Field Journal 2
Date: February 17, 2024
Start Time: 8:00 AM
End Time: 9:00 AM
Location: Sharon, New Hampshire: I am out visiting my aunt and uncle this weekend, so I decided to do my birding excursion on their property!
Weather: It was 22° Fahrenheit (felt like 17) this morning; cloudy and slightly snowing. There were 3 mph winds.
Habitat: My aunt and uncle live out in the country; their property consists of mainly deciduous and some coniferous forest with some open land as well (some of the trees have been cut down). There was a slightly frozen river that ran along the outskirts of the area I walked.
Species Observed: Downy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, American Crow, and Red Crossbill
Prompt: In the wintertime, insulation from downy feathers play a major role in birds maintaining warmth and generating body heat. In addition, these birds shiver, just as we humans do, and fluff up their feathers to trap air pockets around their bodies (I watched a Black-capped Chickadee do this today and it was really interesting to see!). Roosting/huddling with other birds is also an effective method to keep warm. With fast metabolisms needed to generate so much warmth, these birds must maintain an adequate and substantial diet. Seeds and grains are the main diets of these birds, for foraging is a crucial part of winter bird routines. Most birds will spend their mornings foraging to then roost and rest later in the day/evening. A lot of the daylight must be spent foraging, especially for smaller birds, in order to consume an appropriate amount of food. In other seasons, there is much more variability in food available (more seeds, new fruit/insects, etc.), so these non-migratory birds have to heavily rely on their seed-foraging abilities to survive the winter.
Mini Activity: For this activity today, I did not have much success in locating birds WITHIN cavities. However, I did spot many snags that contained cavities and peeked inside the ones that were within my line of sight. The lack of bird identification may have been due to the time of day: in the morning, there may have been more birds actively foraging and flying about rather than roosting, such as when they would for the cold night. Observing the snags, I noticed that the larger the snag was, the more/larger cavities there were. Many of the smaller snags did not even contain any cavities at all. There was only one instance where I did see a bird go into a cavity, and that was a Hairy Woodpecker. It was a brief visit, for the Hairy Woodpecker spent a majority of its time analyzing the tree, making calls, and drumming. As I mentioned previously, the time of day might have played a role in not seeing any birds within cavities. Snags/cavities are extremely important, nonetheless, and provide warmth/shelter for non-migratory birds in the winter. Species most likely to utilize these would be smaller birds, such as Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, nuthatches, and woodpeckers.
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