UVM Ornithology Journal Entry #3

On March 25th, 2020 between 1:30PM EST and 3:00PM EST I observed the species present, and activity of birds in the St George town forest behind my apartment in St George, VT. The weather was mostly cloudy, 42 degrees Fahrenheit, and the most recent precipitation was 36 hours before ending with the accumulation of 7 inches of snow. I chose to do the same location as my previous two bird walks as I am interested in comparing how the species composition and bird activity in this location change as we progress into spring. Over the course of this walk I traveled through many different habitat types with the hope of increasing my likelihood of encountering many bird species. These habitat types include open early successional and edge habitat along the power lines. Mixed-wood forest comprised of red oak, sugar maple, white pine, and hemlock, hardwood forest comprised of red oak, sugar maple, yellow birch, and ironwood, and coniferous forest comprised of hemlock transitioning to northern white cedar, then to white pine as the exposure changes.

I did not notice anything particularly different about how birds were communicating when comparing bird activity from this bird walk to previous walks in the same location. One difference I did however notice is that white-breasted nuthatches were communicating much more often and for longer intervals, which may have to do with an increase in photoperiod beginning to trigger breeding activity. During previous weeks I have not observed any gull vocalizations, but gulls in this area aren't common so likely I haven't heard any vocalizations in previous weeks as gulls weren't in the area. The thawing and exposing of farm fields may have increased the likelihood of gulls being present in the area. I did observe one bird which I have previously not seen nor was I able to identify it, even after scrolling through an online birds of Vermont website. It had a dark brown back and wings with a light brown chest and a dark blueing beck marking on it's chest around where the crop is located. It was a bit larger than a jay, maybe 8 in in height and flew up from the brush into a white pine. It was similar in shape to a killdeer but had shorter legs and a shorter bill.

Throughout my walk the weather remained partly cloudy with a constant temperature around 42 Fahrenheit, but bird activity drastically picked up towards the end of my walk across all habitat types. The only difference I was able to discern about weather change from the beginning of my walk and the end of my walk is the wind let up a great deal. This leads me to believe the high wind was suppressing bird activity. I hypothesize this is because the noise of the wind moving through trees limits the ability for birds to communicate, surpassing their activity.

While seeing the raven and crow on my walk I began thinking about the plumage of scavengers such as crows, ravens, and Turkey vultures. Each of these species is almost entirely black. I believe this indicates the black plumage is beneficial in some way to scavengers and hypothesize this may be because it allows them to blend in with crevices and shadows on a carcass while they are focused on eating preventing predation from above. I believe the lack of pattern on scavengers though is indicative that they do not spend the majority of their time in a specific habitat. I believe this because the comparison with them to a species like ruffed grouse or woodcock which have a variety of browns in intricate patterns on their feathers. Species like woodcock and grouse spend the majority of their time in brushy woodland habitats in which their plumage breaks their silhouette into their surrounding making them difficult to spot. But if a grouse or woodcock were in the air their complex pattern would be of no use to them.

When I came across a group of chickadees I attempted to swish at them but it appeared this noise had no effect on them their behavior as they continued to jump from branch to branch foraging at a distance of about 10m. I suspect in some cases this sound is effective in altering bird behavior as it is not a sound they hear in nature, which would likely then inspire curiosity or fear depending on the context in which they were hearing it.

Publicado el marzo 25, 2020 10:28 TARDE por thatchermorrison