egagne219's Journal

On April 23rd, 2020, from about 1 pm until 2:30 pm I went birding at the Allenstown Bridge Park in Allenstown, NH. It was warmer than usual - about in the mid to high 50s, sunny, and little to no breeze was present. This area is under and around a fairly noisy overpass, and is a small area of sand/grass surrounded by the Suncook River Reservoir. There are a few taller trees on the edges of the land, and some small shrubs as you first walk in, the rest is open grass. There were quite a few other people out on the land and boating, yet that did not seem to deter any of the birds - they were quite friendly and used to visitors!

I went birding on April 20th, 2020 from 2 pm to 4 pm. As I am still in quarantine (as most of us are), I stuck to walking around my suburban neighborhood for those two hours. It is a typical suburban area with lots of open yards, some short dense shrubs, along with some older trees. It was quite warm at the beginning of my walk but got a little bit colder and windier as time went on. The skies were relatively clear and the temperature was mild.

In terms of behaviors related to mate selection, nest selection, and territory selection, there was certainly a lot going on! The first, most aggressive interaction I noticed was amongst a group of 3 American Crows. They were flying relatively high, and appeared to be all fighting over a prime tree/tree area. There was agnostic behavior in their calls, which were loud and grating, as well as physical dominance by diving on each other. The male that was being attacked appeared to be submissive, as it eventually decided to leave the tree it was defending for another dominant male that was being quite persistent. It was clear that this tree was a prime location for either a nest or finding a mate because many crows were checking it out and challenging actively defending members.

Another apparent behavior in terms of nesting and mates; I observed that most of my observations of House Sparrows included either building nests, gathering nesting materials, fighting with other males for territory, or copulation. There are many House Sparrows in my yard so there was a lot going on! I noticed a House Sparrow collecting twigs in my neighbor's yard, and flying over to their nest to add on. I also noticed an already-built House Sparrow nest, as it was occupied by a House Sparrow, filled with what appeared to be paper strings that are used to fill Easter baskets. It is possible this bird could have found them in the trash, or littered around the neighborhood. It appeared they had taken quite a liking to this material! Upon me getting closer to the nest, the House Sparrow stood its ground and didn't fly away quite so quickly as others do. Perhaps this is because it wanted to ensure the success of its nest and new it was in a prime location.

I have included the picture of the sound map (mini activity) I made in the observation for the American Crow.

On Saturday, April 11th, I went on a bird walk from about 2 pm until 3:30 pm. The weather was mild in the mid-low 50s, and slightly cloudy with some wind. I went around my yard and neighborhood in Suncook, New Hampshire. This is a highly suburban habitat with a good mix of older trees, shrubs, and open grass in neighbors lawns. Most of the birds I saw were perched somewhere or at a feeder.

I went birding around my neighborhood (Pembroke, New Hampshire) on April 4th, 2020 from about 11am until 1 pm. Weather was warmer in the 50s and partly cloudy. My neighborhood is a suburban habitat with a good mixture of shrubs as well as tall, older trees.

One species I noticed throughout birding from the beginning of the semester has been the American Crow. They don't really appear to migrate, and if they do, they'd most likely only go a few states further south. Crows are known to be generalist eaters (from insects to seeds, other small animals, and even garbage) which most likely helps them survive harsher weather in the north during the winter. Another species that is a facultative migrant I have noticed more with the warmer weather is the Red-winged Blackbird. They appear to be coming from the southern/mid United States and heading up to the Northern United states. They may migrate because their diet is more specific than that of say, the American Crow. In the summer, they feed on seeds which can be found almost anywhere during that time. In the winter, they feed more on aquatic plants and insects - it is necessary to follow the insects further south where the weather is warmer in order to survive. I did not find an obligate migrant.

In the frequent flyer activity, I added up the rough total miles of the facultative migrants I saw and came to a total of 1600 miles. This seems a bit conservative since I only saw facultative migrants which likely only traveled to the mid/south US.

On March 9, 2020, I walked on the Head's Pond trail in Hooksett, NH from about 4:45 pm until 6:30 pm. The weather was warm in the high 50s and the sky was relatively clear and sunny.

The visual and auditory cues birds use to communicate within and between species can tell us a lot about what they are trying to communicate. For example, I'll compare the plumage of the Mallard I saw to the plumage of the Black-capped Chickadee I saw. The Mallard had a brightly colored green head, which was very apparent and gave away his location so we could easily spot him. The strong sexual dimorphism of the green head in this species indicates not only the sex of the bird, but perhaps the fitness of the male Mallard. In terms of behavior, the Mallard was resting with his bill tucked into his wing, as there were no females present in its' vicinity to try and court. Another possible reason the Mallard was resting, is that it was not quite breeding season yet at this time and it had not yet decided to seek out a mate. In the case of the Black-capped Chickadee, its' plumage is more discrete, not sexually dimorphic, but still distinctive. Perhaps this more discrete plumage allows it to blend in more easily with its' environment and avoid predation, while also serving as a measurement of fitness when breeding. The Black-capped Chickadees seemed to rely more on audio cues to communicate with the birds around them, as the sun began to set the frequency of their calls increased dramatically so as to communicate who was around them.

I tried to practice some "spishing" but it did not prove much success for me. I do understand why it would normally though, as the presence of chickadees could suggest viable habitat and resources. Chickadee calls also tend to be for alarms, so other birds may come when a chickadee calls to establish the degree of threat or predation nearby.

Despite the fact that it is still winter, today was very warm and sunny (in the forties). Because of this, we saw different birds exhibiting different winter and spring behaviors.
In terms of winter behavior, the cedar waxwings we saw were flocked together in one tree. This may be advantageous for cooperative feeding and foraging, and explains why they still may be flocking together. The rock pigeons also appeared to be relatively calm together and did not exhibit any agonistic behavior; that kind of behavior would indicate the beginning of finding territories and mates. In the house sparrows and european starlings we noticed much more territorial behavior, as it appeared they were seeking out urban spots for nests on top of telephone wires and in chimneys. They were also more likely to be found alone, chasing around other males, and singing more frequently. This indicates spring behavior, as they prepare for the breeding season by establishing territory and making themselves known to other males and females in the area. In terms of budgeting their time, they seemed more active, engaging in agonistic behavior and searching for food. This is indicative of spring behavior, as in winter it would be more likely that they would conserve their energy.
In observing the snags in the area, I noticed that the larger trees had many smaller holes, while the smaller trees had more large holes and cavities. This could be due to the accessibility of insects and cover in these snags. I noticed that the white-breasted nuthatches and downy woodpeckers were most interested in the snags. They stayed in the same general area for longer periods at a time, searching and pecking on the snags for insects. One of the downy woodpeckers even chased a white-breasted nuthatch away from a snag at one point.

I went on the cross country trail of St Joseph's College of Maine, all the way down to the waterfront of Lake Sebago. It was about 10 degrees outside and there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. I was able to spot Black-capped Chickadees and the American Crow, while the other birds I was only able to hear. I went around 11 am, so perhaps this, along with the harsh temperatures, was not ideal to spot many birds.
In terms of flight patterns, the contrast between the Black-capped Chickadees and the American Crow was quite apparent. The Black-capped Chickadees have more elliptical wings. They only appeared to fly short distances into small shrubs and trees, not needing to obtain high speeds or altitudes. In comparison, the American Crow appears to have more slotted, high lift wings. This made sense because they tended to fly higher in the air and glided for longer periods of time, searching for prey below. The chickadees also appeared to have to flap their wings more while the crow simply adjusted its' wings to glide easily.