[BIRD NOTES] March 27, 2007

 

 

Bird Notes

 

Dam Waterfowl

I spent from 3:30 till 5:15 at the Vernon dam today. I hiked in from the NH side. Combined totals from both below the dam and above the dam are as follows: 1 Pied-billed Grebe, 45 Wood Ducks, 135+ Mallards, 125+ Black Ducks, 5 Northern Pintail, 2 American Wigeon, 5 Lesser Scaup, 1 possible Greater Scaup (too distant to tell for sure), 80 Ring-necked Ducks, 55 Common Goldeneye, 2 Bufflehead, 9 Hooded Mergansers, 8 Common Mergansers and 2 American Coot. No GWFG and very few Canada Geese (about 450).   Good birding. ---Taj Schottland, Putney, VT

 

 

 

A Pelagic Woodcock?

Yesterday morning (3/24) I was seawatching from Andrew's point just as the sun was coming up. Not too many seabirds. However, through the scope I did pick up a small flying bird about 500 meters directly out to sea but flying toward the coast. At first I could not ID it because of the distance but as it drew nearer the shoreline I saw that it was a woodcock! It was flying about 10 feet above the waves. When it reached land it immediately dropped down into the scrub between Andrew's and Halibut Points.

---Hector Galbraith, Dummerston, VT

 

Cedars In Mass.

Today, Wednesday 21, I saw 14 cedar waxwings near the Lyman Estates north of route 20 in Waltham.  ---Doreen Pugh, Waltham, MA

 

 

Cardinal Antics

We have just had a rather interesting - and somewhat nerve-wracking - breakfast.  There is a large hedge outside our dining room window, and for 15 minutes, a male cardinal and two females have been dashing back and forth, apparently in chase mode, this side of the hedge.  It was hard to figure out if the male cardinal wanted both females, or was trying to get rid of one of them.  I suspect the hedge has been a nesting place in years past, or so it has seemed to us. ---Judy Myrick, W. Brattleboro

 

 

Spring Blue

Thursday morning, about 7AM, a Great Blue Heron made its unhurried way across the sky over our fields and southwestward toward the hill.

---Ned Pokras, W. Brattleboro, VT

 

 

BARNACLE GOOSE at Vernon today (3/25)....flew in from the VT side and landed on the ice in the middle of the Connecticut River, about 11:30 AM.   Stayed at least an hour.    ---Terry Wright & Dwight Cargill

 

 

Barnacle Goose Update and Waterfowl Roost

Steve Mirick found the Barnacle at about 4pm on the Vermont side of the river on Riverside Drive (off Stebbins Road in Vernon. It was feeding in a corn field with a large flock of Canadas.

 

It flew over to the ice on the Hinsdale roost at about 6.30pm.

 

Steve and I counted the waterfowl roost and had:

 

Canada Goose                      4000

Snow Goose                   34

Barnacle Goose          1

Green-winged Teal       226

Ring-necked Duck        87

Gadwall                      6

Wigeon                       10

Lesser Scaup            1

Greater Scaup           10

Bufflehead                   4

Pintail                      44

Black Duck                   220

Mallard                      102

Wood Duck               68

Common Merganser        12

Hooded Merganser        12

Common Goldeneye        33

 

Also - Tree swallow  about 50, Saw-whet Owl - 1, and hundreds of "blackbirds" (redwings and grackles) flying north up the Connecticut River.

---Hector Galbraith PhD, Dummerston, VT

 

 

Please keep us abreast of what birds you are seeing, whether at home or on a trip in or out of the Windham County area.

 

Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

chpmnkx@sover.net

 

 

BIRD NOTE archives:

http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

 

Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society website:

http://www.sevtaudubon.org/