Field Journal 2
Date: 2/22/24
Start Time: 9:54 am
End Time: 11:00am
Location: Centennial Woods
Weather: windy, cloudy, 36℉, sun peeked through near the end of the hour
Habitats: open wooded areas, dense wooded areas, edge habitats
American Crow: 3
Black-capped Chickadee: 10
Pine Siskin: 1
For this field journal, I decided to go back to Centennial Woods at an earlier point in the day in hopes of finding more bird activity, but I was in fact very unsuccessful and I believe I need to go much earlier in the day or on a day with better weather conditions if I really want a chance to observe birds during a Vermont winter. I assume that many of the Vermont native birds were busy nesting up somewhere to preserve their energy and heat since it was the middle of a quite chilly and windy day. Hopefully, as the weather starts to warm up (and as I get better at budgeting my time and choosing when to bird), I will be able to observe more birds and their activities in this area.
During my hour out in the field, I saw one Pine Siskin that I was only able to identify by sound using the Merlin app, 3 American Crows flying above the tree canopy and a handful of Black-capped Chickadees, but only after the sun came out from behind the clouds near the end of my time.
Birds have evolved throughout time to be able to survive in some of the most extreme environments including cold winters in Vermont. One major adaptation that has helped with insulation and maintaining body temperature since birds are endothermic is their feathers. Feathers are able to keep heat out during hot days as well as keep heat in during cold winters and nights. Many Vermont natives have a winter coat that can improve this insulation, camouflage and other aspects of the bird’s life.
The Chickadees that I observed became much more active when the sun started to shine which made me think that they were bundled up in snags, cavities and nests before in order to maintain their body heat. When they were active, it seemed like they were pecking away at bark presumably looking for small fruit, seeds and insects to eat. In other seasons, I assume that the birds’ diets adapt to what is most abundant and available at the time such as switching to insect larvae or other types of seeds as they start to emerge in the spring and summer.
In the winter, it seems like many of the birds that can be observed around here spend a decent amount of time resting, sleeping and maintaining their body temperature and coming out to eat occasionally when the sun is out to fuel up. I believe that many of these birds will devote more time to breeding and other activities once it starts to warm up a bit and they don’t have to devote so much of their energy to maintaining their body heat.
In Centennial Woods, there are a lot of dead snags with cavities hollowed out in them for the birds to rest in and spend their nights. While walking through the woods, I noticed a number of cavities of varying sizes in many of the snags. As I expected, there were more and bigger cavities in the bigger snags, but some of the largest snags didn’t have any cavities. I’m assuming this is because they were too big for some of the smaller birds to peck through and build a cavity in. Snags are so important in providing habitat for so many species of birds. I didn’t get a chance to tap on any of the snags to see what birds may have been residing in them unfortunately.
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