Bird Walk #1 - St Joseph's College of Maine

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.

Posted on February 16, 2020 05:45 PM by egagne219