emma_jean's Journal
Date - May 10, 2021
Start time - 8:00 am
End time - 9:30 am
Location - Ferrisburgh, VT
Weather - 50° F, 5 mph wind out of the North, sunny, 50% cloud cover
Habitat - 90% tree cover, forest composed mostly of beech, red maple, cottonwood, and hemlock trees.
Date - April 24, 2021
Start time - 11:00
End time - 12:30
Location - Ferrisburgh, VT
Weather - 49° F, 5 mph wind out of the North, cloudy, 85% cloud cover
Habitat - 90% tree cover, forest composed mostly of beech, red maple, cottonwood, and hemlock trees.
I have been noticing more and more birds spending time in pairs in the last week or so. Many birds perched together or flying around in pairs. The birds in this area have also been very vocal lately which could suggest defending territories. I watched a Northern Cardinal defending its territory. The territory seemed to be a poor area with not much space. This could suggest that this Cardinal is not as fit as the other males in the area. I also watched a House Sparrow who seemed to be scavenging for nest building materials. This bird was picking up string off the ground and then came back by with a clump of hair in its beak. There are many farms in the area that could be a good source of hair/fur for nest lining. I imagine many of the species that I've been seeing will be nesting up high within the overstory of the forest. I have also been keeping an eye on the Bald Eagle nest at the edge of the forest. There has been a lot of activity there lately - typically you can see one of the Eagles sitting on the nest while the other is perched in a large tree not far away.
Date - April 19, 2021
Start time - 10:00
End time - 11:30
Location - Charlotte, VT
Weather - 55° F, 8 mph wind out of the North, sunny, 80% cloud cover
Habitat - 90% tree cover, forest composed mostly of beech, red maple, cottonwood, and hemlock trees.
Date - April 4, 2021
Start time - 2:00
End time - 3:30
Location - North Ferrisburgh, VT
Weather - 48° F, 10 mph wind out of the North West, sunny, 80% cloud cover
Habitat - Deciduous forest in addition to edges of hay and corn fields. Woods consist primarily of hickory, maple, ash, elm, and cottonwood.
I returned to the forest surrounding my house for this field journal. The area has been full of Ring-billed Gulls in the last few days after we had a great deal of rain last week. One species that stays very active here throughout the winter is the American Crow. Crows are able to stay and endure the Vermont winter because they are very strategic about energy usage and know when to be active and when to lay low. They spend a great deal of time conserving energy that they can use to stay warm instead of expending all of their energy on other activities. The fields are also currently filled with Canada Geese that are returning from their winter migration. Canada Geese typically migrate, but if the winter conditions are mild they can stay through the winter. This means that they are a facultative migrant. When Canada Geese migrate, they typically stay in the Southern U.S. for the winter and then head north to Canada for breeding season. The increasing day length and warmer temperatures signal the birds' migration north.
I did not come across an obligate migrant on this outing, but I imagine that it could be a disadvantage for these species to be back already if we have unpredictable weather. It is not uncommon to have a hard frost or winter storm in April and these species may not be prepared to handle that kind of weather.
Migration Milage:
approximately 4,500 miles!!
Date - March 20, 2021
Start time - 4:00
End time - 5:30
Location - North Ferrisburgh, VT
Weather - 52° F, 5 mph wind out of the North West, very sunny, no cloud cover
Habitat - Deciduous forest in addition to edges of hay and corn fields. Woods consist of shagbark hickory, bitternut hickory, red maple, green ash, white ash, American elm, Eastern cottonwood, and one solitary pear tree.
Different birds that I encountered on this week's excursion interacted in varying ways. The Canada geese that I saw, for example, were resting by the edge of a pond together. One of the birds was curled up sleeping while the other stayed standing and almost seemed to be standing watch for the other. The American Crows that I noticed interacted by by calling back and forth to each other and then flying off in a group.
While different species have many different sounds or calls that they use to communicate, most birds seem to use vocalizations for similar reasons. Males will use songs to attract mates or some birds will use vocalizations as a sign of distress. Additionally, body language is one major way that birds can communicate. Birds can use the plumage on their head to signal that they are nervous or threatened, interested, excited, etc. Some birds (like Turkeys) use their tail feathers to communicate as well.
This week I saw Killdeer for the first time this season! I find Killdeer plumage very distinct: they have a brown back, white belly, and black and white stripes on their chest and head. This plumage has the evolutionary advantage of helping these birds blend in with the ground where they nest as a way of avoiding predators. Another bird that I have been seeing a lot this week is the American Robin. This bird also has very distinctive plumage: dark head and back with a bright reddish-orange breast. I imagine the advantage of the American Robin's distinct plumage may have to do with breeding and/or territory disputes among males.
Looking at the behavior of the two Canada geese that I noticed in my observation this week, I believe that this may have been a display of early courtship behavior. As I mentioned earlier, one bird was curled up resting while another stayed alert and seemed to keep watch over the other. This would fit in with the circannual rhythm of the birds as they have just recently migrated back to their summer homes.
Mini-activity: I think that "spishing" may be particularly interesting to many birds because it is similar to a bird call but it is not the call of any species of bird. This particularly human noise sounds like it could be a bird, but it is not a bird that they have heard before and that makes it interesting to them.
Date - March 7, 2021
Start time - 11:55
End time - 1: 35
Location - North Ferrisburgh, VT
Weather - 19° F, 5 mph wind out of the North West, sunny, 75% cloud cover
Habitat - Deciduous forest in addition to edges of hay and corn fields. Woods consist of shagbark hickory, bitternut hickory, red maple, green ash, white ash, American elm, Eastern cottonwood, and one solitary pear tree.
I have noticed that most of these birds will typically wait until midday to be very active in this area. This week I observed birds on the property where I live, so I have noticed a larger pattern with the area than just this one day of observation. During the cold mornings the birds tend to be less active - perhaps laying low to conserve heat or huddling together to keep warm. Once the sun comes out and things start to warm up, the birds become much more active and can be seen flitting between trees and branches. Specifically, the House Sparrows that I observed this time were using one another to stay warm by sticking close together when perched in the tree branches. The birds seem to be budgeting their time by using the warmest periods of the day to be out feeding and then resting and sleeping during the colder periods. I have noticed the American Robins already picking through the dirt in search of earth worms. I have often seen Black-capped Chickadees and House Sparrows on the ground below a tree or bush presumably in search of seeds and berries. At this point in the season, seeds and berries seem to be getting scarce, but the ground is still frozen so bugs and worms seem to be laying low as well. In other seasons, I think the birds’ diet would be filled with these things that are now growing scarce. I imagine these birds would be found spending the night in the branches of trees, perhaps a bit deeper into the forest.
Mini activity - I happened upon two snags throughout my observation. Though there were no birds within the snag, there seemed to be more birds gathered around the snags and they were more active than in other areas. These snags are very important within the ecosystem of the area. Snags/cavities provide a habitat for small creatures to continue to live long after a tree is dead. This also provides a good situation for insects to live and thrive which will provide food for birds eventually. I imagine that smaller species are more likely to utilize these snags and cavities. I believe that Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers tend to live in cavities. Although not a bird, I know that bats sometimes like to spend the daytime underneath the bark of shagbark hickory trees!
Date: February 20, 2021
Start: 9:05 AM
End: 10:30 AM
Location: UVM campus - From the Davis Center to Redstone Campus, up Prospect Street and back to the Davis Center
Weather: 19° F, sunny, 85% cloud cover, 5-10 mph wind out of the North-West
Habitat: urban/suburban areas on and around campus. Some deciduous forest and individual evergreen trees. We also observed a number of bird feeders within the suburban area that were surrounded by a number of deciduous trees.
On this first excursion, a group of students from our ornithology class met in front of the Davis Center and went for a 90 minute walk around campus. We moved from the Davis Center across to Redstone Campus, stopping a number of times to listen and observe a number of species that we noticed along the way. From Redstone, we walked up Prospect Street through a more developed residential area. Along the way we stopped to notice birds at a number of feeders in front of the houses on the street. By the time we had circled back to the Davis Center, we had spent 90 minutes in the field, seen at least a dozen different species, and made observations about flight patterns and behavior.
Along this trip, I noticed quite a few Black-capped Chickadees. I noticed that this species has shorter, high speed wings. They seemed to do a lot of flitting between branches of an individual tree using short, quick wing flaps.
All across campus, we saw a number of American Crows. These larger birds have a more “all-around” elliptical wing shape and tend to use fewer and larger wing flaps followed by some soaring.
Additionally, towards the end of our excursion, we saw a juvenile Bald Eagle. This bird had a high aspect ratio wing and used relatively few wing flaps. As we watched the bird fly all the way across campus, it was primarily soaring in a straight, long trajectory.
These flight patterns were very telling. You can tell from a great distance generally what kind of bird you are looking at based on the size and shape of the wing relative to the size of the bird, and the flight pattern.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B6DlUvzJ6al28D4n8QMeOoqE_U8JbTpf/view?usp=sharing
Northern Cardinal drawing
