2/18/2023, Ornithology Journal 1

• Date – 2/18/2023
• Start time – 10:30 AM
• End time – 11:30 AM
• Location – Henry Gerber Reist Bird Sanctuary, Niskayuna, NY
• Weather (temperature, wind speed/direction, precipitation) - ~28°F, sunny, light breeze blowing north.
• Habitat(s) – wooded area with trees bunched closely together, ground covered in leaves and branches, some naturally felled trees, paths in various directions with the main one going South, oak and maple trees, some lichen.

I arrived at the area with my mother at around 10:30, and as soon as I got out of the car I started to hear bird calls, to the west I heard the laughing call of a White-breasted Nuthatch, and to the east I heard the coupled jeering of a blue jay. As we walked further south into the wooded area I heard birds from various directions, it was difficult to isolate many but I heard a Black-capped Chickadee’s call multiple times. The first bird I actually saw was a Woodpecker, I believe it might have been a Hairy Woodpecker because it had a longer beak.
I looked around the same area for 20 or 30 minutes looking for birds of whom I could take pictures. Although some birds flew away so quickly that they escaped my gaze, I managed to get a look at 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 2 Black-capped Chickadees who flew around to various trees, a White-breasted Nuthatch and a Downy Woodpecker. At around 11:00 PM my mother and I walked further along the southern trail, across a small bridge where a couple other people were walking. It was more difficult at this point to see the birds themselves, but I was still able to hear some calls. I heard the mechanical sound of Tufted Titmouses, and I managed to briefly see one. I walked around a smaller trail for anymore birds to see to no avail. At 11:30 my mother and I walked back up to where we started and then left.
The bird I most closely observed was one Black-capped Chickadee. It moved its wings pretty quickly as it moved from one tree to another nearby in a single direction and perched on the side of the tree. It moved its wings in a forward and backward motion, extending its wings towards its head and then moved them back to its sides, while also extending its wings to soar. This is different from the White-breasted Nuthatch I saw, which moved its wings in a loop from forward to backward while flying to a tree further away. It’s possible that the flight pattern of the Black-capped Chickadee helps with maneuvering quickly between nearby trees, it doesn’t need to flap its wings so much to save energy and the shorter length of the wings, when compared to the White-breasted Nuthatch, is adaptive to this short-range flying pattern. If I needed to identify the bird, I could keep track of how it moves its wings as well as how far it may be willing to travel between trees and which trees it prefers.
I think what most held me back from seeing more birds was that it wasn’t too early in the morning, when songbirds are out the most. I think there would have been fewer out if it was precipitating, which it wasn’t, and I might not have seen so many if I was in a different habitat that wasn’t so wooded and isolated. Next time I might want to start earlier in the morning, and try to figure out where the center of the area is too see if ore birds gather there.

Julkaistu helmikuu 18, 2023 10:16 IP. käyttäjältä egriffin102701 egriffin102701

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Mitä

Amerikannakkeli (Sitta carolinensis)

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egriffin102701

Päivämäärä

Helmikuu 18, 2023

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