Field Orno Day 5: Geprags Community Park

Today we went to Geprags Community Park. Upon arrival at ~6:40 am. the temperature was ~55 degrees F, with ~62% humidity and the wind was blowing East at ~3mph. Upon departure at ~11:30 the temperature was ~76 degrees F, with ~34% humidity, and the wind was blowing S-SW at ~8mph. The habitat here consisted of an early successional forest with shrubby forest edges leading into large grassland areas. Great mix of habitat types! It is also near the Laplatte River.

I was a little discouraged this morning since I did not do well on the last cumulative quiz cause I kind of panicked while taking it. This week has been a bit overwhelming since I started with very little knowledge/experience with identifying birds and have been given so much to remember over a short period of just 5 days. Also, after waking up early and walking outside for 5-6 hours in the sun then trying to study the whole afternoon/night while feeling tired is quite difficult.

However, my experience birding today really changed my attitude because I was able to really see how much progress I have made since day one of this class in the field. Day one I was really only relying on sight since I did not know a lot of bird calls, hence all of the photos. However, today, along with Grace, I was able to hear a bird, ID it by sound only, then follow the sound to go see the bird singing. It honestly was the most rewarding feeling being able to follow the sound to see that it was indeed the bird we identified using only sound. I was also able to get some really great audio clips of most of the birds we heard since we tracked them and got really close. I was very happy that we saw a handful of species that I have never seen/heard in person before! Following the sounds also was also really effective in terms of memorizing them and associating them with the species. I definitely feel more confident in identifying all the birds I heard today by sound now!

Despite the feeling of being a little overwhelmed, this class has been very enjoyable and has gotten me even more excited about birds! I am definitely going to continue birding outside of this class because I feel like I am improving every day! Definitely have become a bird nerd and i'm proud!

Publicado el 22 de mayo de 2020 a las 10:44 PM por taylorehwa