A Difficult Search for Birds

I was only able to find four birds: Black-capped Chickadee, American Crow, a female House Sparrow and a female Downy Woodpecker. I was able to identify a female from a male Downy Woodpecker because the top of the head was black and the male would be black with red.

Along main street, I identified an American Crow. I first noticed the bird taking off and landing on the electrical wires above me. From below, I observed the tail of the bird was triangular shaped, rather than the Common Raven’s diamond-shaped tail. The wingbeats of the American Crow were also more frequent, while a raven would soar more. The wings of the American Crow are elliptical which are used for short bursts of high speed, a fast take off, and tight maneuvering. The first observation I made was the wingbeats of the American Crow were longer compared to the Downy Woodpecker’s short, quick wingbeats.

Then, I spent more time comparing the features of the Downy Woodpecker and the American Crow. For the Downy Woodpecker, the wing flap resembles fluttering and the bird was tucking in its wings against its body. Flying between the fruiting and pine tree, the woodpecker glided down in the air, flapped upwards approximately 3 times, and repeated to glide then flap, which created a wavy-like pattern. This pattern is used almost exclusively by woodpeckers to minimize profile drag, which we learned in one of the lectures. The woodpeckers flight pattern is unique, so it can be easily identified when compared to another bird’s flight pattern like an American Crow.

The habitat niche for a Downy Woodpecker and an American Crow can be similar. You can spot both birds in woods, parks and many other residential areas. The crow tends to thrive around people more than the woodpecker. Unlike the crow, the woodpecker can nest in cavities within a tree in deciduous woodlands.

The habitat influenced bird distribution because I was in an urban area with less habitat for the birds. I did try to go to parts of campus like Redstone, the UVM green and by the green near central campus where there would be more habitat then compared to developed areas around academic buildings. There would have been a larger distribution if I went into the woods where there was more habitat for birds.

I went birding in the morning (9:14am-10:44am) as I thought the birds would be more active then. For the weather, there were clear skies, not a lot of wind, rain or snowfall. There was a blizzard two days before on Friday, February 7th making Burlington very cold (approximately -4 degrees) and covered in snow.

Later in the week, I happened to visit Trinity Campus where I saw approximately 100 crows roosting around sunset. The gathering was near the woods and they either landed in the trees or were flying around calling one another. I noticed there was more habitat nearby than the urban areas on campus. I could go more often around sunset if I wanted to spot more crows roosting and potentially other birds in the area.

I found walking in areas with less habitat, more human disturbances, and during colder weather will not result in many birds. I would have better luck going in the woods during the same time of day, but when the weather is warmer and there is less snow outside.

Posted on February 16, 2020 11:03 PM by arcurley