{BIRD NOTES} ~ June 28, 2010

Mystery Bird by Al Merritt 6.27.10

 

Bird Notes

 

 

Mystery Bird in West Brattleboro

Hollie stopped by last evening to tell of a bird that she and Paul found sitting in some bushes along Abbott Road at the Gateway Farm. It looked like a parakeet but was a little larger with a long tail, and all white except for some bluish smudges down the back and on the under tail coverts. We investigated this morning (6/27), found the bird still perched high on a branch of a sapling on the north side of the road. The blue coloration seems to possibly be food coloring that someone has applied as an identification marking. Is anyone missing a pet parakeet of that description?

 

 

 

West River Birds (6/25)

There was a Great Egret fishing the shallows of the West River behind the Marina Restaurant this morning. Six Spotted Sandpipers were also observed.
---Dave Johnston, W. Brattleboro, VT

 

 

Please share your birding news with us.

What have you got coming to your feeders?

Are there any birds nesting in your yard?

What have you seen while on a trip?

Drop us an e-mail chpmnkx@sover.net

 

Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

chpmnkx@sover.net

http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand

and touches your heart.

 

 

 

{BIRD NOTES} ~ June 25, 2010

 

Bird Notes

 

 

 

 

 

Vernon Heron Rookery (6/19)

Several of us hiked the Lillis Pasture Road to the pond near the Interstate where there are five active heron nests. We counted 11 young birds and were privileged to see three parents come and feed the young. I have seen a lot of nests before, but never observed their feeding. The hike is about 45 minutes to the pond. You would want a spotting scope to see them well as they are on the far side of the pond.

---Paul Miller, Vernon, VT

 

 

 

Champlain Valley Birds (6/22)

Today I started at East Creek WMA in Orwell with at least 4 E. Meadowlarks. One sat on a fence post singing for quite a while.Next, at Brilyea Access, Dead Creek, one adult C. Moorhen and 3 chicks were out in the open feeding. The 2 Grasshopper Sparrows at Farr Cross Rd were singing and hanging out around the road making them easy to spot. Then at South Slang in Ferrisburg there was another C. Moorhen in the open, 2 Soras calling, and 2 Black Terns flying around on the north side of the road. Two Cattle Egrets were busy gleaning insects off of lazy cows at Shelburne Farms, fun to watch. The Clay-colored Sparrow in S. Burlington was singing away and gave great views in its favorite shrub. Finally there were numerous Black Terns feeding at Charcoal Creek in Swanton and the C. Terns at Popasquash Island in St. Albans were also very active. A long, but rewarding day. Thanks to all of you who originally posted some of these birds!
---Dave Johnston, W. Brattleboro, VT

 

 

 

Unusual Tern at Herrick’s Cove (6/23)

Martha Adams, JoAnne Russo, Lance Tanino and I were surprised to find a Caspian Tern at Herricks Cove in Rockingham this morning around 8:30. The bird flew off and presumably up river. A search north to Springfield could not relocate it. An unusual sighting for here.
---Don Clark, Grafton, VT

 

 

 

Chipmunk Crossing’s Avian Creatures

The local Ruffed Grouse was standing near the entrance to our driveway when we arrived home from shopping on Monday. The two families of Rose–breasted Grosbeaks have been busy emptying our sunflower feeders. However, we have been more than rewarded as they sing their sweet songs from the treetops. The two pair of Indigo Buntings have been quietly foraging in our mixed seed feeders, making multiple trips each day. A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has found a suitable drumming tree/pole to announce its presence several times a day. A Black-throated Green Warbler spent the late morning singing in the treetops on the south side of our little acre, and a vociferous Wood Thrush gave us several choruses of his beautiful song. The Catbird pair have quieted down, but we know they are still present with an occasional sighting.

 

 

 

On a wintry morning in 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt arrived at a White House cabinet meeting unexpectedly and with great exuberance. Something of genuine importance had obviously just happened.  All eyes were fixated on Roosevelt, who was quaking like a dervish with either excitement or agitation---it was unclear which. Having endured the assassinations of three Republican presidents---Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley---Roosevelt's so-called kitchen cabinet at least had the consolation of knowing that their boss, at the moment, was out of harm's way.   Still they leaned forward, bracing for the worst.   "Gentlemen, do you know what has happened this morning?" Roosevelt breathlessly asked, as everybody leaned forward with bated breath for the bad news.   "Just now I saw a Chestnut-sided Warbler---and this is only February!"

---The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, by Douglas Brinkley

 

---Submitted by Steve Medved, Putney, VT

 

 

 

Please share your birding news with us.

What have you got coming to your feeders?

Are there any birds nesting in your yard?

What have you seen while on a trip?

Drop us an e-mail chpmnkx@sover.net

 

Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

chpmnkx@sover.net

http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand

and touches your heart.

 

 

{BIRD NOTES} ~ June 16, 2010

 

Bird Notes

 

 

 

Vernon Yard Birds

You asked what is in our yards:

Our bluebirds have, I believe three little ones. They are very active. Hopefully they will try another brood.

The mockingbirds fledged three young. They have been hilarious to watch. Another three eggs are in the same nest.

A couple of robins have started a second brood.

Mourning doves don't seem to have any little ones, yet.

The neighbor has the wrens.

We have two couples of tree swallows with little ones flying around so there are about ten or so of them in the air at once.

A female hairy woodpecker was feeding a little one at our suet feeder yesterday. Very interesting to watch as she broke off pieces and fed junior. There are several downy's and occasionally the red-bellied that are using the suet feeder. I think a couple of the downy's are young ones. 

 Bluejays have a nest next door in a laurel bush.

Oh, yes, English sparrows are in one of the bird houses.

 

As you can see there are a lot of things going on in our yard.

---Paul Miller, Vernon, VT

 

 

 

Northeast Kingdom (6/12)

A male SPRUCE GROUSE offered excellent views as it foraged, sat on one of the trails leading to the bog, and then flew up and perched on a low branch. A female Black-backed Wp also gave great views as it searched for food on logs and snags down near the bog. An Olive-sided Flycatcher was calling from the wetlands on the east side of S.A Pond Rd. Other selected sightings: 3 Lincoln's Sparrows, numerous singing Winter Wrens, 2 Y-b Flycatchers, Golden-crowned Kinglets; Warblers- Nashville, Canada, Blackburnian, Yellow-rumped, Redstarts, Blackpoll, Black & White, Black-throated Blue, N. Parula, Magnolia, and C. Yellowthroat.
---Dave Johnston, W. Brattleboro, VT

 

 

 

New Home Reveals a Plethora of Birds

  My wife and I just bought a home in Guilford on Tyler Hill Rd.  The months of January and February were very dark, cold and silent.  Then the Northern Flicker arrived. Then the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadees, Eastern Phoebe, Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, Fox Sparrows, Cardinals, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Bobolinks, (hear American Woodcocks, Wood Thrushes), Goldfinches, Orioles, Hummingbirds, Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows, Ravens, Turkeys, Cedar Waxwings, and in the last week we've noticed a pair of Scarlet Tanagers and Indigo Buntings.

---Scott & Sam, Guilford, VT

 

 

 

Please share your birding news with us.

What have you got coming to your feeders?

Are there any birds nesting in your yard?

What have you seen while on a trip?

Drop us an e-mail chpmnkx@sover.net

 

Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

chpmnkx@sover.net

http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand

and touches your heart.

 

 

 

 

 

{BIRD NOTES} ~ June 14, 2010

 

Bird Notes

 

 

 

 

“Drink Your Tea” in Putney

I don't recall a Towhee near my house ever before, but the insistent “drink your tea" was calling out my kitchen window for a long time last evening.  I may have seen it earlier, but might have mistaken it for an oriole.  

---Burt Tepfer, Putney, VT

 

 

Birds of Guilford Hill Country

I checked out the power line which Velco has cut in the last year in Guilford at the top of Melendy Hill Road.  It is very badly chewed up, but some vegetation is growing: lots of Chestnut-Sided Warlers, a few Indigo Buntings and Common Yellowthroat Warblers, 1 Eastern Towhee, Flickers on the power poles and a possible Prairie Warbler. We also got great looks at a singing Winter Wren in the woods further up Melendy Hill.
---Susan James, Guilford, VT

 

 

Hogback Mountain Field Trip

At 6:30 a.m. the drive up Route 9 to Hogback Mt. took us through layers of clouds and we thought that visibility at the top would be hampered, but as we approached we were pleasantly surprised with just an overcast sky. The 100 mile view was cut much shorter than that and the layers of clouds laid out as a blanket below us in the valley. Some of the high peaks protruded thru giving the appearance of small islands on a large cotton ball lake. There was little or no wind and the temperature was hanging on at 56 degrees.

 

We met up with Bob Engel who was the competent leader of this walk and spent about an hour walking a trail along the slope of the one time ski slope, ticking off a few warblers and thrushes before moving on to Butterfield Road. When the caravan turned on to Grant Road there was a Ruffed Grouse standing in the road. A drive along Grant Road to a marsh, some open fields and a large pond gave us a good habitat variety for finding numerous species of birds. We enjoyed a good morning of birding before the rains moved in and chased us to our cars for the drive home. We had counted 46 species and thanks to our leader, gained some interesting knowledge about the flora and fauna of Hogback. Here is our list for the morning:

 

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Hooded Merganser

Ruffed Grouse

Turkey Vulture

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Common Flicker

Hairy Woodpecker

Eastern Phoebe

Alder Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

Blue Jay

American Crow

Black-capped Chickadee

Winter Wren

Robin

Wood Thrush

Veery

Hermit Thrush

Eastern Bluebird

Starling

Red-Eyed Vireo

Black and White Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Ovenbird

Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Scarlet Tanager

Bobolink

Brown-headed Cowbird

Common Grackle

Red-winged Blackbird

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

American Goldfinch

Dark-eyed Junco

White-throated Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow (by partial song?)

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

American Goldfinch

 

 

 

 

 

Please share your birding news with us.

What have you got coming to your feeders?

Are there any birds nesting in your yard?

What have you seen while on a trip?

Drop us an e-mail chpmnkx@sover.net

 

Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

chpmnkx@sover.net

http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand

and touches your heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{BIRD NOTES} ~ June 10, 2010

Cerulean Warbler

 

Bird Notes

 

Guilford Eagle

While kayaking at Weatherhead Hollow I saw an eagle fly overhead and slowly drop out of sight to the south. I quickly paddled in that direction and found a mature Bald Eagle perched in a tree.

---Anne Cloutier, Guilford, VT

 

 

 

Two Uncommon Warblers Can Be Found Nearby

Thanks to those who posted on the NH listserve the presence of CERULEAN WARBLER singing along the trail up Mt. Wantastiquet. About 500 feet past the second orange gate, the Cerulean is still being heard - and continuing through the first 2 switchbacks. I heard it several times on Tuesday -Richard Foye had a good look on Wednesday, about half way between the 2nd gate & first switchback. (It was nesting there in ‘94, but I am not aware of other records since.)  Also, the Prairie Warbler along Old Ferry Rd. in Brattleboro is still singing and protecting his turf.

---Chris Petrak, South Newfane, VT
Tails of Birding - www.tailsofbirding.net

 

 

 

Indigo Buntings & More

For the last week or so we have had three Indigo Buntings regularly visiting our mixed seed feeders. One is a non-breeding male with mottled plumage. The other two appear to be a mated pair, he in his splendid indigo breeding plumage and she in her drab light brown attire with a slight hint of blue on her shoulder. She could very easily be mistaken for a sparrow of a questionable species. They are not birds that you would expect to find at feeders, although they have been returning to Chipmunk Crossing each spring for the last 3 years.  Burt Tepfer also reported that an Indigo has been visiting his feeder in Putney.

     Our Wood Thrush has become semi-silent while the Veery sings and calls on, accompanied by the Ovenbird. Robins have raised young and moved out. Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers have started bringing their young to the suet feeder. Three male and one female Rose-breasted Grosbeak seem to be ever present at the sunflower feeders. They can empty a feeder in no time at all. A pair of Catbirds has taken up residence somewhere in the hillside shrubbery. Their mews, chips, squawks and squeaks continue on for hours. One species that we haven’t seen a lot of this spring is the Chimney Swift. Is it just us?

 

 

*   *   *

F I E L D   T R I P

 

“Exploring the Hogback”

 

Saturday, June 12, 7:00 a.m.

 

Wander the clearings and forests of Hogback Mountain with Marlboro biologist Bob Engel,

looking for song birds and other curiousities. 

Meet at the Alpen Globe Parking Lot on Route 9 atop Hogback Mountain

 

*  *  *

 

P R O G R A M   N O T E

"World Wildife In Our Homes"

 

Tuesday, June 15, 7:00pm

 

Michael Clough of Rockhopper Outdoor Education  http://www.rockhopperoutdoored.com will bring an assortment of exotic animals to illustrate the issues surrounding the exotic pet trade. Artifacts from the USFWS "Suitcase for Survival" will help to highlight the effects of the illegal trade in wildlife, as will a brief powerpoint presentation.  Rockhopper's animal educators are primarily unwanted pets that have been donated for use in educational programs.

 

This program is sponsored by Southeastern VT Audubon Society

and will be held in Brattleboro's Brooks Memorial Library meeting room.

FREE and open to the public.

 

 

 

Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

chpmnkx@sover.net

http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand

and touches your heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIRD NOTES ~ June 1, 2010

 

 

Bird Notes

 

 

Please excuse the lateness of this edition, but we have just returned from a couple of weeks in the Katterskills (Catskills). We encountered lots of fresh air, sunshine, a Rip Van Winkle “thunder boomer” and several days of birding in one of the premier birding spots of New York State, at the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area that encompasses 2,175 acres of varied habitat. While there we managed a total of 110 species.

 

 

 

“Ruff” and “Reddy”

Before leaving on our trip we had been entertained by the Ruffed Grouse that made periodic appearances in the early evening to have a snack made up of mixed seed and cracked corn. The Red Squirrel thought he owned the rights to that feed lot and decided to challenge the feathered intruder.  He made a half-hearted lunge in its direction, but Ruff was not about to be bullied. It stood its ground with neck ruffed, erect fanned tail and feet stomping. Red countered with a twitching tail and a series of squirrel clucks. However, it was only a bluff and it soon turned tail and fled to the safety of an overhead branch. The chattering continued. Things soon quieted down, the squirrel returned to the ground and they both continued to enjoy the repast, but at a safe distance from each other.

 

SVAS Warbler Walk, May 15, 2010

Twelve people joined Richard Foye this morning (5/15) for the SVAS Warbler Walk. The group wandered the trails of the Retreat acreage below, above, and around the ski jump.  Warblers seen (or heard): TENNESSEE (bird of the day), Black-and-White, Blackburnian, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Pine, Yellow-rumped, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Yellow, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Overnbird, and Louisiana Waterthrush

Plus - many other species including (but not necessarily limited to) Wood & Hermit Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, Least Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Phoebe, goldfinch, cardinal, Chipping & Song Sparrow, Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireo, Robin. I have posted a few photos on my blog: www.tailsofbirding.blogspot.com   

---Chris Petrak, S. Newfane, VT

 

 

 

Unusual Prey for an Osprey

Our son, Peter and his wife had a unique experience this morning (5/31) when they observed an Osprey that had a woodchuck in its talons.  It tried to fly off toward the river, but lost it when it got about 20-25 feet up.  Have you ever heard of osprey going after animals like that?

The incident took place in the field across the road from our house.

---Mary and Paul Miller, Vernon, VT

 

 

 

It’s a Peach of a Plum Island in May

Robyn and I just got back from our annual week on Plum Island. Quiet this year. No special rarities, but lots of the usuals. Trees there were leafed out way early like here, so finding the little ones was not easy, especially late in the week. We were treated to 102 species, 104 if we include the probable manx shearwater I saw, and the Cape May warbler that Robyn heard. That includes 20/21 species of warblers. Highlights include: close views of Sora and Virginia Rail, the Mourning Warbler, a Black-Crowned Night Heron, a large weasel crossing the road, and a fisher making his way through the trees and brush to his den. However, my best birds of May so far were here in the neighborhood. I had great looks at two life birds, thanks to Hector Galbraith: Tennessee and Prairie Warblers on the rail trail in Hinsdale in mid-May just before we left for the coast.

---Paul Miksis, Brattleboro, VT

 

 

 

7,000 Miles Nonstop, and No Pretzels

This is a fascinating article that appeared in the May 25 edition of the New York Times. Guaranteed to have you uttering words like unbelievable, incredible and amazing. But, thanks to modern technology it is all proven facts.

Click here: Birds That Migrate Thousands of Miles With Nary a Stop - NYTimes.com

 

 

 

 

 

Al Merritt

W. Brattleboro, VT

chpmnkx@sover.net

http://sevtaudubonbirdnotes.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~~~~

A friend is someone who reaches for your hand

and touches your heart.