Diario de aneu

On February 10, 2020 from 12:30 to 2:00 pm, I walked along a snowmobile trail in Shelburne, Vermont to observe birds. The temperature was ~37 degrees Fahrenheit, and there was a fair amount of wind.

At around 12:40pm, I spotted a Black Vulture flying in the distance. It was gliding at a high altitude, and it did so by keeping its wings spread out to the sides and only flapping a couple times. Each wing stroke was very powerful and lifted the vulture higher and further. The wings of the black vulture are considered to be slotted, high lift, as the ends of the wings have finger-like feathers that work as an air foil and provides lift. It makes sense that this bird was gliding in circles because it was probably searching for food/roadkill.

Around 1:00pm, I heard black-capped chickadees calling nearby. I heard them calling and singing for approximately 30 minutes before I walked out of range. There were at least two chickadees, but there may have been more. The most frequent sound was the “cheeseburger” tune, but I also heard the classic “chickadee-dee-dee-dee” call. I wasn’t able to actually locate the chickadees because there were many trees and bushes around and they blend in well. It was fairly windy outside and the sun was not fully out, so perhaps the chickadees were staying put in the trees and trying to conserve their body heat. At night, black-capped chickadees go into controlled hypothermia and conserve their hourly metabolic expenditure. However, in the afternoon, the black-capped chickadees may have been perched in a tree cavity to stay warm and that is the reason why I wasn’t able to see them.

Around 1:45pm, I was walking close to a couple of houses and saw five American Robins flying around between the bushes and the trees. I watched the birds from a distance for a while so that they wouldn’t fly away. They were fluttering from branch to branch but would pause on a branch before they moved to another. I found it interesting that the robins were so close to the houses rather than in the trees along the more secluded path. The ground had snow on it, so I imagine the ground is too frozen for the robins to find worms. The trees and bushes that they were on looked like they had little berries/fruits left on them, so they were probably foraging for those. The berry/fruit trees are probably more likely to be planted near homes (for landscaping), so maybe that is why I saw so many robins here. From observing their wings, I think they fall under the category of elliptical, which are the default wing type, They have frayed feathers at the end of their wings, and the primary feathers are much shorter than the secondary feathers. When I walked closer, the robins took off simultaneously. I watched one bird specifically as it flew away, and it had 3-4 smooth wing beats followed by a short glide in which the wings were held tightly into the body.