Observations by claudia-sacks

A bonus sighting! At the barn on Monday evening, a Sharp-shinned Hawk and a Red-Tailed Hawk spent the night. Both soared the high ceilings of the barn and took refuge on the gates between the pens of cows or on the horizontal siding of the walls. At one point, the Red-tailed Hawk must have ventured a little too close to the Sharp-shinned Hawk and the latter let out several high calls and swerved out of the larger bird’s way. I returned the several days later and they were gone; out of the tall barn doors in which they came. Once again, the barn was loud and full of the sounds of Sparrows, Rock Pigeons, and European Starlings.

On Monday afternoon, it was sunny with little to no cloud cover, about 25 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind from the North about 10-15 mph. I began the walk from the Old North End toward the Intervale and continued on the trails next to the Winooski. On the way down the steep hill into the floodplains, there is a birdfeeder next to a house. There were several species of birds on or near the feeder on my way there including a Downy Woodpecker and two Black-capped Chickadees.

While on the trails, I heard the calls of what I believed to be White-throated Sparrows (but didn’t see them), American Crows, and Black-capped Chickadees. On the trail, I attempted to pish for some Black-capped Chickadees and while some seemed to respond, none came too close. While observing them fluttering between trees’ branches, they would flap their wings, glide for a while, and flap again when they began to drop toward the Earth. This is a consistent habit with their elliptical wing type. Continuing the walk, I watched as an American Crow skirted the edge of a field. The bird’s high lift wings correspond with his or her regular flapping of wings.

Back up to the apartment, I returned to the bird feeder, stopped and watched as a White-Breasted Nuthatch made his or her way to the feeder, snatched a seed, brought it to a nearby snag, and munched away. Two House Sparrows also enjoyed a snack from the feeder at the same time. Nearby, a Downy Woodpecker watched on.