UVM Ornithology Journal Entry #6

On April 22, 2020 between 15:00 and 16:45 EST I conducted a bird walk on the former Gifford Farm in Randolph recording observations for all bird encounters. This farm is comprised of 60 acres of fields, and 80 acres of forests which is involved in the conservation easement program for the next 25 years. The forest is comprised of a wide ranged of habitats including mixed wood forest, conifer forest, and hardwood forest, as well as early successional growth of honeysuckle, raspberry, and sumac growing up in clearcuts which were conducted in 2017. The field are currently mowed and growing with grass and clover, and the pasture is mostly dead plant vegetation as it hasn't been grazed since 2017. The weather was overcast and 35 degrees Fahrenheit with high winds coming out of the west. The previous night yielded the accumulation of <1in of snow, some of which was still present at high elevations on northern exposures.

Bird activity and species composition this week was drastically different than weeks prior with a higher species richness and many species which I have not previously observed on the property. I speculate this may stem from the cold windy weather altering behavior rather than seasonal changed as my last observations were only 7 days prior to these. One pattern which I have noticed and remains true through this week is the majority of my observations were of male female pairs foraging together. This indicates within some species, mate selection has already occurred and males and female pairs are already set for the breeding season. I speculate the European Starlings and American Robins I observed were remaining in the barnyard as they are preparing too or building nests within the buildings. From previous observations I know it is common for European starlings and American Robins to seek small holes in buildings or tight spaces in open rafters to place there nests, and previous nests in the garage rafter indicate this is likely the case. The Wild Turkey I observed walking through the open overgrown pasture was likely looking for, or remaining close to her nest site. Wild Turkeys prefer areas with low thick grasses but open canopies for chick concealment, as well as abundant food sources like clover, grass, and bugs. Overgrown pastures and hayfields like the one this hen was spotted in provide excellent chick rearing habitat.

Despite not seeing any birds displaying territorial behavior I did notice patterns within how different species of birds were using different habitats. For example, all of my Dark-eyed Junco, and Eastern Phoebe observations were within coniferous forests with with substantial understory growth due to being selectively cut. Almost all of my song sparrow, Hermit Thrush, and Wild Turkey observations were recorded in open, but overgrown fields, and all of my European starling and American Robbin Observations were recorded near areas with open, short green grass, near to buildings. This lack of overlap between habitat use stems from the relationship each of these species have with their habitat and how they utilize it.

I did not witness any birds directly nesting, likely due to the cold temperatures, the majority of the behavior I observed was foraging. But the farm on which I conducted my observations on has a wide variety of materials open for nesting as many of the fields have long dead grass, and a high abundance of secondary growth leads to an abundance of small green stems. As I research on the house sparrow nests I believe it is possible the house sparrows I flushed out of the grass in the field were collecting grass for nests rather than feeding on grass seed, as house sparrows typically have a large amount of grass woven into their nests.

The sound map which I have attached was created over a 10 minute period including the names of the species which I heard during this time period. The size of the lettering indicates the clarity of the song, and the distance from the center location indicates the expected distance from my location. For this sound map I chose to sit in the middle of the barnyard as it has consistently been the area with the highest richness of bird species as well as the most activity. From this exercise I learned European starlings calls fail to travel
long distances, while calls from the American Crow can be heard from nearly anywhere within the valley.

/Users/thatchermorrison/Desktop/94123017_2636421776595259_500208010304421888_n.pdf

Publicado el abril 23, 2020 01:42 MAÑANA por thatchermorrison