Birdnotes: October 2007

Thursday, October 25, 2007

FW: [BIRD NOTES] October 23, 2007

From: Al Merritt [mailto:chpmnkx@sover.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 12:16 PM
To: sevtaudubon.birdnotes@blogger.com
Cc: 'Al Merritt'
Subject: [BIRD NOTES] October 23, 2007

Bird Notes

Last week we were visiting in the Catskill Mountains of New York State and remarking how the foliage had not really turned its usual color for Columbus Day week. Then last Friday morn we started our trek back to Vermont and noticed that an overnight transformation had taken place. It was as if Mother Nature had spent the previous evening hours painting the countryside with a myriad of colors. It was a remarkable transition from the subdued yellows and golds to brilliant splashes of red and orange across the Shawangunk Mountain ridges. We have never witnessed such a rapid, overnight foliage change. It was spectacular!

Turners Falls & the Power Canal

Seen at Turners Falls were a CACKLING GOOSE, 2 NORTHERN SHOVELERS, 12 GREEN-WINGED TEAL, 3 PIED- BILLED GREBES, and 3 AMERICAN COOT.

Late Warbler

Richard Foye in South Newfane had a very late WILSONS WARBLER in his yard on 10/23.

Keep Checking the Retreat Meadows

There was a juvenile NORTHERN SHRIKE at the Brattleboro Retreat Meadows this morning (10/23). The BLACK VULTURES that have been around Brattleboro for the past couple of months, grew to a flock of 4 this afternoon (10/23). At about 3pm they were circling over the old ski jump on Harris Hill.

---Hector Galbraith

There were 13 AMERICAN PIPITS in the Marina field this past Saturday and I spotted 4 on Sunday at the same location.

---Dave Johnston, W. Brattleboro

Coops and Crows

Saturday morning, as the sun broke through the storm clouds, illuminating peak foliage at the edge of the back field, two crows and a Cooper's hawk attacked each other overhead. First the crows went after the hawk, then the hawk attacked one of the crows, their bodies making contact in mid-air. Then the crows went after the hawk again, all disappearing behind the tree line. The crows reappeared, but not the hawk. I suppose that he (smaller than the crows) eluded them in his preferred forested habitat.

---Jean Arrowsmith

Rockingham Birds

This morning at Herrick's Upper Meadows a recently plowed corn field was heaving with birds:

Red-winged blackbirds 1500-2000

Pipits 150-200

Robins 100-200

Horned larks 10

Snipe 8

Savannah, song, swamp sparrows 200-300

White crowned sparrow 30-40

White-throated sparrow 80-100

Lincoln's sparrow 1

Also still around were 2 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS

---Hector Galbraith, Dummerston, VT

On Tuesday a female COMMON MERGANSER showed off it’s diving skills in the West River just upstream from the Marina. We also noticed that the MALLARD DUCK population there has grown to more than 20. Overhead there were 30+ TURKEY VULTURES taking advantage of the south-westerly winds to sharpen their soaring skills.

Mark your calendars for the annual

Christmas Bird Count

Saturday, December 15, 2007.

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/

Thursday, October 11, 2007

[BIRD NOTES] October 11, 2007

Bird Notes

Marlboro Loons (10/6-7)

A solitary Common Loon visited South Pond in Marlboro this weekend. I first heard it give its laughing call on 7:30 a.m. Saturday; it repeated that call again - just once - around 7:00 on Sunday morning. It spent both weekend days on the pond, but was gone, at least to my eyes, on Monday.

---Anne Wheelock, W. Brattleboro

Allen Brothers Marsh (10/7)

Great Blue Heron (5)

American Pipits (6)

Sunset Lake

Common Loon

Chipmunk Crossing Birds (10/1-10/10)

In addition to our regulars:

Scarlet Tanager (F)

Purple Finch (13, including 5 males)

White-throated Sparrow (several)

White-crowned Sparrow (3 imm)

Red-winged Blackbird

Dark-eyed Junco (several)

Chipping Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Raven (2)

Baltimore Oriole (F)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Yellow-rumped Warbler (2)

P R O G R A M

Tales of the California Condor

On Tuesday, October 16^th there will be a program on the California Condor. The program will be at 7pm at Brattleboro’s Brooks Memorial Library conference room. The presenter will be Sanford R. "Sandy" Wilbur. Wilbur was the leader of the California Condor research and recovery effort from 1969 to 1981, the period during which the current captive breeding and release program was developed. Using color slides and readings from his recent book, "Condor Tales: What I Learned in Twelve Years with the Big Birds," he describes how the condors became endangered (reaching a low point of only about fifteen birds in the early 1980s) and how the condors came to be taken from the wild for a captive breeding program. The "Tales" are a fascinating blend of biology, sociology and politics, and the presentation sheds light on what it really takes to save an endangered species.

Wilbur worked in Wildlife Management for the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 34 years. He managed wildlife refuges and the Endangered Species Program, and has supervised species work on many endangered birds. He has written many scientific papers, articles, and several books.

This is a FREE program sponsored by

Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society

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