FJ5 - Ethan Allen Park

On April 8th, 2020 between the times 1800-1930 I went to Ethan Allen Park in the North End of Burlington, Vermont. The weather was mostly cloudy, with a slight northward wind of 7mph. It was 49 degrees Fahrenheit. The surrounding habitat was tall oak, maple, etc. trees and a few red or white pines with not much of an under story. It was very rocky with a large rock cliff on the hill. There is a road on either side of this location and a park in the front. There was a lot of human noise pollution. Mostly people talking loudly on their porches and lots of cars driving by. There were only a few people walking along the trails in the park.

For the first 45 minutes I did not see any birds, but could hear them in the distance. I decided to move to a different location within the park in hopes of better luck.

At my new spot there wasn't a ton of bird activity, but I did see a few. The first bird I saw was a small bird, quickly flying past me, not giving me any chance of identifying it. Shortly after I saw two American Robins very briefly, they seemed to be just browsing around. American Robins are found year round in this area, so I am assuming they are facultative migrants? If they even migrate? I'm not sure. According to an online source, some American Robins migrate between 310-933 miles. If these Robins did migrate I think they came from the south (Virginia area maybe?) and are arriving in Burlington for the beginning of spring. Maybe they want to claim their territory before other birds start to migrate back?

Next, I heard a flock of Canadian geese and looked up to spot (my best guess) about 15-25 of them. They were flying north following North Ave, towards the islands in Lake Champlain or Canada. The All About Birds website tells me that some geese could be in this area year round, or they could be returning from the south to breed in northern Canada. I assume most Canadian geese are obligate migrants, except the ones that live in an area that do not require migration. I could not find information regarding typical flock size during migration. Since this flock seemed relatively small compared to others I have seen in my life, I am making the assumption that these specific geese were either not migrating or only migrating a short distance. It makes sense to me that geese who migrate do so in larger flocks. I read that Canadian geese typically migrate between 2,000-3,000 miles.

Lastly, I saw two American crows fly over my head. I do not think these birds were migrating since Burlington is within their year round range.

The total miles traveled by the birds I observed today the miles traveled for migration range between 2,310 and 3,933. That is if the birds I saw were actually migrating. Unfortunately, of all the birds I saw, they were close enough to identify but too far away to take an image or audio recording on my phone. That is why my observations do not have media. On an interesting note, I heard a bird behind me that would not stop calling for twenty minutes straight with VERY little time between calls, I was getting slightly annoyed. It wasn't until I stood up to walk to my car that the bird finally stopped calling (of course). This trip wasn't as successful as I was hoping. I'm starting to think I either pick terrible spots or birds know I'm watching them and laugh as they fly away.

Posted on April 9, 2020 02:33 AM by aalderman