Diario de jgoodma4

My birding trip started around 2:00pm on April 7, 2020. It was about 63 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny. I was walking around my neighborhood so there were a lot of people outside, enjoying the weather, doing yard work, and driving around. I walked until about 4:00pm when I ended my birding trip. All the activity outside made it difficult to hear the different birds but I saw a few. I saw a Black-capped Chickadee fly into a bush, a few mourning doves were sitting on a lawn, and I saw a couple of crows up in a tree. Towards the end of my walk I saw some blue jays and Downy Woodpeckers. For the most part, American Crows don’t migrate, they may change or leave their territory more often. They will leave to roost and to forage for food. Not much is known about the migration behavior of blue jays. They most likely migrated along the Atlantic coast. The increasing temperature is one of the main factors that contribute to the blue jays northern migration. Looking at the range map on all about birds, all the species I saw are either residents or short-distance migrants. None of these species are shown to migrate outside of the US. Assuming the non-resident species migrate along the Atlantic coast, they traveled about 2,700 miles combined.

My birding trip started around 3:00pm on April 15, 2020. It was a sunny day, around 52 degrees Fahrenheit. I walked around until about 4:30. I saw two Black-capped chickadees as well as a few American crows flying from tree to tree in a small area of deciduous woods behind my house. I also heard a Tufted Titmouse that sounded like it was coming from the same area. I also saw a few American robins perched in a Crimson King Maple tree in my front yard.

My birding trip started around 12:30pm on April 22, 2020. It was a cloudy day with a lot of wind. It was around 42 degrees Fahrenheit and I was out until around 2:15pm. On the walk I could hear a Northern Cardinal and saw it fly into the branches of a big Eastern White Pine where I lost track of it. I saw a couple of American Crows up in an American Beech Tree that was slightly separated from the woods behind a neighbors house. I heard a call that I had trouble identifying but I think it was an Eastern Phoebe and I saw a Black-capped Chickadee on the branch of a Birch Tree snag.

I could most easily see specific mate selection behavior in American Crows. I could hear an American Crow but it was making a different sound than it’s usual sharp caw which is what caught my attention. I located a pair of crows up in an American Beech tree on the edge of the woods near my house. The crow that I assume is the male, was kind of bobbing his head up and down at the female. I couldn't locate any nests, but none of the woods in my neighborhood are very thick. I’m assuming most of the birds are nesting in the different patches of woods.

I could see and hear a Northern Cardinal defending an area of thick Eastern White Pines. He was defending prime territory which also probably signaled to the females that he would be a good mate. He has good territory that could hide a nest from potential predators very well. I saw a Black-capped Chickadee that I think was nesting in a Birch Tree snag. Chickadees like to line their nests with wood chips and wood shavings. In a Suburban area, that is not very difficult to find. The Black-capped chickadee would only have to go to a nearby yard to find materials to line its nest. In suburban neighborhoods people use wood chips and wood shavings for landscaping and for areas around their child’s playground.

Sound map:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kbB2kDWajbHhwX7mFcyQjAytyHx55eTS0MFiIemke7s/edit?usp=sharing