Field Journal 2
Date - 02/21/2021
Start time - 3:30 pm
End time - 5:00 pm
Location - UVM/Redstone Campus
Weather - Sunny, 27℉, No wind
Habitats - Suburban, temperate climate
The flight pattern of Common Starlings (also known as European Starlings) is an amazing spectacle to watch given how in sync they are in flight and how fluid they appear in the air when they all make the same long sweeping turns. Flying in groups does help increase the aerodynamics of the group and decrease the amount of effort needed to fly, but I’m not entirely sure why this species flies in such a unique way unless it’s their way of hunting or mating. This species seems to always be quickly flapping their wings except for when they are about to turn or are turning in the air, so the long sweeping turns could be a way of allowing their wings to recover for a bit. This is extremely different from the American Crow because when the crows flew over-head their wing strokes were slower and they didn’t glide except for when they were descending.
The overall shape of a bird’s wings matches its flight pattern because as their wings evolved, the birds that had the best flight pattern for their respective wings were likely the ones that survived and taught their offspring to fly. The species with high aspect ratio wings, like gulls, can glide for extended periods of time but they don’t fly very high. These species live on the coasts and tend to glide over water as they look for fish to eat. The species with elliptical wings are constantly flapping but are very maneuverable which is crucial in their habitat because they tend to live in forests where there are a lot of trees to maneuver between. Species with high-speed wings are good for what the name suggests, going fast and maintaining that speed. These birds live in more open areas than species with elliptical wings like plains and marshes or other places where there aren’t many trees to get in the way as they gain speed. Slotted, high lift wings allow the birds to stay high up in the air for a long and glide so they can conserve energy. These birds typically live in trees but are close to an open area like a plain or meadow where they can watch for prey as they soar high in the sky. Not all flight patterns are the same even if they do have the same wing type, and birds usually have unique flight patterns. Even though the flight patterns are a little different, they help narrow down what species of bird it could be by a large amount. For example, on my excursion, I saw a bird that would flap a few times and then dip down before flapping some more, and from this, I inferred it was some type of sparrow but I couldn’t get a good enough look at it to confirm its species.
On my excursion, I didn’t find many birds but I was able to see a decent amount of European Starlings and American Robins. This was probably because I went towards the end of the day when it was getting close to sunset and birds were likely getting ready to go back to their nests to sleep. The weather was perfect, although a bit cold, for birds to be active with no wind and a bright sun in the sky, but birds are more active in the morning when they are first waking up and looking for food after not eating all night. Normally, a college campus would scare off birds due to the amount of people walking around, but on my excursion the campus was empty so there were more birds around I think I would have better luck if I went earlier in the morning and maybe if I went to a more open area like Centennial Park.
