Diario de sdurant

I went on a bird walk around 9 a.m. on Marth 14th, 2018 during the blizzard. I went behind my house to the conservation land to find some birds. The temperature was around 28 degrees Fahrenheit. During my bird walk this week, I heard Northern Cardinals and Tufted Titmice. I couldn't see them due to the snow and I'm pretty sure they were hiding from the cold. I was able to hear both the Northern Cardinal and the Tufted Titmouse.

Some ways that birds conserve heat is through physiological, behavioral, and morphological means. Tufted Titmice, like Black-capped Chickadees, go through facultative hypothermia which is a physiological adaptation. During facultative hypothermia, the bird's body temperature drops to conserve heat. This usually occurs during sleep. Another way for birds to conserve heat is for them to puff up to try to conserve the heat. This is what Northern Cardinals do. These birds also may huddle together to try to persevere heat. These birds are mainly scavenging for food and sleeping. The Northern Cardinals and Tufted Titmice usually eat seeds and nuts. Those may be hard to find during the winter. Usually, Tufted Titmice eat insects but those are near impossible to get during the winter. Northern Cardinals usually eat seeds year round but they also eat fruits. During the night they will probably be in their nests. Northern Cardinals usually nest in shrubs or vine tangles and Tufted Titmice usually nest in holes in wood or snags. Snags are important because they provide shelter for many songbirds like the Tufted Titmice.

3/19 Shelburne Farms in Shelburne Vermont
On Monday, March 19th, I visited Shelburne Farms and walked along the walking trails. I visited the farm around 11 am and walked around for two hours. The temperature was around 28-30 degrees F. I saw some Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches as well as a two Red-tailed Hawks. The Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches were near the beginning of the walking trails on bird feeders. The Red-tailed Hawks were flying in an open clearing in the middle of the walking trails.

During my walk, the Black-capped Chickadees, and the White-breasted Nuthatches kept to their own trees and didn't really interact with each other. They barely interacted with their own species either. I watched the bird feeder for 15 minutes and there was only ever one bird on it at a time. The Hawks, however, did interact with each other. They flew in big circles around each other and then took off into opposite directions. The Hawks were a pair trying to look for food, which is why they flew away from each other.

The plumage of the Black-capped Chickadee is that they have a black head and bib. The back of the bird is grey and the belly is white. The White-breasted Nuthatch has a blueish/grey back with a white belly. They also have a black head. Lastly, the Red-tailed Hawk has a dark brown back and a streaked white belly. They have a red tail and dark wing tips. The Black-capped Chickadee and the White-breasted Nuthatch blend in with the wood of trees during the winter. So that helps to protect them from predators. The Red-tailed Hawk is hard to see which helps them sneak up on their prey. The Red-tailed Hawks were hunting for food. That behavior fits more into the circadian rhythm because hunting is something that these birds do daily. They need to eat every day and not just when the weather changes, which means that it is a circadian rhythm behavior.