lydiathibault's Journal

Date: March 8, 2024
Start time: 5:58 am
End time: 6:55am
Location: Leddy Park Beach Burlington, VT
Weather: cold (28F), sunrise at 6:19am, clear skies, cool breeze off the lake
Habitat: sparse edge habitat along the lake

For this birding expedition, I spent time at Leddy Park Beach on Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT. After some relatively unsuccessful birding expeditions during the middle of the day in Centennial Woods, I decided to try observing earlier in the morning in order to attempt to catch birds as they wake up and start to move around and forage in the morning. I arrived about 20 minutes before sunrise as the sky was just starting to lighten up and as the sun started to rise, so did the birds. The first sounds that I heard were the fee-bee calls of the Black-capped Chickadees. I couldn’t see them in the trees, but I heard two individuals calling back and forth to each other as if they were saying “good morning” and discussing where and when to start foraging for the morning. The sound recording that I included for this assignment was that of a Northern Cardinal song somewhere up in the trees perching on a branch. I also heard a few Canada Geese flying and squawking around the bay. They took off across the water and flew out of sight. A woodpecker of some type was pecking away in the middle of the woods. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to locate and identify the specific species which was unfortunate. I also saw some sort of water birds out on the lake, but they were too far away to even identify with my binoculars. I did notice that there were two of them swimming and floating together and when they took off, they took off in unison and flew just above the surface of the water. Towards the end of my time out in the field, more birds started to become active and the songs of different species filled the space. It was hard to tell who was communicating with who, but I assume all of the birds were waking up from their slumber and saying ‘good morning’.
One species that I’ve seen a lot of during these birding expeditions is the Black-capped Chickadee. The chickadee has a white belly, with yellowish sides, gray back and wings and a black capped head. This neutral coloring may help them blend in their forest habitat. From above, the dark head and gray back may help them blend into the trees. The chickadees I have seen have also seemed fluffier on the stomach which may help retain heat in the cold winter months in Vermont. The Tufted Titmouse which has also been common in the field recently. This bird also has a white and yellowish belly with a gray/blue back, but its distinguishing factor is the tuft on top of its head. These birds also seem to be fluffy on the stomach for similar reasons as the chickadee. These two birds have similar habitats and lifestyles so it makes sense that their plumages may be so similar.
Although I heard quite a few birds on this morning, I didn’t actually locate and observe many of them. I imagine this is because many of the birds were just waking up from the night and were still in or near their cavities hidden among the trees. In class, we learned about some types of birds going into facultative hypothermia and because it had been such a cold night the night before I would guess that some of the smaller birds were coming out of this facultative hypothermia and warming up before they could start to forage and get their metabolism back up to the normal rate. The water birds that I saw floating in the lake were moving slow which made me think that they were also trying to conserve energy in the cool morning.
Finally, I tried the pshh pshh tactic and it seemed to quiet all the small birds in the area. The loud sound early in the morning may have spooked them as they woke up and started to start moving away. If their metabolism was still low from the cold night, they may want to avoid being noticed by certain predators as they are not at their full ability yet.

Date: March 23, 2024
Start time: 9:00 am
End time: 10:00am
Location: West Windsor, VT
Weather: snowing, cold and cloudy
Habitat: edge near a hilly forest, BIRD FEEDER

Species:
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Dark-eyed Junco
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
American Goldfinch
House Finch
American Robin
Northern Cardinal

For this field journal assignment, I decided to watch birds at a bird feeder outside my friend’s house in West Windsor, VT. It had snowed 12 inches overnight and was continuing to snow throughout my entire time birding. The bird feeder was full of small mixed bird seed and was hanging right next to the garage away from the main house. The birds were extremely active at the feeder on this morning. It was very hard to keep track of how many of each species were present as I couldn’t tell if it was the same individuals returning to the feeder each time so I estimated numbers for the iNaturalist entries. There were a lot of Dark-eyed Juncos on the ground surrounding the feeder and the nearby bushes. The rest of the birds came and went from the feeder constantly. I noticed that only 1 to 3 birds would be at the feeder at a time and as soon as one bird left another bird joined in. There was one feisty American Goldfinch that seemed to be fighting off other birds from the feeder whenever it was there. There was a female Downy Woodpecker and what I identified as a male Hairy Woodpecker that would return to the feeder occasionally. Other birds tended to stay away when the woodpeckers occupied the feeder. Overall, the morning was filled with a wide variety of bird songs and a constant rotation of Vermont resident birds fueling up for the cold and snowy day ahead.
Many of these species are year-round residents of Vermont. These species are able to endure the cold and harsh winters of Vermont due to their physiological and behavioral adaptations that they have accumulated over time such as the ability to go into facultative hypothermia during cold nights in order to preserve energy. Many of these species also spend a lot of their waking hours foraging for food in order to be able to keep their metabolism high and their body temp at an appropriate level during cold days. Some of these species such as the Dark-eyed Junco also have dark coloring that helps them absorb and maintain heat.
The American Robin can be considered a facultative migrant that can survive in the majority of the Continental United States year round, but some of this species spends winters in northern Mexico and southern Florida due to unpredictable food sources and weather. Facultative migrants are birds that migrate irregularly due to varying and unpredictable food sources and weather in their home areas. Although this specific day was not the ideal day to observe facultative migrants as we were experiencing the biggest storm of the season, it is still interesting to think about the timing of such migrations and how the weather can still be unpredictable once these migrants arrive. Facultative migrants start to arrive in the early spring as the weather starts to get warmer and the snow starts to clear from the grounds. These birds are then able to find food and build nests in order to prepare for breeding season.

Frequent Flyer Activity:
American Robin: Northern Mexico to Vermont ~ 1600 miles
American Goldfinch: Southern US to Vermont ~ 1000 miles

Total: 2600 miles!!!