Jack Wallace FJ3 - Centennial Woods Natural Area

Location: Centennial Woods Natural Area South Burlington, VT
Time: 4:15- 5:45 PM
Date: Sunday, March 7th
Temperature: 25-30 Degrees F
Weather: Sunny and clear
Wind: 5 mph
Habitat: Mix of hilled forest and flat wetlands

During this journal exercise, I was able to spot numerous species of birds. The first bird I saw was the Northern Cardinal. When I first spotted them, both birds (M+F) were roosting together inside of a pretty thick bush. This could have been to help retain body heat. By staying together in thick brush cover, this could have possibly helped to keep both of them warmer. Unfortunately while moving around to get a better look, both of the birds took off.

Because of my timing, the sun was going down and I think this attributed to the lack of birds that I could see. When we first arrived and were walking on the east side of the woods, we could see birds like the Black-capped Chickadee and the two Northern Cardinals, however as the sun continued to go down we saw less birds and heard less calls and songs. Looking over to the west part of the forest, I realized that the sun was still illuminating the tops of the trees over there. We walked over to see if more birds would be in the sunlight and sure enough on that side the forest was full of bird calls and songs. Almost all of them were in the tops of the trees and for the most part standing still. Because of this, I think the birds were soaking up the last bit of warmth from the sun to reserve energy for the cold night ahead. Throughout this time, the occasional flock of 2-4 crows would fly over heading North. This is due to an adaptation of American Crows to roost together in a big flock to help retain body heat and reserve energy.

While walking around looking for more birds, I made sure to be aware of dead snags and the holes that were in them. After watching a small Brown-headed Nuthatch peck its way up the skinnier branches, I attributed he small surface holes in the bark to these birds. I found it apparent that the older/more dead looking snags had the larger cavities in them. This could be attributed to the softer nature of the wood which would make It easier for birds to peck out a hole in search of bugs, or a hole to make a home out of. The tinier holes were always found in the more lively part of a dying tree, or just a hanging branch from a fully alive tree.

When walking up the hill on the west side of the forest, I noticed many small red berries scattered in the snow. Most of them were directly under the tree that they came from, but all of them has been opened up and the branches were way too delicate to support and bird larger than a Black-capped Chickadee. In these patches of opened berries I found the tracks of a Ruffled Grouse. It seemed that this bird was scavenging the ground for berries picked off by smaller birds. This is defiantly a seasonal attribute for these birds when food is scarce in the winter.

Over all this was a pretty successful period of observation even without the use of binoculars. Next journal I will go out much earlier in the day and I hope to see more activity below the canopy.

Publicado el 08 de marzo de 2021 por jwally325