2/16 Rock Point, Arms Forest

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.

Publicado el febrero 16, 2017 08:30 TARDE por hannaht089