Reproductive Ecology and Evolution
Date - 4/23/2021
Start time - 2:00
End time - 3:30
Location - From Aiken Center to retention pond to bike path to country club
Weather - 53 degrees, partly cloudy 17mph wind
Habitat(s) - residential area, golf course, pond
For our birding field trip Friday afternoon we left from Aiken center and travelled to Redstone campus to the retention pond, and then to the golf course area before turning back around. It was somewhat windy so it was harder to hear and see some birds, but we did still see behavior related to mate selection, nest selection, or territory selection.
I saw paired up Cardinals together, as well as a pair of Mourning Doves. They were both near the golf course and residential yards. The Cardinals may have had a nest in the nearby shrubs or high hedges in the backyard. These could be good sites with dense foliage for a Cardinal to make a nest. I did hear some Cardinal songs, so they may have been defending some territory. This seemed like a good territory to defend, with decent out of reach and hidden nest sites.
In a very different habitat we also saw the nest site of a Canada Goose, with a couple Geese nearby it. Its nest was on a thin strip of land surrounded by water in the pond. The nest looked fairly large with some dry grass looking material constructing it. It may also have had body feathers or down lining it as Canada Geese will use that to insulate their nests. Canada Geese, especially the males, will defend their nesting territory fiercely.
We did the mini activity as a group right next to the golf course. It was interesting to stop and see how much we could hear and try to identify it, a bit of a challenge with the various man made noises going on. I noted the sounds by writing the initials of the bird, in different boldness for the sound qualities. This was harder than I realized, especially since I am not amazing at identifying bird calls and songs. But we went over what species we heard as a group after and I was able to match them all up.
Havainnot
