Journal Entry #2

On Friday March 9th, I went to the forest around O’Hare international airport to observe wildlife. We arrived at about 9:30 am and it was sunny, but cool. Immediately we spotted a Red-tailed Hawk soaring over the trees. As we ventured further in to the woods we saw a lone Dark-eyed Junco perched on a dead branch.

For a while, there was not much life around so we followed a deer trail towards a small river. As we walked along the river we spotted a Downy Woodpecker overhead climbing up a tree. We continued on under the highway and discovered some footprints on the ground we believed to belong to a Great Blue Heron. Following the deer trail we came to a small clearing occupied by a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos. At the end of the trail we stopped next to a pavilion and spotted a pair of American Crows and a lone Sharp-shinned Hawk flying overhead.

Despite the cooler weather, there was still a lot of bird activity. Most of the species we observed, with the exception of the crows, seemed to be foraging or hunting most likely to get energy to survive the cold nights. None of the birds stood still for more than a few seconds suggesting that they were continuously moving to stay warm as well as to get nourishment to thermoregulate.

In terms of snags, there were not very many around. Of the few that we did see, many had birds perched on or by them, suggesting that they are important habitat in these forests.

Posted on Μάρτιος 09, 2018 0750 ΜΜ by jderby125