Journal archives for February 2021

February 22, 2021

Journal Entry 1

Rebecca Ross
2-21-21
4:00- 5:30pm
Central Campus
10 degrees F, Clear sky

Over the course of my time observing birds Sunday, February 21st, I expected to see a greater amount of diversity than I did. 12 American Robins were counted in total though no other birds were observed closely enough to identify. American Robins have Elliptical wings which allow for a quick take off and tight maneuvering. Similar to other native birds such as the House Sparrow and American Crow, the American Robin can easily thrive in human-dominated environments using this type of wing shape.
Although on my walk I only came across American Robins- I am sure there are Black-capped Chickadees nearby as well which can easily be compared to the Robin. Black-capped Chickadees have elliptical wings as well and therefore they are suited for quick take-off and sudden in-air movements. These birds also thrive in human-dominated areas though they prefer more suburban habitats to cities; Chickadees were not spotted on my walk, most likely because they tend to prefer the more suburban areas around Burlington.
Chickadees are much smaller than Robins and because of this, it would not be hard to distinguish the two species based on flight patterns alone. Black-capped Chickadees also tend to fly for shorter bursts of time than the American Robin. In the future, I hope to travel out of Burlington and to an area with more species diversity. Going for the walk at dusk seemed to be a good idea however, I’m sure that going around dawn would have increased my chances for seeing some other species as well. Cities are a good place to find birds like Rock Pigeons, Robins, Mourning Doves and Sparrows but by leaving this bustling area and walking in a more wooded location, I’d be sure to increase my chances of seeing bird diversity.

Posted on February 22, 2021 09:06 PM by rebeccashayross rebeccashayross | 1 observation | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Archives