covered. I started walking on the Homestead Loop and at first followed in the footsteps of the only other visiter in the natural area. It was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit and there was a slight breeze. Even though the sun had risen at about 6:22am, it still seems pretty shaded due to the early morning cloud cover.

After about a quarter mile, I strayed from the person's footsteps I was following and continued my walk through the fresh snow across a field. I walked northeast across the field. About halfway across the field, I heard a call I could identify. I identified the call as a Tufted Titmouse because of its characteristic "peter, peter, peter" call. I also heard a few American Crow "caws" above my head, but wasn't able to spot any. After a few minutes, I was at the other end of the open field and I entered a small forested area. At this time I started to look for fallen snags. I found a couple and investigated closer but was unsuccessful in finding any cavities. I tapped on the snags and found that no critters poked their heads out to investigate.

I had been walking for about 40 minutes at this time and was unsuccessful in spotting anything else and I was feeling quite discouraged. I continued through the woods on the Pond Trail to the Peninsula Loop. I arrived at the peninsula loop and stood for a moment to look through my binoculars across the field to see if I could spot anything. After 10 minutes or so, I started back on the Pond Trail which cut back into the wooded area. After a couple minutes I was halted by the loud drumming of a Pileated Woodpecker. I stood as still as I could and looked into the woods behind me. I quickly spotted the large individual perched on a standing dead tree and observed it for about ten minutes. I was absolutely blown away by the size of this bird. It was very tall, but it also struck me how fat the bird looked. I assume this is a winter plumage which is thicker as to better retain heat in the winter months. The profile was very round and dense-looking. The Woodpecker was drumming on a tree about once every 30 seconds. Then this individual few away and I was unsuccessful in tracking it down.

I continued on the Pond Trail until I spotted a tiny bit of snow fall off a small branch about 5 feet in front of me. On closer examination I observed a tiny Black-capped Chickadee leaping from tiny branch to branch searching for food on each one. I quickly noticed another individual very close to the first one. They seemed to be traveling in close proximity to each other. I speculate that this activity is specific to winter because of the lack of available food. I guess that traveling with another individual makes the search for food in the winter a bit more productive. I also noted that these Chickadees seemed a little more plump than those I have observed in warmer months of the year. After these left my field of view I continued on.

On my walk back I noticed a lot of trilling. I am not sure, but I speculate that these trills could be coming from a Blue Jay. I listened to the Blue Jay calls on the Audubon Application on my phone and it seemed to align with the sound I heard. I didn't include this species in my observation because I wasn't sure that this was the bird I heard.

Overall this early morning birding excursion of quiet eventful. I had never seen a Pileated Woodpecker in action so that was exciting for me. Next time I go out, I want to try to go at a different time in the day so I can compare avian activity to different times of the day.

I left the UVM campus around 4:00pm and drove towards Shelburne Farm. One of my buddies told me that this was a great place to go birding so I had to check it out. I entered the farm on a muddy road and drove for about a mile before I met Shelburne Bay. The temperature was around 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was quite strong; so strong that my hat blew off multiple times. I would soon find out how the wind would affect my first birding excursion. There was about 50 percent cloud cover and the sun was low in the sky. The setting sun cast an orange light on the clouds above and it was stunning.

As I drove up to the water, I noticed that the dirt road I was driving on was surrounded on both sides by and icy watery mix. It was frozen in some places and still liquid in others. The reason why there was water on both sides was because the water from Lake Champlain must have come over the road at one point and flooded a small, football field-sized area. I saw the 5 Mallards in this flooded area. There were 2 males with bright green heads and 3 females which were a more brown/white mix. They were sitting or standing on the ice. I got out of my car and grabbed my binoculars. I sat on the frozen grass for about 20 minutes watching their lack of behavior. They seemed comfortable where they were so I turned my focus to the water. Through my binos I noticed about 10 Gulls. I don't know much about identifying Gulls unfortunately and I couldn't get a picture because of the distance I was from them. They were soaring high above the lake and were barely ever flapping their wings. The the wing ratio on these birds was large, contributing to a great amount of lift. After watching for about 10 minutes, I got back in my car and continued down the road.

After about a quarter mile of driving, I noticed movement in a field about 200 yards from where I was. I pulled over the car and got out. I used my binos to watch as a Red-tailed Hawk flew up to a high branch of a White Pine and perched. I got the chance the observe the Hawk perched for about 10 more minutes. This was a large bird about the size of an eagle. It had a reddish bottom and a brown body. I then got in my car to get a bit closer. As I pulled up to my parking spot, the Red-tailed Hawk took flight. The wingspan of this bird was quite impressive. As it flew, it moved its wings very minimally. I'm not sure if this is just because it was windy or if this is the typical flight pattern of this bird. As the bird got closer I noticed that its primary wing feathers were spread out and each acted as its own air foil. I assume this contributes a lot to the lift these wings create. This must add to its ability to soar with little flapping. Its flight pattern was slow but steady. It barely lost any elevation. It flew about 50 yards above my car and then continued on northeast over a large stand of White Pine. It was here that I lost visual of the bird.

I walked around the farm for another 45 minutes with little luck in finding any other bird species other than the ones mentioned above. I assume this is because the high wind speeds deter other species to be active at this time. Once the sun went down on the horizon i left the farm and drove back to campus. My first birding expedition was exciting despite the lack of diversity observed.