Diario de trmcgrade

I went out to listen for birds from dusk until just after proper dark last night at Square Meadow in Charlotte. It was cloudy, humid, about 50 degrees, and raining lightly. Because of the recent rains, the meadow was very wet, and there was standing water in a few spots. The vegetation is mainly grass (not sure what kind), with some slightly sturdier plants interspersed. The meadow is bounded by dense shrubs on one side, pines on one side, spruces on another, and aspens mixed with shrubs on another.

As I started walking across the field headed northeast, I heard an American Woodcock peenting (even though it sounds more like a beep to me), and adjusted course a little east to see if I could find it. As I headed towards the eastern edge of the meadow, I heard the peculiar whistling sound that Woodcock make with their wings as they're displaying, and realized that there were a few Woodcock. As I reached the eastern edge of the meadow, about three quarters of the way up, a third Woodcock flew out of the shrubs and right over my head. Evidently, I had interrupted a party. So, I decided to impose myself on them just a little more and waited for the first Woodcock I had heard to stop peenting and start displaying again. Once it took off, I walked (very quietly) towards the spot from which I thought it had taken off, and in about 30 seconds, it returned, this time about 15 feet from me.

I spent about 20 minutes listening to, and trying to watch, the Woodcock peenting, dancing, and doing their aerial displays. While I was creeping around their display grounds trying to get just a little bit closer, I heard some owls: two Eastern Screech-Owls, a Barred Owl, and a Great Horned Owl. It seemed as if the Eastern Screech-Owls might have been calling to each other, and although I only heard one of each, I suspect that the Great Horned and Barred Owls were looking for a mate, at the minimum, if not letting their mates know where they are.
Because I was only listening for birds, and mostly unable to see them, all of the behaviors that I observed (calling and displaying) were related to mate selection, although I didn't observe anything that pertained, in particular, to nest selection or territory selection.
Mini Activity: I heard 4 species from my spot near the edge of Square Meadow, the American Woodcock, Eastern Screech-Owl, Barred Owl, and Great Horned Owl. I believe, although it can be hard to tell when going by sound alone, that I heard five Woodcock, two Screech-Owls, one Barred Owl, and one Great Horned Owl.

Today I arrived at East Woods, a UVM natural area just off of Swift St at around 10:45. It was about 45 degrees, cloudy, somewhat humid, and it began to rain about halfway through my visit. I started walking on the loop trail, hearing no birds at all until I got close to the river, at which point I heard a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a solitary Black-capped Chickadee, although I was unable to visually locate either. As I walked down the hill to the river, I saw a little flash of slaty grey and white fly up the river quite rapidly, and suspected that it might be a Belted Kingfisher. So, I clambered into the river and stood there for quite a while, waiting for it to come back into view, during which time it began raining somewhat hard. Although the Belted Kingfisher did eventually reappear, it wasn't before it started raining again and I got quite wet and cold. I managed to snap a couple of photos of it perched in a tree overhanging the river, quite far off. Although one of the photos is attached, it's really quite bad; I'll have to have a word with my camera's autofocus system.

After the Belted Kingfisher flew off out of sight again, I climbed back up to the trail and continued walking the loop. I encountered almost no wildlife, avian or otherwise, except for two Gray Squirrels, until I got back to the trailhead. At the trailhead, however, right as I was about to leave, I heard another Black-capped Chickadee, and saw two American Robins, as well as three American Crows. I was only able to get a photo of one of the American Robins, and it's also not very good, but it is attached to the observation.

Unfortunately, none of the species I saw were facultative migrants, although I suspect that the American Robins were partial migrants, and the Belted Kingfisher may have been also, given the relative lack of open water in which it could fish this year. So, the grand total of miles migrated by the birds I saw today may have been anywhere from a couple hundred to around a thousand or so, depending on how far south the rivers were frozen over. As for the others, the Black-capped Chickadee is a rather hardy bird, and they are capable of putting on some extra fat in the winter, as well as being relative generalists and beneficiaries of the numerous birdfeeders kept outside during the winter in this area, so the winter likely wasn't too hard for them. As for the American Crows, being able and willing to eat everything that moves or doesn't likely helps them survive the winter in this relatively cold climate. It seems that they also seem to congregate in somewhat urban areas, where there are lots of scraps and random bits of food to eat, and near busy roadways in less rural areas, where there is usually sufficient roadkill to keep them fed. The Belted Kingfisher, however, requires open water to maintain adequate amounts of food throughout the winter, so I suspect that the one I saw may have come from slightly further south.

Today I headed to Derway Island at around 4:00, and stayed there until about 5:30. It was clear, not very windy, somewhat cold (35 degrees), and there were not very many people around. The Derway Island area is mainly a Silver Maple/Cottonwood/Green Ash/Bur Oak ecosystem owing to its location on the inside of an oxbow on the Winooski River, where it appears to be frequently inundated with water.

The first thing I heard when I started walking into the woods was a couple of Brown Creepers. Shortly after, I heard a couple of Black-capped Chickadees as well, as one always does around these parts. This was followed rather quickly by the loud drumming of a Pileated Woodpecker. I had it spotted within a few seconds, poking away at a Bur Oak pretty close to the water. Within a minute or two it had flown away to a Silver Maple somewhat deeper into the woods, where its mate, or at least another Pileated Woodpecker, was excavating a cavity.

Both of the birds stayed on that tree for quite a while I was watching, which was probably 10 minutes or so, and given that they didn't seem to be disturbed by my walking around, I would assume that they stayed there afterwards as well. One of them appeared to be excavating a cavity and the other appeared to be engaging in foraging behavior. The one excavating the cavity was working very intently on the same spot for the entire time that I watched, and the one that was foraging moved around a bit, although never more than a few feet from where it landed on the tree. Given that spring finally seems to be around the corner, I would guess that the cavity underway is intended for their eventual young. The cavity was relatively high up on the tree, probably at least 40 feet, and faced east. Perhaps Pileated Woodpeckers like to rise with the sun? Although if they do, I would assume that they would be able to do so even without an east-facing window, but alas, I am not a woodpecker, so what do I know?

Pishing: I tried a couple of times to pish for Black-capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, which I knew to be in the area. However, they were never very close at hand, and birds appear not to like my pishing. I've been trying to pish for more than a year now with little success, although that doesn't stop me from making a fool of myself in front of anyone who happens to walk by. While I've heard a number of hypotheses as to why pishing works, I would assume that when it does work, it's just because they are intrigued by the sound. They seem not to be alarmed by it, and I've never seen mobbing behavior in response to pishing, but I have a hard time believing that animals as acutely aware of their surroundings, and potential danger, as songbirds would mistake it for anything other than a human clumsily trying to get a better look.

I went on a walk in Centennial Woods today after class, and saw and heard remarkably few birds. Because it was warm and sunny, with very little wind, after a week of bitter cold, I was expecting to be bombarded from all sides by birds celebrating the return of our great yellow friend in the sky. But alas, I was not. When I first started walking down the main trail, across from the police station, I didn't hear any birds until I came to the footbridges, when I heard a single brown creeper a few times. Shortly thereafter, I spotted a lone male Northern Cardinal in the brush down to the right. I tried to get a good photo of him, but couldn't find a suitable angle before he flew off. I did notice, however, that he was looking for, and eating, small fruits and berries. It makes sense to look for high-calorie foods in the winter, when food is scarce and it takes more energy to keep warm.
After crossing the bridges across the little creek, I had to walk all the way through the hemlocks and pines to the power lines before encountering any more birds. However, while walking though that stand of mature conifers, I did see many snags, some with no cavities, but many with a significant number of cavities. Given the shape, it seemed that most of these cavities had been created by Pileated Woodpeckers. however, there were some that were only round, or where large parts of a semi-rotten trees had been excavated, presumably by woodpeckers, and then co-opted by owls or other large cavity-nesting birds. Because it was just shortly after noon and there were almost birds around, I didn't actually see any birds enter or exit the cavities, but it seemed likely that, come nightfall, there would be more action. Snag size and cavity size seemed to be positively correlated, which makes good sense considering that one cannot excavate a cavity larger than the tree one wishes to excavate.
Once I reached the powerlines, I began to see and hear birds with somewhat greater frequency, although still not often by any stretch of the imagination. I heard a single Pileated Woodpecker in the woods north of the powerlines, but didn't hear it. In the sumacs at the eastern edge of the east-west section of the powerline right-of-way, I saw a number of Black-capped Chickadees who were feeding on sumac berries. I didn't manage to get any good photos of the Black-capped Chickadees, but I did get one where the bird is at least identifiable. I suspect that, once again, the Black-capped Chickadees were feeding on berries because they are a high-calorie source of food. The entire time I watched the Black-capped Chickadees, they were foraging. I haven't seen any small birds doing anything but foraging in quite some time, come to think of it. It seems that in these cold climes, most of one's waking hours should be spent searching for food.

Shortly after seeing the Chickadees, a small group of Mallards flew overhead. I counted 7, but only included 5 in the photo that I attached to my observation. On the way back out of Centennial, I saw 6 American Crows fly overhead, but only got two in any sort of decent focus. Forgive the iffy photos, I'm not currently equipped with sufficient lenses to take photographs of birds more than 15 or so yards from me.
While all of the birds I saw foraging were looking for and eating berries, it's likely that in other seasons they rely more heavily on non-fruit food sources such as seeds and insects. I would guess that most of the birds I saw, given their relatively small size, would sleep in dense conifers to minimize heat loss to wind, so any of the stands of mature conifers in Centennial would be suitable. The crows I saw fly overhead are likely to be roosting in a large flock nearby tonight, while I really cannot say where the ducks might choose to spend the night.

After camping out at Raven Ridge in Starksboro on Friday night, I got up around 6 with the sun on Saturday to begin looking for birds. I had been birdwatching at this area numerous times before with excellent results, so I figured I was in for more of the same, but I really couldn't have been more wrong. It was cloudy, cold, and snowing the entire time I was looking for birds, and so only say some of our hardiest resident birds, American Crows and Black-capped Chickadees.
Black-capped Chickadees have a somewhat distinctive style of flight. They primarily fly short distances quickly, with a somewhat ballistic flight pattern. They tend to take a good number of wingbeats and then tuck their wings in a bit, but not entirely, while they careen through the air before beginning to beat their wings again. This flight type matches their wing shape, which is relatively deep with long primaries and short wrist anchoring small secondaries. The wing is clearly optimized for thrust during relatively short flights.
American crows tend to flap their wings almost continuously while in flight, neither very quickly, nor very slowly. This flight type matches their wing shape, which is somewhat longer and shallower than a Black-capped Chickadee's, with a much more even balance between primaries and secondaries. This more even balance between lift and thrust makes sense for the American Crow given their penchant for sustained, mid-speed flight.
On my next outing, I will certainly pick a day with warmer and sunnier conditions, and hopefully without the snow or wind. Birdwatching in Vermont this time of year is pretty dire even without poor weather, so hopefully waiting a week or two will make things better. I do want to see a Lapland Longspur before they head back north, so I'll be out anyways, regardless of conditions.