Visiting Rhode Island for Eastern Weekend (4/20)

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.

Posted on April 20, 2019 03:50 PM by joeg170