Field Journal 2

Date: 2/20/23
Start time: 4:42 PM
End time: 6:51 PM
Location: Island Line Trail & Oakledge Park
Temperature: ranged from 42° F to 31° F
Weather:
Clear, partial sun, slight breeze --> partly cloudy/ overcast, wind picked up by the shore and temp. dropped. Brief bout of participation, slight drizzle/ snow for a few moments.
Habitat:
-Urban area, high-traffic area, both pedestrians and vehicles. Ground was pretty muddy, park and lawns wet from melted snow, very little foliage left on trees, aside from pine species. Unkempt trash receptacles and litter on sidewalks/street pretty common
-Rocky shoreline, clusters of tall, bare trees surrounding trail, dry/bare brush of varying heights, line trail on either side, some green foliage remaining, scattered throughout. Railroad running parallel to trail (large source of noise), Burlington Main Wastewater Treatment (large tanks and buildings provide opportunity for nesting/ perching)

I set out around 4:30PM to walk down to the waterfront at the end of Maple Street. I walked the path to the Burlington Surf Club nearly everyday with my dog this summer and recall seeing and hearing many birds, especially gulls! I know seagulls stay by the beach year round in NJ but obviously the Jersey Shore doesn't reach -20°F in the winter, so I was excited to see which birds withstood the recent temperature drops in Burlington. As soon as I left my house I heard bird song and chatter! I couldn't make out which birds they were, all the high-pitched whistles and chirps seemed to blend together. As I approached St. Paul Street I heard some birds chatting and looked up to see 9 small, black birds perching on some telephone wires running along Maple Street (East to West). Based on their short, sporadic, and slightly warbled whistles and chatter, I identified these birds as European Starlings. I took a photo but my phone camera quality is quite underwhelming. I definitely plan to rent out a camera from the Media center for my next birding excursion! I listened to the little chorus for a few minutes while I waited for a friend and noticed they were reactive to the traffic at the intersection and would stop and start their calls only when there was little noise from the road. It began to rain lightly for a few moments and the flock of Starlings dispersed. I took some time to doodle and look up European Starlings and their wing shape as flight was the topic of this journal. Starlings wings look fairly triangular when they are in flight, as if their wings would form a right angle at their shoulder/ coracoid, yet when they are splayed out there are two distinct lobes on the bottom edge where the primary and secondary feathers meet and a pronounced wrist/ ulula. I didn't notice anything particular about their flight or flapping, aside from the fact that they all took off within seconds of each other and flew fairly close to one another.
As we walked down the rest of Maple Street and began walking along the bike path I heard short, sporadic bird song, but nothing I could identify. The path was fairly busy, as it was a beautiful, temperate day, and a holiday too! Most of the greenery I was used to seeing over the summer and fall was gone now and most of the plants and brush around were bare. Some shrubbery remained but nothing seemed to be flourishing. It was significantly colder by the water and much windier. I believe the weather app on my phone reported 10 mph winds for the city of Burlington at that time. I observed a few ducks in the water close to the shore and managed to see a slight green sheen on the head of one of the ducks. The rest of the ducks seemed to be more neutral brown toned, which leads me to believe these were mallards, a male and some females. I managed to snap a picture, however the photo does not capture the green head I was able to see with my binoculars.
We kept walking along the bike path for another 30 minutes or so and didn't hear much activity. As the sun began to sink down and larger, darker clouds began to roll in, the wind picked up a bit and I noticed how loud the shore was! I had never really noticed it until I was trying to listen for quiet birds! We walked through a small residential area and sure enough we saw 3 large black birds congregated around something in someones lawn!! As we approached they flew away and let out a call once they had gained some distance, definitely crows! We made it to Oakledge park as the sun was setting and sat atop a large stone. We were surrounded by bare trees and dense brush. Overhead I saw a murder of what i believed to be crows headed North. There were 7 or 8 flying together in a jumbled, unsynchronized pack. Their flaps seemed very intentional and harsh compared to the European Starlings, probably because of their large, slotted, high lift wings! We sat around for another 40 minutes but as the sky grew darker my hopes of seeing any other birds dwindled. In this spot, I noticed how loud the waves sounded as they crashed on the rocks below. I want to try going somewhere a bit quieter next time, I think I would have more luck being able to distinguish sounds better in a quieter environment! We left at 6:38 PM. As we were descending down from the ledge and back onto the path, we traversed through some moderately dense brush. I heard a very quiet chat between what sounded like 2 or 3 European Starlings. High pitched rambles and short whistles played over each other for a few moments and as we continued walking I didn't hear any more of their discussion. We decided to walk back through residential and commercial areas because by this time it was starting to get pretty dark. As we passed another set of water tanks? and an industrial lot, I heard my favorite call of all!!! From the little patch of densely packed trees, all bare, I heard a quiet, but long, "cheeeeeeeeseburger"! A Black-capped Chickadee!! I was so excited and even more thrilled when I heard a short, sweet "cheeseburger" in reply! I heard these Chickadees around 6:50PM , and those were the last birds I observed on this trip.
Although I didn't get to see many birds, I was surprised at how many I did notice when I intentionally listened for them! I'm glad I got to use my binoculars, although I am so shaky its quite comical trying to focus and get a good view of whatever I'm trying to see. But, I'm looking forward to practicing and using them more! As mentioned previously, I want to try a quieter location for my next outing, and I will definitely make an effort to go earlier in the day to make sure I get maximum bird activity!

Publicado el 22 de febrero de 2023 a las 05:55 AM por gushay