Ornithology Field Journal 3/3/2024
Date: 3/3/2024
Start Time: 14:12
End Time: 16:35
Location: Centennial Woods Natural Area
Weather: About 48 degrees Fahrenheit, partially sunny, not overly windy.
Habitat(s):
The habitats I walked through during this birding walk were very similar to the ones that I walked through on my first ornithology field journal on 2/7/2024, which also took place in Centennial Woods. However, I chose not to walk through the more hardwood stands and instead spent the majority of my time in several coniferous stands that I had not walked through the last time. This was partially due to the mud, but I also just wanted to walk on a different path.
While the large majority of my sightings and photographs were taken in primarily coniferous stands, the first group of birds I stumbled upon (that I successfully photographed) were in a mixed stand fairly close to the marshy area near the stream that runs through Centennial. This is one of my favorite spots to sit and observe wildlife, as it seems to be a popular spot and there is a very convenient downed tree that I can sit on. In the past, I've even sighted a Barred Owl here a couple times, once even two at a time! In this spot, I observed a Hairy Woodpecker, 5 Black-capped Chickadees, and a Brown Creeper.
Later on in my birding walk, I found myself in a coniferous stand near the edge of the marsh where the Beaver Bridge is. Here, I observed and heard lots of birds, so I spent quite a lot of time here. In this spot, I observed 1 Tufted Titmouse, 1 Northern Cardinal, and 6 Black-capped Chickadees. I also believe that I was consistently hearing the call of a Carolina Wren. However, I was unable to catch a sighting of it as the environment I was in had pretty low visibility due to all of the reeds. Here, I took some time to focus specifically on how the birds were communicating. It seemed that the Carolina Wren was acting as a bit of a lookout. Whenever I got too near a bird, they had something to say about it, and all of the birds would immediately flock to the trees or somewhere they deemed to be more safe. Later on, I also spent some time watching how several groups of Black-capped Chickadees interacted. I think it's really cool to watch them, as they tend to just flit around each other. I observed this same behavior in the groups of Black-capped Chickadees as I did earlier with the Carolina Wren. Whenever I got too close, one of the chickadees would make their stereotypical 'chickadee-dee-dee' call. I've included the calls of two different Black-capped Chickadees, the Carolina Wren, and a Northern Cardinal in this journal post.
Some of the birds that I heard throughout my walk also included a Blue Jay, 4 American Crows, 2 more Black-capped Chickadees, 2 more Northern Cardinals, and what I believe to be a Fish Crow. Other noticeable bird sightings were many, many Black-capped Chickadees (as shown by the amount of photos I took of them). In this time, I saw about 12 more Black-capped Chickadees, bringing my counted total to 26. I also saw a flock of Canada Geese flying above me as I was exiting the woods, 5 American Crows (all around the same time), 2 additional Tufted Titmice (around what I believe to be a nest), and a Pileated Woodpecker. I was really excited to see the Pileated Woodpecker, and something that was really fascinating about this sighting was that it was in almost the exact same spot as a prior sighting of a Pileated Woodpecker on 2/11/2024. While I obviously do not know if these two sightings are the same bird, I think it's really intriguing that they were in such similar spots. I leaned against a tree and watched this bird for quite a while, and something I've noticed both times is that they don't seem to get startled easily. I could snap twigs and talk all I want, they just didn't move. While I didn't video the Pileated Woodpecker this time, I did the last time, so if you scroll down just a bit in my observations, it should be there.
Two different bird species that I observed on my walk with differing plumages are that of the Black-capped Chickadee and the Pileated Woodpecker. Their plumages and general body vary greatly; Black-capped Chickadees are significantly smaller with short bills and their plumage coloring includes shades of gray, black, white, and buff. On the other hand, Pileated Woodpeckers are significantly larger with large bills, and their plumage is mostly black, with some white stripes (especially on underwings) and a distinctive red crest. With this plumage and body shape, it is probable that a Black-capped Chickadee blends in significantly better, which makes sense considering this species is prey for more animals than a Pileated Woodpecker is. Additionally, I find that I observe Black-capped Chickadees pretty much exclusively in flocks, while I have never seen two Pileated Woodpeckers at the same time. The chickadees were foraging, while the Pileated Woodpecker was pecking at a piece of standing deadwood. I would expect to find a flock of Black-capped Chickadees foraging, as that's what they seem to do most of the time.
Whenever I stumbled upon a small foraging flock of chickadees, I did try the sphishing activity. They seemed a little attracted at first, but after they came closer and noticed me they quickly found the nearest tree. While my spishing definitely wasn't the greatest (after all, I can't even whistle or make duck calls) it seemed to work a little. The action of spishing works because it is mimicking the scolding call of other birds. Whenever you successfully make this sound, songbirds pop up out of seemingly nowhere (and everywhere) looking for the predator that supposedly exists.
Comments
Add a Comment