Birding from my back porch 4/8/2020

I've been under the weather lately (thankfully just with the regular flu) so I couldn't go very far for this week's journal. I decided to sit on my back porch and see what came by. We don't have any feeders out, but we do have some hedging that seems to attract small song birds. I observed four different species: one mated pair of Northern Cardinals, 3-6 Black-Capped Chickadees (hard to count in the hedges), two American Robins, and one Blue Jay. Cardinals and Chickadees year-round residents of Burlington. Robins and facultative migrants that sometimes winter in places like Florida and Northern Mexico, but it is my understanding that most of the Robins in Vermont are year-round residents. I noticed that all the birds I saw were all looking nice and fat, the winter residents likely still carrying some of the weight that they had put on to survive the cold temperatures, and bulking up for mating season as well. The Blue Jay was the only other migratory species I observed, but I did a little research using Cornell's All About Birds site and found out there is still a lot that is not understood about Blue Jay migration. I found out that most Blue Jays in the Northeast actually stay there year round, so there is a good chance that the one I saw is a Vermont resident. I did, however, learn that Blue Jays are facultative migrants, and thousands of Blue Jays migrate in flocks along the Great Lakes and Atlantic coasts. According to Cornell, ornithologists have yet to figure out why Blue Jays migrate when they do. Some Jays remain present throughout winter in all parts of their range, and research suggests that young Jays may be more likely to migrate than adults.
Frequent flier activity:
Blue Jay: approx 2,000 miles! (from farthest point in wintering range)
American Robin: approx 1,500 miles (from Florida)
Black-capped Chickadee: Year round VT resident, 0 miles.
Northern Cardinal: Year round VT resident, 0 miles.

Publicado el abril 10, 2020 03:44 TARDE por emlapoin