Diario de esm398

Time: 8:45am

Date: 2/14/18

Location: Lily Lane, Colchester, VT, United States

Details: Pileated Woodpecker flew around the yard before landing on the railing close to the end. It climbed up towards the top bar and pecked at the railing before taking off. It flew into the trees behind the house and was lost in the branches. The “yuk yuk” call was audible for a few moments after losing sight of the bird.

Weather: Semi-cloudy, no wind, sun came through a little bit but not much. Actual temperature unknown, but felt like 40°F.

Habitat: Backyard at the second to last house in a quiet and small neighborhood. The fenced in backyard has two small wooden porches, one with a suet feeder and the other with a sunflower and millet mixed feeder.

I was in Colchester on February 14th, 2018 in the morning. I happened to look out the window and noticed that there were two new feeders in the backyard. One containing a millet-sunflower seed mix, and the other with a suet block. On the seed-mix hanger, I saw a Black-capped Chickadee. It hopped from the metal hanger onto the seed-mix feeder, pecked once, and then flew to the ground and began to forage in a pile of melting snow for fallen seeds. It’s flight pattern was smooth in comparison to that of a heavier species. It jumped in the air and was flying. The wing flaps seemed to be no stronger at the beginning of lift-off than during its leisure flight to the trees behind the backyard fence. Something that I had never noticed before about the Black-capped Chickadee was that the wing beats were so fast. It did not have the flap drop flap drop that some finches seem to have. It appeared to follow a smooth line through the air, although it did rise quickly and then make a hook around to the woods.

There was also a Pileated Woodpecker in the backyard. I did not see if it had been to the yard that day before this. I saw a flash of red outside the window and noticed that there was some sort of woodpecker flying around. It seemed to stay on a relatively steady course and did not dip too much. In comparison to the Black-capped Chickadee, it did dip a little bit. It had larger wings with wide spaces in the wing tip slots. I am not sure that the flight pattern would have been useful in identifying this species. Perhaps to a more experienced bird-watcher it would be more obvious upon seeing this bird flying overhead and having its markings blocked by a shadow or by the sun what the species was. But for me, I relied mostly on the tuft of red on the Pileated’s head. I also looked at the size in comparison to the Black-capped Chickadee. It was much larger than the Chickadee. The only part of the bird’s flight that was also helpful in identification was the outside of the wings when the bird was in a down stroke. I was able to see the white segments of the flight feathers that had a blackish edge. They looked like the keyboard of a piano.

When it did land, Woodpecker hopped across the deck railing with both feet landing and the tail dragging. It could have been the fact that the Pileated Woodpecker was in the shade the entire time, but it did not seem to have any shine in its wings. They seemed dull. It was constantly looking around at its surroundings, its head pointing in all directions. It paused after every few hops to peck once or twice at the deck. It flew into the trees behind the yard and I soon lost sight of it. I could only make it out by its “yuk yuk” calling, but had to open a door to do that. My drawing the attention of two small yapping dogs to the door was what I would guess to be the reason that no more species of birds were observed.

Once the Pileated Woodpecker flew away, I did not see any other species of bird besides two more Black-capped Chickadees. In total, I saw one Pileated Woodpecker and three Black-capped Chickadees. They all seemed to have been drawn to the yard by the feeders and or the wooden decking. I think that the time of day may have influenced the birds as it was still morning and it seems that most foraging birds are active in the morning. The time of year was a factor because during the warmer months, birds are probably less likely to need supplementing of their diets by humans. I think that they would be less likely to come to the feeder in the summer because there might be more competition from other species or have more variety if they foraged on their own.

Weather: sunny, no wind,78 degrees F.
Habitat: Wakodahatchee Wetlands. Man-made wetlands that are the homes to a variety of species including Green Iguanas, American Alligators, Anhingas, Great Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, and more.

In Florida, the seasons are not defined the same as they are here in Vermont and in the rest of New England. There, the winter is a dry season and the summer is the wet season. Winter is still hot during the day, but goes down to the lower temperatures at night.
At Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Florida, I observed Great Blue Herons raising their young. They were caring for a nest with two young chicks that looked almost old enough to learn to fly. The parents were still feeding their offspring, as they did not appear to have their flight feathers yet.
The next day on the beach in Jacksonville, I observed a siege of Great Blue Herons flying North. I found it interesting how different groups of the same species had such different plans within a 24hr period. Raising young is such a time consuming event, from mating to laying eggs to rearing the young and sending them off into the world. Migration on the other hand, is not an easy event either, nor is it something that they would be able to do with flightless chicks.
To survive the low temperatures of a northern winter, many birds including the Great Blue Heron, fly south. They return when the weather is warmer. When it becomes very cold in the South, or anywhere, birds may go into a hibernation-like state torpor. They may also huddle together, especially with their young in their nests. For the Great Blue Herons that I observed, I did not see them at night, as I visited the wetlands in the morning. I did see them spending a lot of time defending their nest from nearby Wood Storks(an actually drew blood from the stork at one point), hunting for food (to feed themselves and their chicks), and looking for branches and other nesting materials to make repairs to the nest as the babies grew. They were hunting and eating fish in the marshy area around their clump of trees.
At this time of year in Florida, the herons are eating mostly fish, as other organisms that they may consume, such as tadpoles and small lizards, may not all be available yet. In the dry season, larger fish that would provide a more fulfilling meal are not always available to the herons as they may be in deeper waters that are not easily accessible to the birds. At this point in mid-March, just about the middle of the dry season, the majority of fish available are likely to be tiny/newly hatched and so the bird would need to spend more time hunting to have the same intake.
Although it is unlikely that a Great Blue Heron would inhabit a snag, smaller birds such as a Scrub Jay would use them as nesting sites and for scoping out their territories. They can also be used as a place for foraging if there are insects or worms inside the wood.

Locations: 89 North (the highway Boston-Burlington) and outside Harris Millis Dining Hall University of Vermont Burlington VT on 3/25/18
Weather: overcast, cloudy. Little to no wind.
Time: Cooper's was around 6am, at UVM around 10/11am
I looked for birds around campus at UVM, and on my ride from Boston to Burlington. On the ride, I saw a Cooper’s Hawk and five crows. I was very upset that I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough to catch a picture of the hawk, and then the car was moving too fast to get one of the crows. The crows cawed to each other and would fly towards and away from each other. I was unable to observe them for more than a moment or two unless the individuals flew alongside the car. Once back on campus, I observed two American Robins foraging in the little section of grass outside of the Harris Millis Dining Hall. The Robins were interacting by chirping to each other, and hoping around in and out of each other’s spaces while foraging. I am not sure what visual clues the robins may have been employing, but I believe that the moving in and out of each other’s personal space may have been signals for the others to move or to try to steal the land. They may have been trying to tell each other of good spaces for foraging or to move out.
The male robins had bright rust colored chests and grayish backs and yellow beaks. The Cooper’s Hawk, had a yellowish beige striped front and a dark grayish back. It was surveying the strip of grass between the highway and the forest, waiting for prey to walk by, while the American Robins were actively foraging along the grass and snow. The robins’ coloration was not intended to hide them from predators nor from prey. They simply look pretty for no other advantage besides mating. Cooper’s Hawk’s coloration was due to having to blend in a little bit to the forest so that its prey wouldn’t spot it and run/hide. The robins foraging fit in with the time of year. They were looking for plant materials to eat, versus in the spring or when there is a thaw when they would eat worms and insects. Since it was also midmorning, it made sense that they would be looking for food. If they had been looking for food at dusk, it would have been unusual, and it would also be unusual to see them sleeping at this time of day.
The phishing sound may be appealing to small birds for a couple of reasons. It may remind them of an insect crawling through dry leaves, and make them interested in you as a potential source of food. The phishing may just be an interesting sound to them. So they crowd around. It may also sound like a warning call, so they crowd to try to find the source of the danger. I have also found that making a mourning dove call or variations of it by blowing into my closed hands tends to attract the attention of smaller birds. I’m not sure why, but maybe it is for a similar reason to the phishing.