Diario de juliapolvino

Sat in my backyard today and saw tons of birds! I saw a pair of blue jays but sadly wasn't able to snap a picture quick enough.

I have two pairs of cardinals that live in my backyard and I have seen them there all semester. Both pairs are very active and I always see them paired up. I will often see the males chasing each other back and forth across my yard. I am assuming that one pair lives in the bushes on the right side of my yard and the others live on the left. When I went out to the backyard one of the cardinals immediately started singing, I’m assuming to defend his territory. I could see him perched up on the higher branches of the evergreen bushes right above me.
I think that the cardinal is defending prime territory, and therefore has more fitness then others of its species. The spot is in dense vegetation in an urban backyard while many different food sources. Between the trees in my backyard and the plants in the adjacent yards of my neighbors, there is plenty of forage for this cardinal. I also know that cardinals prefer shrub nesting so this is the preferred vegetation type for this bird.
I also saw an American Robin in the trees in my backyard. I know that robins prefer to nest in trees as opposed to shrubs, so I would assume that this bird’s nest is nearby. American Robins primarily use twigs and dead grass to make their nests. These would not be hard to find, we recently had landscapers come to our house and trim the trees and shrubs in the backyard. The robin simply would have to forage on the ground beneath the tree to obtain twigs. There is also dead grass under the trees that were killed during the trimming. All of the slash that was left by the landscapers covered the grass there and killed it. Robins also use mud to reinforce there nests. Today is a drier day so mud might be hard to find, but the past week we have been having lots of rain which would mean musd is abundant for this bird. Some of the spots in the parking lot of our house are unpaved and only contain mud and gravel. This is only a few years from the tree where I saw the robin, so I would assume this bird would use those parking spots as a mud resource when nesting.

I went on a hike at Rock Point this weekend where I saw and heard many different birds. My phone died on the journey so I wasn't able to capture any pictures, which was a bummer because I saw my first Cooper’s Hawk flying across the cliffs at the Lone Rock overlook. The Cooper’s hawk is a facultative migrant that leaves Vermont in the winter in search of food further south. This Cooper’s hawk must’ve just arrived back in Burlington during the warm weeks we have been having. The Cooper’s hawk is a bird of prey so it makes sense that as smaller birds either migrate, or become less active in the winter, they would travel to find a more readily available food source. However, the past few weeks more and more birds have been arriving in Burlington and becoming active, bringing the Cooper’s Hawk back to the area.

Some of these now more active year-round residents include the Northern Cardinal, House Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Black-capped Chickadee. All species that I saw on my Rock Point hike. These birds all rely on seeds during the winter as a main food source. These seeds either come from foraging or residential feeders. Additionally, most of the species are cavity nesters, which means that they don't have to rely on foliage for cover and protection. The one exception is the Northern Cardinal which nests in shrubs. I have Cardinals living in my backyard that specifically nest in the evergreen shrubs. This is probably to avoid cover loss in the fall when the leaves drop.

I also saw Mallards on my hike. I know these birds can be obligate migrators but they also can stay year-round in places like Burlington. Lake Champlain doesn’t completely freeze over and remains an abundant food source for these birds. I am not sure if the Mallards I saw got back from a migration down south, but I would assume that they have stayed in Burlington throughout the winter.

I unfortunately did not see any obligate migrators on my hike. As a result it is hard to tell how many miles the Cooper’s Hawk and the Mallard might have traveled. At a minimum, the Cooper’s Hawk would have traveled about 150 miles and if the Mallards did migrate they would have traveled somewhere around 300 miles. This is a total of 450 miles!

Even though I didn’t get pictures on my Rock Point I have attached some cool birds I saw when I traveled to Fort Myers Florida!!

Date: March 8th, 2024
Start time: 11:45 am
End time: 12:45 am
Location: My backyard on East Ave
Weather - Sunny, slight breeze, 42 degrees
Habitat - Evergreen shrubs and dispersed pine trees, grassy patch int between

Since I last sat in my backyard, the activity of the birds here has skyrocketed. From my count there are about a dozen Chickadees, four Northern Cardinals, and two White-Breasted Nuthatches! I have never seen a White-breasted Nuthatch this close and they are one of my favorite birds so I had a very enjoyable day:) These birds are super engaged with each other. The four cardinals have been chasing each other from tree to tree for the past 20 minutes and one always seems to me singing. I have attached a recording of one from the top of my evergreen bushes singing. Similar to the cardinals, the Chickadees are all bouncing around in the same bush near each other. They weren’t making much noise until I started making the “spishing” sounds. Then suddenly they started singing and sitting on branches right near my head! One Chickadee even went back and forth in a sort of conversation with me. I have heard that spishing sounds similar to warning calls that some song birds will use. I know that Chickadees are curious birds so it makes sense that the sound would draw their curiosity. The Chickadees were the only birds that got near me when I did this, so I assume that the other birds were either uninterested or avoided the area where there was a warning.
When I have watched the birds in my backyard in the past I have done it early in the morning between 8 and 10 AM. Usually the birds fly between the trees and shrubs and forage on the ground. In contrast, during the afternoon today they are mostly hopping between branches and making more noise. This makes sense based on what we learned about bird’s body temperature in class. Since the mornings are cool the birds are able to use energy to fly between structures. However, during the afternoon when the temperature is hot, they stay in the shade and limit the flying that they do.
It is fun to watch the birds hopping in the bushes because it’s mostly the black, white, and beige of Chickadees and then sometimes I will see a flash of red. The Cardinals are very entertaining to watch as they chased each other from tree to tree and made a lot of noise. When the cardinal sings all other birds seem to stop. I love that their bright plumage reflects their bold nature, and in comparison the Chickadees’ mellow color reflects their more reserved personalities.

Date: Feb 23 2024
Start time: 11:15 am
End time: 12:15 pm
Location: Centennial woods
Weather: sunny, clear sky, slight breeze, 43 degrees, no precipitation
Habitat: Dense eastern white pine stand and surrounding hardwood forest

Since it was a warm, sunny day in Centennial woods, there was a lot of bird activity. From the moment I walked into the woods I could hear at least three different types of birds all at once. When I first started down the path I was amazed at how many Black-capped Chickadees there were foraging on the ground and flying from tree to tree. I would imagine that during the winter when it is snowy these birds might not be able to forage on the ground very often. I would assume that during the warmth, with no snow cover, they are taking advantage of the exposed ground for food. In the winter they must rely on food from standing trees and snags.
As I made my way to the eastern white pine stand in the northern region of Centennial woods. I went this way because I know there is a lot of downed wood and standing snag in this area. As I walked through the stand I noticed that the larger snags had bigger cavities and tht these cavities were more frequent. Most of the snags in this area were at least 10” in DBH creating ample habitat for wildlife. I tried hitting some of the snags with sticks but no birds poked their heads out when I did this. I would assume this is because they are out foraging and taking advantage of the warmth. I did see a woodpecker on a live tree in this stand. It was drumming on the tree to find insects in the bark. Although this woodpecker wasn’t utilizing a snag when I saw it, I am sure it prefers this area due to the high volume of snags.
Snags create great habitat for birds. These dead trees can be filled with insects that make a great food source for birds. Additionally, their cavities can act as shelter. These cavities can be either natural or the birds can make them in a desired location. Although snags can be beneficial to all birds, insectivores like woodpeckers and cavities nesters including nuthatches. Tall snags can even act as a vantage point for birds of prey like hawks. These snags are probably important for ground foraging birds like the Chickadee in the winter as a food source when the ground is covered in snow. As a person who studies forestry and plans to have a career in forest management I think that snags are so interesting because they bring together forest management and wildlife. Snags are important to have on the landscape because of all of these benefits they provide to bird species.

Date: February 7th, 2024
Start Time: 7:02am
End Time: 8:06am
Location: My backyard on East Avenue, Burlington VT
Weather: 27 degrees, overcast, slight breeze, no precipitation
Habitats: Two large coniferous bushes split by the grassy area of my backyard.

There are so many chickadees in my backyard! At least 10 were hopping from branch to branch in the bushes that surround my backyard. Some of them would feed on the ground under the cover of the bushes while others flew between them. They were very chatty and it was fun to watch all of them interact. It was too dark out to get good photo of the birds tucked in the bushes, but I was able to get their conversations on recording. I was mostly focused on watching the birds that were flying between the bushes over the grass in my yard. The chickadees flap their wings and then soar for a split second before flapping again to raise themselves upward. I looks as though they are bouncing and bobbing through the air.
Chickadees have large wings relative to their size. Their shape can be characterized as a rounded, high lift wings. This agrees with my observations of the Chickadees soaring for moments between wing flaps. This flight style matches with their niche of foraging on the ground and bouncing between dense branches. It gives them the ability to hop short distances to look for food.
This flight pattern will useful wen identifying small songbirds. I was walking through Centennial the other day and there were so many small birds high up in the trees. I was unable to ID them because I couldn't make out any distinguishing features. Next time I will be able to recognize their flight pattern as they fly away from the trees to determine whether or not it is a Chickadee.