- Bird surveys on SGL091. This section was cut and burned. Tons of birds and all the usual suspects for early successional forests, including Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Field Sparrow. The last being one of the first birds to leave an area that converts to a forest.
Tuesday (6/2/2020)
- Went to survey SGL 326 which has three burning years (https://paprescribedfire.org/map) so an ideal site if you want to know how bird communities change after a burn. The gate to the "road" was closed and I don't have permission to drive on the site so it was a bit of a bust. The nearest site was just over a mile walk and I don't just don't have it in me.
- Met up with an ornithologist from the Schuylkill area and gave me back a camera I had left behind last year. Set on video and put onto a Wood Thrush nest. Lasted about three days and then stopped recording for whatever reason. Unfortunately, the angle was too high so we could only see the adults. Problem with nature - doesn't always give you the perfect opportunities
- Went to the Jacob's property to check out the game cameras. Captured chipmunk, squirrel, raccoon and deer. Still hoping to get video of bear, beaver, etc.
- Field day off. Three meetings.
- Read a paper "The worldwide impact of urbanisation on avian functional diversity" in Ecology Letters. Great paper. Stats will take some time to figure out but interesting paper.
- Surveyed a few points on SGL91- same state game land as Monday but very different section near Pittston. Burned sites were logged then burned. The regrowth was shoulder height and just above. Soaked to the point of saturation - everywhere. I have data (I should) from when I surveyed in 2017. Last time I was here the trees were chest high and exceedingly thick - mostly oak saplings. Now the oaks are just over the my head slightly less dense as they start to self thin. The ground cover was slight (if one defines ground cover as <1 m from the ground). I think there fewer birds. We'll see.
Friday
- Took a field day off. Entered a bunch of data. Called the vet. Laundry. Bottle of wine.
Saturday
- Survey at SGL55. Some of it was cut over and burned (a mess) and some was just burned (glorious). Lot's of Hooded Warblers. Lot's of rocks flipped over by bears. Lot's of American Chestnut sprouts
Sunday
- Day off for chores
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