Diario de williamsmaggie3

I went on yet another walk to the waterfront in Burlington this week to try to see some waterfowl, birds that I mostly pretty unfamiliar with. It was April 8, 2016 approximately 37 degrees fahrenheit at 3pm. It was overcast and I was lucky enough to get a window of time that was now snowing or raining like most of the rest of the day.

At this point I feel extremely familiar with many of the common feeder birds found throughout Burlington like chickadees, titmice, robins, woodpeckers, cardinals, juncos, sparrows, finch, and a few others. I can also easily pick out their individual calls at this point, especially the cardinals, which I saw (or heard then saw) two of on my walk to the waterfront. Both of the cardinals were perched high in trees singing (or calling?) very loudly, I thought it may be close to their breeding season and that they were defending their territory. After doing a little research I found that the cardinals breeding season is typically in early spring (now) and that they are very territorial and defend their territories aggressively.

When I got down to the water I really wanted to see some waterfowl that I am not familiar with. As expected I saw a lot of gulls and also a medium size flock of Rock Pigeons right around the echo center. I headed left on the bike path (as if I was heading towards Oakledge park). I finally saw something that wasn't a gull, although I cannot be 100% sure what it was. It looked exactly like a Common Goldeneye but the body seemed a lot darker than it should. It was by itself just swimming near the shore and rocks. As I walked past an area full of docks that had been all tied up for the winter I saw two Double-crested Cormorants swimming around. One of them kept diving under water while the other floated above. Eventually they fly off and I was unable to see them any longer. I did not see anything else new on this walk, except for a couple Red-winged Blackbirds which I have recently identified and begun to see everywhere.

On a separate day (March 30) I was able to see a flock of Cedar Waxwings foraging on crab apples at the top of college street. Coincidentally enough, we were talking about that flock in class that morning and it was mentioned that there was a flock of waxwings floating around campus.

I went to Red Rocks Park on Sunday April 17th to check out some birds. I went there around 10am and it was clear skies and fairly warm (around 50 degrees). There was no wind and the lake was very calm, a perfect day to easily see some birds.
I walked along the main path of red rocks and heard a mourning dove but did not see it. This is a bird that I have heard on various occasions but have been unable to ever see it in person. They must be well concealed and blend into the environment well. I also heard and saw a couple of song sparrows, which I was easily able to identify because of their distinct song. I walked off trail to an opening on a rocky cliff area to watch some of the birds on the water. I could hear loons calling; it sounded like two calling back and forth to each other, but I could only see one from a distance that was on the water. After doing some reading I found that often only one pair of mating loons occupies a single lake when it is small but in larger lakes, one pair of loons may occupy a bay of that lake. This made me believe that the pair I heard was mating and their territory was that of Shelburne Bay.
There weren’t a ton of birds on the water but soon I saw a couple of mergansers flying over head and then landing on the water of the bay. I also saw a flock of Canadian Geese overhead and two Black Ducks swimming around near the shore.
Back in the woods I saw a few chickadees singing and hoping around branched and also heard a few Robins singing. As I was walking out I saw two starlings on the ground, one which I believe was a male, making very loud calling sounds and the other (female) walking around the male. I feel very confident in being able to identify and point out birds that we have reviewed in class but still struggle to identify birds that we have not been quizzed on, even when I have my bird book with me.