Field Journal #5

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!!

Posted on April 5, 2021 08:28 PM by