Diario de trmcgrade

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.

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.