Field Journal 2

Date: February 3rd, 2024
Start time: 12:00pm
End time: Around 1:00pm-1:10pm
Location: Centennial Woods
Weather:
Temperature: High 20s (Fahrenheit)
Wind: Only an occasional slight breeze, direction unknown
Precipitation: None. The air was dry and cold
Habitats: woodland edges, suburbs, roadsides, mixed hardwoods, streamside, conifer stands, etc.

I went birding for the first time on February 3rd, 2024. We (I went with two other people) started around 12:00pm, and ended roughly an hour later (by 1:10pm or so). We truly began to focus on our objective once we reached the start of the main trail of Centennial Woods, our chosen location for this expedition. As we walked down the trail, what little breeze there was diminished until it felt like the air was mostly still within the forest. Additionally, it was a relatively cloudy, bleak day, which made the woods slightly darker than outside them.
We ended up seeing most of the birds at the beginning of our expedition, in a habitat I would classify as “woodland edges”; However, saying that we ‘saw’ birds is a bit of a stretch, as we couldn’t see most of them, and only heard them. We mainly heard Black-Capped Chickadees and White-Breasted Nuthatches, and even caught a glimpse of a White-Breasted Nuthatch fly from perch to perch. It seemed like its flight pattern was somewhat unique, as it started flying from a vertical perching position. I believe that this observation could be useful for identifying more White-Breasted Nuthatches (even with only a glimpse of it in flight), as seeing it go from a vertical position to fly provides an important clue. However, I wasn’t able to get close enough to the White-Breasted Nuthatch (or any other bird) to really study its flight patterns and wing flaps. At best, we saw some Black-Capped Chickadees (identified by it momentarily poking its head out and seeing the black cap) flying from branch to branch far away and up high, but this proved too far to study anything important.
I think that we didn’t have much success in getting close to birds because of the weather. I’m not sure if the reasoning is sound, but I believe the birds were generally up higher to get away from the sinking cold air, and to be closer to the sun (as opposed to it being blocked by branches above the bird). I think that I would have more luck if I chose a sunnier, warmer day. Overall, I would consider this a successful trip, as we heard many birds (and saw a few), and we were able to identify a couple of them.

Posted on February 22, 2024 08:28 PM by wsn802