Orno Journal 4

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!

Publicerat 26 mars 2024 03.38 av gabbydowd