Orno Journal 3

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".

Publicerat 9 mars 2024 04.03 av gabbydowd