Birdnotes: [BIRD NOTES] ~ APRIL 12, 2013

Winter Wren

Bird Notes

Herrick’s Cove (4/9)

Sightings from the cove picnic area were:
Canada Goose 3
Mallard 1
Bufflehead 2 (First Of Year)
Common Merganser 8
Hooded Merganser 4
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Bonaparte's Gull 3 (FOY)
Ring-billed Gull 7
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker 1 (FOY)
American Crow 2
Tree Swallow X
Black capped Chickadee 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Robin 1
Chipping Sparrow 5 (FOY)
Song Sparrow 14
Swamp Sparrow 1 (FOY)
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 4
---Kenneth Cox, South Reading, VT

Larson Road, Wilmington, VT

Wilmington still has snow cover in many places, especially north facing hillsides but Cowbirds, Starlings, Grackles, Red-wing BB, Song Sparrows, Robins and many more Juncos are around as well as the usuals and our first Fox Sparrow has appeared. Still have the huge flock (100 +) Common Redpolls visiting a couple of times a day. Waiting for our succession habitat restoration project to give us our first woodcocks but it is still covered in snow. A Gray Fox passed through and the resident Red Fox has been active. Still no signs of bear though feeders come in at night!! (4/9/13).

---Barbara Cole, Wilmington, VT

Weatherhead Hollow Road

Today in Guilford the Phoebes and Flickers were back, and the Peepers and Woodcocks were singing. Spring is really here. Yesterday I picked up The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds of Vermont, hot-off- the-press. It is the results of the 5 year breeding bird survey, and it is fabulous.

SVAS will donate a copy to the library.

---Susan James, Guilford, VT

Green River Road, Guilford, VT

I just came inside from watching the Woodcocks display in their usual spot across the road from my house.

---Carol Schnabel, Guilford, VT

Birding Searsburg’s Coniferous Forest

(Al, I have no idea if a Winter Wren is worthy of mention or not, but it was a really neat experience seeing them. It was a great couple of days. Boreal-ish coniferous birds are cool. Long last the snow!)

While everyone else is in the warm valleys looking for spring birds, I've been in the mountains searching out good snow for backwoods skiing. On Saturday 4/6 in a snowy coniferous forest in Searsburg I flushed a Winter Wren from the edge of a tiny stream of open water. It landed on a branch and began bobbing up and down, and this little guy reminded me of the actions of a dipper. (1) Later in the day I saw two more. Other than a flock of Robins, they were the only birds I saw that day. (2) On Sunday's ski into the old Flood Dam in Somerset, a Great Blue Heron landed in the meadow, and many small flocks of Golden-crowned Kinglets were singing their "summer" song in the woods.

Last Friday, from my office window overlooking the Connecticut River downtown, I saw a Kestrel (AKA Sparrow Hawk), the first I've ever seen there.

(1) Imagine my surprise to find that in Sibley's Guide to Bird Behavior, the section on Wrens is immediately followed by Dippers!

(2) In June of last year Chris Petrak noted in Bird Notes an absence of Winter Wren songs. It is encouraging to see them this year.

---Jeff Nugent, Brattleboro, VT

An Amazing Journey

OSPREY: “Señor Bones” Arrives at Nantucket

Around 3:30 pm yesterday (4 April) Señor Bones arrived on his nest at Coskata Pond. Remarkably, this was only about 30 minutes earlier than he arrived home last year on the 4th of April. However, last year he left his winter home one day after he left there this year. All things considered, his journey home this year was as direct a route as he could have taken, without any delays along the way. This was our third year following him back to Nantucket from his winter home 3,100 miles away in Colombia. In 2011 he made the trip in 14 days (24 March to 6 April), last year in 16 days (20 March to 4 April) and this year in 17 days (19 March to 4 April). He is one unbelievable, soon to be eight-year-old Osprey.

Osprey’s 3,100 mile flight route from Colombia to Nantucket

---Robert S. Kennedy, Ph.D., Nantucket, MA

Herrick’s Cove

A quick stop at Herrick’s Cove- 2 Blue-winged Teal, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Dunlin and 4 Bonaparte's Gull besides the usual waterfowl – Green-wing Teal, Wigeon, C. Goldeneye, and Bufflehead. (4/12)
---JoAnne Russo, Saxtons River, VT

Visitors at Chipmunk Crossing

The pair of Gray Fox are still making their evening stops to clean up the sunflower seeds that are left over from the seed scattered on the snow for the regular bird crew. The first to stop by I believe was the male. After a few minutes the second, I’m guessing the female, arrived and stayed for a much shorter period. Here again I am guessing that maybe their den was close by and she could be tending young. ??? At any rate they are magnificent creatures.

Today we had two Fox Sparrows, an Eastern Phoebe and a Song Sparrow visit us. All are first of year birds. (4/10)

Spofford Lake, NH

An Osprey sat in the very top of the pine tree that towers over the boat launch. Out on the lake we spotted 2 Common Mergansers, 4 Common Goldeneye, a lone Grackle that was patrolling the beach and hundreds of Tree Swallows skimming the placid waters. (4/11)