Bird Watching 4/22

Time: 2:45 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Location: St. Albans City, VT
Weather: Cloudy. 35 degrees Fahrenheit. 13 mph winds blowing west to east.
Habitat: Suburban/rural city. Walked along the streets. There were a lot of cars driving. Trees consisted of northern white cedars, several types of maples, birches, ashes, and oaks. Not many natural shrubs, mostly ornamental.
Birds Spotted: 2 American robins, 7 mourning doves, 2 rock pigeons, 2 rusty blackbirds, and 1 black-capped chickadee.

Unfortunately I did not come across a wide variety of birds during my walk. I did see a good amount, but I would of liked to see more variety. The reason I believe not that many birds were out was because of the weather conditions. It was cold on my walk, and the wind chill made the temperature feel like it was 25 degrees F° out. When I looked up into the trees I rarely saw any birds. The only birds I actually saw in a tree were the rusty blackbirds and some of the mourning doves.

Some of the the behaviors I saw that were related to mate selection had to deal with the American robins and the mourning doves. For the American robins, mainly saw them scavenging for food on the ground. The reason I saw this deals with mate selection is because it is common for the male American robins to gather food and feed the female American robin they are trying to mate with. The reason they do this is because when female American robins are incubating their eggs, they need the extra weight for two reasons. One, because the extra weight produces more heat for the eggs. Two, because they will not be an active hunter as much because they are tending to their eggs.

The mate selections I saw in the mourning dove was tied to their nest selection as well. I saw three mourning doves flying around close to each other. I thought nothing of this until I did some research. It is common for mourning doves to chase each other away from an area they would like to nest in. Once a mourning dove establishes its nest, it then starts calling until a mate arrives. Generally when they call for a mate, their songs are a little bit louder than an usual mourning dove song. I did not hear/notice a louder mourning dove sound, so I believe I just saw them competing for a nesting spot.

The mourning dove nesting "competition" I saw shows that they are trying to defend a territory. The mourning doves are trying to defend a prime territory. I am considering this a prime territory for mourning doves because they like to feed from bird feeders consisting of millet, cracked corn, and sunflower seeds. There are many bird feeders in my neighborhood, and if the mourning doves cannot get to one, there is not much other natural food for them to eat.

Mourning doves are generalists when it comes to nesting. They tend to nest in either deciduous or coniferous trees. If there isn't a suitable spot for them in the area, they are known to nest on the ground or in flowering pots. As for where I walked, they were not seen in any conifers. I believe that the mourning doves, on the property I walked, would nest is deciduous trees as they are more common. Since deciduous trees are more common, there will be a lesser chance of their nest/territory being interfered by others. This nesting is very different from the rusty blackbirds because they prefer to nest in coniferous forests and not as much deciduous. This means that the rusty blackbirds in my area will have more competition for nesting space because there is a significantly lower population of conifers than deciduous trees.

Now I would like to look into how American robins build their nests. American robins do not require much to build their nests. The main materials they need are grass of mud. First they make the frame of the nest using pieces of grass. Then they will add a layer of mud on the inside, followed by another layer of grass (preferably find grass). These materials are very common in Vermont, especially during Spring (or the mud season). The American robins can simply go down to residential homes to collect grass. And as for the mud, the American robins need to go to a wet place; ditch, ponds, stream, etc, or the ground after a rainfall.

Mini-Activity: I really liked this mini-activity. It was a fun way to sharpen my sense of hearing. However, it was rather difficult for me to participate in this due to the high winds and traffic. I was only able to hear calls to the north-east of my position. I believe this is the case because the wind and traffic combined caused it to be very hard for me to hear calls from the west. I do not have an explanation for why I didn't hear many calls to my south.

Posted on 22 de abril de 2020, 09:32 PM by dannybouwens