Field Journal #6 (April 22th)

I did my bird walk at my home in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. I started my bird walk at 2:30 pm, and it lasted until 4 pm. It was sunny with some clouds in the sky. The temperature outside was warmish, about 45 degrees, with very strong wind to the north. This time I only walked through one area. It was the wooded wetland area with the acre pond.

Due to the extreme winds, there were almost no birds out. I saw very few in the entire hour and a half. I first started the walk by sitting and drawing a sound map for 10 minutes. While doing the sound map, I saw one European Starling foraging in the grass on the lawn of the house to my right. After further wandering, I spotted a Turkey Vulture flying overhead. He was soaring pretty low to the ground, only about 15 feet above the ground. Then, I saw another large bird soaring overhead. This one was much higher, and I was able to identify it as a Red-tailed Hawk before it flew over the tree line and out of sight. I then decided to see if I could find any birds hiding in the trees. I was able to spot a Northern Flicker sitting on a maple tree branch, preening itself. As I got closer to the water, I spotted a pair of Canada Geese laying in the grass near the pond's edge. One was pecking at the grass, while the other was just laying there. No other birds were spotted, but I could hear a few calls that I couldn't identify and weren't loud enough to get a recording of.

I believe that the pair of Canada Geese were a mating pair, and that nearby was their nest. I think that they chose the pond area as their territory because I have seen them there for the past few days and no other geese in the area. Canada Geese make their nests near water on higher ground, around foliage. I believe that their nest was in the bush-covered area near the pond, about 4 meters from where they were seen. Canada Geese nest in a diver in the ground, unlike the Nothern Flicker which is a cavity nester. Northern Flickers require a warm and sheltered nesting habitat, compared to the open habitat that the Canada Goose requires. While walking around, I spotted a few birds' nests. One was a small nest in an Eastern Redbud tree. Based on its size, I would guess that it belonged to a pair of sparrows of some sort. It was primarily made out of twigs. Twigs are abundant in the area and are easy to obtain. It would make sense for a bird to create a nest out of them. Another nest that was spotted was one made in a rain gutter. It was bigger than the one seen in the Redbud tree, looking like it belonged to a pair of robin- to crow-sized birds. It was primarily made out of reeds and string. The reeds could have easily been obtained from the pond, where there are large batches of reeds growing on the edge of the water. The string, however, would be trickier to get. It would have to come from a person's trash or plucked from rope. I could not find any birds defining the area that I was in, other than the possible Canada Geese. The only birds I heard actively defending, were defending territory way farther away. However, the wooded areas surrounding this area all abundant with food and resources. If a bird was defending this territory, it would mean that they are very fit, because the area would take a lot of energy to defend.

For the mini activity, I made a sound map before I started the bird walk. I made a dot in the center of a circle to represent myself and then listened and placed birds in the area surrounding me. I color-coded the sounds to represent the quality of the call/song. Green meant excellent quality, blue meant good quality, purple meant fair quality, and pink meant poor quality. The link below is to an image of the sound map.
https://www.camscanner.com/share/show?encrypt_id=MHg0MDNiMmFiNQ%3D%3D&sid=A51887A0BA864A00SX7N68R0

List of Birds Seen:

  • 1 European Starling
  • 1 Turkey Vulture
  • 1 Red-tailed Hawk
  • 1 Northern Flicker
  • 2 Canada Geese
Publicado el jueves, 23 de abril de 2020 a las 01:48 AM por climpert climpert

Observaciones

Fotos / Sonidos

No hay fotos o sonidos

Qué

Zopilote Aura (Cathartes aura)

Autor

climpert

Fecha

Abril 22, 2020

Descripción

A Turkey Vulture was seen soaring high above.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Estornino Pinto (Sturnus vulgaris)

Autor

climpert

Fecha

Abril 22, 2020

Descripción

One European Starling was seen foraging on a grassy lawn.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Carpintero de Pechera Común (Colaptes auratus)

Autor

climpert

Fecha

Abril 22, 2020

Descripción

One Northern Flicker was seen in a maple tree, preening itself.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Ganso Canadiense Mayor (Branta canadensis)

Autor

climpert

Fecha

Abril 22, 2020

Descripción

A pair of Canada Geese was seen laying in the grass near a pond's edge.

Fotos / Sonidos

No hay fotos o sonidos

Qué

Aguililla Cola Roja (Buteo jamaicensis)

Autor

climpert

Fecha

Abril 22, 2020

Descripción

A Red-tailed Hawk was seen flying very high in the sky above.

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