grace723's Journal

February 5, 2024
Outside in my neighbor’s backyard amidst the white cedar and a large maple tree in downtown Burlington were a large bird of prey (Red-tailed Hawk maybe) and a small cluster of Black-capped Chickadee. For the course of about 15 minutes from 1pm to 1:15pm I watched them fly around. The temperature was in the mid twenties, but the sky was clear and the sun was shining. When the Red-tailed Hawk flew it spread its slotted wings that made its take-off from the branch it was on look easy as it lifted easily onto a rooftop higherup. The Hawk beat its wings slowly in large strokes when it moved, instead of fluttering and flapping its wings quickly. The Black-capped Chickadees had the same slotted feathers making up their wings, but their flying was different. They flitted around in short bursts, darting around so fast it made it difficult to follow just one bird.
The Red-tailed Hawk seemed to be saving its energy for hunting, using its wings as little as possible when moving from one branch to another. Using its wings mainly for lift and to get airborne rather than dart around from branch to branch. On the other hand, the Black-capped Chickadees used their wings often, seeming to keep in constant emotion. I would imagine this is to make themselves a more difficult target for predators, it is much easier to catch something slow moving and easy to see than a darting blur of feathers. Both of these birds were found in a relatively open expanse of anthropogenic land, so I believe that the reason for their differences in how they use their slotted wings is because of where they lie on the food chain and their overall body size.

Date: 2/23/2024
Start time: 3:03 pm
End time: 3:40 pm
Location: Centennial Woods
Weather: Sunny, 48 degrees, 6mph North-eastern winds, some clouds
Habitats: Dense forest, mainly eastern white pine and hemlocks, lots of downed trees and snags.

All the birds I observed during my walk in Centennial woods were songbirds except for the Downy Woodpecker and the American Crow. I only heard the songbirds and could not see them, my assumption for this beyond the fact that the canopy cover was dense is because the birds were attempting to conserve their energy by resting. Considering it was mid-afternoon I imagine they had already spent much of their day finding and eating food, and were beginning to settle down for the evening. In the winter birds need to eat more food to maintain their energy and stay warm, but they cannot eat too much or they risk being unable to fly successfully. Their diets increase slightly since they are using more of their energy to stay warm, but they also fluff their feathers and will sit for longer periods of time with their bills and feet tucked into their body. I noticed this behavior with the Northern Cardinal that was resting on a branch with its feet tucked up and underneath itself. These things combined give the birds a fighting chance at surviving the cold Vermont winter.
It was a relatively warm day for February here in Vermont, so the song birds were a lot more active then they normally would be. However, they were only active in that they were singing and making a lot of calls to each other. The Downy Woodpecker was much more active then the songbirds, it was flying from tree to tree pecking holes and searching for food. There seemed to be a focus on the snag trees, likely because those trees have wood that would be much easier to break apart. These dead trees would also be filled with worms and insects that eat the decomposing bark, so it would be an easy place to hunt down some food.
In the 40 minutes of walking I did I noticed 24 snags most of which had many cavities on it. From my knowledge, these cavities make great homes for nocturnal birds like owls, because it keeps them hidden from any potential predators during the day when they sleep. The area that I found/heard the most birds was an area that had about 5 snags in it. I would imagine that birds seek shelter in the cavities of snags quite often either to sleep, rest, or nest. Similar to the Downy Woodpecker who was utilizing the snag for a quick meal, I would also assume that many birds can find a lot of insects in snags that make for an easy food source which would be crucial in the winter time when other sources of food like berries and nuts are not as readily available.