Early Morning Walking Around Ethan Allen Homestead (3/4/19)

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.

Posted on March 4, 2019 03:50 PM by joeg170