A Morning Jaunt to Colchester!

Tuesday
21 April 2020
7:00 AM
37 degrees Fahrenheit
Sunny, clear, little clouds
Breezy from the West
Delta Park
Colchester, VT

Sophia and I arrived at Delta Park to practice some social distance birding. Face masks fogging up binoculars, we enjoyed each other’s company as well as the sights and sounds of some avian pals.

At 7:15, we heard the first Phoebe of the morning! A lovely lady or gentleman whose relative’s feather I was gifted some time ago. Later we saw two Black-capped Chickadees preening in a shrub next to the path. These are the friends that everyone has been looking for! Kind hearted, brave, beautiful little lads and ladies. They are accurately described as “the small boy of the woods” according to Birds of America (1937).

We watched four Yellow Warblers hip and hop around branches overhead. Fast twitch muscles seemingly abundant, their sudden movements look to be out of a cartoon!

Once we made our way to the bridge, we spotted six Double-crested Cormorants flying and diving around! Although they weren’t particularly close to each other, they did not seem to show any type of aggression toward the others. Previously, I had seen this species only singularly. Is this the beginning of their mating season? Is that why they are gathering?

A Belted Kingfisher graced us with his presence. He sat on a branch not far from the trail on the South side of the Bridge. I suppose we ventured too close and he promptly but calmly took off to the Southeast and landed on another branch.

There were some American Goldfiches that showed some signs of territoriality. Perhaps they were merely playing, but it seemed as though the four males that we watched were chasing each other from a particular tree. This could be the beginning of their mating ritual. Delineating and defending a territory to woo a lady Goldfinch.

If the Double-crested Cormorants were indeed beginning a mating process, they did so on the lake, in the water where the American Goldfinches were performing in the nearby trees. Perhaps the Cormorants choose a mate on the water and return to the shore or land to build a nest, copulate, and incubate a nest. American Goldfinches seemed to be defending trees or a series of nearby trees. Perhaps this is for resource protection, including nesting site and food. They typically nest in cup-like nests in trees so it follows that they would be protecting trees that could well facilitate such a nest site.

On our way back to the vehicles, we spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet! A beautiful little critter with such a bright spot! All About Birds states that Ruby-crowned Kinglets build a globe shaped nest that will stretch with the size of the brood. The female builds the nest over a period of days and does so with small twigs, mosses, spiderwebs and grasses. I think that a Ruby-crowned Kinglet would have a successful attempt at finding these things at the site that we spotted the male. The water and trees around and in it provides ample habitat for insects and consequently spiders. Since they are insectivores, this would also be a good location to raise a brood of maybe a dozen young.

Back at the cars, we spotted two Yellow-rumped Warblers. I’m always shocked at just how vibrant they are! Truly magnificent creatures.

Posted on 22 April, 2020 23:59 by claudia-sacks