Field Observations #1 Journal Entry

I went on a birding excursion in Centennial Woods on Thursday, the 13th of February around 1:40 pm. It was a cloudy day and there was a light snow coming down. Luckily, it was not too cold and the temperature was about 34 degrees Fahrenheit.

As soon as I entered the wood, I heard the calls of black-capped chickadees. I saw two black-capped chickadees in total, but heard the calls of many more up in the trees that I could not see. The other bird I saw was the american crow, and I saw 35 american crows in total, which made up the clear majority of the birds I saw.

Since I only saw two black-capped chickadees, I did not get a great idea of what their flight patterns are like. The black-capped chickadees, I saw flew from one branch to another branch on a tree close by. Since there was not much of a difference in distance between the branches and they were flying to a lower branch, the black-capped chickadees did not need much thrust to reach the other branch. They flapped quickly a few times with gliding periods in between down towards the branch. Black-capped chickadees have elliptical shaped wings that allow a high degree of control and the ability to maneuver well in smalls spaces such as thick forests and their wings lessen drag so they can ascend and descend quickly. Since the habitats of black-capped chickadees tend to be forests, it makes sense they have elliptical wings that are adapted for flying in areas with many obstacles.

The american crows I saw displayed patterns of constant flapping with very little gliding and quick flapping with periods of gliding. American crows that were flapping more than gliding may have been trying to increase their thrust, maintain lift and prevent themselves from slowing down and losing altitude. American Crows have elliptical wings, which are well adapted for controlled flying in areas with many obstacles such as forests. It would also make sense for American crows to have the same wings as black-capped chickadees because they are both forest dwelling birds that need to be able to maneuver through forests, and ascend and descend quickly to avoid predators.

I am not sure I could identify an american crow based off of flight and flapping pattern alone because I only had one other bird in the field to compare it to that I barely saw. The lack of comparison made it difficult for me to find key features in the flight of the american crow that I could use to identify and pick it out from a group of birds. The reason I was able to identify the american crow in the first place was because of its appearance and color. I would also have the same difficulty identifying a black-capped chickadee on flight and flapping pattern alone. I could tell the birds I was observing were black-capped chickadees based on their call and appearance.

The lack of different bird species I saw may have been related to how close Centennial Woods is to the highway and other roads which may startle the birds. The birds may have also been startled by many people walking their dogs that afternoon. The american crows were definitely not pleased with the chaos brought by the dogs presence and cawed loudly in protest. Many birds may have also hunkered down for the evening already by the time I had starting my birding trip. Next time I go birding, I may go to a different site that is farther away from major roads and less populated by people, so there is less noise and activity that could scare away or disrupt the natural behavior of birds in their habitat.

Posted on 19 de fevereiro de 2020, 04:32 AM by kaglenn kaglenn

Observações

Fotos / Sons

What

Corvo-Americano (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

Observador

kaglenn

Data

Fevereiro 13, 2020

Fotos / Sons

Nenhuma foto ou som

What

Chapim-de-Cabeça-Preta (Poecile atricapillus)

Observador

kaglenn

Data

Fevereiro 13, 2020

Comentários

It is definitely true that dogs, people, and roads make birding more difficult! Nice observations anyway and you included the count in there too, which is great. You could also put it in like 'number of individuals observed' but count works as well. My suggestion to you for the future would be to describe the habitat in more detail, types of forest you are in, what part of the trees you see the birds, etc. The more detail the better you can reflect on the prompt. I did like the way you discussed the purpose of elliptical wings. I would've loved to hear more thoughts on the differences between those two species, despite both having elliptical wings. Nice job, though.

Publicado por chloesardonis cerca de 4 anos antes

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