jackietauberman's Journal

Date: 4/15/2016
Time: 1:30-3 pm
Weather: 55 degrees F, cloudy, slight breeze, sunny but slightly cloudy
Location: Shelburne Bay Trail across the road from the actual bay
Habitat: Marsh, riverine, mixed forest

I started my weekend off with some wonderful birding at Shelburne Point. Almost as soon as I got out the car, I noticed something soaring overhead. After looking through my binos and consulting my bird app, I realized it was an Osprey! I was very excited because I had never seen one before. As I was walking into the trail along the marsh/inlet, I saw a few Double-crester Cormorants and a Mallard. The Cormorants are quite large and look so interesting.

As I walked a ways deeper into the mixed woodland, I heard and saw Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and Song Sparrows. The Chickadees have such a distinct song and alarm call that it was easy to recognize them. They were flying to and from branches around us. The Tufted Titmice also have a very distinct call. It was great to see and hear the Song Sparrows since we had learned about them in lecture this past week! Flying overhead constantly were Ring-billed Gulls. I could tell by the black ring around there bill.

To finish off the great birding outing, on my way back out of the trail I spotted a Great Blue Heron standing still along the water's edge. It was magnificent and graceful. After a few moments of watching it, it opened its massive wings and took off.

Date: 4/8/2016
Time: 10:30 am-12 pm
Weather: 37 degrees F, cloudy, slight wind from the south, drizzling off and on
Location: Park on the corner of Booth Street and North Ave. in Burlington, VT
Habitat: urban area with condensed housing, a small park with some green space and a small forested area

This was a great spot because it was a three minute walk from my house and I saw so many birds. I sat in the park and there were birds all around me. Just arriving there, I heard quite a few different species and saw many birds flying from tree to tree and around feeders. I was a bit surprised because I thought it was a bit chilly for birds to be so active. And it was drizzling a bit.

I saw a few Rock Pigeons flying and perching on electrical wires. I heard and saw many House Sparrow flittering from feeders behind houses to trees to forage seeds. I saw a few males and many females. I observed many many American Robins. They were very plump and looked well fed which I'm sure is true from this mild winter we had. I heard the alarm call of a Black-capped Chickadee and then saw it perched on a feeder. They are very cute little birds. I looked up at some larger trees on the edge of the park and spotted a White-breasted Nuthatch running up and down a large tree making it's signature nasally call. I heard some others calling so they must have been near by. I also got to see a large flock of Bohemian Waxwings with a few Cedar Waxwings! I thought they would have been gone by now. I really like those two species for some reason, I find them very beautiful. They were perched and looked a little fluffed up. I heard a gull calling and I looked up and identified it as a Ring-billed Gull by the black ring on its beak. I heard a Northern Cardinal and looked with my binos into the forested area and saw a female. I haven't seen a female Cardinal before so that was exciting. They are much browner and duller in color than the males. I then heard an saw some American Crows flying overhead with there iconic "caw caw caw".

Date: 3/6/2016
Time: 10-11:30 am
Weather: 50 degrees with a slight breeze
Location: Fell Vallee Equestrian Center Hinesburg, VT
Habitat: open fields, some patches of woods, horse farm, dairy farm

I love that birding can be part of my almost daily routine of going to the barn to ride my horse. When I was tacking him up, I saw many House Sparrows flying in and out of the barn. They nest in the rafters of the barn and the indoor. The males are easily distinguished from the females with their grey head, white cheeks, and black bib. They are more vibrant than the brown and tan females. I've seen them feed on the left over grain in feed buckets and what is dropped on the ground.

I saddled my horse up and went out for a ride down the dirt road. I saw a Downy Woodpecker on a large tree not very far from the barn. It was hopping and flying around the branches, pecking at the tree. I could tell it was a Downy Woodpecker by its short beak, Hairy Woodpeckers have longer beaks compared to the size of their head. Shortly after, I saw a Tufted Titmouse flying and landing from branch to branch. I heard its easily recognizable "peter peter peter" call. As I kept walking down the road, I saw a flock of Black-capped Chickadees which did their alarm call when I walked by. When I got all the way down the road to the nearby dairy farm, I saw a flock of Rock Pigeons perching on and around the cow barn. They are often found there, flying around and perching. I also see them in the horse barn often.

On the walk back, I saw some American Robins perching and feeding in the crab apple trees near the barn.

Date: 2/16/2016
Time: 2:00-4:0pm
Weather: 21 degrees with a southernly wind at 18mph
Location: Red Rocks in South Burlington and Shelburne Bay
Habitat: deciduous forest, evergreen forest at Red Rocks; lakeside, reeds & sedges at Shelburne Bay

We started at Red Rocks doing a bird point count transect for 30 minutes. We walked along an established walking trail. We saw some American Crows flying over head. I could tell they were American Crows based on their pattern of flight with constant wing flapping. I also heard them calling with their distinct "caw caw caw." We walked further on the path and saw Black-capped Chickadees as well as heard them doing their alarm call "Chickadee dee dee." We walked farther on the path and saw and heard a few more Black-capped Chickadees. We didn't see any other birds on that transect. I suspect that this was due to the high amount of other walkers and their dogs. The dogs may have scared off the birds.

We got back into the van and drove off to Shelburne Bay. It was much windier there than at Red Rocks. As we pulled up we saw that there were a lot of waterfowl around. There were also some other birders. We saw a few Great Black-backed Gulls which were very large. We observed one of them catching and attempting to eat a fish only to drop it and have to catch it again. We saw a group of Mallards. The males are much more colorful and distinct than the females. Mallards are dabbling ducks. We also saw a large group of Common Goldeneye. I had never seen that species before so it was quite exciting to see them. They are smaller ducks with a beautiful golden eye. They were in a large "raft" formation. They are sea ducks. We also saw a few Buffleheads which I had also never seen before. To see two new species was so exciting. We observed them swimming around for a while. The different species didn't seem to interact although they were all in close proximity. It got very very cold and windy and we headed back to campus.

Date: 2/2/2016
Time: 2:00-3:30pm
Weather: 32 degrees and slightly cloudy with a light breeze
Location: Centennial Woods
Habitat: deciduous forest, evergreen forest, riparian, grassland

We set off from Aiken and stopped right before the crosswalk to Centennial to observe 8 American Robins perched in a crab apple tree feeding. They let us get very close and we were able to distinguish the males from the females based on the duller colors of the females. We crossed the road and before we went into Centennial we saw 6 Dark-eyed Juncos. They were hopping and pecking around on the ground. Both Dark-eyed Juncos and American Robins tend to flock together.
As we entered Centennial we saw a Downy Woodpecker pecking an Aspen tree. They are smaller and fluffier than the Hairy Woodpecker which we would see later. There calls are very similar though. As we were walking, we saw 3 American Crows flying overhead. They were constantly and continuously flapping their wings as they were flying. We observed many Black-capped Chickadees throughout the walk but the most were congregated around the feeders. They would fly to the feeder, pick up a seed, fly away and perch, and then use their beak to peel the seed and eat it. They were alarm-calling with their "chickadee dee dee dee" call as we were close to them. In the same area as the feeder, we observed a male and a female White-breasted Nuthatch. They were running up and down the trees. The female was duller in color than the male. We looked up and saw 2 Red-tailed Hawks soaring overhead on thermals. We watched them for a while till they were out of sight behind the trees. They were maneuvering their wings to pick up lift as well as to dive to lower elevations and then even out. We walked under the power lines in grassland but didn't see anything so we went back into the forest where we found some Rock Pigeon feathers. Something must of had a snack. We identified a few of them as a contour feather, a primary, and a secondary. I also found a down feather with contour at the end. We walked to the other feeder near the parking lot and observed a plethora of birds: Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, Black-capped Chickadees, and White-breasted Nuthatches. The Hairy Woodpeckers were larger than the Downys. We saw both a male and a female, and observed that the female didn't have any red on her head.
As we were leaving Centennial, we observed 3 Mallards in a drainage pond. They weren't very active and looked rather cold. There were 2 males and 1 female. The female was much duller and more brown than the males making it easy to tell them apart. We also saw 2 Mourning doves perched together high up in a tree. They flew off a minute after we spotted them.
Overall, this was a great birding outing and I look forward to many more!