Monday Afternoon at Shelburne Bay and TI-Haul Trail

3/4/2024 4:00-5:30 PM
Shelburne Bay Park loading dock (first 30 minutes) TI-Haul trail (last hour)
55 degrees Fahrenheit, partial clouds, slight wind

Today I spent some time at Shelburne Bay park area. I first spent time observing some Canada goose at the shore across from me. They were in the water and on the marshy grassy area but staying together. There were about seven individuals, one appearing smaller than the others. At times two birds would be swimming together. One individual kept getting tall and flapping its wings while keeping its feet grounded. I wasn't sure if this was an aggressive territorial behavior, or if it was for temperature regulation. The birds were honking at each other quite a bit for the whole time I was observing them. I attached an audio file of this. The birds standing on the land were cleaning themselves with their beaks occasionally. I can imagine the Geese spend a lot of their day doing this social behavior, diving down for food, sitting in the sun when it comes out, or acting territorial. They are well adapted for the cold weather so I would guess their daily life Is much different than other birds.
Next I went across the road to the TI-Haul trail which wraps along the outside of a wooded area. I was sitting on a bench for a while which faced the woods, with a large open grassy field behind me. I did not see many birds while sitting here but I heard a few of them. Most prominently I heard a mourning dove calling for a long time. I assume it spends lots of time doing this based on my experience with it. I was amazed to see a large bird which I believe was a bald eagle fly up from behind the trees and soar around for a bit before spiraling downwards. I think it probably spends much of its day hunting prey because it needs a lot of energy for its large body and flight demands. Less notably, I heard what I believed to be a white breasted nuthatch vocalization, and a common raven screaming. I identified the latter using my Merlin Bird ID app. I think the birds were much more active today because it was sunny and they were exhibiting some spring time behaviors based on the weather. As it warms up, they are able to use more energy on mating rituals, hunting, territorial acts, etc. I'm not sure why the different colors between the bald eagle and the Canada goose are helpful. Maybe for blending into their respective habitats.
Mini Activity: While sitting on the bench I made some psh psh noises for some time. I might be crazy but I think I did notice an uptick in different cheeps and small bird noises in the trees far and wide. I think it made them curious and alert which caused them to start vocalizing a bit. However it did not bring them close to me. I never encountered a group of small birds to test it on.

Posted on March 6, 2024 06:53 PM by hjohannabug