This week, I returned to the same phenology spot I visited in my last post, but with a different goal. As I was walking, I was scouting the trail for any animals or animal signs, like tracks or droppings. Unfortunately, as we’ve had warmer weather recently, much of the snow has melted so finding tracks was quite difficult. The only good print I could find was a domestic dog track (found right off of the main trail), so I kept searching.
As I kept walking, I started to hear birds chirping nearby. I found an area with lots of fallen trees and sticks and noticed motion in this area. I saw a small bird, which I have now determined to be a black-capped chickadee, jumping from branch to branch. At the time, I thought this bird looked familiar, but I did not know its name. Once I returned back to my dorm I looked up common bird species in Vermont and this was the first one to come up; I assume this chickadee must be very common!
