BIRD NOTES ~ August 4, 2009

What Woodpecker by Barbara Ritchie and Wild Parsnips (file photo)

 

Bird Notes

 

Help!

Can anyone help to ID what kind of woodpecker did this?  It is a Ponderosa Pine, in the Cascades of southern Washington, Trout Lake area near Mt. Adams. (See attachment)

Thanks!

---Barbara Ritchie, Newfane, VT

 

 

Beware the wild parsnip!

Now in full bloom along roadsides, in fields and sunny disturbed areas all over Vermont, this tall yellow-flowering plant that looks like a yellow Queen Anne's Lace (See attachment) can pack blisters or burns worse than poison ivy if you get the juice from the plant on your skin and your skin is then exposed to the sun. Phytophotodermatitis it's called. The blister/burn scars can remain for a long time on people who are more allergic. 

 

Check out these websites for more information on this exotic invasive and how to prevent injury, or treat it if it's too late, and don't pick the pretty flowers!

 

http://dnr.wi.gov/wnrmag/html/stories/1999/jun99/parsnip.htm

 

http://www.ifallsdailyjournal.com/node/4285

 

http://dnr.wi.gov/invasives/fact/parsnip.htm

 

--Ann Pearce

Master Gardener

Professional Gardener

And yes, I got a burn a few years ago when it first started appearing around here, and the doctors thought it was poison ivy.

---Submitted by Karen L. Davis

 

 

Bunting and Kingfisher

I took advantage of the nice days recently to do some birding. There was an Indigo Bunting on the West River trail behind the Marina at the end of the cornfield. I took a photo but it did not come out as well I would have liked and so I went back this morning. I did not see the bunting again, but did see a Great Egret by the sandbar in the river.

 

A couple of days ago I watched a Belted Kingfisher over the pond behind the Target store in Keene. It hovered, beating its wings rapidly, and suddenly plunged arrow-like down in the water to grab a fish. Check here for some photos: www.onejackdawbirding.blogspot.com

Hilke Breder, Brattleboro, VT

 

 

 

Hill Farm Road, Arlington, VT (7/22)

Among the notables of the 29 species observed this day were:

Red-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

Black-billed Cuckoo

Pileated Woodpecker

Willow Flycatcher

Brown Creeper

Veery

Yellow Warbler

Swamp Sparrow

Indigo Bunting

---Lance Tanino, Keene, NH

 

 

 

Fall Warblers and Gathering Swallows (8/3)

In our yard today: Black & White, Chestnut-sided and Black-throated Green. We also have had the return of the male Indigo Bunting and a male Purple Finch.  On the wires at Gateway Farm on Abbott Road: 39 Barn Swallows, 3 Rough-wings, and 3 Cliff Swallows.

 

 

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

 

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand

 and touches your heart.