Field Journal 2: Flight

Date - 2/21/2021 Start time - 12:00 End time - 1:30 Location - Cobble Hill Road, Milton VT Weather - 25 degrees F, sunny, very few clouds, no wind Habitat(s) - Field with patches of trees, species observed: eastern white pine, eastern red cedar, young deciduous trees, honeysuckle Observing the American Crow's flight from afar, I noticed they made these kind of forward half-circles with their tips of their wings and created deep wing beats. They also would glide for a few seconds after this motion and then repeat the process. The American Crow has rounded wings with some slots. Comparing this to the Black-capped Chickadee, their wings are also rounded with some slots, but have a lot faster wing beats and will fold their wings to the sides after several quick shallow strokes. The most noticeable or identifiable feature of the flight pattern for the Black-capped Chickadee is likely the faster movements and time spent with their wings by their sides. The American Crow can be identified by its longer strokes and very little time with their wings at their sides. The American Crow likely has these wing features in order to fly at longer distances and use less energy, whereas the Black-capped Chickadee likely has their wing features in order to maneuver easily around thicker forests. These can allow you to understand where these birds likely spend the majority of their time, the Chickadees likely stay within forests and trees where their food is and the American Crows may be able to go on longer expeditions in order to capture their food. For the mini activity, I found a Black-capped Chickadee that I got close enough to inspect the field marks on this individual. The only difficulty I had with this was the amount of time I had to sketch the marks I saw before the bird flew away. It does help to observe the species and draw as it allows me to understand the patterns and find the fine details. I do think that I will need some binoculars in the future so I'll have an easier time observing the birds. The sketch is below: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1j1Hmbv8c4GPASw-gO5IFSlJ5IYkmVEFy

Julkaistu helmikuu 21, 2021 11:23 IP. käyttäjältä