April 7th Intervale

What a beautiful day! Partly cloudy but the sun is shining brightly through the clouds. There is very little wind. It is 52 degrees. I biked down to the Intervale and walked into the woods on the path near the river. I chose a spot on a large log where I could see the river. The woods were mostly composed of deciduous trees. There were some people fishing and people going for a walk or run passing by (6ft away!). Since March we have gained about two hours of daylight which has felt like a ton! We have also begun to have more consistently warm days and nights that are no longer (or rarely) dipping below freezing. I guess the sugaring season is likely over. If I, a human confined to my room, staring at a blue light screen for far too many hours per day feel as if the seasonal changes have been drastic the past few weeks, I can only imagine what the birds are thinking. Another change in the landscape has been the increase in pollen. Just being outside for 2.5 hours, my eyes are all runny from the pollen in the air. I bet this means that there are new things (like buds and bugs) ready for the birds to eat.

The first bird I saw was a Tufted Titmouse at 4:06. I always notice how fluffy and cute titmice are, but the fluffiness isn’t to look cuter but really to provide warmth and insultation for the winter. Then I thought I heard a gaggle of geese coming in for a landing but turns out it was a TON of seagulls overhead. At 4:08 I saw an American Goldfinch. Even though these birds are in VT all year that was the first time I had seen one. I left my spot at 6:20 and the Goldfinch was still on its same tree that it initially landed on singing. How do they sing for so long? Do birds ever go hoarse? At 4:10 I saw a pair (M + F) of Downy Woodpeckers. They too stayed in the little patch that I was sitting in for the whole afternoon, hopping around from tree to tree, often following each other. I wonder what a Downy Woodpecker territory map would look like. At 4:30, 13 Common Mergansers floated down the river, and then swam back up it. There seemed to be a reasonable balance between males and females. At 4:40 I saw a White Crested Nuthatch jumping from tree to tree. At 4:42, two mourning doves flew across the river and landed on the other bank. At 4:52 I think I heard an American Crow. At 5:05 a Double Crested Cormorant flew overhead. There seemed to be an increase in bird chatter but I am not great at distinguishing calls so it was too difficult to determine what I was hearing. At 5:47 I saw 2 Black-capped Chickadees. A mallard floated by at 5:51. At 6:21 5 ducks flew overhead but I couldn’t confirm that they were mallards. On our way out of the woods I saw a grouping of Northern Flickers. Their tail feathers were so yellow!

Species that stay in Burlington have picked up a few adaptations to stay warm in the winter. Some of these adaptations include becoming hypothermic at night to preserve calories as well as adding feathers and puffing them up to increase insulating qualities.

I didn’t see many migrating birds while I am observing. The only migrators I saw were the Northern Flicker, Herring Gull, Double-crested Cormorant and Mallard. All of these migrators are short to medium distance migrators. The minimum distance they cumulatively migrated was 1300 miles to a maximum of 7500 miles.

For most species the increasing daylight hours were a signal to start their northern migration. While arriving earlier in the season has some potential territorial advantages it does mean that they could still experience some weather that is basically still winter weather meaning if they are not prepared to endure the cold they might be in danger.

Publicado el 23 de abril de 2020 a las 08:29 PM por sgillies sgillies

Observaciones

Fotos / Sonidos

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Jilguero Canario (Spinus tristis)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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Carpintero Albinegro Menor (Dryobates pubescens)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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Mergo Mayor (Mergus merganser)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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Carbonero Copetón (Baeolophus bicolor)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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No hay fotos o sonidos

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Gaviota Plateada (Larus argentatus)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 2020

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No hay fotos o sonidos

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Bajapalos Pecho Blanco (Sitta carolinensis)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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Huilota Común (Zenaida macroura)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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Cuervo Norteamericano (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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Cormorán Orejón (Nannopterum auritum)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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Carbonero de Capucha Negra (Poecile atricapillus)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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Pato de Collar (Anas platyrhynchos)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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Carpintero de Pechera Común (Colaptes auratus)

Autor

sgillies

Fecha

Abril 7, 2020 a las 04:14 PM ADT

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