Diario de juliapolvino

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.

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.