eisloan9's Journal

May 1, 2020
1:30 pm- 3:00 pm
John Peel Rd Pond West Simsbury, CT 06092
60 degrees F
Weather: 80% cloud cover, no wind, after big rain storm, clouds starting to clear up
Habitat: Deciduous forest, woods trail around a big pond. Some small shrubs, where sparrows were found.

4/20/2020 at 12:00 pm- 1:30 pm
West Mountain Stream West Simsbury, CT
51 degrees Fahrenheit
Clouds: 10% cover
Habitat: Residential area (my yard) with a big yard, surrounded by forest. Scattered trees (mostly pine) and bushes. Small stream on the back side of yard. Yard also has a barn that used to be a horse barn and is now used for storage.
When I first started my bird walk, I heard two Tufted Titmice calling to each other, likely claiming their territory and communicating to each other and their neighbors that that is their area. This also could have been a mating call, but it was hard to tell. If they were defending territories, they were most likely poor territories because they were are in a residential area with many other birds around. There are limited resources and what seems like unlimited birds.
After listening to them calling to each other for about 5 minutes, I decided to keep walking. As I walked around the outside of the house, I noticed an occupied robin's nest, with four beautiful blue eggs in it. This nest was on top of the air conditioning unit that was protruding from the house. This was a very smart place for the robin to make her nest because it is underneath the eave, which protects the nest from rain. It is also very close to the overhang, which would help protect the eggs from predators.
After I visited the robin's nest, I then noticed another nest. After sitting and watching it for about 30 minutes, I saw a Barn Swallow fly into it. This nest was made of mud and hay, which was very interesting but seemed to be very effective. The nest was too high and in too tight of an area for me to look into it without disturbing it, but it appeared to either have eggs or nestlings in it. Similar to the robin's nest, this nest was built high up under an eave, on top of a very old speaker attached to the barn. This, again, is very smart because it is protected from rain and predators. These nest techniques are different than the birds that often nest on the ground. One of these birds is the Wild Turkey, which nests on the ground because they do not usually fly, unless they have to. This puts these eggs in much more danger, because it is easy for predators to see and access the nest, and also it is dangerous in the case of harsh wind conditions such as wind, rain, or even snow.
Attached is a link to my sound map, each note symbolizes a different call or song. The notes bunched together are the same bird calling out or singing multiple times!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1unNBuQqN5f8PnsM4fkH3pSfNlmsx7vu8CqxBFCHI22c/edit?usp=sharing