Journal Post #6

This week, because we were focused on nesting/mating, I decided to revisit the spot I went to last week to look at the Canada Geese again. Last week I walked by a small pond on Redstone Campus and saw what looked like a female building her nest at the edge of the water. After watching the geese this week I continued to walk along the edge of the golf course onto South Prospect. There is a skinny strip of trees that while suburban, is much quieter than some places in Burlington. I started at 10:30am and went until 11:30am. It was a beautiful day, very sunny and warm. There was a little wind, but not too much.

Last week there was a goose sitting on what looked like a nest at the pond on Redstone campus. She appeared to be still sitting there on Saturday so she must be on a nest. I've also seen the male around the pond, but last week I didn't see him at all so he must have left the pond to either forage for nest building materials or food. They were both there today, with one on the nest and the other swimming in the pond. They pond is completely fenced off, so it's a good place for them to be as there aren't any humans that can get too close, and predators would definitely have a hard time getting in there as well. I don't know if they're able to tell that no predators can get in when they arrived, but as far as territory selection goes, it seems like a really good spot to be. Because the pond is so small, they're also the only birds in that area, so it's easy to defend because it's not too big.

As far as nesting/mating/territory defense in the other species, I didn't see any nests or any indication of mating, other than the Pileated Woodpecker pecking on wood, but that may have just been for food and not as a mating attraction (it was really far up, I couldn't see it very well).

Nesting habitats definitely differ among the different species that I've seen. The geese are on the shore of a pond, the woodpecker is in a tree, and pigeons often have nests that are underneath the ledge of a building. These are super different in terms of human interaction too. Pigeons are definitely interacting with humans a lot more than geese or woodpeckers.

While I was outside, I heard almost exclusively American Robins singing, however I also heard the Canada Geese, the Pileated woodpecker, some Song Sparrows and maybe a Yellow Warbler (but I wasn't sure).

Posted on 26 de abril de 2019, 02:50 PM by