Ornithology - March 20 & 22, 2021

Mini Activity- Spishing:
Unfortunately my spishing was largely unsuccessful my past couple visits. Since my partner is away, I've had to take the dog on my bird walks with me, so the birds seem to be reacting more to him than to the spishing. It is interesting to compare the reaction of the birds to the dog versus spishing and the types of calls they use. With the dogs, the calls seem louder, more urgent, and usually coming from all the birds in the flock. Additionally, the birds seem to want to stay up higher in the tree, though they stay near enough to see us. With spishing I usually end up either pushing the birds completely away, or they get slowly closer with a more relaxed "chickadee-dee-dee call".

Date - March 22, 2021

Start time - 8:54 am
End time - 9:34 am
Location - Shelburne Bay Boat Launch
eBird Checklist - https://ebird.org/vt/checklist/S83877215

Had to miss class to take my dog to the vet, so I figured I'd at least get some birding in before! One thing that was immediately apparent and distinct even from a few days ago, was the chorus of counter-singing male Red-winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, and Northern Cardinals. The Song Sparrows seemed to like calling from the very top of a tree or bush -- which seems rather a conspicuous place to be doing so. I also witnessed an American Goldfinch feeding on what appeared to be the buds of a tree. This all seemed like typical morning and sunny day activity for these types of birds that are active during the day, particularly in the morning and just before dusk. There also seemed to be some chasing activity between a male and female Eastern Bluebird -- perhaps a courting behavior?

In terms of color comparisons, I always find certain ducks to be challenging because it's often some combination of white, black, green, and/or brown and I have trouble keeping all the patterning straight in my head. Thankfully I had some male Common Mergansers together with some Ring-necked Ducks. It was nice to see the different patterning of large swaths of lighter white or gray in contrast to darker heads or other patches of color. With the Common Mergansers there is definitely a distinction between a very dark head and a largely light-colored body with a dark patch on upper side of the body. As divers, perhaps this countershading helps them camouflage from fish below? There is a similar countershading with Ring-necked Ducks who also have a dark area on their uppers and a broad light patch on either flank area. This may be also connected to their feeding ecology as diving ducks. Interestingly the two particular groups of diving ducks I witnessed today seemed to stay distinct from one another, with the Mergansers out farther in open water.

Date - March 20, 2021

Start time - 9:36 am
End time - 10:39 am
Location - Woodside Natural Area
eBird Checklist - https://ebird.org/vt/checklist/S83723761

I noticed a lot more singing on this visit than on my February bird walks. In particular, the Winter Wren was new for me this spring. I didn't realize they came back so early! I also heard a number of Northern Cardinals and Red-winged Blackbirds countersinging. I also noticed quite a few Tufted Titmice in comparison with Black-capped Chickadees. Usually it seems like the Chickadees outnumber the Titmice. Interestingly, towards the end of my walk, I had a whole group of Titmice together rather than a flock mixed with Chickadees as I often see. Perhaps a family group?

由使用者 lizamorse 在 2021年03月22日 18:59 所貼文