avi_'s Journal

Date: 03/06/2021
Start Time: 3:00
End Time: 4:30
Location: Elmwood Cemetery
Weather: 23 degrees F, eastern wind of around 8 mph, no precipitation. Partly cloudy day, with some sunshine until ~4:00.
Habitat: Fairly open, with several large and very large trees, and lots of gravestones. There's generally a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees, with perhaps a few more coniferous trees than deciduous. The cemetery is in the old north end, and so there's a fair bit of traffic on the North St side of the cemetery, but it gets quieter the further down Elmwood Ave you go.

There was a murder of at least 40 crows perching in some of the bare deciduous trees and more on the ground. Crowding together on the branches could definitely be helping the crows to maintain some body heat. The crows on the ground were using their sturdy beaks to try to break up the ice on the ground that covered seeds and other food scraps. One crow succeeded in this, and then that opening in the ice got bigger very quickly as other crows came by to peck and try to eat some seeds.
This also happened in the parking lot nearby, but the crow looked to be pecking through the ice in order to reach frozen bread--it looked like a McDonald's burger bun that someone dropped before it froze to the ground.
I didn't see any dead snags in the cemetery, but that makes sense as its a semi-cultivated space. I did notice that some crows were relaxing of a sorts in the sun--they had their wings a little stretched out, and maybe were capturing heat with the black of their feathers. Some crows were also tucking their feet up under themselves, so you couldn't see their toes. I think that's probably also to help with heat, protecting their feet with the warm downy feathers on their belly.

Start time: 4:30 pm
End time: 6:00 pm
Date: 03/23/2021
Location: Winooski River Walk and Casavant Nature Area
Weather: started off at almost 70 degrees F, around 68--dropped to mid/low 60s by 6 pm. The northeasterly wind was mild, blowing no more than 10 mph.
Habitat: Wooded area along Winooski river: the woods are primarily deciduous trees, with a few small stands of coniferous trees. There was a lot of forest debris like fallen snags, stumps, dead leaves, and branches. In addition to the wooded area, there were a few open-air fields in woods--one was a regular field, grassy and such, but the other was more of a marsh--offshoots from the river feed into this cattail marsh. There's a lot of still water at the edge of the marsh, between it and the river, and there was still some residual ice at the edges as well.

In general, there was a lot of activity and a lot of birds up until around 5:30, and when it started getting colder and darker there was far less birdsong and it was much harder to find any birds. I first saw a few (8) American Robins in the grassy field and at the wood's edge--it seemed like the birdsong was louder at the borders between different areas, like the marsh/woods or the field/woods or even the river's edge. The robins were foraging, and it seemed like they almost took turns pecking and standing upright. The individual I was watching would hop and step lightly on the dry leaves, then jab their head into the leaves violently and pull back just as quick. Then they hopped onward and repeated. The robins weren't chirping, but were steading making their way along the edge of the forest and meadow. They were specifically interacting with eachother, because when a few of them would be pecking the grass or the leaves, at least one would have it's head up high--probably looking for predators. I think that's why they peck so quickly when they stuck their face under a leaf, because their vision was obscured for a moment. With regards to their circadian/circannual rhythms, it makes sense that they were foraging at dusk, to get some fuel for the cold night and because we're coming up on breeding season, an energetically expensive activity, it also tracks that they would need to forage frequently to prepare.

I also saw a Hairy Woodpecker sitting on a fallen log, poking at the rotten wood before it flew up to a snag. Unfortunately, it flew away chattering when a robin landed at the base of the tree. Four of the five Black-capped Chickadees I saw were all hanging out on a few small branches between the forest proper and the marsh. They were switching branches a little bit and communicating in tiny whistles. I attempted spishing at them, and they looked interested for a moment. Then I tried again, and drove them away. This was also true for the other Black-capped Chickadee I saw solo--no one seemed to appreciate the spish :(.

The mallards were sighted in the still waters near the marsh--one m/f pair was foraging at the very edge of the marsh, while the group of four, with 3 males and one female, were in a larger, still pool of water along with the canada geese. The male mallard's coat is ostentatious--that iridescent green head and blue wing bar are vibrant--that green head will blend nicely with some fresh spring greenery, but as of right now, it stands out in the harsh browns and grays. The females blend perfectly with the dried cattails and dead grasses in the water, making their camouflage pretty perfect going into breeding season--I would reason that despite the spring green to come, the speckled brown plumage will still hold up as camo in the reeds and shoreline. On the other hand, the Canada goose plumage is light brown, blending in well with the environment right now--and the black head/white cheek combination surprised me because of how good it was at hiding the bird. The black on top of the water was very difficult to spot, and the white cheek looked almost like a spot of sunshine reflecting off water.