Journal Entry 3

With everything that has been going on over the past few weeks, this assignment really slipped through to the last second. Since I had been feeling a bit sick (not bad, but a cough so better not to risk it) and since I tend to see a lot of birds outside my window, I decided to go sit on my roof for the hour and a half. I was there from 5:00 to 6:30 today, March 25. The weather was overcast and in the low 40s. The habitat around the area tends to consist of largely of urban buildings, with large deciduous trees and smaller conifers.

Keeping an eye out for bird interactions was very interesting, and my vantage point allowed me to really get a good view of how groups of birds moved and interacted. One interesting species I paid attention to were the crows. First I noticed a lone crow in a low branch, making for of a cackling call for over 5 minutes, which stretch me as interesting given their tendency to flock over the past 4 months. I also noticed another group of 13 perched together in a couple of trees, and was able to notice how some pairs of birds interacted much more closely than others, and even noticed a few perch evictions by what I would assume were higher ranked birds. There was also an interesting large group of gulls that seemed to be feeding on something just out of view. The perches on the closest rooftops seemed to be a hot commodity, and there was definitely some competition between the gulls. I also noticed some take big circles away from the food, perhaps perch somewhere else for a minute, and then return. I wonder if this behavior has something to do with feeding in the ocean? The last group that I thought was interesting was a group of European starlings that were scared off by a cardinal, but returned to their previous spot a minute or so later.- The movement of the starlings was very interesting, they seemed to sometimes all move together and other times move one by one. The groups also seemed like they were constantly shifting and changing, despite it seeming like none of the birds were going very far.

Many of the behaviors I saw made me thing about territories, despite not being sure that territorial behavior explained anything that I was seeing. Without an ability to keep track of individual birds, it was a tough task to tell if repeated flying routes were the same bird or different birds. However, it did seem that smaller birds traversed a smaller area than larger birds. The starlings seemed like they stayed within the place of 3 or 4 houses, while the gulls flew over more than a few blocks every time they left the feeding spot. The blue jay was a nice intermediate that I was curious about, bit I didn't see it too many times and it was difficult to tell how large of an area it was keeping to. However, just due to its speed, I could tell that it was flying further than the starlings, and the small flights between perches could indicate a smaller area than the gulls. Since it was nearing the end of the day, this might make sense, as foraging is likely finishing up for the day.

I didn't really spend too much time looking at plumages this time around, but the bright colors of the blue jay and the cardinal stood out to me, and I wondered what life history traits would make it so these birds can afford to stand out so much in a dangerous world.

Since I was sitting on a roof, I didn't want to act like even more of a crazy person pishing for birds. I have done it many times in the past, however, and sometimes it indeed has the power to draw in small birds. After thinking about it for a while, I don't have a good guess on why the birds are interested, but I figure it probably sounds like swishing leaves, which may be a cue for something?

Posted on March 26, 2020 02:36 AM by lucasferrier lucasferrier

Observations

Photos / Sounds

No photos or sounds

What

American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

Observer

lucasferrier

Date

March 25, 2020

Description

I spent some time observing crows in 2 different contexts. The first was a lone crow perched on a low tree branch making a kind of laughing call, and it stayed there for at least 5 minutes. The other was a group of 13 birds that moved together, and spent some time in a couple of trees before moving on. It was interesting to observe how the birds interacted within the group.

Photos / Sounds

What

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Observer

lucasferrier

Date

March 2020

Description

There were a lot of gulls in the area, but I was able to successfully identify one as a herring gull due to its light colored feet and red mark on bill as it flew overhead. I am assuming there were other species around, and that I have underestimated the total individuals.

Photos / Sounds

No photos or sounds

What

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)

Observer

lucasferrier

Date

March 25, 2020

Description

I had 2 blue jay sightings, but my guess is that it was the same one twice. It was flying very fast between covered locations and being relatively quiet.

Photos / Sounds

What

Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Observer

lucasferrier

Date

March 25, 2020

Description

There were lots of starlings out, so I have noted the largest group I saw together for long enough to count. There were likely some larger groups and a whole lot more individuals.

Photos / Sounds

What

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Observer

lucasferrier

Date

March 25, 2020

Description

I spott4d one cardinal perched in a tree, but I could hear him long beforehand. I got a pretty ok recording of his call.

Photos / Sounds

What

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Observer

lucasferrier

Date

March 25, 2020

Description

Saw one house sparrow, landed on a telephone wire just close enough to see the facial markings and hear the call, and moved on after calling a few times.

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