I decided to make observations along the Seine River, which is surrounded by the urban forest Bois-des-espirits in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Coordinates: 49.8217631, -97.0803089
I visited on April 25th, 2023, at 2pm. It was approximately 8 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy with a slightly chilly breeze. There was some flooding in the wooded areas from winter snow melt. The entire forest is approximately 0.5 square kilometres, and the river is 26 kilometres long.
The forest consists of primarily deciduous trees such as oak and elm. There are also bushes and long grass amongst the trees as well as copious amounts of leaf litter from the previous autumn.
- Why do pairs of Chickadees take turns eating from a food source?
- What is the insect diversity of the area and what is the difference of insect species present in riverside, forest floor, and grasslands in Bois-des-espirits?
- What effect do humans have on the local wildlife? Are they more urbanized or is the forest sufficient enough for them to retain their natural behaviours?
Map of area and notes on wildlife and vegetation:
good field sketch
I will keep reading to see more about your project
question: how did you know they were pairs of chickadees? I find chickadees really hard to track because they move quickly and look alike (sexes)
There was a bird feeder along the edge of the forest where I noticed a chickadee feeding for about 30-60 seconds before it switched places with another chickadee on a nearby branch. They went back and forth for quite a while before they flew off and I lost them.
Because it was a rather open area and they were switching spots very near each other I could tell there were only two of them. This was probably the longest I’d ever observed a single chickadee, they are indeed very quick and elusive.