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Date:4/4/2021
Time: 10:30a-12p
Place: The old North end Pomeroy Park + surrounding neighborhoods + inside from a bird feeder just after my walk (included because they excited me)
Scattered clouds 40F no/minimal wind

All the birds I saw on my walk were year round residents. The American Robin and Cedar Waxwing (unsure if ID correct) may go south for the winter, but commonly they stay put. The European Starling, according to All About Birds, the juveniles may go slightly south by a state or two but not very far. The House Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmouse are year round residents. These smaller birds can more easily navigate the woody underbrush and have access to more cover simply because they are smaller. Even without leaves and tree cover these birds can hide or escape into the undergrowth and become inaccessible to predatory animals. They all seem to group loosely together too, this may further help them evade predators. If one calls a warning call they are alerting not only their own species but other bird species to a potential threat. To survive the winter, as discussed previously, they have downy feathers and are able to insulate themselves better against the cold. This coupled with the counter current exchange in their feet, paired with a small overall body mass, they can stay well insulated during the ice cold VT winters. Further, they may conserve energy by staying in one place most of the day, unless looking for food. Not migrating would be beneficial because they avoid large energy expenses and are all in the same place already when the breeding season comes around. By staying put they may also have first access to the best territories and feeding grounds.

Interestingly, the Robins may go as far as Florida if they do choose to migrate. Similar to the Starlings, I would imagine these are the younger birds. Going south may be easier because it is warmer but also because there may be more food due to the warmer weather, thus allowing the younger birds the best chance of survival into the mating season. Further, the warmer the weather the more likely the trees will still have leaves providing cover from predators. This may be especially pertinent for the younger birds because they are still learning how to be a bird and survival does depend on remaining unseen by raptors or even terrestrial predators. The older birds, know the environment a little better, may have secured territories they can defend and a reliable food source therefore they choose to stay and not spend the energy to migrate so far. Coming back to VT in early April may be due to them simply not migrating that far anyway or a preferred habitat for mating. The Robin may go as far as Canada to mate, so it would make sense a few don’t go quite as far north but find similar habitat here in VT. Vermont may have a different spring/summer food source and better nesting materials for the Robins or simply better forests with better habitat as the months warm up compared to Florida habitat. Coming back early in the season ensures prime real estate and plenty of time to molt or restore their spent energy after migration and before finding a mate. The Blue Jay, I am not surprised they don’t really migrate. They have been described as ‘bullies’ and I would expect them to easily out-compete some of the smaller songbirds for food (at least at bird feeders), making it all the more easy for them to hang out throughout the winter instead of migrating. Their larger body sizes and more aggressive personalities may also deter predatory birds from attempting to hunt them.

I didn’t come across any obligatory migrants (disappointing) this time. However, for my last field journal I did come across a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds, who commonly migrate back to VT for the spring and summer months. Again, coming back early in the season would give these birds the best chance of finding ideal territories and a chance to recuperate from their migration. Additionally, it may also give them an advantage to finding a mate. As they trickle back they can pair up as soon as possible, and if you’re late to the party you simply have less mating options. I would imagine this would be especially important for juvenile birds entering their first mating season, the earlier they get back the more time they have to find a mate and possibly learn from other birds how to court a mate. Some disadvantages to getting back to Vermont as early as April is that it is still pretty cold. As we witnessed not too long ago, it may still snow. This could pose a challenge to southern birds migrating north because they won’t be used to the cold climate and the abrupt change from mild temperatures to temps below freezing could threaten their survival.

45F, no precipitation, 90% cloud cover (cleared up towards end of walk), Centennial Woods
Time: 9am - 10:40am

Habitat and general notes: Walking to Centennial is very urban, more cars/houses than trees. We saw the Robins, Crow, and Nuthatch in these areas. All presumably looking for food, witnessed one Robin actively pulling worm from the ground. The Great Egret was spotted flying overhead the small pond that the Mallard was in and where we spotted the Woodpecker and Blackbird. This area didn't have much cover but was more swampy due to the pond with a few sparse trees and cattails. Inside Centennial, there was an area of less cover with younger small trees, then progressively gained larger, older trees as we walked through. The Chickadees looked to be building a nest in an old dead red maple cavity. Pine trees dominated the further in we went with lots of underbrush (where we noted the Brown Creeper and Tufted Titmouse). The Pine Warbler and Kinglet were spotted high up in the pine trees, where there was the most cover. most of the trees deeper in Centennial didn't have leaves/needles on the lower branches yet, the densest cover was at the tops of trees. The road was not visible through the woods but was faintly heard. We ran into 1 off leash dog and a few joggers but otherwise the forest was empty for us. Overall, there was a wide variety in habitat from urban to light cover to mixed forest with early blooming plants and brush.

All birds seen (notes under individual observations):

• Chipping Sparrow x2
• House Sparrow x2
• American Crow
• American Robin x4

• Mallard
  -Red-winged Blackbird

• Great Egret

• Brown-headed Cowbird x2
  -Hermit Thrush
  -Black-capped Chickadee x2
  -Tufted Titmouse x2

• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Pine Warbler
• Brown Creeper
• Downy Woodpecker
• White-breasted Nuthatch

Temp: 50F
No wind
100% cloud cover
Habitat: Urban, clustered mixed tree coverage, Pond behind Redstone lofts with cattail underbrush and sparse Mixed tree coverage - mostly deciduous types.

During this trip we heard a lot of bird song and calls. Seeing as it is still early in the nesting season I believe these are the early precursors to nesting, males are setting up territories and calling to defend them as well as to attract mates. Visually we saw saw the Canadian Geese pairing up and possibly also setting up a nesting site in the cattails around the pond on redstone. This species are ground nesting, the cattails provided good nesting material as well as dense cover. Red-wing Blackbirds were also prominent in this area. We saw two males (heard a few others) and one female. The female came into one male's territory and the male chased her around the cattails, possibly as courting behavior. During this time the other male tried to swoop in but the original male diverted to chase his competitor away. For the Red-winged Blackbirds I would call this habitat unideal. There doesn't appear to be a lot of food availability and high competition with con-specifics and other species. However, there is good cover within the cattails and further an abundant amount of potential nesting material from small twigs to dead undergrowth for the parents to use to construct a nest when it is time. The male doing the chasing is the same one that successfully called in the female, therefore I'd say this male is more fit, or possibly more experienced with age, than the male that tried to fly into his territory. This may also suggest that the area he was defending (much thicker in cattails, with more cover over all) has a slightly better territory habitat than the competing male (who was calling from a lone tree). For the Geese I would say this habitat is more ideal, although still very shallow water with limited food resources, but potentially more for the geese than there is for the Blackbirds as they can feed from the lake as well as the surroundings. Most importantly for the geese this is a very well protected area, with a fence and thick cattails, this would be a reasonable place to raise a clutch, at least for a while. One major downfall of this area is the litter. There were a lot of discarded cans and variable plastics, which may provide nesting material but if ingested by the geese's precocial young, while they're learning to feed, could be deadly or even risk contaminating the shallow waters.
The Chipping Sparrows were all heard in various pine type trees. This suggests this kind of cover is more idea for this species, and that their territories are confined to individual trees, as it seemed only one male was present per pine tree. They defend their trees by constantly calling, they had a jack hammer type call and repeated it every few seconds to reaffirm their territory. These Sparrows create very small and uniform nests using mud to stick twigs together. Similar, I believe to how American Robins form their nests. This method helps make the nests sturdy to hold all the young. Using mud to cement the nest together provides more stability than twigs alone. Twigs aren't the only nest building material, leaves, grasses and even plastic have been utilized for nest construction. This area has an abundance of all of these from the mixed tree species available. Mud can be gathered from the pond that's not too far away, although this may lead to territory disputes the closer to the pond these birds get, as competition for this resource grows. Whereas the Robin uses more branches and hard woods, I believe the Chipping Sparrow uses more pine needles, which would make sense as they were regularly seen among pine trees, which would provide an abundance of nesting materials. Further, Birds may return to the same nests year after year and simply add to them. We noted a rather large nest right outside Jeffords, possibly a Robin's nest, that was huge. It appeared to be continually added to and suspected to be at least a year old. Adding to nests, versus total reconstruction, requires less efforts and provides an overall larger and sturdier nest. This nest was more oval shaped, between larger trunk/base branches, and made mostly out of branches and leaves.
My favorite bird seen on this outing was the Yellow-rumped Warbler. There was roughly 2-3 individuals noted along the fence line leading towards the redstone pine grove. This area has the most mixed tree cover, and near the pine trees would offer a good resource for nest supplies and food supplies, although a highly competitive area with other species. The Yellow-rumped Warblers defended their territories with calls, although no clear territories seemed defended and they frequently invaded each other's space/trees, this could be the early conflicts of territory defense, clear boarders are yet to be defined. This species it seemed they were behind when compared to the Chipping Sparrow or Blackbirds because they haven't solidified their territories just yet. This is most likely due to them just arriving in VT from their migrations. They may also not settle in this area and continue more north before they actually settle down and nest.