Field Journal 7

Sunday April 25th I started birding at 6:53pm it was partly cloudy, had rained earlier in the day and was about 45 F. I was at Ethan Allen Homestead so the habitat was a mixture of denser vegetation, riparian areas, and open fields.

At the beginning of birding there were lots of audio displays from the birds that seemed to correlate more with an establishment of territory because of the added winged and head displays that looked more dominant to me. However, there were also some calls and responses which I think indicate more of a mate selection.

When I first started birding I was standing on the edge of a field of cattails with a few trees and bushes that were dispersed inside the patch of cattails. I saw 6 male Red-winged Blackbirds that were distributed uniformly throughout the patch, usually in a tree or bush. In particular, there was one male who stayed the longest in this patch, starting in a tall bush and after about 10 minutes moving to a different tree in the patch while other males were less persistent. I think that this male was potentially more fit than others because of its persistence and it having the most dominating call compared to the others, also because it didn't look like any other male was challenging it directly. This male would also extend its wings and tilt it's head up when it was calling. After observing this I believe this was an audio and visual display related to territory/nest selection, also because there appeared to be females in the cattails gathering nesting materials. I believe that this section of dense vegetation is where the red-winged blackbirds are nesting because they build nests lower among shrubs.

I saw some other nests in older trees that were higher up and looked like robins nests because of how dense the materials were woven together. Therefore, I think the robins are more likely to be nesting in the forested areas of the property while the red-winged blackbirds are more likely to nest in dense sections of cattails. These habitat requirements are different because one bird nests lower down while the other nests higher up, furthermore, it seems that the American Robin relies on physical distance from potential predators while the red-winged blackbird relies on coverage and being camouflaged. I also saw two a very small nests that were in lower bushes among small dense branches located near the river. I don't know what kind of bird made this nest, but it would seem that its habitat requirements maybe also rely more on being covered and blending in, especially if they nest when leaves and flowers have bloomed.

It looked like the robins were gathering more of straw-like almost stringy material while the red-winged blackbirds looked like they were gathering more fibrous materials. In order to find the straw/stringy material I think that the robins would have to go places were there have been ruminants of tall grass and other plants that have been buried under the snow all winter. Thus closer to fields and forested areas would be ideal.

Posted on April 27, 2021 02:29 AM by maliabertelsen maliabertelsen

Observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)

Observer

maliabertelsen

Date

April 25, 2021

Photos / Sounds

No photos or sounds

What

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)

Observer

maliabertelsen

Date

April 25, 2021

Photos / Sounds

No photos or sounds

What

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Observer

maliabertelsen

Date

April 25, 2021

Photos / Sounds

No photos or sounds

What

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Observer

maliabertelsen

Date

April 25, 2021

Photos / Sounds

No photos or sounds

What

Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)

Observer

maliabertelsen

Date

April 25, 2021

Photos / Sounds

No photos or sounds

What

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Observer

maliabertelsen

Date

April 25, 2021

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