juliecal's Journal

For this bird walk I went to Red Rocks Park in South Burlington, VT on March 3rd, 2020. I was there from 4:00-5:30pm. The temperature was around 45 °F and the weather was sunny for the most part but started getting a little cloudy around 5:00. There were a few inches of snow on the ground. The park is a mix of deciduous and coniferous forest with trails running through it. One edge of the park borders Lake Champlain.
I entered the woods on a wide, clear trail surrounded by mostly deciduous but some coniferous trees. The deciduous trees mostly did not have leaves so there was plenty of light. Walking on this trail I heard a Blue Jay call, but didn’t hear or see any other birds. I’m guessing this is because in the winter birds spend more time resting to conserve energy so they can keep their body temperature up, rather than spending energy finding mates and breeding. I started counting snags but didn’t keep this up for the whole walk because there were a lot and it was hard to pay attention to other things while counting every snag. After a while I turned onto a narrower trail, which ran near the road for a while. After it turned away from the road deeper into the woods I heard a Black-capped Chickadee song and a Tufted Titmouse song.
I found a clearing near the lake and spent some time there. I saw six ducks in the water but they were too far away to tell what species. They stayed together and moved slowly. They sometimes went fully underwater for a few seconds at a time, which makes me think they were diving ducks like the Common Goldeneye or the Common Merganser. I also heard two birds calling back and forth from opposite sides of the clearing, which sounded like Red-winged Blackbird songs but I’m not certain. I heard faint gull calls as well. Otherwise, there didn’t seem to be many birds near the lake. Staying deeper in the woods might be a behavioral strategy to stay warm in winter because the lake is colder and windier. I left the lake when a small flock of high schoolers came by playing music from a speaker, presumably scaring off any other creatures.
From the lake, I went back into the woods and walked off the path for a while. I saw three Great Blue Herons flying together in a straight line way above the trees. In an area with relatively small, short deciduous trees, I found a small bird high up in a tree that I am pretty sure was a Downy Woodpecker. It was too far up to see the coloring, so the main things I noticed were that it looked about the size and shape of a sparrow but had a long thin bill, and it made some squeaking noises. It then flew to a larger tree and pecked the trunk a little. I used the Merlin app to see what it might be and the closest match was a Downy Woodpecker, so I looked on the Cornell website later and found that the squeaking sounds matched what the website refers to as the “pik” of a Downy Woodpecker. Hairy Woodpeckers make a similar sound, and I was wondering if it might be that instead because the bill seemed long, but Cornell also said that Downys are often found on small, thin branches while Hairys prefer larger branches. The bird I saw started off on thin branches, and it was definitely small, so I concluded it was a Downy Woodpecker.
Next I entered a part of the woods that was mainly coniferous, which at first seemed denser but then I realized it was just darker because the trees had needles to block the light. While I was noticing how much darker it was, I was spooked- I mean, surprised- when a large bird suddenly flew out of a tree in my peripheral vision. But then I was very excited to see that it was an owl! Based on the size and the mottled brown and white coloring, it was a Barred Owl. The habitat also matched with a Barred Owl’s habitat: a forest with both deciduous and coniferous trees, near water. I wanted to see it better so I tried to approach it very slowly and quietly (which was definitely not effective because I was walking through crunchy snow). I was able to get a little closer, but once I got too near it calmly flew away. I’m sure it knew I was there the whole time (at the risk of too much personification, it definitely looked like it was judging me for thinking I could sneak up on an owl). When it flew away it was silent and mostly glided, not flapping very often. I tried to follow it but it disappeared in the trees. I spent the end of my walk trying to find the owl again and didn’t see any other birds. But I did hear a few more; the ones I could identify were Canada Goose calls coming from the direction of the lake, at least four Black-capped Chickadee calls, and one White-breasted Nuthatch call.
I saw a large number of snags, holes, and cavities during my walk. Some of the cavities in both dead and living trees looked natural, and some looked like they were made or at least widened by birds. I noticed that when there were very round holes that looked like they had been made by birds, there were usually multiple on the same tree. This might be because they are made by the same bird, or by a family group that stays together. Of the cavities I could see into, none had birds in them, and nothing came out whenever I tapped on one with a stick. Maybe there aren’t a lot of birds in cavities during the day. I also looked in the crevices of a large rock wall, thinking those would be good hiding spots for small birds, but didn’t see anything. It is probably too dangerous to be that close to the ground. Tree cavities are most likely used for nesting and hiding from predators. They are probably used mainly by small birds such as chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers. I didn’t see any bird behavior that looked like a winter-specific strategy, but I assume that a lot of birds do hide in tree cavities when they are cold and at night. Additionally, birds can minimize heat loss by reducing blood flow to their legs and by growing more downy insulating feathers in winter.