Ornithology: Journal Post 1

Date: February 8, 2024
Start Time: 10:05am
End Time: 11:05am
Location: East Woods
Weather: 40℉, Sunny, no wind

Account:

I observed a brown creeper moving upwards along a very tall tree. I first noticed the creeper using Merlin bird ID when it made the doo-doo-doo-doo call in an up-down-down-up tone. It then flew very quickly in a very fast paced fluttering motion from around the backside of a tree and landed on the front side of another tree trunk where it was visible to me. At that point I could see the distinctive white belly of the creeper which appeared like a stripe against the bark. It then seamlessly hopped up the tree toward another branch while moving its head before returning to the backside where I couldn’t see it anymore. The wings of the creeper are sharp, but they don’t seem to move very long distances when flying so it’s hard to distinguish their shape well. This fluttery short flight pattern could be used for identification alongside the very white breast given these are pretty distinctive. Their movement climbing up the tree and eating bugs under the bark also makes them distinctive given that other birds like the nuthatch tend to move downward. Although these features are easy to spot in theory, the brown color certainly makes them blend in and I may have had better luck seeing them earlier in the morning.

Comparing this bird to the black-capped chickadee, their flight patterns, movements, and vocalizations seem to be much different. In particular, the chickadee is thicker in stature and splays its wings more when flying so that it can almost float in the air. Furthermore, the chickadee vocalized much more when in the woods, with three to four calling versus only one brown creeper calling while observing. These were interesting comparisons to make given that both are songbirds in the same habitat but take up different ecological niches. The creeper seems to occupy a niche in which is eats the bugs along tree bark and moves less, while the black-capped chickadee seems to eat a more seed based diet closer to the ground where it can swoop.

The next time I go to this area, I want to bring binoculars so I can look upward toward the canopy, as I feel this species may be higher up than I had expected. Therefore, I would like to explore similarly woody areas with tall canopies but earlier in the day and with a way to view the tree bark better in order to spot them. However, if the conditions are windy I wonder whether the birds would be farther down the tree to avoid the movement at the top of the canopy. Given what seems to be poor flight skills, these birds may avoid poor weather so that they don’t have to fly long distances.

Posted on February 10, 2024 01:55 AM by nlhardy