FJ5 4/3/21

03 April 2021
09:30-10:40
Location: Redstone Lofts retention pond & the Burlington Golf Club
Weather: Sunny, slight wind from the West, ~30ºF
Habitat: At the Lofts there was a small 30 m x 10 m pond with reeds, cattails, woody shrubs, and small Sumac. The surrounding ground was mostly rocks with remnants of past seasons reeds. Around this are it is mostly open with surrounding dormitories and apartments. There is a small mixed wooded area on the smallest side of the pond with trees in their 20s. At the golf club there were Red Oaks, Silver Maples, and Eastern White Pines surrounded by very well-kept green grass. This area had many openings with patches of the previously listed trees.
Some year-round residents observed on this journey were a pair of Mallards. They were dabbling in the pond at the Lofts sticking their bottoms up in the air as their heads were submerged feeding. These ducks most likely have to constantly sun themselves when the sun is available to do so in the long Vermont winters. As Burlington is a generally windy area with strong winds coming off the NY mountains and across the lake, these birds also most likely find somewhere perhaps more inland in the winter or somewhere with a barrier to protect them from becoming too cold. Stores of fat are also probably accumulated to sustain them while there is less food or less access to food due to the formation of ice. These birds may also have a lot of down or afterfeathers on their body which insulates their bodies better than the feathers of a songbird do.
A facultative migrant could be a bird that is omnivorous or feeds on seeds. These birds may not migrate if the winter conditions are mild, which it seems like we have had this winter. An example of this type of migrant seen during the bird outing was the Red-winged Blackbird. They have just started arriving in Northern Vermont about last week. These birds are most likely coming from Southern New England to New Jersey. This bird could be staying in Vermont for its nesting and breeding season or it could be traveling further north into Canada. The birds may be moving if it is too hot for them in their wintering grounds and they are looking for a generally cooler climate that northern states offer. With spring just beginning in Vermont, there may also be preferred food sources just beginning to become available here where they may have been used or non-existent in the birds’ wintering habitat.
Arriving in Burlington in early April may be advantageous to any migratory bird as they would get first pick of a lot of the nesting sites that are just beginning to regrow. While Vermont is still waiting for many birds to migrate North for the summer months, these early birds will be able to find the best places for foraging and nesting for this season before many other birds arrive. This gives them time to set up a territory around the best resources. A disadvantage, however, is that these birds are still subject to crazy weather changes and low temperatures as the early spring weather in Vermont is increasingly varying in temperature and precipitation during this time.
Mini Activity: Frequent Flyer
-Mallard= 0
-Ring-billed Gull= 430 km
-Red-winged Blackbird= 215 km
-Song Sparrow= 0
-Black-capped Chickadee= 0
-Red-breasted Nuthatch= 0
-Brown Creeper= 0
= 645 km estimated total migration/travel