BIRD NOTES ~~~~~ Oct. 14, 2006 ~~~~~

Bird Notes

Home Again

We have just returned from a two week stay in the Catskills of New York State. So, we are a little behind in gathering bird news for the area. If you should have any bird feeder/environs news, please share it with us.

SVAS Web Site is Up and Running

The Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society has revived its web site to serve its membership and any other interested parties worldwide. It has a new webmaster — Geoff Burgess. The site can be reached at: http://www.sevtaudubon.org/

BGGC

A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher has been at our feeder for several days (10/5). It's my first time to see it - are others also seeing it? ---Judy Myrick, West Brattleboro

More on the Say’s Phoebe

Kai Reed emailed me a description of the phoebe, saying why he believes it to be Say’s. Here is his description: "the bird was about the same size, but maybe longer winged than the Easterns that were around at the time. Upper body was uniform light gray with contrastingly darker black tail. Breast was unstreaked light gray, but still noticeably lighter than the back and wings. Lower breast and belly light rufus/pinkish that was very noticeable even from a long distance. I've also received more emails from people saying they believe the bird to be a Say's"-------------- Now it's up to the records committee! ---Taj Schottland, Putney, VT

Sparrows in the Meadow

This morning(10/4), Hector Galbraith and I found a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow in the weedy field and reeds behind the water treatment plant along Rt. 30 in Brattleboro - also present were Lincoln's, Song, Savannah, White-throat, White-crowned Sparrows, just to mention the sparrow species.

Earlier in the morning, Taj Shottland joined us in looking for the Cackling Goose sighted yesterday morning by Hector. Canada Goose numbers were down from yesterday's 800+ to somewhere around 400, and we were unsuccessful in finding the Cackling Goose. ---Chris Petrak, South Newfane, VT
Tails of Birding - www.tailsofbirding.net

Cackling in Turners Falls

Two (Richardson’s) Cackling Geese have been observed at the Power Canal in Turners Falls, MA., as late as today (10/13). This is a great spot for observing migrating waterfowl. If you need directions, let me know. I would be glad to e-mail them to you.

Fall is Official

Here at Chipmunk Crossing, Fall was made official yesterday (10/12) by the arrival of the first small flocks of White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos.

Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

chpmnkx@sover.net

http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

P R O G R A M

“LEARNING FROM LOONS”

Tuesday, October 17, at 7pm

The program will center on one of the northeast's most popular birds, the Common Loon. The presenter will be Dr. Mark Pokras, the Director of the Wildlife Clinic & Center for Conservation Medicine at Tufts School of Veterinary medicine. In 1987 a biologist brought a dead common loon to the Clinic asking if it could figure out why the loon died. This program will explain how the question was answered, and the major study which resulted, assisted by dozens of students, scientists and members of the public. After nearly 20 years several thousand loons have been examined, investigating diseases, parasites, pollution and impacts from fishing gear. The program will also address loons as sentinel species which can alert us to the health threats associated with many environmental problems.

Eric Hanson, Coordinator of the Loon Recovery Program at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, will provide an update of the status of loons in Vermont.

This program will be held in Brooks Memorial Library's conference room at 7 p.m. It is sponsored by Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society and is FREE and open to the public.