apbray's Journal

I went to Red Rocks Park in South Burlington, VT on Sunday, March 4th. I went there around 11am, and it was 41 degrees Fahrenheit. The trails were relatively quiet, but I ran into a group of people who said they saw a Carolina Wren down the path, which I thought was unlikely, and never spotted it myself. Half way through my trip it started to snow, but this didn’t discourage any of the birds I was seeing and hearing.

The species I saw and heard the most were Black-capped Chickadees. I saw one Tufted Titmouse foraging with the Black-capped Chickadees deeper into the woods. I had a Hairy Woodpecker fly right in front of me and land on snag to my right, and foraged as I stood and took pictures. When I was walking out of the woods, about to wrap up my birding trip, I saw one American Crow, a White-breasted Nuthatch, and heard one Herring Gull. Each of these species were seen at the edge of the trail on mature trees or snags, except the Herring Gull which flew overhead towards Lake Champlain.

Although it wasn’t particularly cold, I was surprised to see the birds so active in the snow. The Tufted Titmouse and the Black-capped Chickadees, from what I saw, spent most of their time foraging in the trees deeper in the forest for insects or plant matter such as seeds or berries. For these Passerines, their winter diet may be more varied due to lack of food resources. In the summer, Tufted Titmice generally eat insects, but will eat more seeds in the winter. Black-capped Chickadees are the same in that 80-90 percent of their diet in the summer and fall is insects and other animal food; however they are also known to eat seeds and nuts from birdfeeders, but may avoid being exposed if winter wind is particularly harsh. The American Crow and Herring Gull both scavenge, probably more so in winter when the Gull might have a harder time catching marine invertebrates, and when the Crow might have a harder time finding seeds. The Hairy Woodpecker and the White-breasted Nuthatch both have diets largely made up of insects, but both are also known to eat seeds from birdfeeders. They have similar feeding strategies, where they can cling to the side of a tree to forage. Avoiding cold winter wind is easier for Hairy Woodpeckers and White-breasted Nuthatches because they’re able to hop around the tree trunk and stay shielded from the wind, but the Black-capped Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse need to forage lower in the trees to avoid the colder air higher in the trees.

Hairy Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, and Black-capped Chickadees all use nest cavities to sleep in. While the Hairy Woodpecker can create their own cavity, the Passerines typically use nest boxes or cavities created by Woodpeckers. Red Rocks has a lot of large snags, and practically every snag I saw had cavities in it. Snags are essential for creating ideal habitats for most Passerines and Woodpeckers. Herring Gulls make their nests in sand. Crows make their nests high up in evergreen trees, but will nest in deciduous trees if they don’t have as many options.

All information provided by Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/

On Friday, March 16th at 11am I went on a bird walk in Benson's Park in Hudson, NH. It was around 32 degrees, and very windy where there weren't trees. Benson's is a unique place because it includes two dog parks, a playground for children, and old animal exhibits which are relics of when the park was a small zoo that had all sorts of exotic animals. There are also walking trails and two bodies of water, and the only open water was Swan Lake (which is more like a pond than a lake). Swan Lake is beside a walking path but mostly concealed by trees and shrubs, and to the left of the pond is Otter Creek Trail, which continues on into the woods and loops around to the dog parks. There were a range of habitats from thick woods with mostly mature trees, to open fields, to wetlands. On my walk I passed each of these habitats and saw different birds in each.

The first birds I saw were a pair of Hooded Mergansers relatively close to the walking path. They took turns foraging underwater, then eventually flew to the other side of the pond. I walked along the trail so I could get a better look at the other side of the pond, and saw that the Hooded Mergansers had joined a pair of Canada Geese and a pair of Mallards. None of these birds made sound as I stood and took pictures of them. The Canada Geese were also foraging, but stayed in the same spot the whole time. The Hooded Mergansers foraged around the Canada Geese first for a short period of time. The female Merganser flapped her wings at the Geese, which I thought might have been a display of aggression, but the Canada Geese had no reaction. When the male Merganser popped back up out of the water, the female foraged, then the two swam over to the Mallards. The Mallards paid no attention to the Hooded Mergansers, but the female Merganser seemed to stick her neck out at the Mallards while her mate foraged. I thought foraging at this time of day was pretty typical for these waterfowl, and they might forage together so they'll collectively have more eyes out for predators.

I continued to walk and walked past a small stream that branched off of Swan Lake, and in some shrubs I saw what I thought was a leaf, but turned out to be a Winter Wren. It blended in perfectly with the vines it was perched on. Another Winter Wren called to it from the other side of the stream and the subject I was looking at flew off; I can assume the call of the other bird was either a mate or a competitor that the subject I was looking at wanted to chase off. I continued walking and turned a corner to mostly open fields, but the path was sparsely lines with dense shrubs and birch saplings. In this area I saw mostly Black-capped Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos. Per usual, the Black-capped Chickadees were the loudest bird and constantly calling to each other. The Juncos were quiet, and the ones I could see were mostly just foraging on the ground. Between the different species I saw, there were plenty of different types of plumage. The Dark-eyed Junco uses countershading as a way to conceal them (white on their ventral side, dark gray on their dorsal side). The Winter Wren uses cryptic coloration to hide from predators. The Black-capped Chickadee, Hooded Merganser and male Mallard all have plumage for advertising; the Hooded Merganser has a bold pattern, the Black-capped Chickadees accentuate their bill to advertise reproductive fitness or to seem more threatening, and the male Mallard has a bright green head to attract a mate (a great example of sexual selection).

As for trying to make a "pish" call - it didn't seem to have much of an affect. For me, playing bird calls from the Merlin Bird ID app on my phone elicits more of a response from songbirds. I tried playing Black-capped Chickadee songs and they seemed to quiet down for a bit, then would continue on with their chatter. Maybe small songbirds respond to "pish"-ing sounds because they sound like the call of a rival bird?