Nancy
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I went on a bird walk sponsored by the Audubon Society at the Great Plains Nature Center last Saturday. The trails at the Nature Center led us through woods, fields, and pond/creek habitats. Beside the pond we saw an eastern phoebe in a tree, which our guide told us would build its nest under the bridges. We also saw a mallard duck hen and her ducklings, great blue herons, and a great egret. Flying over the fields we saw a bald eagle, a red-tailed hawk, and red-winged blackbirds. In the more wooded areas near the fields we saw a red-eyed vireo, an indigo bunting, a flock of cedar waxwings, a cardinal, a Baltimore oriole, and a blue jay. Our guide also heard a yellow-breasted chat and a flycatcher, but I did not see them.
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I went outside and recorded on the Merlin app the bird songs around our home. In six and one-half minutes these were the birds that Merlin identified: osprey, American robin, Baltimore oriole, red-winged blackbird, cedar waxwing, brown-headed cowbird, common grackle, house sparrow, Canada goose, and Lincoln sparrow. All but the last two birds were recorded in the first 45 seconds. Of these, the American robin, the grackle, and the Canada goose were the only ones I could identify on my own. I am trying to use this app to learn to identify these birds by their songs and also to use my binoculars to find the birds around my neighborhood and at a nearby nature center. I have much to learn, but I am enjoying this. I am excited to learn that there are many birds in my neighborhood that I don't see at our bird feeders.
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Activity 3 I compared the summer and winter plumage of the American goldfinch and the common loon. Both male birds looked much more striking in the spring and summer, which would be the time to attract a mate. In the winter, their colors were much more subdued, which would enable them to blend in better with their habitat and avoid predators.
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Activity 1: I am participating in Project Feeder watch. My observations today were fewer birds than usual, probably because it is a windy day and we ran out of a popular type of seed mix. I have seen at least one of each of the following birds: Northern cardinal, black-capped chickadee, common grackle, red-winged blackbird, house sparrow, brown-headed cowbird, and mourning dove. Activity 3: I got on e-bird and saw a long list of birds that are seen in Sedgwick County, Kansas, where I live. Many of them I have seldom or never seen before. The five I chose to learn more about are the wood duck, ruby-throated hummingbird, baltimore oriole, white-breasted nuthatch, and the eastern bluebird. I hope to put out a hummingbird feeder soon and attract some hummingbirds and orioles. I hope to see more varieties of ducks at the Great Plains Nature Center (about one/half mile from my home). I have only seen Mallard ducks there in the past. I want to record more bird songs on Merlin, and see what birds are around our home and the nature center.
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Activity Two. I chose to observe the color white. The dark-eyed junco has white on his belly and on the edges of his tail and wing feathers. The rest of his body is slate gray. The ruby-crowned kinglet has a white bar on his wings and a white eye ring. Most of his body is olive-gray in color with a red spot on his crown. The black-capped chickadee has white feathers on the sides of his head and white stripes on his wings. He has a black cap on his head , as well as a black throat, and black on his wings and tail. His belly is buff-colored. Activity Three: The Great Blue Heron at the nature center stands very quietly at the edge of the pond, looking intently in the water for his prey. When he sees something he wants to eat, he quickly dips his head into the water to nab it. The dark-eyed junco prefers to look for seeds to eat on the ground. He seldom tries to perch on the tube feeder, although he will fly up to the deck rails to eat seeds when we place them there. The downy woodpecker flies to the suet feeder or the cylinder feeder to eat. I have never seen him on the ground or the tube feeder, but I have often seen him on the side of a tree looking for bugs to eat.
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