joeg170's Journal

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 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.