Birdnotes: {BIRD NOTES} June 05, 2013

BLACK VULTURES © Floyd Austin

Bird Notes

Black Vultures in Brattleboro

Last night I saw my first Black Vultures in Windham County, at the roost on the ridge above The Marina Restaurant, at the mouth of the West River. There were two that came in together as dozens of Turkey Vultures arrived for the night. I've been looking and looking for my first NH or Vermont Black Vulture, wondering when things would warm up enough for them. I have assumed they have wandered up the Hudson Valley into VT (?), but as for many things, hadn't made it that far up the Connecticut. They have done so now.
---David Moon, Putney, VT

The Last Dance

To those of you who visited here to see the woodcock dance, let me say that as of fourish this A.M., 6/2, he is still at it, but in a less energetic way. He just vocalizes; no flights. Same at dusk. The dance is just about over.

---Bob Engel, Marlboro, VT

Memorial Day visitor in our yard on Sweet Pond Rd in Guilford.

---Mick Durante

Black Vultures Again at Roost in Brattleboro

This evening (6/5) between 7:00 and 8:00 two Black Vultures were spotted flying
to the roost located on the east side Rte. 5 just opposite the Waterfront
parking lot by the Marina Restaurant. During the hour 16 Turkey Vultures
counted, and the Blacks were the last of the vultures to fly in. These
were previously posted by David Moon on June 1.
---Kenneth Cox, South Reading, VT

Yard Birds PLUS in Wilmington

I have a House Wren singing away here in Wilmington. It inspected a bluebird house.. Also I can just sit in my yard and watch generally every day: Robins, Black-Capped Chickadees, Chipping, Song, and White-throat Sparrows, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Purple Finches, Goldfinches, Phoebes, Purple Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Juncos, the Red and White breasted Nuthatches, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, one Evening Grosbeak visited day before yesterday, as well as a Scarlet Tanager flyby, Juncos, & Flicker. I have nesting Bluebirds, , Tree Swallows and Phoebes . Heard the Yellow Warbler, the Ovenbird, the Wood Peewee , Wood Thrush, Red-bellied woodpecker, Chestnut Sided Warbler, Common Yellow throat, Red-eyed Vireo and down in the meadow Yellow -rumped Warbler plus many more that I cannot identify but a Belted Kingfisher flew over as well as the Ravens and American Crows, a couple of Mallards were in the water and the Woodcocks have done their peenting . Crows were mobbing something in the tree tops yesterday.

I am still feeding and am careful to take feeders in at dusk, also keeping an eye on them during the day. Started this a week ago and things have quieted down a bit.

---Barbara Cole, Wilmington, VT

New York State DEC Plans to Introduce Spruce Grouse

New York State may introduce Spruce Grouse into the Adirondacks this year to bolster a native population that appears headed for extinction. Without intervention the state’s population could vanish by the year 2020. According to a recovery plan released recently by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, “The spruce grouse is perhaps the best known icon and a perfect representative of boreal habitats in New York,” said Mchale Glennon, a scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Adirondack Program, in a DEC news release. The authors of the plan, DEC biologist Angelena Ross and her former professor, Glenn Johnson of Potsdam State College, estimate that only seventy-five to a hundred Spruce Grouse remain in the state. Eventually Johnson hopes the Adirondacks will harbor five hundred or so Spruce Grouse.