Field Journal 5

I went birding on 4/5/21 at 10:43 and ended at 12:22. It was 48 degrees and the wind was at 21 mph. I was in downtown Burlington. The habitat was residential with some dense bushes and trees.

I saw European Starlings, House Finch, House Sparrows, and Northern Cardinals which are all, year-round residents. I assume they forego migrations because there is still enough food here for them to sustain themselves throughout the winter. I also believe since I saw most of them in dense brush or trees that they also had sufficient cover throughout winter. They all have pretty large populations so I assume it would be easy enough to communicate with each other to find food.

I saw an American Robin who is a facultative migrant. They can spend year-round in Vermont with sufficient resources. They can winter in Florida, Texas, Mexico, and other southern regions. I would assume that the Robins that are here would migrate from Florida, sticking to the east coast. I assume this is a pit stop since their breeding region in Canada. It got very warm the past couple of weeks with a sudden snowfall last week but I assume the spike in warm weather brought them back.

I saw a couple of obligate migrants. I assume it could be an advantage coming somewhat early for scouting food and resources along with territory and finding mates. The disadvantage would be the uncertainty in weather as we had a snowfall a couple of days after it was 70 degrees.

Mini Activity:

Ring-billed Gull: 1037.49 miles
Turkey Vulture: 802.75 miles
American Robin: 1254.19
Total: 3,094.43 miles

Julkaistu huhtikuu 5, 2021 05:37 IP. käyttäjältä betseyroselocke