jnpearce's Journal

This past Friday, April 6th, after eating brunch at "Sneaker's Bistro" in Winooski, Vermont, with two of my friends, we decided to go bird-watching down by the Winooski reservoir and dam. It was around 12:00. It was chilly outside but nice and sunny, and the sky was clear. Right now, because it's early spring, there wasn't a lot of plant life on the rock face of the dam area other than lichen and moss. We think there may have been some early season insects flying around down by the water, because we saw a small, brown bat skimming around by the surface and sometimes dipping into the water. We saw some familiar faces, like the cardinal, but it was really refreshing to observe some new birds I haven't had the chance to spot on my bird walks yet, like the gulls and the pigeons. I was also really excited to see the downy woodpecker on a nearby apartment complex's bird feeder, and was surprised how quickly the name of the bird sprang into my mind when I saw it!

For the migration aspect of this bird walk, I focused on the Downy Woodpecker. While I'm guessing during the warm months in Vermont, food for these birds must be relatively abundant since the main source of their diet, insects, are plentiful in the summer, it's probably a little more difficult for them to find food in the winter. I think this species is non-migratory because they can eat other foods to survive during the winter, and these foods can be found in Vermont. These include seeds, grain, plant material, and acorns. They are also feeder birds and will eat suet and sunflower seeds and stuff. I thought about how the Canada Goose migrates from North to South at the start of winter, and it has to do with the fact that there is not enough food for them in the Vermont winters and they must fly elsewhere to eat. This is because they eat grasses and plants and berries, which aren't available during winter months in the North.

On Wednesday, April 15th, after I got home around 2:30 in the afternoon, I walked around the entire area of my neighborhood for my bird walk. It was about 45 degrees outside and overcast, but not too windy.

Lately when I've been walking my dog in the afternoon, I'll bring my phone and play bird calls to see if I can attract any birds to the area. I've been having a lot of success with the Northern Cardinal, who will actually fly over and converse with my cell phone! I really enjoy seeing these birds close up because of how bright red they are. Today on my bird walk, I saw two male cardinals and one female. The recording I uploaded was of one of the male cardinals singing.

For this field observation, I decided to visit one of my favorite outdoor places in Essex: Indian Brook Reservoir. I visited Indian Brook on Monday the 23rd of April at 1:30 in the afternoon. The weather was incredibly nice, with no clouds in the sky and the temperature around 60 degrees. It was very sunny and there was little wind. Indian Brook is a man made reservoir. There are hiking trails all around the body of water in the woods, and it's a popular area in the summertime to swim, kayak, fish, or just take a hike.

While I was able to spot many different birds that I haven't seen yet during my bird walks, I paid close attention to the White-breasted Nuthatches I saw. I saw two male Nuthatches flying around this tall, half broken off dead tree. There were holes of all different sizes on the dead tree, which I'm guessing are from birds foraging for bugs in the bark. One Nuthatch kept landing on the dead tree, and every time the other male nuthatch tried to land on the dead tree, the first Nuthatch would fly at it and chase it away in the air, while making those "yank" sounds they do. While I'm not 100% sure, I would guess that the first male nuthatch was defending its nest. I'm guessing this because the time of year is right considering the nuthatches mate at the end of winter, and I think the male stays with the female during nesting season. I also think this because of the fact that the bird seemed to be defending this dead tree, and I think maybe the nest was in one of the dead holes.

All in all, this was definitely my favorite field observation so far because of how nice the weather was and because of how many birds I saw. I also liked observing the bird behavior, as well.