Today I set off on a 9 mile run all over Burlington, exploring the natural areas along the way. I am currently training for the Burlington Unplugged half marathon in April, and my long runs have allowed me to explore the city with my fellow running friends. The route I planned for today took us along the waterfront path, through Oakledge Park, Perkins Pier, Waterfront Park, and North Beach, which gave me plenty of spots to look for wildlife.
Because it has been so warm recently, there was no snow in sight on my run. This made it difficult to find tracks of any kind, but I was able to encounter some species of birds. The first I came across were a flock of gulls. They were flying overhead near the lake close to Oakledge Park, and I could tell they were gulls by their body shape and call. About half a mile later I came across a hawk perched in a tree on the side of the trail. I could immediately tell it was hawk because of its beak, talons, and tail feathers, and I used iNaturalist to specifically identify it as a Cooper’s Hawk. Right after I snapped a photo it took off into the sky, which was cool to watch because these birds are very graceful. Other than these two species I mostly saw dogs, squirrels, and plenty of people out since it was a nice day.
