Date: November 6, 2018
Time: 3:39 PM-5:17 PM
Temperature: 51- 48 degrees Fahrenheit
Weather: Dark, heavy clouds,wind, and rain (near end of the visit)
Location: Mill Creek Nature Preserve
Upon my return, I saw two small Eastern grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) chasing one another in the grassy entrance, and up and down the trees nearby. The air was crisp of the cold wind blowing at my face. The sky was depressing as the sky was filled with clouds moving slowly, growing darker and heavier as the time became later. When I arrived at 3:39 PM, the temperature was 51 degrees fahrenheit. At my location, there hasn’t been much change, except for the difference of more leaves covering the ground. The majority of the leaves found on the ground were Bigleaf Maple (Acer Macrophyllum) and Red Alder (Alnus rubra). The grasses found at the site is still a vibrant green and many colorful leaves still connected on the trees surrounding. Comparing between the 50m photo and the 1m photo, the contrast is extreme. The 50m photo shows vibrant green grasses and green trees, though slightly barren, while the 1m photo showed fallen leaves that are turning a dull grey color as the fallen leaves are losing their colorful fall leaves color.
Update photo: 1 sq. meters
Update photo: 50 sq. meter
The first two birds I found at my location were three Mallard, two female and one male, ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) and two female Gadwall ducks (Anas strepera). The male Mallard duck had a green luminescent head that luminescent of blue and purple at certain angles with black eyes, and a thin white stripe that circled around the top of the neck, and the female Mallard ducks had a light-dark brown head with black eyes, a dark brown stripe overlapping the eye. The bodies of the ducks were plump. The male ducks had white, grey, and a small portion of the luminescent blue purple color feathers along the back of the duck and a large brown portion in the front of the chest of the duck, while the duck with the light brown and dark brown head’s body had the same color scheme throughout the entire body. The bills of the green ducks were yellow, and the bill of the light and dark brown duck was a grey and brown mixture color. The female Gadwall ducks have very similar phenotypes as the female Mallard ducks, except for the luminescent blue purple feathers, the color is white. Both ducks seemed to don’t mind each other as they paddled around the lake. As I was observing, the ducks were dabbling for food and quacking. Also, while skimming through the water, the ducks put their beaks under the water and tosses some water onto themselves, as if they were washing themselves. There was also some Mallard and Gadwalls ‘resting’ as they float on top of the water. While they rest, they snuggle their head on their back, almost between their wings.
There were birds chirping all around the location, but finding where the source of the birds’ calls coming from was difficult. I looked at the general direction of the call with my eyes, then when I see movement, I would use the binoculars. However, it was difficult finding the birds as I had to change the focus through the binoculars for different distances and focuses through objects. There were some American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) flying above my location several hundred feet, maybe even a thousand feet. My thinking, as I saw many crows flying away from the same approximate location, was maybe predator nearby or a loud noise, such as a dog bark, scared the birds away. The way the crows flew, were mainly a flapping motion, but there was a small glide during the flight. The American Crow is colored black throughout the entire body.
Sketch of American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) in flight
This last bird was difficult to look for. The Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) was found chasing another small bird in a large shrub. When I noticed the bird, the wren didn’t stay very still, as it seemed to be quite twitchy. When the Wren was chasing the other bird, the flight was very brief and quick, the wings moved really quickly. And when the wren was resting briefly, it perched horizontally. The beak was a mixture of a blue and grey with a very high tail. The grey tail had some partial dark brown stripes. There was also a white stripe above the eye. When I looked in the bird field guide, I found it to be the Bewick’s Wren. The calls that I heard was similar to a squeaky toy but with a lower tone, there was also a short “ch-ch-ch-ch” sound. I’m not exactly sure if this is also from the same wren, but I also hear a high pitched whistle song that ends with a “Tweet-tweet-tweet”
Sketch of Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) on branch
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