williamsmaggie3's Journal

I went to Red Rocks Park on Sunday April 17th to check out some birds. I went there around 10am and it was clear skies and fairly warm (around 50 degrees). There was no wind and the lake was very calm, a perfect day to easily see some birds.
I walked along the main path of red rocks and heard a mourning dove but did not see it. This is a bird that I have heard on various occasions but have been unable to ever see it in person. They must be well concealed and blend into the environment well. I also heard and saw a couple of song sparrows, which I was easily able to identify because of their distinct song. I walked off trail to an opening on a rocky cliff area to watch some of the birds on the water. I could hear loons calling; it sounded like two calling back and forth to each other, but I could only see one from a distance that was on the water. After doing some reading I found that often only one pair of mating loons occupies a single lake when it is small but in larger lakes, one pair of loons may occupy a bay of that lake. This made me believe that the pair I heard was mating and their territory was that of Shelburne Bay.
There weren’t a ton of birds on the water but soon I saw a couple of mergansers flying over head and then landing on the water of the bay. I also saw a flock of Canadian Geese overhead and two Black Ducks swimming around near the shore.
Back in the woods I saw a few chickadees singing and hoping around branched and also heard a few Robins singing. As I was walking out I saw two starlings on the ground, one which I believe was a male, making very loud calling sounds and the other (female) walking around the male. I feel very confident in being able to identify and point out birds that we have reviewed in class but still struggle to identify birds that we have not been quizzed on, even when I have my bird book with me.

I went on yet another walk to the waterfront in Burlington this week to try to see some waterfowl, birds that I mostly pretty unfamiliar with. It was April 8, 2016 approximately 37 degrees fahrenheit at 3pm. It was overcast and I was lucky enough to get a window of time that was now snowing or raining like most of the rest of the day.

At this point I feel extremely familiar with many of the common feeder birds found throughout Burlington like chickadees, titmice, robins, woodpeckers, cardinals, juncos, sparrows, finch, and a few others. I can also easily pick out their individual calls at this point, especially the cardinals, which I saw (or heard then saw) two of on my walk to the waterfront. Both of the cardinals were perched high in trees singing (or calling?) very loudly, I thought it may be close to their breeding season and that they were defending their territory. After doing a little research I found that the cardinals breeding season is typically in early spring (now) and that they are very territorial and defend their territories aggressively.

When I got down to the water I really wanted to see some waterfowl that I am not familiar with. As expected I saw a lot of gulls and also a medium size flock of Rock Pigeons right around the echo center. I headed left on the bike path (as if I was heading towards Oakledge park). I finally saw something that wasn't a gull, although I cannot be 100% sure what it was. It looked exactly like a Common Goldeneye but the body seemed a lot darker than it should. It was by itself just swimming near the shore and rocks. As I walked past an area full of docks that had been all tied up for the winter I saw two Double-crested Cormorants swimming around. One of them kept diving under water while the other floated above. Eventually they fly off and I was unable to see them any longer. I did not see anything else new on this walk, except for a couple Red-winged Blackbirds which I have recently identified and begun to see everywhere.

On a separate day (March 30) I was able to see a flock of Cedar Waxwings foraging on crab apples at the top of college street. Coincidentally enough, we were talking about that flock in class that morning and it was mentioned that there was a flock of waxwings floating around campus.

On Thursday March 17th I went down to the Waterfront and to Oakledge Park in an attempt to see some waterfowl, which I ended up being a little unsuccessful at but was able to see some other species. It was 4:30 pm and around 45-50 degrees. It felt a lot colder because of the heavy, gusty wind, especially down by the water. There were fairly large waves on the lake which I believe is why I saw so few birds out on the water.
I started by going down to the Waterfront Park where on my way down I first saw a small group of Tufted Timice in a small tree on the side of the road. I was first able to distinguish the “peter, peter” call this bird makes and then their location in the tree. I also saw a single House Sparrow in a tree calling very loudly. It had dark plumage on its back as well as its underside, kind of a dark grey and its beak was a dark color as well. When I got down to the Waterfront Park I saw a few crows foraging on the ground. They seemed to be picking at trash with small scraps of food left. On the far side of the park where Depot St connects North Ave and Lake St I could see a group of Robins perched high a tree. I can easily identify Robins now mostly because of their district song and their perching and foraging habits, which are mostly in groups in trees. As I was leaving the waterfront I also saw a single Junco in a tree. This bird was not singing or moving much but was just perched on a small branch.
At this point I got a ride to Oakledge park to hopefully see some waterfowl (I did see some gulls at the waterfront). The waves on the lake were fairly big but there were probably 50 or more gulls flying above the water or floating on it. I also saw a large group of black birds that seemed to be foraging together over the water. I think that these were Common Goldeneyes although cannot be positive because I saw them from a distance without binoculars. They were flocking above the water mostly and eventually landed on those sunken structures out in the bay for a few minutes. When I was out at Oakledge I also noticed a lot of nests high up in the trees, especially near the small inlet that flows into the bay. I was curious as to what bird made these, possibly cormorants? But I am not sure, would be interested to find out because I see these in many places around Burlington.

The species of birds associated with this posting were all seen during a class bird walk in Centennial Woods. The walk was from 7:30-9:15 am on February 17. It was a moderately warm day (28 degrees F) with little to no wind chill and partially sunny.
We began the walk to centennial woods from Carrigan Drive. Right after passing the hospital before we entered the woods we noticed a group of American Robins and European Starlings foraging in a row of crab apple trees. Many of the trees had been completely stripped of their fruit since the beginning of winter. Sean pointed out that he had noticed the changing colors of the the robin's feathers depending on the food they were eating during the time, and the red parts of these robins were very similar to the red color of a crab apple.
As we entered the woods we encountered a few crows and already heard many bird calls. The call of a Pileated Woodpecker rang out and Sean was able to draw two of these birds closer to us using speakers. Later during our walk we were also able to hear the loud drumming of this bird, which seems very distinguishable from the Downy or Hairy's drum. We walked to the closest bird feeder, which Sean refilled with seeds but did not seem to draw many birds in so decided to play a predator call with many other bird calls (sort of like a bird ambush on the predator) to try to attract more birds. Less than a minute later many Black-capped Chickadees, Titmice, and White-breasted Nuthatches were flying closer into the feeder. When the Chickadee fed, it would come up to the feeder, grab a seed, fly a short distance away to a "safe" place to eat the seed, and then repeat this. After closely observing the Robins and Chickadees eating today I was coming more aware of different birds eating habits.
We were also able to see a Downy Woodpecker near the feeder (possibly drawn close to us due to the predator call) and hear its call, drum, and single chip note, which to me helped illustrate the wide array of sounds that a single bird can make and be identified from. On our way out of the woods we saw a few more birds and began to hear the call of a Northern Cardinal which Sean tried to bring out of the trees using the speakers and was ultimately unsuccessful at doing so. Sean pointed out that because the Cardinals were not coming out after hearing their call on the speakers probably meant that they were "guarding" their territory and did not want to give up their post.

I went to Centennial Woods on Thursday January, 4th for my first official birding experience. It was around 3pm in the afternoon which I soon realized was not the best time to try and fin birds because they were not very active during this time of the day. It wasn't the coldest day, about 25-30 degrees but with a slight breeze in the woods it felt fairly cold out.

I entered the woods from Carrigan Drive and walked down to the path to the lower marshy area. It was cold and shady and although I could hear birds singing every once in a while I could not see any from that spot. I decided to walk up the ridge over to a more dry open area closer to the parking lot. This is were I saw Chickadees and the White-breasted Nuthatches. I walked over to a larger open area on a slope and thats where I saw all the Robins sitting in the trees together and flying around. A couple chickadees flew in an out of the area but for a very long time I didn't see many other birds besides the Robins. I also saw a pretty big flock of about 30 birds flying very fast around the edge of Centennial Woods. I had no idea what bird this was, mostly because they were far away, but they looked a black color. At this point it was becoming a little more overcast and stormy looking and the birds were clearly not very active.

I saw the Gull and Finch both at North Beach and the Crows in a parking lot. For the next time I go out I will definitely go on one of the morning walks because it was hard for me to not only find birds but also to identify them because I am so new to birding.