Field Journal#2
Date: 2/19/2023
Start Time: 4:45pm
End Time: 5:20pm
Location: Centennial Woods
Weather: 42˚, 8 WNW, Gusts up to 17mph, 0 inches precipitation
Habitat(s): Deciduous Forest, mix of old and young trees
Today I went to Centennial Woods in the late afternoon. The weather was slightly cloudy and cold, and the sun was close to setting by the time I left. At the entrance of the woods were smaller birds that stopped their calls too quickly for me to record, although I believe what I heard was a downy woodpecker. The environment that I heard this call was a densely packed collection of wintering and dead trees near a neighborhood and a parking lot. After walking further into the woods, not many birds were present. This was likely due to the weather and the time of day. Although it was not raining at that point, the forest was overall damp, which likely also contributed to the lack of bird sightings. An additional factor that impacted the number of birds present was the amount of human-caused noise pollution. Airplanes flying overhead, as well as park visitors, produced sounds that often drowned out the noises of the surrounding environment.
Just when I felt that I would not see any birds on this visit, a murder of American Crows flew overhead. They were flying in clusters, with large breaks in between the groups of birds. Additionally, they were not in an organized formation, but rather more random. The crows were all heading in a southwest direction. Their flight pattern consisted of a mixture of gliding and flapping. Their wings were slightly larger than their body, with distinct primary feathers and a slotted, high lift wing type. These wings are likely used to give the birds power to travel long distances at high elevations. The size of the wings helps the birds catch the wind, and the prominent primaries provide thrust to carry the crow forward. Earlier in the day I saw about five crows on the side of Shelburne Road in Shelburne, VT. They were very close to the cars on a grass field. It is clear that these birds are tolerant of human activity.
The large number of crows I observed can be explained by the fact that crows are very social birds. This means that it is more common to see crows in groups as opposed to by themselves. A behavior that I have not been able to explain is the reason behind their traveling. Most crows do not migrate, meaning that this murder is likely staying within the general area. The crows also chose a relatively late point in the day to travel. This could indicate that the murder is not traveling a far distance, or that crows have adapted to being able to travel in the dark. I would like to research this more, as I expect to see more American Crows in future visits.
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