WFB 130 - Field Journal 1
February 20th from 11:30 – 1:00pm. Outside of the Coolidge dorms (on a bench in the campus green where it’s a yard of cut grass with a few trees along the edges), Clear skies with no wind, about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. At 11:40 am I heard Black-capped Chickadee calls coming from what sounded like the top of the Coolidge dorm. This went off and on for about 20 minutes, the actual bird was never seen. At about 12:10 a bird flew over-head, about the size of a robin, but it was too far away to make out the shape to identify its species. At 12:50 I saw a pair of American Robins flying close to the ground for a moment then sore right back up. About 5 minutes later I saw a few more birds (about three and all around the same size) fly by quickly all at varying heights. I assume there was a flock of American Robins flying by around that time (moving in the direction from central campus to Redstone campus).
The Robins seem to fly with more reliance on gliding than actually flapping their wings, as the robins I saw pass by me were mainly gliding. They only flapped their wings when they got to close to the ground or wanted to change direction it seemed. I only saw one species of bird (American Robin) so I cannot compare the flight pattern I observed in this bird with another species, but perhaps the robin’s flight pattern comes from its niche as a seed disperser (since they have to travel distances and need to conserve energy when flying). I thought the open field I went to would be good spot to view birds flying because I would be able to more easily see them in the sky, but I think If I wanted to see more of a range of birds I should choose a spot filled with more trees, as I may see a bird possibly nesting or doing some other activity than flying. I think my time of day and weather were optimal to view birds as I went on a clear sky day with no adverse weather that would’ve impeded on flying and I went early in the day so I could catch songbird morning calls (as I did with the Black-capped Chickadee).
I am including a drawing of what one of the American Robins looked like as they flew close to the ground. I tried to capture its body position to me as well as its changing of direction in the way its wings are flapping. I was not able to determine whether this bird was a male or female so I chose to keep the red color lighter and assume it was a female for simplicity’s sake. In terms of the ‘mini activity’ the first bird I drew, without referencing a picture of a certain species, I was less detailed with the actual shape of the feathers as well as the color pattern on the bird’s body. I didn’t draw a distinction between the primary feathers and secondary feathers, rather I morphed them together in an overly simplified wing structure. I think this is indicative of my lack of familiarity with bird anatomy, where even though we are currently learning about the different structures that make up a bird’s body it still is not the first thing I think of when trying to draw a bird (if my first bird tried to take flight, its wings would have no thrust).
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