claudia-sacks's Journal

At 4:00 PM Tuesday afternoon, I made my way to Centennial Woods. It was about 40 degrees out and an overcast sky framed the scene of the adventure to come. Although there was not much diversity regarding the species sighted, a day birding is never a day wasted! Black-capped Chickadees welcomed me as soon as I stepped foot on a path next to a field that housed last season’s goldenrods. They perched in pines above and hid in shrubs closer to the ground. Higher in the sky, members of the American Crow Flock soared in straight lines across the sky. Their nearly constant flapping as well as their coarse throaty calls gave them away.

It is difficult to determine exactly how many of each of the viewed species were observed because of the calls making up. Over the course of about two hours, approximately 20 Black-capped Chickadees were observed but perhaps some of these were repeats because of the inability to confidently locate their movements in the trees and shrubs. Since it was near dusk, I would draw the conclusion that the Chickadees were planning on overnighting among the pines from which I heard them. I have spent some time learning about Chickadee habits and it seems as though they either nestle on an evergreen branch or in a cavity. Although I did not see exactly where they stayed for the night when they became quiet, other tells in the mornings (bent tails) could potentially be an indicator.

At this time of the evening, the Chickadees were hiding for the night and not actively (not obviously anyway) returning to their caches and eating.

I found several snags with a multitude of cavities in them. Each time I found one, I observed it for several minutes, then went over to the snag and tapped on it. None of the 3 snags that I encountered and tapped had anyone flutter away from my disturbance. Some of the cavities looked as though they were just woodpecker feeding spots while others looked (from my angle on the ground) as though they were deeper (perhaps nesting) holes.

The barn on campus has always been a relatively loud place. Whether it is the rumble of the tractor, the singing of our bovine ladies, or the chirps, whistles, and calls of various passerine species that spend their time here, there is always something to listen to. With this quarantine business going on, I've been working at the dairy barn for a lot of my time. During the down time, it has been exciting he weather on this particular day was sunny, about 45 degrees Celcius, and comfortable enough to lay in the middle of the barn watching birds go about their busy lives.

Over the winter, House Sparrows, Rock Pigeons, European Starlings, among various other common overwintering species spend most of their time inside the safety of the barn. They can be found jumping from fence to fence, picking at the cows' food of corn and hay silage, and traveling around together. For the most part, each "flock" stays separate from the other and doesn't interact with other species. Outside of the barn, there is a field, and some trees. Imaginably, the species observed above spend much of their time here as well. Perhaps they catch bugs and get other more natural forms of food.

This spring, a Rock Pigeon decided to build her nest atop a metal fan in the barn. More often than not, she can be found sitting on the nest, presumably watching the cows munch on food and other avian species flutter about. Watching this particular lady, when she leaves her nest, she escapes out the door of the barn and may be gone for only several minutes but as long as fifteen minutes.