Diario de grace723

Date: 3/8/2024
Start Time: 5:00pm
End Time: 5:29pm
Location: Grant street, Downtown Burlington
Weather: Sunny, 49 degrees, no wind, cloudless sky
Habitat: Suburban area with houses, people, roads, and cars. Some trees and shrubs on properties including box elder, sugar maple, and white cedar.

During this birding trip I heard an assortment of birds including Northern Cardinals, Black -Capped Chickadees, and House Sparrows. Considering the time of day that I was outside, I imagine most of the calls and songs heard were to communicate with the birds around them that nighttime was nearing and they would be sleeping soon. The calls and song could have also been for mating or courtship. Since it is now March and it has recently been getting warmer, it would make sense that some birds have begun searching for mates.
The Northern Cardinal I saw was a male with bright red plumage. I couldn’t make out if the House Sparrow was male or female from my vantage point, but it had the coloration of any typical house sparrow with brown streaky plumage. The reason for the bright red color of male Cardinals is probably for attracting a mate, similar to the birds of paradise except slightly less showy. I can’t imagine the red coloring does them much good in the camouflage department, so it would make most sense for it to be an evolutionary trait connected to producing viable offspring. The brown streakiness of a House Sparrow is probably best for camouflage. They are relatively small song birds that I always seem to see hiding amongst deciduous shrubs and small trees. The streaks help them look like a part of the tree, protecting them from potential predators while it forages for food which is what the particular bird I saw was doing. In the winter this coloration is likely super helpful, because it allows them to direct the majority of their energy and attention to finding food and staying warm, and focusing less on staying out of a potential predator’s stomach.
I was not personally able to get any birds to come towards me when I made the ‘psssh psssh’ sound, however I can kind of understand why it would work in some instances. Smaller songbirds like Black-capped Chickadees might rely on small insects as a food source, and the sound we make can kind of replicate the sound of a flying insect. It may also replicate the sound of a juvenile bird or a bird in distress which could peak the interest of an adult bird (similar to what my cat does). My final idea is that maybe the birds are just curious and the sound is high-pitched enough that they don’t think it is coming from a larger/threatening organism so they deem it safe to check out.

Date: 3/25/2024
Start Time: 1:00pm
End Time: 2:31 pm
Location: Waterfront Park, Downtown Burlington
Weather: Sunny, 42 degrees, windy, a couple of inches of snow still on the ground
Habitat: An urban environment surrounds the park that overlooks Lake Champlain. Large maple and oak trees can be found in the area, as well as hawthorns, eastern white pines, American elms, and Green Ash trees. There are a lot of wide open spaces and the trees are spread out.
The first bird I saw was a Dark-eyed Junco, it was rummaging around in the snow probably for something to eat. In Vermont, Dark-eyed Juncos do not migrate south for the winter, if there is any movement at all they will migrate to lower elevations for warmth, but they remain near their original territory. Migration takes up a lot of energy and can be a very risky tactic for survival, so Dark-eyed Junco may decide to stay in Vermont in order to save their energy and focus it on other survival needs like finding food, reproducing, and then raising their offspring. To survive the winter Dark-eyed Juncos often nest in dense pine foliage that protects them from some of the wind and harsh weather. Their dark feathers also absorb whatever small amount of sunlight the Vermont winter provides which can help them stay warmer.
The second bird I noticed was a Ring-billed Gull. They are migratory birds who fly to warmer areas for the winter. They prefer to stay along coast lines or near water, so it is likely the Ring-billed gull I saw had just recently returned here after migrating from a more southern state like North Carolina. It is likely they traveled North and stayed close to the Hudson river until reaching Lake Champlain. Since moving to Vermont I have noticed that the Ring-billed gulls return to Burlington every March and it seems to always be the sign that spring (and the warmer weather) is coming soon. I would imagine that Ring-billed Gulls spend the winter in a warmer area because food would be more prevalent, the return to Burlington is to reproduce since they seem to prefer nesting and breeding near freshwater and away from the ocean.
Ring-billed Gulls have been known to return to the same nesting/breeding location that they were born at every year, and they often go to the same place to over-winter every year as well. However, they would not be considered obligate migrants, because they do not always migrate at the exact same time every year. Their migration is for survival, when it gets too cold they leave, this makes them facultative migrants instead of obligate. My rough estimate for how far a Ring-billed gull would travel during their migration is about 217 miles one way from Burlington to Norfolk, North Carolina.