Diario de carterl

I started my walk at 5:20 P.M. in a suburban/rural neighborhood in Warren, NJ ending my bird watching 100 minutes later at 7:00 P.M. There were many birds out but not a lot of visible birds feeding at this time of day. There were also way more birds being vocal than there were visible birds and because it is getting really close to breeding season males are singing and calling to attract females, defend an area, or to warn other males. When I was on my walk I saw many birds that are year round residents to central New Jersey. The Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Black Vulture, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Finch, Northern Cardinal, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Robin, Eastern Bluebird, Hairy Woodpecker, Mallard, and the Red-winged Blackbird have all adapted to be able to survive the winter in the New Jersey climate. One adaptation to not having to migrate over the winter is having a more generalist diet for example, an American Robin will feed on worms during the warmer months but over the winter will switch to fruit that is available to eat off of trees. Another example of this is the Black-capped Chickadee who will feed on insects and caterpillars when available but when it gets colder they will switch to an available food source such as seeds and berries. Many of these birds that don't migrate, have a varied diet that usually consists of insects in the summer but when weather starts to get colder they are able to consume more seed or berries that are still available in the winter. Another problem some species may face is the drop in temperature. These year- round residents have a way to deal with this. Some birds puff up their feathers to conserve warmth trap heat closer to their body, they can lower their body temperatures at night to save energy, and some species break personal space to huddle together for warmth.
Overcoming these challenges can sometimes be difficult and some cold winters with lower amounts of food can be deadly to birds, which is why some birds choose to migrate. The chipping sparrow is an example of one of the early migrant arrives n New Jersey. The Chipping sparrow is a migrant bird of New Jersey that will come during the breeding season and when not breeding they will fly as far south as Florida for the winter. The Chipping Sparrows that arrive early are able to take advantage of the first budding food resources and are able to take advantage of finding good nesting areas to breed with mates. A White-throated Sparrow is migrant bird that winters in New Jersey and will migrate as north to Burlington and as far north as Upper Canada. A reason that there are still some White-throated sparrows left in New Jersey is to take advantage of the available resources that are blooming here that might not yet be available in Burlington. Another risk of leaving to early would be running into a late winter storm or even a late cold temperature drop that could end up killing them.
Mini Activity: Chipping Sparrow: Warren NJ to Burlington VT (312 miles) x (4 birds) = 1248 miles
White-throated Sparrow: NJ to FL (1120 miles) x (3 birds) = 3360 miles
1248+3360= 4608 miles
Overall on this trip I saw black-capped chickadee(3), tufted titmouse(3), house finch(1), northern cardinal(1), brown-headed cowbird(1), american robin(8), eastern bluebird(1), hairy woodpecker(1), mallard(2), black vulture(4), chipping sparrow(4), white-throated sparrow(3). In addition I heard a white-breasted Nuthatch, and a red-winged blackbird.

I started my walk at 5:00 P.M. on March 16th, and went for 90 minutes until 6:30. I walked in a suburban neighborhood in Warren, NJ and it was partly cloudy and 40 degrees F outside. Before I walked outside I saw one chipping sparrow on the feeder and then one House Finch. Then I saw 2 robins on the ground followed by one more on the ground in another spot. Later I saw about 10 House Finches flying around up in the trees moving from one tree to the next the was also one on the ground. I Watched a downy woodpecker fly from one tree to another an Eastern Bluebird further in the woods and later in the walk I heard a White- breasted Nuthatch make 2 different calls.
In total I saw Chipping sparrow (1), House Finch (15), Northern Cardinal (2), American Robin (7), Downy Woodpecker (1), Eastern Bluebird (1), Tufted Titmouse (2), Turkey Vulture (1), American crow (3), House Wren (3), White-throated Sparrow (6), and Red-bellied Woodpecker (1).

I started my walk at 8:35 A.M. in Warren NJ on April 21st ending my walk at 10:10 A.M. It was partly cloudy and 55 degrees F in a suburban neighborhood. Many birds were calling often especially that it was earlier in the morning and getting close to/ already breeding season. These calls/songs(mostly) particularly now can be related to territory defense, mate defense and mate attraction. Over the past three bird walks and just passing the same spots over the weeks it seems that there are a few birds that can regularly be found in the same area. Consistently in the same spot I have noticed one Eastern Bluebird flying over the same yard and sitting on the same power line that crosses over that lawn. This could very likely be the males territory that he is defending and by sitting on the power line over the more open part of the lawn he is better able to see and defend his territory. I am not sure whether or not it is a "quality" territory but it seems during this breeding season that this male is keen to protect it. Although I am not sure about the quality or exact size I can guess that it would be a relatively large area that the Eastern Bluebird can defend it easier which would attribute it to being a higher quality territory with more food. If the territory is also easily defendable this could be good for a potential nest the male can defend the nest from a distance which would decrease the risk of predation at the nest. Overall these attribute to a good quality territory and if it is in fact a quality territory this would mean that the bird is in good physical shape/condition to be able to keep this territory. Having a good territory would also help to attract a mate and increase the chance of his genetics being passed on.
A really common sight this time of year near me is to see a pairs of birds together, especially the House Finch. Often visiting the feeder you will see one male come up to the feeder and then immediately after the female shows up at the feeder. They fly away together and stay close. On today's walk one male and one female were sitting across the street and came over to a thorny bush together. The female flew back over the street and the male flew to the top of the bush. This could have been where they planned to nest or were already nesting as it would have provided good protection from bigger birds or animals. The bush was thick covered and had some thorns on some of the sticks which would help add some extra protection. Although this bush was near the open street and across from a large open lawn behind the bus and to the side of it there were big pine trees that provides some extra cover and could be a good place for the birds to fly into first before flying back to the nest which would help to lower the risk of predation. The female flew away and the male flowed right behind. This cold be an example of an over protective male that want to make sure that she doesn't go off and try to mat with other males for extra-pair bonds. During the breading season the pairs of birds stay close together and sometimes the females are followed by over protective males to prevent their mates from copulating with other males.
On a different day outside my friends house on the reef of a door was a robins nest with large clutch size of 6 blue eggs in a small open cup nest. Although the family rarely uses that door it still might not be the best spot to nest because it would be obvious of were the female is flying to. If prey was to be sitting on a tree at the edge of the lawn they would easily see the robin fly into her nest whereas in the dense forest the robin would not be as visible and could fly closer to the nest on one tree then more subtlety move into the nest in a short flight. Also by having such a large clutch size the mother would have to frequent the nest even further risking the chance of predation.
Mini activity: For the sound map I was able to hear birds from all around. It was a lot of different types of birds but the same individual birds calling repeatedly. There were a few birds that would call then another bird of the same species would call after. If these were songs it was most likely males completing for territory and/or females. One example of this that I heard was at least 2 different White-throated Sparrows singing in the distance. They have been often singing in this spot for the past 3 week and they are still here which may be usually since in central New Jersey they are really only supposed to be here for the non-breeding season and are supposed to move up to southern New York or only the very top of New Jersey (or even further north) for the breeding season. This may be a special localized case where White-throated Sparrows are staying further south year round because of climate change or maybe because they are able to be sustained in the are due to abundant resources that can support them during their nesting time. It is also a possibility that these locations change slightly over time and that books with range maps are not able to completely draw where each bird is but instead do a rough estimate of where they usually are during certain times.

(The picture of the area where i sat down are provided in the entry with the diagram of the sound map.)

Overall I saw Hermit Thrush(1), Eastern Bluebird(2), House Finch(3), Black-capped Chickadee(1), White-breasted Nuthatch(1), Turkey Vulture (1), Hawks(2)(maybe one Red-shouldered Hawk and one Sharp-shinned Hawk).

I started my walk at 5:15 on April 28th and ended my walk at 6:45. It was 64 degrees F and sunny. My walk was in Warren NJ, a suburb.

I saw a House Finch (1), Northern Cardinal(1), White-throated Sparrow(1), Song Sparrow(1), American Robin (2), Eastern Bluebird(2), Red-tailed Hawk (2), and Chipping Sparrow(1).