Field Journal 3

We started birding Sunday March 7th at 12:15pm at when we got The Intervale. The temperature was mid 20s and it was a clear sunny afternoon with blue skies! We saw a total of 7 different species and saw evidence or heard calls of many more birds. Our excursion began in more dense woody areas with lots of snags, came up to the edge of the Winooski river, then opened up into a field surrounded by trees. We ended a little before 1:40pm.

First we saw 8 robins on a staghorn sumac eating the berries, which my friend Kyle, who is a plant biology major, told me was a winter snack for birds. These robins were moving quickly between the berries, occasionally staying longer on certain berries. As we walked through the woody vegetation and I was examining the snags along the way I saw a stump that was hallowed out at the bottom when I walked around to the other side I saw an owl pellet stuck in the stump! You could clearly see the bones of small rodents left in it. As we came up to the edge of the river I was feeling hopeful that we would see mergansers, instead we saw a crow calling and flying in a linear path before veering to a tree to perch in and another flew by calling. We saw another crow later in the walk but I am not quite convinced that it was a different one.

Further along we saw a small group of 3 white-breasted nuthatches bobbing around what we think was a boxelder tree. It looked like they were poking at the bark. We saw three smaller birds with white and black wings fly to a silver maple next to them and the nuthatches joined. We followed the path into a narrow woody area with fields on either side. Here we saw 8 black-capped chickadees and four white-breasted nuthatches all around the ground and by snags. There was also a male northern cardinal that was perched high in a tree giving its call over and over again. This makes me think that it was looking to attract a potential mate. We kept walking then heard forceful tapping and saw wood shavings falling behind a fallen tree, we carefully and quietly walked around and saw this massive pileated woodpecker going to town on this log. As we came around into the field after we saw four turkey vultures fly over multiple times as we walked away. That field seemed like an ideal place to hunt as it is an edge between dense vegetation and openness. That edge region was actually where we observed the greatest species richness.

Most of the birds we saw were expending their energy feeding off of the habitat around them, mostly foraging and the turkey vultures hunting. I think these foraging birds diets might be more plant based right now as options of insects are currently low compared to the warmer months? I also think it is possible that the birds were more active during our observation time on a sunny afternoon because that could provide better opportunities for hunting, finding food, and attracting mates. I would guess that the smaller birds would overnight in mid levels of dense vegetation so they are out of harms way of smaller predators on the ground and sheltered from larger birds of prey from above.

There was a plethora of snags so there were too many to accurately keep count, but I would say that on average there was at least one snag next to the trail and in the distance. The snags that were slanted over seemed to have the most signs of activity, specifically from woodpeckers that would come and eat the insects living inside. I didn't notice much from rapping a stick on the snag except for when they were exceptionally hallow. There was lots of mulch around the base of these snags and occasionally some green leaves popping up. This makes me think that the snags might offer some more desirable food sources.

Posted on March 9, 2021 04:46 AM by maliabertelsen