7th Journal Entry

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.

Posted on April 27, 2021 03:11 AM by sdecrescinaturalist