FJ4: Social Behavior and Phenology
Date: 3/15/23
Start time: 7:45 am
End time: 8:45
Location: Wilton, CT (backyard)
Weather: overcast, 30°F
Habitat: backyard feeder (suet, hanging, flat surfaces) surrounded by woodland (mostly deciduous - ash, locust, maple, beech, river birch, spruce, white pine)
Since the feeders have very limited space, they are places where the birds interact pretty closely. I started out my field observation by watching the feeder for around 20 minutes (though I came back towards the end and watched it for another 10-ish minutes), and saw a good variety of birds visit. The hanging feeders had Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, Blue Jays; the suet feeder had Downy Woodpeckers, the Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Dark-eyed Juncos; the seed scattered on the wall/ground attracted the American Robins. I noticed that when there were only smaller birds on the feeders, they would switch out with each other and take turns eating. When Blue Jays were present, they would take over the feeder and make the other birds leave (if they hadn't left already).
After observing the feeder, I went past the yard into the woods. It was hard to see any birds, but I could hear a lot of different calls. I didn't want to scare them away, so I sat and listened rather than walking around too much. From there, I heard several American Crows, a Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Cardinals, and a call I think was a European Starling (it had the crackle-like sound that the Cornell recordings have, though I didn't get a recording so I am not completely sure). I was actually able to see a couple Hairy Woodpeckers too. The woods were filled with bird noises, and many of them seemed to be calling out to each other, perhaps for signalling that there was food, or simply competing with each other. On my way back to the yard, I heard some House Finches and American Robins, though I was unable to spot them; I also had been hearing what I believe to be Song Sparrows for pretty much the whole trip and hadn't been able to look up the sound and ID them until I got closer to the house. The Song Sparrow calls were the most prominent noise when they were being made.
Of the birds that I was actually able to spot, I noticed that the Tufted Titmice in particular was able to blend in quite well with its surroundings. Previously, I had thought that their grey coloring would not help them hide in the trees, but the grey-ish bark of several trees in the backyard made it very difficult to see them until they flew out to the feeder. The Titmice tended to swoop from the tree and feed for a short moment (if there was another titmouse on the feeder they would take turns), and then fly back to the tree. Like the titmice, the nuthatches tended to come alone or with only one other. The chickadees came in larger groups of usually 3 or more. These birds being up and active in the morning makes sense with their circadian rhythm because they rise at dawn and go to sleep when it gets dark out.
I tried the pishing back at the feeder, though I am unsure if it actually drew in more birds or if they were coming anyway because of the feeder. I did not know about pishing prior to this assignment, so I looked it up afterward to understand it better. The sound itself seems to be similar to the distress call ('scolds') of chickadees and titmice, which causes these birds to come and see what all the fuss is about. It could also be heard as a beckoning for them to come together and take part in a group feeding event.
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