February 19th

At 12 pm yesterday I headed out on the Burlington Bike Path, next to Starr Farm Road. It was a bit overcast, very windy and around 25 degrees Fahrenheit. We didn't see many birds on the water, as the bay was frozen, however through my binoculars I could see the black and white markings of two Common Goldeneye bobbing on the water, and both disappeared into the water for a minute or so at a time before coming back up.

On the bike path we noticed one or two Black-capped Chickadees in the northern whitecedar on the side of the road, and we played a chickadee mobbing call in an attempt to get more to come out. The result was at least 10 chickadees flying back and forth across the path, calling and joining in the mobbing. Two Tufted Titmice also joined in, and after about five minutes some Red-breasted Nuthatches flew in. First they stayed farther away on the taller canopy trees, but after a bit they flew closer and joined the other birds in the shrub right next to the bike path. It was an exciting site to see, and I was able to distinguish each species' unique calls. Between the calls, the closeness of the birds and my binoculars I was completely confident in my identification of the species.

After leaving the bike path we drove further down to the Sewage Treatment Plant further down on North Ave, past Flynn Elementary. Michael had recommended the spot for waterfowl, however I misunderstood him and thought he meant the natural area behind the plant. We didn't see any bird species here, though we did stumble upon a very old, abandoned car that had some type of nest in what used to be the hood of the car. I didn't have a camera on me, so I couldn't take a picture. I'm hoping to revisit this site in the next week or so to take a picture of the nest to post on iNaturalist for identification, as well as to check out the ponds at the sewage treatment center, as when I clarified with Michael where he meant after our excursion, he pointed out the exact location on a map.

I was hoping to see more species in the two hours we were out, however I am looking forward to my next field experience, especially for seeing some more waterfowl.

Posted on Φεβρουάριος 20, 2016 0544 ΜΜ by kirsticarr