4/7 Red Rocks Park

Today's bird walk began at 1:35 pm at Red Rocks Park in South Burlington, VT. The weather was gorgeous; sunny, clear skies and a gentle wind added to the natural beauty of the park's temperate broadleaf and mixed forest habitat. Within moments of stepping out of the car, we heard the distinctive call of an American Crow. A few minutes later, as we walked through the entrance of the park, we heard several Black-capped Chickadees and spotted a White-breasted Nuthatch hopping up and down the trunk of a nearby tree. The song of an American Robin could clearly be heard in the tree tops above, but we had trouble locating the individual. We continued our walk down the trail, which took us along a row of houses where we found a Northern Cardinal flitting through the branches of a thick cedar hedge. A little farther down the path, we saw a Blue Jay take flight into the tree branches from the ground, where it appeared to be foraging on the grassy pathway. As we kept walking, we heard lovely, high-pitched song that we didn't recognize. It might have been a Song Sparrow, but we couldn't find the bird to visually confirm our theory.
We followed the trail as it wound through the forest, eventually taking us to Red Rock Point, where we found a couple of Tufted Titmouses perching in some of the tree branches. We descended the trail leading to the beach, hoping to spot some waterfowl. Two American Crows could easily be seen a little farther down the beach, but as we walked the length of the shore, no waterfowl came into view. We decided to head back up into the woods, and as we kept walking, we came across a small wetland area within the trees. Several long trill-songs could be heard nearby, so we ventured inwards to try and spot the birds. At least 3-4 individuals could clearly be heard singing, but none could be seen among the thick pine needles they were perching in. As we waited, hoping to try and catch a glimpse of one of them, we used our phones to try and identify the song we were hearing. After several minutes, we finally identified it as the Dark-eyed Junco song. In the distance, we heard something drumming on a tree trunk. Heading towards the noise, we stumbled across a Pileated Woodpecker drumming against a fallen log. While trying to get closer for a picture, we spotted a Hairy Woodpecker on a tree trunk off to the right. Both birds flew off moments later. As we were walking off of the path, we saw a Common Raven fly overhead. Interestingly, it seemed to be missing 1 or 2 of its secondary feathers on one of its wings.
The majority of birds we saw today were year-round residents. To survive, some of the species--like the Tufted Titmouse--may have evolved strategies like food caching to ensure they had a steady food supply throughout the year, even if resources become scarce in winter. There's a chance that some of the Dark-eyed Juncos we heard or the American Robin were facultative migrants arriving from a little farther south in the United States. Their short migration was probably triggered by the warmer weather Burlington has been experiencing the past couple of weeks. Assuming that the Dark-eyed Juncos arrived from the central United States, they could have traveled about 700 miles from their overwintering grounds to get back to Burlington.

Publicado el abril 7, 2018 11:11 TARDE por asmolens