Field Journal #4: 3/21/2020

The time is roughly 7 am. My original plan was to return to the spot I went for my last journal entry because I wanted to check the snags out again. However, I am going to be watching my neighbor’s bird feeder from my kitchen window for 90 minutes today for my bird “watch” because I am experiencing potential flu like symptoms, and I do not want to get sicker by going outside in the cold or expose anyone else to my sickness. The weather is pretty cloudy today, and the temperature is 37°F right now. It does not appear to be terribly windy, there is only slight movement at the tips of the trees which indicates only a slight breeze. I would definitely classify the habitat I am studying as extreme edge, as it is a large clump of trees (probably no more than 35) with some underbrush, but it is surrounded by houses on three sides and a road on the fourth side. The only trees I can see are coniferous, likely pines judging by the size.
I did not see that many different species at all, I only saw three different species. I saw a massive number of American Crows, two Black-capped chickadees, and one American Robin. I think the reason behind not seeing many different species was because the area I was observing was likely American Crow territory. I was not originally planning to do my field journal observations on Saturday. I actually just woke up to use the bathroom, and when I looked out my kitchen window, I saw a lot of crows. I was able to count about 40 before I lost track, it was really hard to get an exact number because I do not own binoculars and they were moving around a lot. Seeing this as an awesome opportunity to just get an assignment done, I pulled a chair up to my kitchen window and sat down to bird watch for nearly an hour and a half. What I didn’t notice was that gradually, some of the crows were flying away from the area. This happened so gradually, I literally did not notice until around the end of my bird “watch” when I recounted and only could count 15 crows.
I was thinking about why so many crows would be congregated in such an extreme edge habitat with so little available trees. I came up with a few potential explanations for this behavior. The first explanation could be that the crows were trying to mate. This could also explain why certain individuals were gradually leaving the area, they likely were not having success finding a mate. This could also explain why the crows were moving around the trees so much, which made it pretty difficult to get an accurate count. Another potential explanation for this behavior could be that the crows were using a large flock size to defend their territory from potential rivals. I read on the Cornell site that crows will get together in large flocks, especially during daytime, if they need to defend their territory. Maybe this area has always been “crow territory”, and new birds may potentially be trying to move into the area, hence the large flock present to scare any new birds away. The fact that the crows were loudly cawing could also be explained as an attempt to defend their territory from newcomers.
In addition to seeing the ridiculous number of crows that I saw, I also got to see two Black-capped Chickadees performing “stealth missions” to my neighbor’s bird feeder. I saw the Black-capped Chickadees both using the underbrush nearby my neighbor’s bird feeder as cover, I’m assuming to stay hidden from the crows in the trees near the bird feeder. Anyways, I watched one of the chickadees at a time fly up to the bird feeder, get some food, and fly back down to the ground. It almost looked like one was acting as a lookout whereas the other one went and collected seeds. I noticed the chickadees begin to bury some of the seeds they got from the bird feeder, which I thought was kind of dumb. I didn’t understand why they were hiding their food instead of eating it. I decided to look that strange behavior up online, because I wanted an explanation. Apparently, Black-capped Chickadees will cache food in hiding spots for later, especially if danger is nearby to minimize the amount of exposure time to predators and rivals. This behavior helps protect the chickadees from predators and rivals and allows the birds to return to their cache sites during a safer time to feed. Obviously, after I read this information about Black-capped Chickadees I took back the whole “they’re being dumb” thought.
The last species I saw was an American Robin. The American Robin was likely an adult because I recognized the classic feather colors, a greyish back with a red belly. The color of an American Robin’s back is similar to the color of a Black-capped Chickadee’s back. Both birds share this common grey back color likely as an adaptation to help with camouflage, especially during cold months where there are minimal leaves. The grey backs work to blend both the American Robins and the Black-capped Chickadees into their surroundings, such as the bare, greyish tree branches during the colder months. Although both these species share the trait of having a greyish colored back, their bellies are much different. The bellies of Black-capped Chickadees are a very light brown, which probably aids in camouflage efforts. This probably puts Black-capped Chickadees at a higher advantage when it comes to hiding from predators than American Robins. American Robins have very brightly colored bellies, which makes them stand out a lot in my opinion. Although this puts them at a higher risk of predation, the colored bellies of American Robins probably help with mating. My guess is that the more vibrant a robin’s belly is, the more appealing he is as a mate for surrounding females.
Overall, although I did not see that many species and did not get to go outside for an extended amount of time out of fear of getting sicker, I still had fun conducting my bird watch. I got to see a massive flock of crows, which I thought was SO cool to see right outside my kitchen window! I’m from Nashua, NH which is a semi big city for New Hampshire, so I did not see a lot of nature right outside my house growing up the way I see it here in Burlington. I think it is really interesting to see how those crows in the trees right behind my house were so used to living among people that they did not seem bothered at all by being surrounded by three houses with a lot of cars driving on both East Ave and Colchester Ave. Hopefully, I feel better by the next field journal assignment so I can actually go on another real bird walk outside and potentially see a few more species than this time.

Posted on March 24, 2020 07:06 PM by emilyw603