Snowy walk in the ONE

Burlington’s Old North End, 4/22/2020, 7:30-9:00 AM, weather conditions overcast and snowy, temperature around 25 degrees. I saw 2 separate mated pairs of cardinals, one female seen with twigs in beak flying into a hedge. Her male partner was perched in a tree next to the hedge and singing, which may have been territory defense. In an urban area like Burlington, this hedge seemed like a decent place to nest; it was very dense and I couldn’t make out the nest or any activity going on inside it unless I got very close, so it seemed to be good for protecting young. It was, however, close to the road and a bit exposed. I would imagine that urban cardinals may prefer backyard hedges to roadside ones, as they are a bit more out of the way. I’ve been noticing a lot of cardinal activity in and around hedges in Burlington which makes me think that these are one of their favorite places to nest. However, the location of those hedges in proximity to roads or buildings may be an indication of fitness. Birds with greater fitness would be more likely to score nesting sites further away from human activity or urban sprawl. I Heard the two toned black capped chickadee mating call, another song I have been hearing a lot lately. I haven’t observed any nesting activity from them, but I did some research on where and how they build nests. These birds either locate a natural cavity like a woodpecker hole, or they excavate a nesting cavity in which to lay their eggs. The female lines the cavity with moss and other coarse material and then covers that layer with softer material like fur or hair. These are materials that can be found pretty much anywhere throughout Burlington, mainly in people’s yards or from natural areas and parks, but also just along street sides. There are a lot of medium/large sized nests around Burlington that you can see high up in roadside trees, similar enough to all be made by the same species. I am unsure what species they belong to though. In the two that I photographed and posted for today, you can see that shreds of plastic shopping bag have been incorporated into the nest. This made me wonder about the ecological consequences of using plastics and other non-organic materials in nest building. I also spotted a few European starlings that are beginning to lose their speckles and transition into their breeding plumage. At the end of my walk, I sat for 10 minutes on my front porch to create my sound-map: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18LjV3knLOl4CC4jbsNJdEe5XtBX_-5TWX9JwqrHTQpo/edit

Publicado el abril 22, 2020 01:16 TARDE por emlapoin