FJ2
2/21/20
Start Time: 11:15 am
End Time: 12:45 pm
Location: Woodside Natural Area
Weather: Sunny day with the temperature around 25 degrees
Habitats: Mostly wooded area with some clearings and a frozen section of the Winooski River
Today the bird sightings began right as I pulled up to the trail as I spotted a male Cardinal perched on a branch. After a couple minutes of walking in the wooded area, I could see a Red-tailed Hawk soaring in the distance (over the Winooski River) and noticed an American Crow was going after the Hawk. I took some time to observe this and made sure to watch both birds' flight patterns. It appeared that the Red-tailed Hawk was gliding more while the Crow had to flap its wings more frequently to keep up with the Hawk. This observation makes sense when the birds' wing shapes are considered. The Red-tailed Hawk has slotted, high lift wings while the American Crow has elliptical wings. The slots in the wings make it easy for Hawks to use thermals and soar higher in the sky while the Crow's elliptical wings are meant for maneuverability. Therefore, the Crow needs to compensate to keep up with the Hawk.
I also saw a feather on the ground, but not sure what bird it belongs to. It is kind of striped with brown and white (picture is in my google drive link). It also seems like the bottom half is more plumulaceous and the top more pennaceous. Right after I saw this feather, I spotted a decent sized bird fly and land on a tree's trunk which helped me identify it as a woodpecker. Looking online it seems like it was a pileated woodpecker because when it flew, I saw white under its wings. In this same area I saw a small, white and black bird fly to the backside of a tree. When I went around the tree all I saw were holes which means it’s probably a cavity nesting bird (maybe a White-breasted Nuthatch or Black-capped Chickadee). I also heard a Tufted Titmouse and a White-breasted Nuthatch in this more wooded area of the trail. After some time had passed, I walked into more of a clearing and heard quite a few Black-capped Chickadees calling to each other (I also got to see one and did my mini activity). The highlight of my trip was on my way back to my car. I heard a bird that sounded like a Cardinal, but I wasn't sure, so I pulled up the bird vocalizations from our blackboard. After I started playing it a male and female Cardinal flew right over me to a tree!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wgvjp4SjOzG9SxN72aw_2x0IOON67ubrTJ4aQ9ZLVog/edit?usp=sharing
