Diario de emilyw603

The date is April 28th, 2020. The temperature outside is 40°F, the skies are clear, and the sun is out. I conducted my bird walk at 9 o’clock this morning. My bird walk lasted for about an hour and ended at 10:05 this morning. I conducted my bird walk beginning at Trinity campus. I walked on the sidewalk near the parking garage for the hospital, up through central campus towards the Aiken Center, and then down the road that leads to Centennial Woods. I ended my bird walk at the intersection of East Ave and Colchester Ave, essentially making a circle. The habitat I observed during my final bird walk was an extreme edge habitat. There were not many trees or bushes and there was a lot of human activity such as cars driving and people riding bikes. Most of the trees I saw birds in or around were either maple trees, oak trees, or pine trees.

The date is April 25th, 2020. It is 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The weather is very warm, currently in the mid 50s. The sun is out and there are clear skies. I conducted my bird walk in Centennial Woods. My bird walk lasted for an hour and fifteen minutes and I ended it at roughly 4:15 pm. The specific habitat I visited was very patchy. There was not much brush, and the trees in the surrounding areas were mostly coniferous. I also noticed a couple stray oak trees and was able to identify a couple different maples. I stayed very close to Centennial Brook, so there was a water source in the habitat I was observing.

During my bird walk, I kept seeing a group of about five or six American Crows. I watched them interact for a good amount of time. During this observation period, I saw two crows, that I presume to be males, trying to fight each other away from a branch. They were raising their wings and cawing loudly, which is why I assume that this was confrontational and not a friendly interaction. I inferred that these crows likely were fighting for that spot to start making a nest, as it is the start of the breeding season for many species. Eventually, one of the crows left the branch and one of them established dominance. I also watched what I assume to be the more dominant male begin to collect nesting materials. The crow was using its beak to strip off pieces of bark and then flew back up to what I assume to be the nesting area. To my knowledge, there could have already been a nest up in the tree too. It was really high up and I do not have access to binoculars, so the potential nest in the branch easily could have been out of my sight. My reason for thinking that there may have already been a nest in the tree is that I did some extra google research about the nesting behavior of crows and from my understanding, crows use tree bark mostly on the inside of a nest to create a cushioned spot for the young.

During my bird walk I also heard the classic “fee-bee… fee-bee” song of an Eastern Phoebe. My guess is that this Eastern Phoebe may have been trying to mate, hence the singing. I also was able to spot the phoebe that I had been hearing, which was really cool. The Eastern Phoebe was in branches much closer to the ground, and I was actually able to spot what I think was a nest. In addition to hearing the Eastern Phoebe, I also heard many American Robins singing, which likely means they were also attempting to mate. One outstanding question I had after observing these birds was why were the crows so high up in the trees whereas the smaller songbirds were in lower parts of the trees? I looked into American Crow nesting behavior and actually found my answer. Apparently, crows prefer to nest in the top quarter or third of a tree, which explains why they were so high up. I also looked up the nesting habits of Eastern Phoebes and found that they tend to stay close to freshwater which I found interesting. Overall, this was a really productive bird walk and I had a lot of fun finally getting outside and away from my apartment.

Link to my sound activity:
https://ibb.co/FqbSMmQ

Today, I conducted my bird walk around the natural areas of Trinity Campus because it is the only area I have access to right now. The time was around 7:30 am and the bird walk lasted for about an hour. I just hovered around the edge habitats and saw a lot of birds this morning and they were all pretty vocal as well. The weather today is comfortable, around 38ºF. The skies are pretty clear and it is sunny out.

note that iNaturalist will not allow me to upload the picture I am trying to attach to my observation, it is just giving me the "failed to save record" error code repeatedly

It is approximately 4 pm, and today’s date is April 8th, 2020. My bird walk today is being conducted along the natural areas around Trinity Campus, as that’s pretty much the only natural area I have access to due to the COVID-19 stay at home order. The temperature is about 45°F, and the sky is pretty cloudy. The habitat behind the “back 5” on Trinity is very covered with trees, and there is a good amount of underbrush. From what I can tell, there are mostly pines and other coniferous trees. I can also tell that there is a good amount of maples as well. There is a relatively small body of water nearby, which indicates a water source for nearby birds and other animals.
One species that I have been observing a lot during many of my bird walks is the Rock Pigeon. The Rock Pigeon is a year-round resident species in Vermont, which means that it is a bird that does not migrate. The Rock Pigeon is a species of bird that has learned how to effectively coexist among humans. Rock Pigeons are really popular city birds, which explains why I have seen them during my bird walks in areas that I would not think a bird would be, such as inside or on top of dumpsters, hanging out relatively close to the street where cars are constantly moving, and being nearby the sidewalks despite there being a lot of movement by people and their pets in very close proximity. One of the main reasons that Rock Pigeons don’t migrate is probably because of their ability to live so close to people, and with living close to people comes a food source, which is trash and other food scraps in this case. Rock Pigeons are able to find food year-round in their habitat, so it does not make sense to migrate somewhere else, as migration is an extremely energetically expensive process. One of the main drivers of migration in birds is to find food, which Rock Pigeons have access to year-round in Burlington.
Another common species I’ve observed throughout my field journal assignments is the American Robin, which is a migratory species. American Robins tend to return to Vermont in mid to late March, which is a perfect explanation as to why I’ve been seeing them relatively more often as it gets later into the spring. American Robins migrate south for the winter in large flocks. This migratory flocking behavior of American Robins is beneficial because traveling in flocks provides increased protection against predators, which can be useful when migrating long distances. In addition to increased protection, flocking behavior also means that there is increased foraging ability, which can prove useful when groups of birds are in areas that are unfamiliar to them. Finding food is likely very difficult for birds who are in ranges outside their comfort zone, and so this increased foraging ability likely helps keep a lot of the members of the flock fed and alive.
American Robins mainly migrate because of limited food resources, not temperature changes. This means that the local American Robins likely waited to migrate until the local food resources were depleted. Food availability is likely the factor that signals when to migrate to American Robins. Since the weather is warming up in Burlington, there are buds beginning to grow on the trees and the ground is pretty thawed. These are likely cues that cause the local American Robins to migrate back to Burlington, as they signify that food availability has begun to increase for the season. Arriving back in Burlington in early April has many benefits. The first benefit being that the birds returning in early April have the “first pick” of territories and home ranges and only have to work around the birds that have been in Burlington all season. Another advantage of returning to Burlington early is the found availability. There is likely minimal competition as the ground is thawed and the trees are budding, but only the early migrants and year-round species are currently in Burlington. Lastly, the American Robins that return to Burlington in early April may have better luck finding mates than those that return later in the season.

The time is roughly 7 am. My original plan was to return to the spot I went for my last journal entry because I wanted to check the snags out again. However, I am going to be watching my neighbor’s bird feeder from my kitchen window for 90 minutes today for my bird “watch” because I am experiencing potential flu like symptoms, and I do not want to get sicker by going outside in the cold or expose anyone else to my sickness. The weather is pretty cloudy today, and the temperature is 37°F right now. It does not appear to be terribly windy, there is only slight movement at the tips of the trees which indicates only a slight breeze. I would definitely classify the habitat I am studying as extreme edge, as it is a large clump of trees (probably no more than 35) with some underbrush, but it is surrounded by houses on three sides and a road on the fourth side. The only trees I can see are coniferous, likely pines judging by the size.
I did not see that many different species at all, I only saw three different species. I saw a massive number of American Crows, two Black-capped chickadees, and one American Robin. I think the reason behind not seeing many different species was because the area I was observing was likely American Crow territory. I was not originally planning to do my field journal observations on Saturday. I actually just woke up to use the bathroom, and when I looked out my kitchen window, I saw a lot of crows. I was able to count about 40 before I lost track, it was really hard to get an exact number because I do not own binoculars and they were moving around a lot. Seeing this as an awesome opportunity to just get an assignment done, I pulled a chair up to my kitchen window and sat down to bird watch for nearly an hour and a half. What I didn’t notice was that gradually, some of the crows were flying away from the area. This happened so gradually, I literally did not notice until around the end of my bird “watch” when I recounted and only could count 15 crows.
I was thinking about why so many crows would be congregated in such an extreme edge habitat with so little available trees. I came up with a few potential explanations for this behavior. The first explanation could be that the crows were trying to mate. This could also explain why certain individuals were gradually leaving the area, they likely were not having success finding a mate. This could also explain why the crows were moving around the trees so much, which made it pretty difficult to get an accurate count. Another potential explanation for this behavior could be that the crows were using a large flock size to defend their territory from potential rivals. I read on the Cornell site that crows will get together in large flocks, especially during daytime, if they need to defend their territory. Maybe this area has always been “crow territory”, and new birds may potentially be trying to move into the area, hence the large flock present to scare any new birds away. The fact that the crows were loudly cawing could also be explained as an attempt to defend their territory from newcomers.
In addition to seeing the ridiculous number of crows that I saw, I also got to see two Black-capped Chickadees performing “stealth missions” to my neighbor’s bird feeder. I saw the Black-capped Chickadees both using the underbrush nearby my neighbor’s bird feeder as cover, I’m assuming to stay hidden from the crows in the trees near the bird feeder. Anyways, I watched one of the chickadees at a time fly up to the bird feeder, get some food, and fly back down to the ground. It almost looked like one was acting as a lookout whereas the other one went and collected seeds. I noticed the chickadees begin to bury some of the seeds they got from the bird feeder, which I thought was kind of dumb. I didn’t understand why they were hiding their food instead of eating it. I decided to look that strange behavior up online, because I wanted an explanation. Apparently, Black-capped Chickadees will cache food in hiding spots for later, especially if danger is nearby to minimize the amount of exposure time to predators and rivals. This behavior helps protect the chickadees from predators and rivals and allows the birds to return to their cache sites during a safer time to feed. Obviously, after I read this information about Black-capped Chickadees I took back the whole “they’re being dumb” thought.
The last species I saw was an American Robin. The American Robin was likely an adult because I recognized the classic feather colors, a greyish back with a red belly. The color of an American Robin’s back is similar to the color of a Black-capped Chickadee’s back. Both birds share this common grey back color likely as an adaptation to help with camouflage, especially during cold months where there are minimal leaves. The grey backs work to blend both the American Robins and the Black-capped Chickadees into their surroundings, such as the bare, greyish tree branches during the colder months. Although both these species share the trait of having a greyish colored back, their bellies are much different. The bellies of Black-capped Chickadees are a very light brown, which probably aids in camouflage efforts. This probably puts Black-capped Chickadees at a higher advantage when it comes to hiding from predators than American Robins. American Robins have very brightly colored bellies, which makes them stand out a lot in my opinion. Although this puts them at a higher risk of predation, the colored bellies of American Robins probably help with mating. My guess is that the more vibrant a robin’s belly is, the more appealing he is as a mate for surrounding females.
Overall, although I did not see that many species and did not get to go outside for an extended amount of time out of fear of getting sicker, I still had fun conducting my bird watch. I got to see a massive flock of crows, which I thought was SO cool to see right outside my kitchen window! I’m from Nashua, NH which is a semi big city for New Hampshire, so I did not see a lot of nature right outside my house growing up the way I see it here in Burlington. I think it is really interesting to see how those crows in the trees right behind my house were so used to living among people that they did not seem bothered at all by being surrounded by three houses with a lot of cars driving on both East Ave and Colchester Ave. Hopefully, I feel better by the next field journal assignment so I can actually go on another real bird walk outside and potentially see a few more species than this time.

It is 2:30 in the afternoon, and today’s date is March 3rd, 2020. Today, I am conducting my bird walk around the natural areas of Trinity campus. The weather is really nice today. There is not a lot of wind, the sun is out with blue skies, and the weather is 35°F. I would classify this habitat as an edge habitat, as there are tons of academic and residential buildings in the surrounding area. I notice that there are a lot of coniferous trees and some oaks around this area.

I have seen quite a few smaller sized birds nearby today. I have seen some American Robins, Black-capped Chickadees, among a couple of other species I was able to identify. Towards the beginning of my bird walk, I noticed some American Robins on the ground by an oak tree. It looked like they were trying to eat something, I could not get close enough to see what it was, but I think they were some seeds. I noticed one of the robins was holding its leg really close to its body, and I immediately recognized this behavior from what we’ve covered in class. I was able to infer that the robin was standing on one foot in order to mitigate heat loss and stay warm, especially since it was on the ground standing right on some snow and ice. Birds stand in specific ways in order to preserve body heat during the colder months, and this was a perfect real-life example of this behavior that I was lucky enough to get to observe.

A little later on in my walk, when I was approaching the area that has more tree coverage, I spotted some Black-capped Chickadees up in an oak tree. I also saw that there was a hole in the oak tree not too far from where they were standing. Based off of what I have learned in class, I think it is safe to infer that maybe that hole in the oak tree I saw is used by birds in the area to overnight in. Unfortunately, I am a vertically challenged individual, so I was unable to get a look inside of the hole in the tree as it was too far up. However, the fact that these chickadees were just hanging out on the branch by the hole I saw, I think it is pretty safe to say that the hole might be where some of the smaller local birds overnight in.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find any “snags” on my bird walk that were being used. I saw some fallen logs; however, when I tapped on them no birds showed themselves. This could be due to a couple of reasons. The first reason I thought of could simply be that the birds that occupy the snag were out and about foraging for food and stuff since it is a clear day, not too windy, and the sun is out. Another potential reason that no birds might occupy that snag is that the snag is potentially way too close to the edge of the habitat. Maybe the birds that generally occupy snags prefer habitats further away from people and buildings, which could explain the empty logs.

I was really excited that I got to see a couple more species than I saw during my last bird walk. I also was really proud of myself for being able to identify most of the birds I saw during my walk. I think the next time I go on a bird walk, I am going to try and come back to this area because I really want to follow up on those logs to see if any new birds come occupy them. Overall, I found this bird walk very enjoyable again, I love getting to go outside for my homework!

It is 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and the date is February 12th, 2020. My bird walk is being conducted in Centennial Woods. The weather is clear with blue skies, but a chilly 35°F. The habitat has a surprising amount of coverage despite it being the middle of winter in Vermont. There are a lot of pine trees, some maples, and other coniferous trees. Centennial Brook is very close, which means water access for the species in the surrounding area.

I’ve seen a couple American Crows gliding between trees, hovering around a specific area. The crows are not as much flying as they are gliding from tree to tree. The crows are not flapping their wings more than once or twice when they move between the trees. I have also seen some Black-capped Chickadees. The chickadees fly differently than the crows. The chickadees flap their wings more rapidly, and do not glide as much as the crows do. I think this is probably linked the wing and body size of the bird, the crows have bigger wings with more surface area that allow them to glide whereas the chickadees have shorter wings and smaller bodies, so they need to flap their wings more rapidly to fly.

The American Crow has wings where the feathers turn into “fingers” almost in flight, and this type of wing is good for gliding. This is helpful to crows because they are scavengers, so they are often gliding above areas searching for food. The Black-capped Chickadee has a different style of wing. Like most other songbirds, the Black-capped Chickadee’s wings are shorter since songbird bodies tend to be pretty small. This means that the Black-capped Chickadee must flap its wings more rapidly in order to fly. This knowledge is helpful in determining what species a bird is from flight patterns. It is more likely that a bird flapping its wings rapidly is a songbird of some type, whereas a gliding bird high up in the sky is likely some sort of vulture or scavenger bird that has bigger wings meant for gliding.

Overall, I did not find a lot of bird during my bird walk. This is likely due to a couple reasons. The first reason is that it is currently the middle of the winter in Vermont, therefore a lot of birds are not as active in the winter as they are during the warmer months. Also, due to natural occurrences such as migration, the physical number of birds in the state decreases during the winter months. Another reason is probably because it is beginning to get pretty windy and clouds are starting to roll in. This means that some sort of storm is likely, and the birds probably know that. I saw a lot more birds this morning walking around campus probably because there was not an impending storm.

If I wanted to observe more birds, it would be wise to return to Centennial Woods during a day where the forecast does not include light snow and wind, and instead is sunny and clear. Centennial Woods is generally a species rich area in Burlington, so returning on a day with better weather might mean I get to see more species variety. Also, moving even closer to Centennial Brook might mean that I see more birds. Centennial Brook is a major water source for a lot of birds and other species that dwell in Centennial Woods. Being in an area where the brook is visible might increase the amount of birds I see because generally speaking, species richness increases near bodies of water.