gabbydowds dagbok

April 27, 2024
Time: 9-11 AM
Weather: Light wind, somewhat cloudy with scattered sunlight.
Temperature: 50 Fahrenheit
Habitat: Bird planted land, wetland and pond, pine and conifer forest, thick undergrowth and downed woody debris in places.

Time: 8:30 AM
Date: Monday, April 8th, 2024
Weather: Mild wind, sunny, no clouds

The bird I kept observing was the Carolina Wren. There seems to be one male that I always spot on my routes, so he definitely has a very well established territory in South Burlington. He sings pretty much constantly, which I am attributing to he is either establishing/defending his territory or looking for a mate. He has also been spotted by me hopping around on a telephone wire and looking around. I'm not exactly sure what he's doing, but I think that he's using the sheltered height to scope out where to put a nest and where potential predators might be able to hide. Carolina Wrens like small, sheltered spots, with their nest sort of being like a little cave. So on this specific property, he could be nesting in one of their flowerpots that blew over, in the overhang of their roof, or even the mailbox! In their natural habitat they prefer stumps and overhangs, but since the city does exist they make do with what they can find. Even within the city, different birds require different areas to nest. For example, sparrows like to nest in shrubbery or bushes, they probably wouldn't be comfortable in a wren nest and would probably pick the hedges on the property to nest in instead, or even their small cedar tree. Cardinals nest in trees, and weave their nest using small fibrous pieces, sticks, and mud. So they would probably like to have a mud- making source nearby, so perhaps a tree near a gutter would work well for them.
I heard a chickadee singing in some of the shrubbery as I was passing by. It sounded kind of angry and very strong, so of course I stopped to investigate. It seemed to have picked out a small spot of heaven in Burlington, it was a small greenspace there were small trees, bushes, and even little food sources. For the city, I would say that it is a pretty good area outside of the park spaces. I would imagine that this chickadee was extremely fit to hold onto such a great area.
These aren't up this far north yet, but when I think of interesting nests, I think of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. They make their nest out of spider silk, so that it can grow and shift as the chicks grow. To find spider silk, they have to search high and low through bushes, awnings, and maybe some old barns as well to acquire such a unique material. They also have the danger of actually getting stuck within the spiderweb as they weigh so little.

Date: 4/9/24
Time: 6:30 PM-8:30 PM (sunset)
Weather: Slightly overcast, low winds, very wet ground
Habitat: Marsh and lake bay area. Wet meadow and brush.
(Shelburne Bay and LaPlatte Natural Area

3/15/24
Weather: Misting rain, Overcast, No wind
45 Degrees F
Time: 6:15 PM, sun was setting

I observed cardinals and chickadees on my walk. I would guess that they don't migrate because they don't really need to, they have adaptations that allow them to survive the harsh winter. They are mainly seed eaters, so they don't have to worry about the lack of bugs, and are both feeder birds so they have that as an extra help in the recent years at least. I didn't see a robin on this walk, but have seen a ton of them in the past few weeks. Robins migrate a little bit south and will come back up here for the warmer months. They do eat bugs and worms, so the ground has to soften up enough for them to do that in order for them to thrive and breed. I would say an advantage of being early migrants is that they get first pick of everything; the territories, the food, and the nesting sites. But it also comes with the risk of what just happened last week; the massive storm. It buries most of their food sources and freezes insects, making it much harder for them and probably leaving them wishing that they hadn't moved yet.

This evening I decided to drag my family out to try to hear a woodcock. Fun fact that I didn't know before this, woodcocks migrate and pretty far at that! I looked at the map and the closest place to Vermont was probably Dover, New Jersey. That is about 308 miles from Burlington and 154 miles from Delmar, NY, where I heard the woodcock. At the end of the audio clip you do hear me sniffle, and that was a mix of I was mildly crying because I was so excited, and it was not warm out. It was so cool to hear one, I've heard people talk about them for years but never actually saw or heard one myself until now. It was also nice to hear the blackbirds coming back, though I'm sure they're as confused with the weather as we are!

While on my walk, I heard probably hundreds of songbirds interacting with each other. I think a hawk or other predator must have passed over, because they were all congregating in dense trees and alarm calling as loud as they could. To do this, they generally use harsh, shorth calls that happen in rapid succession to call in other birds to hide. For this, they were trying to say; "Take cover!".
I saw a crow and a woodpecker, which have very different plumages. Crows are black, obviously, with structural iridescence in their feathers. Downy woodpeckers are dappled, with fuzzy feathers near their nose and sometimes a red stripe on the back of their head. I think crows might be black in order to maybe blend into the shade, but also maybe to absorb/retain heat. They can live in a ton of places where the temperature is cold so that might be possible. I'm not sure how much they want or need to blend in because of their intelligence and diet. They fight owls and hawks so they don't really seem like the hiding type. Woodpeckers, on the other hand, probably use their dappling to blend into the light filtering through the leaves in order to hide from predators. They also have down near their nose in order to protect from woodchips getting in there. The red spot seems to just determine the males from the females.
I focused on a chickadee bopping around a tree. I went kind of in the morning, so the bugs were still moving around in the sun. The chickadee seemed to be foraging and peeking around for things to eat. This makes sense because of how often birds have to eat, especially when they're warming up for the day.
I love spishing, and I think it works because it seems to imitate an alarm call, specifically a chickadee in my opinion in our location. Chickadee alarm calls draw birds in to hide with them, sort of like the game "sardines".

Date - 2/23/24
Start time - 2:00 PM
End time - 3:00
Location - Redstone Campus
Weather (temperature, wind speed/direction, precipitation) - Sunny, Mid-40s, light wind, no precipitation.
Habitat(s) - Buildings, ornamental trees, field.

It was a pretty warm day, so I didn't see too much with warmth. However, the colder birds I see fluff up to retain heat. They also tend to sit more on their feet instead of perching high up on their feet in order to keep their feet from freezing. They tend to go for high calorie foods; for example I saw waxwings and chickadees going for old fruit. This has a ton of sugar in it, which gives them a quick energy burst similar to people. They spend a fair amount of time feeding and resting, but I am starting to hear them call to each other. Their diet is probably more seed and fruit based in the fall, then switches over to insects when they start coming back out again. They probably overnight in sheltered areas out of the wind, either in tree hollows or in between buildings.
I was on a college campus, so there weren't many dead trees to be had. But on another walk this week there were a ton of snags. Generally, the bigger the snag the bigger the cavities, although sometimes pileated woodpeckers don't care. A squirrel yelled at me a couple times, and a woodpecker flew away when I rapped on a tree. Snags provide food and shelter to a ton of species, from woodpeckers to porcupines. Generally woodpeckers start with them, then other animals use what they started.

• Date – 2/3/24
• Start time – 8:30
• End time – 10:20
• Location – Causeway Park
• Weather (temperature, wind speed/direction, precipitation) – 30 F, Wind 6+ mph from the west. No precipitation, overcast with some sun.
• Habitat(s) – Lake Champlain, pine forests and beech-birch stands, suburban.

I went out with my friend for a birding walk on the Causeway in Colchester, VT. We were on the hunt for a snowy owl but sadly didn’t see one. We did, however, see a ton of Goldeneye. It’s pretty easy to identify a Goldeneye due to their contrasting feathers and that beautiful iris, but even if you can’t do that, you can at least tell that they’re waterfowl. It’s flight pattern is straight on once it’s in the air, with consistent wing flaps and no fluctuation in height or speed. They can take off and land without much of a runway, but still might require more than a Mallard due to them being diving ducks.
On our travels we also saw and heard several Black-capped chickadees. I am aware that Chickadees and Goldeneye are very different birds in every sense of the word, but I think they’re a cool example of different wings. Goldeneye wings are built for speed, they’re pretty long with long primaries, while also being fairly narrow. Chickadees, on the other hand, have more elliptical wings. They’re designed for weaving through branches and little bursts as compared to long distances. Chickadees also tend to fly in short flapping bursts, then dipping. This creates a wavy pattern in their flight which is super fun to watch.
The weather definitely influenced what we saw. It was kind of nasty and windy out, so we didn’t see too many songbirds. But ducks don’t care so we saw a lot of them. To see more songbirds I would have gone on a sunnier, less windy day. I don’t think the time of day really affected it because we were up pretty early (sunrise at 7ish). I would also stay in the forest longer to see more songbirds.