samharesteig's Journal

Ethan Allen Homestead
Sunday 03/07/2021
10am to 11:30am
Floodplain Habitat. Large open agricultural fields interspersed with sparse riparian woodland. Common tree species include silver maple, eastern cottonwood, American elm and boxelder.
Sunny with some clouds. 20 degrees Fahrenheit. 5mph winds from the north.

One way I noticed birds adapting to winter was through their activity. I watched one Black-capped Chickadee in constant motion for about five minutes. It flitted back and forth from a bush to a picnic bench with some food scraps on it, either moving or eating. Once it finished this routine the Black-capped Chickadee stayed in the bush and fluffed itself up. It looked much larger than it did when it was active. It stayed like that until I moved on. Birds like the Black-capped Chickadee, which stay in Vermont all winter, must spend more of their time resting and staying warm than being active. Based on this one observation, when they are active, they are moving constantly trying to stay warm while looking for food or eating.

Another way that birds adapt to winter is through their nesting habits. The Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Barred Owl and many other birds that stay in Vermont all winter long are cavity nesters. The cavity provides a sheltered area where they can stay warm during cold winter nights. The snag provides insulation and some wind protection. I wonder if some of these cavity nesters huddle in larger cavities together to stay warm through each others body heat. I also wonder if these birds have a way of slowing down metabolic processes in order to conserve energy. During winter, much more time must be spent in the nest, mating, incubating eggs and taking care of young.

Cavities are most often created in snags. This makes snags an important part of a forest ecosystem as it provides habitat for the aforementioned cavity nesters. Some other species of cavity nesters include the White-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker and Common Goldeneye. These species stay in Vermont all winter long and need the cavities to stay warm in the winter. I noticed that larger trees will often have a greater percentage of their area covered by cavities. On the other hand, it seemed that every smaller snag (under ten feet tall) I passed only had one or two cavities in it. I thought this might be because larger snags have a greater diameter and are able to have cavities on either side of it without the cavities reaching the middle and causing the tree to fall down. As snags get a larger diameter their importance to bird habitat must also increase.

I think older forests that are more dense might have more standing snags and thus provide better habitat for cavity nesters. I saw several snags that were being supported by live trees. A denser forest might have more standing snags because the chances of that snag being caught by another tree as it falls would be much higher. A denser forest might also have a root network that is more tightly interwoven, holding onto the dead trees for much longer than a loose root network.

Echo Center. Lake, shoreline and urban habitats. Sporadic urban trees along the shoreline.
3/20/2021
9:30-11am
35degrees Fahrenheit, Sunny & Blue Sky, 5-15mph winds

Unfortunately, I did not get an opportunity to try spishing today. There were very few chickadees or foraging flocks since we were not in a forested area. The one time I saw someone else try spishing it seemed unsuccessful. The Black-capped chickadees, Northern Cardinal and European Starling were uninterested. The birds may not have heard due to the loud noise coming from the wastewater treatment facility nearby.

Spishing seems to resemble the call of the Chickadee. These birds, like the Black-capped Chickadee, stay year round. Other birds might be more likely to be curious about the sound of a bird that stays year round in an area since that bird would have more knowledge on feeding areas or predators. Copying the sound of a "local" bird might increase the chance that other species become interested in the sound you are making and come check you out. Spishing is probably only effective with songbirds or perching birds. It doesn't really sound like other bird calls. For instance lake birds would not be interested because they have nothing to learn from a bird that sounds like a chickadee. If you were able to copy a herring gull noise then maybe lake birds would be interested.

I noticed a male Common Merganser flap its wings, stick its head out of the water and move towards a female merganser. The male seemed to be trying to communicate how good of a mate it would make by showing how healthy it was. This behavior makes sense in terms of birds circannual rhythm since it is becoming the length of day when birds begin to breed. I also saw mallards breeding displays. A male mallard was flapping its wings, trying to get on top of the female mallard. I also noticed several mallards huddled close together with their beaks tucked underneath their feathers. This behavior aligned with their circannual rhythms. During this time of the year birds are spending more time being inactive, staying warm.

In both the Common Merganser and Mallard species the males have bright colors and the females have darker colors like brown. The bright colors of the male indicate to the females that they are a good mate because they can find enough resources to produce expensive structural colors. The dark colors of the females take fewer resources to produce, giving the female more energy for laying eggs and taking care of young. The mottled brown plumage of the females may also help them blend in with their nesting sites.