sdecrescinaturalist's Journal

May 10th, 2021
Start Time: 5:00 pm
End Time: 6:30 pm
Location: High Ridge Circle, Franklin Massachusetts
Weather: Cloudy and raining, East 12 mph wind speed and 100% precipitation.

Temperature: 67 F
Habitat: Suburban community with tall trees all around, In my backyard with a pool and surrounded by small to medium bushes/trees in a garden.

Species: 1 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 American Robin, 2 American Crows

Today was light, which is what I expected since it was raining off and on, but the times I got the birds it was clear outside. Basically the rain lasted for about 45 minutes, so I basically stayed in my house and observed with my binoculars. I saw nothing sadly, but my dad realized there was a bird in the bush next to my window, a female robin sitting on its eggs. It was rare to see this, so we put a camera in the bush and waited for it to return, which is how we were able to get one of the clearest pictures I have ever gotten. After, noises were everywhere, but few were easy to make out and not all were birds. I heard this call, deeee-duh-do, which I know to be 1 black-capped chickadee and so I recorded that. twenty minutes later, while starting to rap up, I heard very distinct sounds over my head, well first I saw them, black birds, then "caw-caw", it was clear to me these were two American Crows. Overall it was a slow day, but in truth I wanted to relax and enjoy the last assignment for my ornithology class, hopefully I will do this in my free time in the future.

April 26th, 2021
Start Time: 4:30 pm
End Time: 6:00 pm
Location: High Ridge Circle, Franklin Massachusetts
Weather: Mostly cloudy with some sun, East 13 mph wind speed and 10% precipitation.

Temperature: 54 F
Habitat: Suburban community with tall trees all around, In my backyard with a pool and surrounded by small to medium bushes/trees in a garden.

Species: 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 Northern Cardinal, 1 House Finch, 1 Brown-headed Cowbird

Today was eventful, I heard a lot more birds than normal and I was able to pick them out easier, the recorder however was harder to capture the birds due to the fierce wind. However, I pressed on, as soon as I got outside I kept hearing birds all around me, a lot of them hard to focus in on. I kept hearing this loud chirp, so I followed it through my gate to the back of the side of my house and I saw it one bright red Northern Cardinal, with an orange beak and black face. I could not get a picture of it, but I heard it chirping right after which is when I got the recording. A decent amount of time passed until I heard an array of birds deep to my north in the woods and recorded the group with the calls I could somewhat make out and after further analysis I determined that one I could indeed identify and that was the soft but rapid chirping of a single House Finch. Immediately after that, I heard a familiar bird call from inside the hedge that grows in my backyard acting as kind of a barrier between us and our neighbors house, it was two syllables one low and the other very high pitched which had kind of a dip effect. After recording it, and knowing I had never recorded any bird like this I analyzed the call and learned it was familiar, it was one Brown-headed Cowbird. The Brown-headed Cowbird was what I thought would be the last after the birds kind of calmed down, it was probably 30 minutes, I walked around the house, found nothing until back at the pool area which I camped out in to observe, I saw two birds, one was in the tree moving around and one was on the ground, technically in a bush. These were the same bird and from their white cheeks and black caps I knew I was looking at 2 Black-capped Chickadees.

Overall, based off what I saw this day there was ample evidence of physical behaviors pertaining to nest selection and territory selection and not much pertaining to mating selection. For example, I saw a duo of Black-capped Chickadees flocking together, but it was clear they were a pair based off the way one followed the other from the ground to the tree. However, I saw a lot of evidence of behavior pertaining to territory and nest selection. The House Finch was using its calls to signal its companions as House Finch rarely travel alone, signaling the "all clear" sound to come back, or simply communicating with them, but normally when it comes to calling out to birds in that manner it is more about territory and checking in with their mate. In terms of nesting however, my backyard is perfect as it is near other yards and thick brush, House Finches tend to stay in the area without many trees and sometimes dryer and medium sized trees and land. Contrasted with the Chickadees, the two smaller songbirds would normally roost in a dead tree close to or in the woods as they are small and need more protection. The Northern Cardinal lives in the thick brush and uses it for cover for their nests, not normally high up in trees, more likely close to the middle or bottom of the trees. The Cowbird in terms of nesting is entirely different, it is a parasitic bird, meaning it lays its eggs in a variety of nests, mainly one closer to its size but not limited to that, it is likely that it would lay its eggs in thick brush like the hedge I heard it from.

The only bird I found that was making calls as alarms and to be territorial was the Norther Cardinal, it was extremely loud and it was on the edge of the thick brush where I am sure that it lived. The habitat was tailor made for the bird, it was at an appropriate height in the trees, small to medium sized, and the brush was very thick, enough to hide itself and its nest. I believe the alarm was being sound in part because of my presence, but I have no doubt with birds such as a Cowbird flying around that it would try very hard to make sure no bird destroys its eggs or nest. To me this fierce defensiveness of its territory displays the birds good fitness in surviving and raising a brood to survive. When the Chickadees were in the tree and on the ground, I originally thought they were foraging, mainly the one on the ground in which I saw some things in its beak as it flew up into the tree with its partner. But then I realized it was right near a dead bush with twigs around it as well as mulch and realized that it is also possible with spring already here and the weather getting exponentially warmer they are looking for materials to build their nest, in which they would use skinny pieces of mulch to line their nest and small twigs from the dead bush to fill it in or vice versa depending on the thickness, but I believe the thicker mulch would be better for lining. It is not easy since the Chickadees would have to venture out of their roosting spot to come down to the grow to pick up mulch and fallen twigs, including in small to medium trees like I found one of the Chickadees in. In conclusion, while they are exposed, these birds' actions line up with where they would go to look for materials to build the nest.

Mini activity symbols explanations: The length of the lines determine the length each noise lasts for, longer or shorter, and the number of them says how many syllables in the song and lines in between them are used as connectors to show if they were smooth transitions of choppy. Dots next to single chirps indicate higher pitched, zigzag indicates choppy and raspy calls, completely connected lines with dips show complete connected dips and upticks in calls and the loops indicate a hooting sound.

April 19th, 2021
Start Time: 3:00 pm
End Time: 4:30 pm
Location: High Ridge Circle, Franklin Massachusetts
Weather: Cloudy and drizzling, West 9 mph wind speed and 15% precipitation.

Temperature: 47 F
Habitat: Suburban community with tall trees all around, In my backyard with a pool and surrounded by small to medium bushes in a garden.

Species: 1 American Robin, 1 Eastern Phoebe, 1 House Finch

Today was sadly a light day, I believe this to be because it was not only cloudy but raining as well, albeit only slightly. I was sitting on a bench writing for a while, hearing only passing bird calls but not loud enough to record and not distinct enough to make out. However, after a while I looked at my house and I saw a bird on top of my house, a grey bird from the back but bright red, almost pink, on its chest and face and to me there was no doubt in my mind that was a House Finch, sadly I could only get the back end of it. After about 30 minutes, it was getting tiring, but after looking through my binoculars I saw a bird that had dark wings, a dark back and tail feathers along with a dark capped head but contrasted with a white belly, a large black eye, and a black small beak, at this point I knew it was one Eastern Phoebe. Sadly I could not get a picture of the bird, but I hope my description would suffice. 15 minutes more went by and I was getting restless, until that is I looked where I saw the House Finch earlier and I saw an American Robin, clear as day and I could get a good picture by looking through my binoculars with the camera and taking a picture. That was the last clear bird I was able to see for the day. Overall, it was pretty uneventful but the weather did not help.

April 5th, 2021
Start Time: 11:30 pm
End Time: 1:00 pm
Location: High Ridge Circle, Franklin Massachusetts
Weather: Blue skies, Sunny, East 15 mph wind speed and 0% precipitation.

Temperature: 59 F
Habitat: Suburban community with tall trees all around, especially in my neighbors' yard along with a couple of small and medium sized trees in the front of the houses.

Species: 1 American robin, 1 male Northern Cardinal, 1 House Finch

This one was tough because yesterday there was relatively very little activity, the first time I did a journal entry it was luck for the most part that I came across the birds I did, I realize that the trees are too tall for me to get a good picture or even get the best audio, I actually heard more birds than I recorded but I couldn't get a good recording of them or even be able to make out which ones they were. That being said, as I walked out I immediately heard some bird calls, it was like a chirping and fluttering kind of sound that was descending in pitch as it continued but not noise, it was decently loud the whole way through. I even was able to see this bird after, a small bird that was mostly grey, and after analyzing it later I realized it was a House Finch, I have seen House Finches when bird watching, but sadly I have never heard them. After the Finch I spent about 20 minutes walking around and looking up at the trees trying to find more birds. It was at that point I saw a speck of red flying into the trees and I looked through my binoculars and realized it was one male Northern Cardinal. The orange beak, black over its eyes, the red plumage all over its body, it was very hard to miss, sadly the trees were too tall and I could not capture a photo. After that it was hard, I spent 40 minutes alternating between sitting on my steps with my binoculars to walking around, until for the first time I saw a bird on the ground. I ran into my neighbors yard and snapped a picture of it, which was only its back, but I could see its front after, the reddish/orange stomach, black head and grey back, it was clear that this bird was an American robin. After that I stayed close to my home and waited until time was up.

Thankfully for me there was only one observed species today that does not winter outside of my state, which is the northern cardinal. These birds stay year round because migrating can prove more great harm as opposed to staying, they are not flyers and they are very territorial. Because of this territorial behavior it makes them the best type of bird to scavenge and forage for food in the desolate winter as well as find a suitable living space that is warm. In general, because these birds have a higher body temperature compared to mammals that makes them more suited to staying for the winter and aside from finding snags in order to hide in and stay cozy for the winter, these birds will also shiver to keep warm, not unlike humans. Also, these types of birds preen their feathers more often to make sure there is little dirt or moisture on it so they do not get extra cold.

The last two species, house finch and American robin, were migrant birds. Both species were facultative migrants, nut the house finch is a partial migrant, so they can bear the winter sometimes, depending on where they are, but in terms of the east coast the are more likely to migrate. Both of these birds are responding to changes in the atmosphere, most often drops in temperature in leaving Massachusetts and a rise in temperature in entering Massachusetts can cause bird species to fluctuate when they migrate. Also, food shortage is a big issue, while they can forage, often times the types of foods are selective and they might not be the most competitive which is why they would migrate to an area that is more plentiful in food, which is why they migrate out. But, moving back in is the time when there is more types of food growing and less competition, because in general the majority of the bird species are located in the south and tropic regions.

Sadly no observed birds were obligate migrants. However, a good example would be geese flying south for the winter and then north for the summer. A specific example would be the Canadian Goose, flying back north now would be advantageous in that they will be able to reap the rewards of having more resources with fewer competitors. On the other hand, if the weather fluctuates, which is possible to happen knowing the New England area as well as Canada, then they will be in a tough spot and it might stop food production (plants growing etc). For example, up until recently there was still snow on the ground, only a little, but it shows you how lingering the cold can be with the wind chill and everything.

Miles migrated mini-activity (the closest places for both birds in the most common area was central Florida, which is why I picked Orlando as a reference point cause it is near the center):

House Finch: Orlando Florida to Franklin Massachusetts (1271 miles)
American Robin: Orlando Florida to Franklin Massachusetts (1271 miles)
Total miles traveled: 2542 miles

March 21st, 2021
Start Time: 1:40 pm
End Time: 3:10 pm
Location: Brookwood Road in Bristol Rhode Island and Colt State Park in Bristol Rhode Island.
Weather: Blue skies, Sunny, East 10 mph wind speed and 0% precipitation.

Temperature: 57 F
Habitat: Brookwood Road is bordered by an estuary with many rocks at the shallow end where my house borders that leads to a beach less than a mile away, also bordering the house I stay at are numerous tall trees on an old street. In Colt State park it is heavily wooded but borders many streets, bogs, the same estuary that was previously mentioned and numerous open fields.

Species List: 1 Black-capped Chickadee, 2 American Crows, 1 Ring-billed Gull, 8 Brant's, 3 European Starlings.

This was a fun day again, today I went out bird watching at the family beach house in Bristol Rhode Island and we ventured from the house on Brookwod Road and hiked all the way through Colt State park less than a half mile down to go see some birds. I went over to my deck when I started to see if any birds were out on the water and I saw one Ring-billed Gull clear as day padding away from us, I knew that it was a Ring-billed Gull because while it is hard to see in the picture, there was a black ring around its yellow beak, albeit it was dimly yellow. Shorty after I heard some cackling and I looked up in the tree next to my house and I saw a nest, next to the nest I saw a large black bird cackling and once that bird stopped cackling I head a noise "caw caw" I knew these were two American Crows who were communicating with each other, sadly I could only get one as the other one flew off. Once the crow took off I saw a bunch of what I though to be ducks in the water, so I ran back down to the dock and snapped multiple photos of these 8 "ducks", only to realize their plumage and head did not make them look like ducks I have ever seen, come to find out they were Brant which are a type of geese which makes more sense when you think about its brown wings, white underbelly and long neck which that reminds me somewhat of a Canadian Goose, but I can only tell by zooming in on the photo after. Once we caught the Brant's on camera we started hiking too and through Colt State park, there were many birds while we were walking by but none I could make out because they were moving quite quickly and noises that I could not make out because of the cars and people that were nearby. However, when I was walking me and my father noticed 3 birds, two on one branch and 1 on another tree making noises at each other and looking at each other, they had an odd color to them, black but almost translucent kind of and they were fat but small. Its sound was piercing, and that is when I realized I ran into 3 European Starlings. After trying the spishing noise out on them, I was able to get a response back, I know that because they were looking toward me when they were calling. It was not long after I saw a Black-capped Chickadee moving and when it stopped I tried the spishing sound which made it stop entirely, it then immediately kept moving from tree to tree until it flew away for good. That was the last bird I was able to get a good look at, it was a nice day so it probably was not helpful there was so many people around scaring off the birds. But overall it was a good day of bird watching with my family.

The bird species I saw that were communicating were the two American Crows and the three European Starlings. For the Crows, one near the nest was cackling while the other on the other side of the house on a tree branch was cawing, to me what they are trying to say to each other here is I believe, "I'm fine, how are you" and the other would say "fine" I believe that the crow at the nest was a female and the other was a male and the male was trying to get something for the chicks or for her. For the Starlings they used communication by calls and exchanging looks back and forth between each other. I believe they were foraging for food and they were communicating like, "did you find any food" and the other said yes or no and I believe they are foraging because by looking at each other, if either say yes, they know exactly where to come and pick at. In terms of the plumage I would compare the Starlings to the Chickadee, the chickadee has a black cap with grey feathers, primary and secondary, and a black neck with white cheeks. I believe this is the case because it is a small bird the black cap and black neck are meant to give the appearance to a predator that the chickadee has large white eyes which is possible to see when you look at it from the font and the back or even from up top. On the other hand the starling has a kind of black plumage but with tints of green, purple and shiny white spots on it, this season, it almost seems translucent and shiny. This appearance I believe make its competitors and predators not be able to tell what kind of bird they are, if the sun reflects off of them and it makes them seem a different color, then they cannot tell what bird it is, and sometimes when that happens you cannot tell the size either. The starlings I believe were foraging for food, such as edible bark and nuts in the trees, this makes sense concerning their circadian rhythms when it comes to broods which is normally the most active in the latter part of the day before the sun goes down.

When spishing, specifically to the starlings, I was able to get them to look in my direction and call back numerous times, I knew I did not sound like them however when I did it at a medium level it got their attention. However, when I did it to the chickadee, one bird, he stopped and flew away. This led me to believe this spishing move I do is kind of a territorial thing, a way to issue a sort of threat, when I did it with the starlings who were in a group they wanted to see where it was coming from so they could gauge the threat, while the chickadee was alone and took it as a territorial move since I was so close to him, closer than I was to the starlings, which is why I believe I was able to kind of communicate with the starlings and scare off the chickadee by spishing.

Date: 03/07/2021
Start Time: 2:20
End Time: 3:50
Location: Delcarte Reservation Franklin Massachusetts and Shepards Brook, a small stream that fills out into a larger mass of water, off Winterberry Drive right near my house.

Weather: The weather was sunny, had a temperature of 37 degrees Fahrenheit, a wind speed of about 5 mph, 1% precipitation and the direction of the wind was going southeast.

Habitat: The reservation was similar to a marsh, lots of tall grass in the center of the large body of water, and surrounded by woody trees with the leaves still on them. The brook was an open field with tall dead grass and tons of woody trees surrounding us, and a large body of water with more woody trees on the other side. At each site there was a forest that went on for miles.

I was very excited because my parents wanted to come along for the bird watching trip. When we started the trip, I first saw two mourning doves, distinguishable by its grey/white color, in the woods too my left, they were walking nice and calmly and I was able to get a shot. Immediately after that I saw two ducks, one was black with a white ring around its beak and one was brown with a white ring around its beak. The black one was a male and the brown one was a female, they were ring-necked ducks, who was diving underwater for fish. About 30-40 minutes later, we came upon a bird sound deep in the woods. We could see the one bird flying around, small birds with elliptical shaped wings, but I couldn't get an id. We stayed out in the forest for about 20 more minutes but realized that there were relatively few birds their, so we decided to get in the car and go to this lake, later revealed to be a brook, near my house. After 10 minutes of traveling by car, in which I kept my eyes peeled for birds on the ride, me and my father got out and headed down to the water. When we first got to the water, we noticed something above us, something large, then it started flying. It was one red-tailed hawk, which I could see through my binoculars the slightly reddish tail, as it was perched on a tall tree across the water. It was a miraculous catch. After I captured the image of the hawk, me and my dad went into the tree line and came upon an open field filled with dead tall grass, which looked like there should be water in it, but was not. This may be because there was a lot of rocks up that made a solid wall, most likely man made, but old. While walking in the field, I heard that same bird call that I previously heard in the reservations woods, one bird, so I pulled out my recorder which later I realized I had heard before, a cedar waxwing. I was happy I was able to record that bird, but after I was even happier because I saw another bird from my class. In the trees I saw a bird that was hanging off the side of a branch, like it was defying gravity, it had a white chest, black crest and navy blue plumage, I realized it was a white-breasted nuthatch, which I the took a picture of. With five minutes left, me and my dad walked back to the car and decided we had been apart of a good day of bird watching.

There is no doubt that it is cold and that would certainly affect how these birds will act. When it comes to food, the winter does not pose as much problems for the ducks and the hawk since while it may be tougher for the hawk to find small animals like mice, and for the ducks to find fish, it is due-able considering not every body of water will freeze over, like the reservation today. However, for the rest of the birds it will be more challenging. Most of the species observed like the waxwing, nuthatch and dove eat fruits, seeds, and insects, but the winter season will make it very hard to find insects and fruit so these birds will need to rely more on seeds which are high in protein. In terms of their activity, given the conditions and the scarcity of food during the winter, for all the birds, I would suspect that each of the species listed here today would allocate more time to hunting/foraging for food as well as sleeping which is a great time to replenish their warmth for the night and maybe a little resting too in order for warmth to be generated. However, I would suspect for each bird that breeding would take a back seat as having chicks during this time of year for these birds since a bird born in the cold would have a harder chance of survival. In order for the birds to retain warmth, the smaller birds like the nuthatch, waxwing, and dove have to constantly preen their feathers since the cleaner their feathers are the more likely they are to stay dry and uncontaminated, any liquid on it can freeze overnight. By huddling their head and body parts together they create an insulated ball of feathers, mostly the down feathers help for warmth. On the other hand, while hawks and ducks also preen their feathers so they are protected to help maintain an insular ball of warmth, but most of the time when sleeping they are more exposed than smaller birds they have to do something extra to help, which is that sometimes, not all, the ducks will stand on one leg while sleeping thus preventing half the loss of heat overnight. The hawk will do the same stance on a branch while it sleeps. In terms of sleep, it is most likely due to the climate the smaller birds will find a place to sleep for the night in a cavity of a dead tree, preferably a small hole so no predators or larger birds can get in. The ducks sleep in in an area where they have overhead protection and has dense brush but are more exposed, while the hawk normally sleeps perched on top of a tall tree or post.

Speaking of dead trees and cavities, while I was walking around the reservation I took notice of the snags that were present in the area of the woods and by the water. the snags were evenly distributed throughout the the forest and the water, there was a lot that was dead and knocked over, but not standing. The brook was different in that the trees were not dead and there was relatively few snags, however we did not check every edge of the water. When it came to the reservation, even though the number of snags remained consistent, the difference was the sizes of the cavities. The cavities on the snags near the water were much bigger in width than the cavities deep in the woods where we heard the smaller birds. I believe because the woods are much more dense smaller birds would have an easier time getting through and thus there would be smaller cavities either made or inhabited. Near the water the cavities were much larger I believe because there was much larger birds such as the ducks and the doves. Even though the doves are small they can be much larger than the other birds (waxwing and nuthatch). I believe that the cavity was inhabited by or made by much larger birds looking to stay in their for the night and based off what I saw from the excursion, larger birds are more likely to hang out by the water and not necessarily in the deep part of the woods. Sometimes, ducks if they are nesting, or cant find a place to roost will sometimes sleep in a larger cavity, but one that is close to the ground like the ones I saw. Also, because doves and ducks are likely to join in groups, based off what I have seen, it is more likely they would need wider and deeper cavities than some of these tinier birds. The doves though, I believe are more likely to sleep in these wider cavities all night, while the ducks are more likely to roost in the grass with preferably something over their heads like a bush. A hawk on the other hand usually sleeps out in the open and for the most part doesn't seem to need cavities in snags. Sadly when I smacked a stick on the snags, nothing popped out, I was a little disappointed but I also didn't want to disturb the peacefulness of the forest too much.

Date: 11/21/21
Start time: 4:00 pm
End time: 5:30 pm
Location: My backyard which is next to 100 acres of woods, in High Ridge Circle, Franklin Massachusetts
Weather: 32 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, 7mph wind speed, Southwest direction, 1% precipitation, little to no clouds in the sky.
Habitat(s): Suburban community however the backyard borders a woodland forest with numerous tall trees with the foliage fallen off and massive pine trees. The two Black-Capped Chickadees were spotted on a low tree in my backyard then they flew into the tree line. The Northern Cardinal was spotted in a tall birch tree right next to my house, where the woods meet. I saw the two House Finches in the front of my house in a smaller tree.

On my excursion I started out by walking along the path through the woods in the back of my house, but the more I did I realized that that the crunching if the snow as I was walking through the woods was making it hard to hear for any bird calls and also it probably was scaring the birds away. I decided to walk back to my house and as I did, I saw two birds fly from a lower hanging branch on a tall tree in the tree line and descended somewhere in the front of my house. I walk towards the front of my houses and look at all of the trees until I find two House Finches at the top of a small tree in front of my house. Because it was sunny it was easier to see their red faces and red chest in comparison to their gray body, though it could only really be seen at certain angles. After watching the birds for about 5-10 minutes, just sitting there on the top branch, they both flew away at the same time into the larger trees across the way. The flight they took showed sharp turns that allowed them to bank around my house quickly, but it also incorporated a lot of flapping, it was from this I saw the birds had elliptical shaped wings that made it easy for them to move both fast and through dense and crowded areas like the woods. As soon as the House Finches flew off, it was still sunny out and I was looking up across the tree line where I saw a very bright spot of red jumping from branch to branch. It was a Northern Cardinal, it was hard to miss, but when I focused closely I could positively see it was a Male Northern Cardinal due to the large black spot on its face against the bright colors of its beak and foliage. Sadly, it was jumping so fast I could not get a picture as it was jumping behind and in front of certain brightly colored leaves that was making it hard to focus in on the bird. However, when it flew away, I was able to clearly see the wings and the way it flew. It dive-bombed in a sense, from the low branch on a very tall tree, and quickly banked around the house very into the line of trees on the other side, similarly to the House Finch. This also helped me notice Northern Cardinals also had elliptical wings that made it easier to maneuver around tight spaces, which also explains why he was perched at a lower branch on a very large tree like the two finches.

Sadly, the Northern Cardinal was only in my sight for about 1 minute, in which after I went around to the back of my house and sat on the porch to sit and wait before until I saw a bird. It was very quiet after that; I could only hear the wind whistling and tree leaves brushing together. I hypothesize the reason there was barely any birds out is due to the time I went out; at 4:00 pm and sunset was at around 5:25 pm which I was coming up on. After sitting on my porch for over 40 minutes just trying to listen to the wildlife, nothing was turning up, just possible chirps I thought I heard but was not distinct to verify. However, after a while I saw that two Black-Capped Chickadees landed on a tree near me, not a large tree. For the sketch mini-activity I sketched a Chickadee so I knew what it was when I saw it, a small bird with black and white striped wings, tan body, signature black cap and a black under its beak that looks somewhat like a beard and a small tuft of white on its chest. I was only able to see it for about 20 seconds before they both flew away directly into the tree line across the backyard. While I was not able to see their flight pattern against a curve, I saw their wings which were elliptical shaped wings, which helped the two birds move fast and somewhat choppy. These characteristics again looked very similar to the House Finches and the Northern Cardinal. Finally, after I tried and failed to capture a picture of the two Chickadees, I was able to hear them calling each other in the woods, which I luckily was able to record. For the rest of the time I sat and waited until the sun was starting to go down and I realized my 90-minute excursion was over.

Comparing the three bird species I saw House Finch, Northern Cardinal and Black-Capped Chickadee, they were very similar to one another. Their wings were all elliptical, which enables a bird to be fast taking off and maneuvering through dense areas. That fact tracks with what I observed in both the Finches and the Cardinal where they quickly took off and banked around the side of my house into the woods. This is probably due to their small size, albeit they are not all the same size, it would be easy for predators on the ground or in the sky, such as hawks, to snatch them up as prey but their wings allow them to take off and allow them to navigate through narrow tight spaces which is why I observed them in the heavily wooded areas or on its outskirts. The wings also explain why the birds were not on the top of the trees; at most they were on a branch that was half distance from the top, which they were located due to the fact that if they needed to flee then they could quickly maneuver through the dense brush and lose any predators they come across whether on the ground or in the sky. The style of flying, very quick, and choppy, will also help me distinguish in the future what type of birds I am seeing as these birds seem to be very fast and durable and more likely will reside to more densely wooded areas at relatively lower height instead of flying above the tree-line. I believe that if I merely stay near my house I will find a lot of birds such as this, like elliptical wings, hence I am going to try in the following weeks venture out more to my local parks and see if I can spot different types of birds with different wing shapes and physiology.