Diario de thatchermorrison

On May 1st 2020 between the hours of 4:45AM and 11:30AM I recorded all observations of birds while out turkey hunting on the Gifford farm in Randolph Vermont. The weather was between 39-55 degreed Fahrenheit with scattered showers throughout the morning, heavy at times, and overcast for the entirety of the observation period. Wind was minimal but bird activity was still slow likely due to the rain. I did notice activity increased during breaks between showers. Wild Turkey and American Robin activity did not seem to be affected by the rain. The Gifford 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 fields are currently mowed and growing with grass and clover, and the pasture has recently been mowed and fenced to allow for the growth of grass in preparation for cattle grazing. Currently green forage is growing across much of the property, but former vegetation such as burdocks remains dead and standing.

On Monday, May 18th I spent the morning at Zebedee Wetland in Fairlee, Vermont. I arrived at the wetland at 7:00 AM and departed the wetland at 11:40AM. Over this time period the temperature remained relatively constant in the 50's and the weather transitioned from mild rain in the morning transitioning to partly cloudy and humid around 10:00. I did not notice a transition in bird activity with the transition in the weather. Zebedee wetland is a small 27 acre wetland in Fairlee Vermont with a singular trail circling the perimeter of the pond. I completed two laps of this trail starting both times on the north entrance working clock-wise toward the south entrance. As the trail begins on the norther entrance there is a slight hill leading down into the first section of the wetland which is dense with understory vegetation, and has dead conifers scattered throughout. From there the trail leads back uphill into a conifer forest which encircles the pond wrapping around the back section with a small bridge which leads across the stream in the back on the east edge. from these conifers the trail hooks back around the the southern end of the wetland at which point it hugs the yard of homes in the area as it snakes through dense understory vegetation along the edge of the point with a healthy canopy of conifers.

Throughout the morning some species of birds were highly active while other common species like black-capped chickadees were fairly scarce. Red-winged blackbirds were highly active showing signs of the spring breeding season as males chased each other around while constantly providing vocalizations. Females were moving about the wetland landing on mudflats where I suspect the have nests but was not able to confirm this. At many points in the morning males would perch above the mudflats on which females were spending time, before swooping down rapidly and before taking off to the brush on the perimeter of the wetland. Blue jays were another species which was highly active throughout the morning but there did not however show signs of breeding activity. The remained in relatively large groups throughout the morning, playfully chasing each other through the tops of the trees. To better understand their activity I would like to look further into the meaning behind their many different calls.

The thing which surprised me most about my morning at the Zebedee wetland is I did not directly witness many birds showing foraging behavior. With the exception of the red-tailed hawks circling overhead, and the eastern kingbird diving at bugs, most other species did not forage while I was visually observing them. The geese which I watched milled about the pond but made no effort to eat throughout the morning. I speculate this may have to do with he warm humid temperatures, and the brief rainstorm.

On May 19th 2020, between the hours of 6:45 and 12:15 I conducted a bird walk focused on grassland and shrubland species. This walk was conducted on the Ainsworth farm which is an ~800 acre property in South Royalton Vermont on the North side of Vermont Route 110. The property is comprised of a wide variety of habitats including coniferous forest, deciduous, forests, mixed forests, current pastures, overgrown pastures, hay fields, marshes, and corn fields, and riparian. This property was not the assigned location for my bird walk but I chose to substitute it as my location for the day as I know this property well, therefore knew I would be able to locate key areas. I have also in the past noticed a large richness of species present, but never documented species, therefore I saw this as a good opportunity to improve my knowledge about the wildlife community on this property. I feel this was a strong decision as I was able to locate and record 26 species of birds during a short period of time, many of which were target species. During this bird walk I restricted myself to hay fields, overgrown pastures, and current pastures, but I also passed through but didn't focus on deciduous and coniferous forests while traveling between pastures. Over the course of my bird-walk the temperature resided between 55 degrees and 65 degrees Fahrenheit and was mostly sunny with little not no wind. Upon arrival to the property dew was still on the grass but rapidly cleared up.

Bird were very active early in the morning, and vocalizations from different species were often overlapping. As they day progressed bird vocalizations and movement began to slow which I speculate had to do with increased temperature pushing them into denser cover out of open area. The American Crow was easily the most abundant species during my bird walk which I speculated early on would lead to a low abundance of song birds on the property, as i have previously learned crows and ravens often predate on song birds nests. I was surprised to find this was not the case. I believe the high grassland song bird populations was likely due to a large amount of quality habitat which is created by maintained hay fields, overgrown hay fields, and overgrown pasture, as well as a large amount of edge habitat around the perimeters of the hay fields.

One thing which surprised me about bird behavior today was that of the wild turkey. I brought my call with me and was successful at calling in 3 hens, all of which came in silently without responding. Typically in the past I have found hens to be very vocal while coming to a call. I know this is an area of high hunting pressure and speculate this may be due to hunting and predation pressure limiting birds vocal activity. Song bird activity was high today and bird were vocally communicating throughout much of the morning which I believe indicates that wild turkeys lack of vocal communication is stemming from a pressure specifically on their species. Another interested trend I noticed on this property is grassland species spending time in forests, and forest species appearing on grasslands. I suspect this has to do with the fragemented nature of the property leading to species traveling through habitat which they don't typically use to reach other productive habitats on the property. Despite finding a high species richness in this area I feel returning to this area with a greater knowledge of bird songs and a field guide would yield an even higher species richness as I heard many vocalizations today which I was unable to identify due to a lack of experience.

On May 20th 2019 I conducted a morning bird walk to identify forest birds on the ridge which encompasses the Strafford town forest between Van Dyke Road and Taylor Valley road in Strafford Vermont. The temperature over the course of my bird walk was was between 60 and 70 degreed Fahrenheit and the weather was mostly sunny with very few clouds in the sky and relatively little wind. The bird walk I conducted took place between 7:15 AM and 11:45AM. The Strafford town forest and surrounding ridge had a wide variety of habitats including coniferous forest, mixed wood forests, deciduous forests, and early successional habitat near where I entered on the eastern slope, and by the beaver pond on the western portion near Taylor Valley road.

Before entering the field today, I decided it would be most productive for me to spend the first half hour of my allotted field time listening to songs and writing tricks to remember songs by in my notebook, allowing me to refer back to them in the field when I heard an unknown bird song. I found this to be extremely helpful for identifying species which I otherwise would not have been able to identify if I did not take this time before entering the field.

Similar to yesterdays experience in grassland habitat, birds were more active early in the morning and activity began to slow towards mid-morning likely do to the hot temperatures. Based on my previous experiences while being in the woods early in the morning I was surprised to hear a Barred Owl hooting nearly two hours after first light. In the past I have found this species to be active most before first light and shortly thereafter. One thing which surprised me about my birding excursion is the diversity of birds I was able to find on a single mountain. Previous experience while hunting prior to my ornithology class I only noticed common species such as Chickadee's and American Crow's but after learning new species it opens your eyes to the previously looked over diversity of areas I thought to be relatively unproductive. My apologies for failing to take pictures or sound recordings during this bird walk, but my phone wasn't plugged in the night before and was out of battery.

On May 21, 2020 I conducted a bird walk at Sumner Falls on the Connecticut river in Hartland, VT with the goal of identify as many water and riparian species as possible. This bird walk was conducted between the hours of 7:15AM and 11:30 AM. The weather was sunny and ranged from 55 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of the morning. Winds were moderate and consistent our of the south. The water temperature in this area remained relative cool likely in the 40 degrees Fahrenheit range. The sumner falls area in which I visited is a rock outcrop in the Connecticut river which results in a transitions from quick flowing rapids to a large pool with an eddy creating a large cove with a camping area around it. The surrounding area which I am familiar with includes a steep bank with mixed forest, with a transition from forest to shrubs to a small grassland sections before the river bank, and a predominantly coniferous forest on the north side of the boat access where the driveway comes through. I chose to spend my morning in this area as previous excursions to this site for a former class revealed a great diversity of waterfowl using the river as a travel corridor, but this was not the case today.

I was surprised after my morning today to find this sight had relatively low species diversity. I watched song sparrows, killdeer, and spotted sandpipers consistently throughout the morning, but other species activity was few and far between. The habitat was good for Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers, but I am unable to explain the unusually high numbers of song sparrows within this area, being that is appeared many other species of bird aren't using this area. Waterfowl activity in this area was relatively slow which I suspect may have to do with the warm temperature. Having never seen a spotted sandpiper before today this experience leaves me wondering if they are always relatively comfortable around humans, or if the individuals in this area have had enough exposure to humans through recreational activity, that they have become comfortable.

One question I come away with after my experience in the field is what prompted the American Crows to chase the Osprey? In the past I have observed songbirds chasing crows, and hawks to protect their nests, but have never witnessed crows harassing other birds.

On May 22nd, 2020 between 6:30AM and 11:30AM I conducted a morning bird walk on the Ware Farm in Tunbridge, VT. I chose this farm because I know the property well and knew I would be able to access a range of habitats including grassland, shrubland, contiguous hardwood forest, contiguous coniferous forest, and a small wetland around where a spring emerges yielding a stream. I made this decision to maximize the amount of species to be seen in preparation for the final, as well as to gain more experience with the songs of grassland birds. To best due this throughout the morning I focused on attempting to identify a bird by song, before pursuing it for visual confirmation. The weather was sunny and the morning temperatures ranged between 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit with moderate wind swirling throughout the valley.

Throughout the morning birds were very active. I saw a total of 33 species in a variety of habitats, as well as recorded my first field sighting during ornithology of a Baltimore Oriole. The Baltimore Oriole I spotted was moving amongst the top of a box elder tree along the edge of an old pasture which transitions to a coniferous forest. One this in particularly which surprised me about this bird walk was the lack of Savannah sparrows in the grassland and shrubland habitat. Despite spending most of my morning in shrubland and grassland habitat I only recorded 7 Savannah sparrow observations but recorded 15 field sparrow observations ~25 house sparrow observation.

Another thing which surprised me this morning is that I stumbled across a wild turkey nest while moving through shrubland habitat. The wild turkey was nested in a small clump of Juniper bushed tucked under one of the branches. At the time she was sitting on 7 eggs.