Roundhouse Park ~ Burlington, VT

Temperature: 55F
Weather: Sunny w/ slight wind

After a rainy morning, the weather decided to clear-up and therefore I decided to take an adventure down to the waterfront to find some bird. I've walked through Roundhouse Park before, but just had not taken proper birding equipment to record observations. During a Thursday afternoon the park and bike-trail were both quiet from human activity. I was hoping to get a glimpse of some unique waterfowl near shore, but unfortunately none were spotted (expect 2 Canadian Geese). The majority of individuals in the area were European Starling and Common Grackles. You could heard their distinct calling and imitations all throughout the line of coniferous trees lining the bike-path. This was the most condensed area of forest that I noted on the property. Many males were perched on subsequential trees next to each other, fluffing and voicing their song. I am unsure if these behaviors are for breeding, territory defense, or both. I saw multiple European Grackles finding human food from the park while foraging. This makes me believe that this is a very competitive spot for these species, and that territory defense is high. A Common Raven also flew into to the park to pick up human-like materials, probably to build a nest!

Before I left the park I noticed a beautiful purple Rock Pigeon that appeared to be frozen, laying in the grass. I approached and clearly the bird was scared, but was not able to physically right itself or fly away. The individual was also favoring it's left side while laying down. After some time the bird attempted to fly, still favoring the left side, and flew in a wide circular motion until it crashed back down into the grass. There were no apparent lesions on the bird, so I naturally thought of Listerosis aka "circling disease". I am also currently in Wildlife Disease this semester as well, and we have learned about multiple avian diseases. It was great to finally put that new knowledge to use!

Posted on April 26, 2018 08:04 PM by tzumbo