FW: [BIRD NOTES] July 25, 2007

 

Bird Notes

 

 

 

At Allen Brothers Marsh in Westminster I got a great look at a pair of Virginia Rails today. The rails were actually scurrying across the road from one side of the marsh to the other. 

---Mitch Harrison

 

 

At Allen Brothers marsh, Green Heron(6), Great Blue Heron(2), SORA (2) one heard calling five times from northeast corner and a JUVENILE (dull buffy breast, short pointed brownish-yellow bill) was observed from about three meters from the road and flew 15 meters north of roadside.

---Lance Tanino, Keene, NH

 

 

There was a LITTLE BLUE HERON at Hogle Wildlife Sanctuary in Brattleboro, as of about 9:30 AM.(7/20) The sanctuary is off Eaton Street (off Putney Rd) - look for the marker at the bend in the road before Eaton turns into Vermont St.  Take the footpath to the boardwalk and bear left at the end of the boardwalk. Thirty yards further brings you to an opening in the tangles along the shoreline and you can look out over the water. The Retreat will be on your left. The bird was wading in weeds about halfway across the retreat meadows when looking at the fishing access. I expect the bird would also have been visible from the fishing access as well.

---Terry Wright

 

 

Robyn and I had a great evening(7/20) near sunset on the West River, Marina side. We counted 54 TV's. Our highlights were the Great Blue & Little Blue Herons, especially the Little Blue (a new bird for us), on the sandbar.

------Paul Miksis & Robyn Flatley, Brattleboro, VT

 

 

An E-Mail from Lani in Peru

I just thought I’d check in.  So far I have seen and identified 149 species of birds. I have had two particularly stand out days of birding.  One was in the Iquitos area where I was doing an Amazon River trip and staying at a jungle lodge.  We had been issued rubber boots to the knee and instructed not to go off the trails and don’t touch anything.  Well I ran in to Arles, a young boy from the nearby village--which interestingly enough has a school in it built by the students and faculty of Woodstock Union High School, Vt.-- and asked him to show me a bird.  Arles got very excited.  He would cup his hand to his ear, hear a bird and take off into the undergrowth at a run smashing through verdura, pulling aside vines, slopping through mud, slithering around thorny palms until we were standing in front of the bird which always seemed to be spot lit in a shaft of sunlight. I by this time would be surrounded by a cloud of mosquitoes so while I was looking at the bird and the pictures in my book--Arles would be patiently wiping the mosquitoes off of me.  I came back with about a hundred bites. Even though Arles had no orientation to a bird book he could find the bird in it in about two seconds.  Anyway--we spent a great morning in this insane manner.  So much for-- stay on the trail and don’t touch anything. 

     The other great day I was birding in the river basin below Macchu Picchu near the new museum.  There were some scarlet flowered trees around there that were a magnet to the tropical tanagers.  They were the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Gorgeous oranges and blues and goldens the only thing I can relate their patterns to are tropical fish.  Five or six kinds all in one tree and very pretty with their little beaks full of prange flowers.  Then the guardian who kept borrowing my binocs to watch the tourists in the ruins above us--heard a cock of the rock and dragged me off to find not one but two males. Spectacular!!  Bright orange with silver feathered shingles down his back.  The males congregate together on the same tree branch and when a female comes near they jump on each other and try to knock each other off leaving the winner to be --cock of the rock--Sorry this typewriter has all crazy punctuation when I hit the normal keys--Anyway, as you know there’s nothing more fun then birding and Peru has such an amazing variety of ecosystems to bird in there is truly never a dull moment.  Thanks for the Bird Notes. I am enjoying them from afar.  Best, Lani Wright

 

 

 

Symphony at Dawn

 

Slowly waking to cacophony,

The pre-concert

Tuning of a symphony.

Then silent pause, pre-syncopation,

To build what's now

Our anticipation.

 

Sir Cardinal takes the opening bar.

Calling his wife,

Who responds from afar.

Repeating notes like a fine-tuned string,

He corresponds

To a fine violin.

 

Robin's come, she's trilling Ola,

Adding much,

With her viola.

Mourning doves are more like cellos,

A supporting cast

Of charming fellows.

 

Blue Jays' more a musical riddle,

Do they play brass,

Or more brass fiddle?

The shiny section starts en masse,

As Grackles screech

Like a hinge of brass.

 

Starlings add discordant notes,

As a little flock

Above us floats.

Hermit Thrush acts the hobo,

With perfect pitch,

On his solo oboe.

 

It's often nice to add a singer,

And Wood Thrush alto,

Is a real humdinger.

Nothing like a finale drummer,

And "Woody" throbs

Like a frenzied plumber.

 

                     --Anonymous

 

 

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.

 

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/