FJ Forest birds

Date: 25 May 2021 & 26 May 2021
Time: 9:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. & 6:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Location: Red Rocks Park in South Burlington
Weather: partly sunny, ~60ºF, moderate wind coming off of the lake penetrating through the woods & sunny, 70ºF, with moderate to strong winds
Habitat: This park was covered in downed trees, standing snags, and trees with holes and peck marks on them. There were also plenty of trees with the bark ripped off of them from the woodpeckers. The stand composition changed as you wandered throughout the property, however, the general age of the trees stayed consistent. Most of the trees seemed to be 50 years old or under with the mean being around 20 years. There was one very large tree towards the beginning of the property (that was dead) that was at least 200 years seemingly. Stands could consist of mixed woods with birch, pine, and beech as well as purely coniferous Eastern White Pine stands. The conifer stands also had large boulders and bedrock protrusions more so than the mixed stands. Other areas were purely deciduous stands with the usual birch and beech, but also had White Oak, Green Ash, and a variety of maples. The canopy was completely full, but not necessarily dense just one or 2 layers. Various mosses and fungi were growing on the ground throughout the property suggesting it is usually a very moist place which makes sense since it is right beside Lake Champlain.
I found most of the birds to be in the mixed or entirely deciduous stands. Walking through the conifer stands, everything was mostly quiet except for the occasional Pileated Woodpecker and Ovenbird.
-The best part about today was there was a sign the owls were attacking people on the trail (unfortunately I didn’t find them), but I thought that was pretty funny. It is just because they happened to nest near where to trail was and are being defensive.
-The best thing I actually got to see was the large male Pileated Woodpecker stripping bark off of an Eastern White Pine. I thought it would’ve been a longer, more work intensive process, but it was very easy for him. It had me wondering if all of the holes/cavities and bark strippings were from him or if there is a large population of woodpeckers here. I also go to see a baby Red-breasted Nuthatch up close and had to save him from getting eaten or squished on the trail.

Coniferous: Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren
Deciduous: Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Ovenbird
Generalist: Black-throated Green Warbler

Posted on 26 May, 2021 13:43 by catherinegullo22