[BIRD NOTES] April 6, 2007

Bird Notes

 

 

We added our first OSPREY today plus a Bufflehead pair. Watched a juvenile Eagle harass a gull out of its tidbit and swoop to the water to retrieve it.  

---Paul Miksis, Brattleboro, VT

 

In checking out a few more locations in Northfield this afternoon, I managed to find a small flock of 24 Snow Geese in the cornfields off of Caldwell Rd. in West Northfield.

---Mark Taylor, Northfield, MA

 

I was walking in the woods in Grafton last weekend and heard a Winter Wren.  I thought I must be mistaken, but there you have it as arriving the very beginning of April.  So it has.  And in Grafton, yet !!!!!!  I enjoy your Bird Notes.

---Sally Warren

 

  This afternoon my husband and I counted 36 Goldfinch in our cherry tree.  There were still more goldfinch in the surrounding bushes and at the feeder.  They have been here for about a week.  We also have Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Song, Tree, and Savannah Sparrows. We also have a beautiful red fox... And, of course, there is that male Cardinal who has been jumping against all our windows for 4 weeks now from dawn ‘til dusk.  Doesn't somebody have a remedy?  We have too many windows to do draping, and hawk images, and flapping flags, though we've tried them all.

    ---Jeanne Walker, Guilford, VT

 

Wed., April 4, There were 3 Fox Sparrows under a feeder with more Juncos than I could count. Also an American Tree Sparrow showed up with the regular flock of Juncos.  I stopped counting those little grey birds when I reached 70.  Never seen so many before and I hear similar stories of large flocks from friends in the area with feeders.  

---Molly Martin, Marlboro, VT

 

 

I went down to Vernon this past weekend with my two year old daughter, Siri.  We were hoping to see the barnacle goose (actually she was hoping to see any goose).  We saw only Canadas, but while on Riverside Drive we saw a flock of Horned Larks.

---Mitch Harrison, Wardsboro, VT

 

 

Patti and I have been at our home in Vero Beach, Florida, for nearly a month now. I cycle a lot, but have to brake nearly every day for Sandhill Cranes in the road. Last night I saw quite a sight: Two Mallards were standing on the backs of two Canada goose decoys in the middle of a pond. Wish I'd had my camera.
     Saw a number of Bald Eagles at Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, which lies within the Kissimmee River Valley, an area with the highest concentration of nesting bald eagles in the lower 48.
     I have been watching three Great-horned Owl nestlings in a tree cavity right at the entrance of a development with 600 homes, so they sure are used to traffic.
     We went to a slide show by a man who spent nearly every day for months watching a pair of osprey build a nest, mate, and try to raise three nestlings. He'd taken 30,000 photos, so he certainly had the pick of some incredible pictures. (See ospreywatch.org) He has some relatives in New England, so perhaps could bring it to our local Audubon when he visits. That's all for now. Good Birding!!

---Mark Mikolas, Vero Beach, FL

 

 

P   R   O   G   R   A   M

 

The Galapagos Islands

 

7 pm  Tuesday, April 17th

 Brooks Memorial Library Conference Room

 

John and Dan MacArthur will present a program with slides about their 2006 trip to the Galapagos Islands.  These amazing islands provide a rare opportunity for close-up study and enjoyment of a wide diversity of wildlife, some of which is found only in the Galapagos Islands.  These islands first became famous in the nineteenth century when Charles Darwin made an historic trip to them, and from that trip he developed his work on the role of natural selection in the evolution of species.  The Galapagos are young volcanic islands in geologic time and are still forming.

         The MacArthurs traveled for eight days on a small cruise boat with fourteen other tourists and an Ecuadorian crew.  The program will include a few slides of the boat, island towns, and local scenery, and then will concentrate on the birds, tortoises, iguanas, and other wildlife. Questions will be welcomed and encouraged.

 

Sponsored by Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society.

Program is FREE and open to the public.

 

 

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/