March 24, 2020 Field Journal 4

On Tuesday March 24, 2020, I went out into the field for bird observations. My location of choosing was in Georgia, Vermont, and I entered the field for observations at 5:30 pm. The temperature was about 35 degrees, and partly cloudy. The sun was starting to set for the evening and was peeking through the tree lines. With the snow the night before the ground was slightly snow-covered and winds about 7 mph. The area in which I was observing was behind a family members house. It was tucked back along a busy highway, and the interstate crossed close by causing it to be fairly noisy with cars. The habitat was wetland behind the house. There was a small swamp, pond, stream crossing behind the house. A lot of cattails were along the back of the swampier area, and then various deciduous trees. Across the road was a large cornfield, and the lawn was connected to a large field.
Through the duration of the observation period birds were very active. A total of 5 American Robins, 5 Canada Geese, 6 Red-winged Blackbirds, and 1 unknown species were recorded during this time. American Robins were interacting during this time by foraging on the lawn of the house, when they caught site of me they flew into a tree close by and perched together. The Canada Geese sited were seen in two groups. The first was a group of 2 flying north site by site. The second group was a group of 3 resting in the cornfield across the road close together. The Red-winged Blackbirds were congregated around the cattails bordering the swamp. Some of them were hidden in the cattails while others were located in a tree that emerged from the edge of the cattails. The Red-winged Blackbirds were calling back and forth to one another. The calls of the Red-winged Blackbirds were the ones calling back and forth to each other. One was perched in the tree calling to the others in the tall cattails, and I was able to see one from the cattails go to the tree with the other. Along with the Red-winged Blackbirds the Canada Geese in the field across the road were communicating through short honks back and forth in their group. When they were alarmed by a neighbor’s dog then they really began to honk.
The plumage of the Red-winged Blackbird stood out to me the most. The jet-black male birds red accents on their wings were eye catching and stood out. Comparing the Red-winged Blackbird, to the American Robin they both have a color accent that stands out and on the American Robin it is the color block of their reddish-orange belly. Although the American Robin has more of a neutral colored greyish black head and backside. These two species eye-catching color blocks on their body could be to attract mates, along with their darker colored rest of their bodies could be beneficial to some sort of camouflage. The unidentified bird species that I focused during my observation outing was small and had a white stomach. Because it was high up in a tree perched on a branch I was unable to see if it had any other color spots. It looked fairy small, smaller than an American Robin but larger than a Black-capped Chickadee and was resting and not singing or calling. The pair of Canada Geese that flew over while in my bird observations I focused on. They were both flying relatively low, about power line height and calling. This fits their circannual rhythm being a migratory bird coming back in north in the early spring.

For the mini activity I was able to practice spishing on the group of American Robins on the lawn of the house. Being a far distance away from the robins I was trying to create different tones of spishing to catch their attention, but I caught myself getting a little too loud and scared them away when I move towards them. Overall my spishing experience was not very successful. But the spishing technique in small birds may work because it may resemble the sound of insects or other predators. I completed my field observations at 7:00 and headed inside for the evening.

Posted on March 26, 2020 12:19 AM by ajchagnon