Diario de hannaht089

Today I ventured to the Lakeview Cemetery near Burlington High School around 2pm. The weather is mid-ranged temperature, overcast and slightly windy. The habitat in the surrounding area is mostly open grassy areas with shrubbery and scattered trees. There are more forested areas around the perimeter of the cemetery.

Today I went to Lone Rock Point to check out some birds around 12:30. The temperature was a slightly breezy 49 degrees, and it was mostly sunny. The habitat I was in was a mix of open forested areas, rocky cliffs, and more closely packed forested areas. I added a sound recording for the Black-capped Chickadee, however there are a few other birds in the recording that I could not identify.

Yesterday I went to Centennial Woods near campus at around 1pm. The weather was overcast, though not quite rainy anymore, and the temperature was moderate. I walked along the path for a little while, and quickly stumbled upon a few American Robins. They were flittering around and foraging on the ground, most likely for insects. Robins are residents, staying in their breeding range the whole winter. They roost in trees, and these roosts can get huge, as they must keep together to stay warm.

After observing them for a while, I walked further through the woods until I heard the song of a few black-capped Chickadees. I stopped to observe them, and upon closer inspection, I saw a White-breasted Nuthatch close by. Both of these are resident birds. Black-capped Chickadees stay warm in the winter by sleeping in their own individual cavities in rotten wood. They also store seeds and food for later, as they have a great memory for finding it again. Interestingly, White-breasted Nuthatches sometimes join in foraging flocks of Chickadees, likely to make finding food easier and to increase predator vigilance.

As I made my way back out of the woods, I stumbled upon an American Crow. Like American Robins, they roots in large groups in the winter to conserve heat. They are sneaky foragers and will steal the food of other birds. At the end of my walk I saw a flock of Canada Geese flying overhead. There is a chance they were migrating back up north for the spring, as this species can be migratory, however they will often stay right were they were born if ample open water and food is available. Lake Champlain likely provides this, and the more urban territory around Burlington likely provides a safe haven from natural predators.

A few Saturdays ago I attended the Vermont Institute of Natural Science's Owl festival. I arrived around 10:30am, and the weather stayed pretty consistently cool and cloudy all day. The bird enclosures were placed back in a wooded area, away from the road, near a clearing. All of the birds I observed were captive, however they were housed outside and thus still needed to utilize their adaptations to stay warm in the winter. This event gave me a great opportunity for some up-close viewing of temperature regulating behavior as well as physiology of owls specifically.

The Great Grey Owl was one of the species I spent some time watching. The individual appeared "puffed up" for a majority of the time I was observing it. This likely is creating a pocket of trapped, warm air under the fluffed up feathers that acts as an insulating layer from the outside cold. The individual did not spend very much time actually moving around the enclosure, as this is energy intensive, and the bird no longer has a need to hunt for its dinner.

The Snowy Owl was another species I decided to focus on. Being at a center for education, I had access to taxidermied owl parts, and was able to feel the soft feathers on their feet, as well as feel and observe under a microscope the difference between the down feathers of their wings compared to other feather types. The loose structure of these feathers traps air and insulates the bird from heat loss in the colder months. While observing the live Snowy Owl, I recorded that it spent a lot of time near or behind structures in its enclosure, seemingly blocking the wind from hitting it.

Given that these birds are captive and are provided with food, their behavior is not indicative of wild birds, who would need to budget their energy between hunting for prey and keeping warm. These birds have the luxury of not worrying about where their food is coming from, and thus can devote most of their time to homeostatic behaviors to regulate body temperature.

Today around 12:20 I walked around the Arms Forest behind Burlington High School. The heavily piled up snow prevented me from moving too far into the trees, so I walked mostly down Rock Point Rd around the edges of the forest. I pulled up my car to park and before even getting out I observed a large number of American Robins fly from the edge of the trees in front of me across the road to the other side of the forest. I noted their distinctive song and watched their wings flap during flight, propelling them up, down, and around, through the tree level. After getting out I saw more American Robins fly over the road, along with a distant group of larger light gray-looking birds that were soaring above the tree level.

I walked further down the road to a quiet stretch where I spent quite a while watching 4 American Robins along with 5 Red-breasted Nuthatches fly back and forth between trees on one side of the road and the other. The American Robins were foraging on a bush with red, frozen berries. During this time, I could hear the "fee-bee" call of a Black-capped Chickadee, and identified 4 individuals pass through by their distinctive agile, fluttering flight pattern and black markings on their heads.

The American Robins spent most of the time I was observing them eating the berries found in bushes by the side of the road, or flying back and forth from the tops of trees. Their simple flapping flight likely gives them the ability to fly tree-to-tree or bush-to-bush, searching for berries and nuts. The Black-capped Chickadees have more nimble, acrobatic sense to their flight, and thus are better suited to zip through the branches of a forest. The larger, unidentified birds I saw earlier in the day likely have a different food source than the berry/nut eating Robins and Chickadees, as their high, soaring flight style may suggest.