miahandtereinecker's Journal

On Tuesday, April 7, 2020, I went on an evening walk around my neighborhood with my mother and sister, from 5 pm to 7 pm. The weather was very nice; it was 60 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny. All the parks and most natural areas near me are closed, so I set out to observe some birds in my densely populated suburban town of Belmont, Massachusetts. Overall, the habitat consists of houses located very close together, with little open grass area available. There are trees that line the sidewalks and many bushes that are used as landscaping for these houses. There is also one small pond that has a bit more tree coverage than the rest of the neighborhood.
We started our walk outside of my house, where I could already hear calls of House Sparrows, but none were in sight. As we walked around the neighborhood, we came across many House Sparrows, both male and female, located in trees, gutters, and a lot in bushes. House Sparrows often do not travel more than a few kilometers in their entire lifetimes, making them a non-migratory resident species to my town. Walking along the sidewalk, I saw a Blue Jay fly by and land in a nearby tree and seemingly eat the budding flowers and fruit on the tree. Blue Jays are most likely year-long residents of this area of Massachusetts, although they sometimes are short-distance migrants. House Sparrows and Blue Jays survive the colder months by eating a lot during the day, mostly nuts, berries, and fruit, in order to be able to stay warm overnight, when they burn many of the calories they consumed in order to create heat. They also utilize techniques of plumping up their feathers and perching in protected shrubbery or tree cavities in order to conserve heat. I did some research and learned that Blue Jays also store food in the winter as a survival technique, which I thought was really interesting and did not know about (allaboutburds.com). They do this in order to save food for when they need it during the scarcer food months of winter.
As we continued walking through the neighborhood, we noticed many American Robins all standing, presumably foraging for food, in an open, grassy park area that was closed off to the public. Some American Robins migrate, while others are year-long residents to the same areas. In the winter, American Robins move in accordance to their wintering food source- fruit. Because of this, American Robins often move south and spread out from all the other American Robins in their breeding area, because there would not be enough winter food available for all of them in one place. As it is getting warmer, American Robins are able to feed on earthworms and insects again, allowing them to return to their breeding area, as there are enough resources available now. This makes American Robins facultative migrants, as they only migrate sometimes, as a response to the severity of winter and the scarcity of food.
We made it to the small pond with more tree coverage in the neighborhood. There, I spotted 4 male Red-winged Blackbirds in the trees around the pond. They all called multiple times, which made me look up and spot them in the trees. Two of them were engaged in a fight, perhaps over territory or food. Red-winged Blackbirds are sometimes full time residents of areas, but those who breed in northern North America can be migrants and travel very far south for the winter, all the way to parts of Mexico. When I was doing research, I noticed that in migratory Red-winged Blackbird populations, the males return before the females (allaboutbirds.com). This made me think that perhaps the Red-Winged Blackbirds that I saw do migrate, as they were all male. Since I saw so many Red-winged Blackbirds all so close together, it is possible that they have just returned in a flock from the south, like Mexico, and are now establishing their territorial areas (explaining the fighting I witnessed). Like American Robins, they migrate mostly for their food source.
Finally, on the way back to my home, we came across a singular Wild Turkey, which was strange given that often Wild Turkey’s stay in flocks. However, I assume that more Wild Turkey’s were around. Wild Turkeys are nonmigratory birds, but I wondered why I only ever see them in the warmer months. As it turns out, Wild Turkeys often spend more time in more densely forested areas in the winter, instead of the more open suburbs, because of food and coverage from the more extreme weather (allaboutbirds.com).
Unfortunately, I did not spot any obligate migrants. However, I believe that I have been hearing the song of the Eastern Phoebe recently, though I have yet to confirm my suspicion with a spotting. Eastern Phoebes migrate to the southern U.S. and Mexico and the winter and return North to areas including Massachusetts and Vermont. Eastern Phoebes are fly and insect catchers, although they can also eat small fruit and seeds. It is possible that returning north so early leads to the lack of sufficient resources of insects and bugs in the chillier states. Some positives of coming back north earlier would include the ability for migratory birds to establish their territories, forage, and prepare for the breeding season. Hopefully I will be able to see more migratory birds soon!
I have mapped the possible migratory patterns of Red-winged Blackbirds, American Robins, and Eastern Phoebes by using google maps (don’t think it is possible to add a picture, but here are the numbers added up).
Red-winged Blackbirds: Possible migration of up to 800 miles (allaboutbirds.com), I mapped from Belmont to North Carolina: 614 miles
American Robins: Short distance migration of about 60 miles
Eastern Phoebes: Long distance migration of up to 3,000 miles to Eastern Mexico
3,674 miles is the possible total of miles these migrants travelled in total to return to Belmont.

Source : allaboutbirds.com

Today, Wednesday, April 15 I went on a walk around my suburban neighborhood from 4:30 pm- 6:30 pm. The weather was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit and there were partly cloudy skies. Belmont, Massachusetts is mostly suburban and there is not a lot of tree coverage, besides trees lining the streets and those in yards. I also walked to a pond near my neighborhood. Most of the birds were seen in the trees along the street and sidewalk, but some, like the Song and House Sparrows, were seen in bushes in yards.

On Monday evening, April 20, from around 5-8 pm, with a long pause in my observing mid-way through, I went on another observation walk around my neighborhood in Belmont, Massachusetts. The weather was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny. My observations began from inside of my house.
I noticed a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the side of an Oak tree on my street. This oak tree, as I observed last week, seems to already be the home of two nesting Downy Woodpeckers. They were quite upset that this Red-bellied Woodpecker was trying to infringe on their nesting area, and put up a long fight that lasted for about an hour before they gave up. They were calling loudly and diving at the intruder. However, the Red-bellied Woodpecker was mostly unbothered and still remains on the oak tree, creating what I assume is a nesting cavity. I assume this because the cavity it is creating is very large and it has been working on the same spot for multiple days now. It is also between March and May, which is when Red-bellied Woodpeckers nest. However, upon research, it seems that normally a pair of woodpeckers work together in creating their nest (allaboutbirds.org). It is possible I have not noticed a second one, but it seems there is only one woodpecker, which may mean that it is not nesting. I am going to try and ID the gender of the bird and continue to observe and see if another gender arrives in the next few days.
The Downy Woodpeckers were defending their prime territory on my street. There are a lot of decaying branches and trees, as well as many cavities that are the perfect environment for Woodpeckers. There are many other Downy Woodpeckers that live in the area, but I believe the two that attacked the Red-bellied Woodpecker are the only ones that live on my street. This allows them to have access to the resources they need and allow them to have a high level of fitness. Although they might be fit intraspecifically, it is clear that they are no match for their interspecific competition of the Red-bellied Woodpecker. Woodpeckers, both Downy and Red-Bellied, excavate their own nest in trees, using woodchips as their bedding, meaning they don’t have to collect many supplies. However, in order to have the energy to excavate these nests, they must have an adequate supply of food and protein. This can come in the form of insects, which there are plenty of in dying trees and surrounding areas.
After observing the Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, I began my walk. As I walked, I noticed many American Robins, both singing in trees and foraging on lawns. They have been singing a lot recently, which indicates mating rituals. The male sings and puffs its feathers in order to attract a female mate. Hopefully, I will be able to see some American Robin nests in the near future, as it is around the time of the first eggs to be laid. American Robins use twigs, feathers, and mud to create their nests. There are a lot of available supplies of these in my neighborhood, so it shouldn't be hard for these birds to create good nests. However, there are not many good locations, as most of the trees line the streets. This could cause nests to fall into the streets.

As I continued my walk, I came across an area of my neighborhood that is very open and grassy. It is mowed by the community, so the grass is very short. There are a few trees along the border of this grassy area and the street. I heard a Northern Cardinal calling from a tree, and as I looked over he flew on to the grass and seemed to be foraging for food. I did some research, and as it turns out Northern Cardinals often have their first brood starting in March, so it is possible that this bird was foraging for his family (allaboutbirds.org). Northern Cardinals often nest in dense shrubs, which would explain that I was unable to find a nest. I also noticed three Mourning Doves perched on a power line. Since this is a group of three, and not two, I assumed that they are not breeding. Based on my research, when Mourning Doves aren’t breeding, they sleep in larger flocks (allaboutbirds.org). Although three isn’t really a large flock, this seems to be what they were doing.
I then saw two larger birds soaring above the trees. At first, I thought it was two American Crows, but upon a closer look, it turns out it was one American Crow and one Red-tailed Hawk. I thought it was very strange that an American Crow would follow a Red-tailed like this, so I looked up this action. American Crows are very territorial, and they know that Red-tailed Hawks are a threat (allaboutbirds.org). In order to lessen this threat, American Crows often try to get Red-tailed Hawks to leave their territory. This action of defense could suggest that the Ameican Crow has a nest nearby that it is trying to protect from the Hawk.
As I finished my walk, I head multiple Blue-jay calls but was unable to see them as it had gotten pretty dark and they seemed to be far away.
Overall, there were a lot of signs of breeding in my neighborhood! Hopefully, I will be able to identify some nests in the future and observe more activity.

Mini-activity: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16jvldkVi1u9lC9LzVXqwvlu4wTGS0tgCCyzV7B4BR8w/edit?usp=sharing