Birdnotes: June 2013

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

{BIRD NOTES} ~ June 18, 2013

Bird Notes

Cecropia Moth ~ Photo by Carol Schnabel

The Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is North America's largest native moth. It is a member of the Saturniidae family, or giant silk moths. Females with a wingspan of six inches (160 mm) or more have been documented. It is found as far west as the Rocky Mountains and north into the majority of Canadian provinces. The larvae of these moths are most commonly found on maple trees, but they have been known to feed on cherry and birch trees among many others. Like all members of the Giant Silk Moth family, the nocturnal adult cecropia moths are designed only to reproduce, lacking functional mouthparts or digestive system. Therefore, they survive a maximum of about two weeks.

---Wikipedia

Strange Syrup Sipper

Two different days this week I've had a Catbird at the hummingbird feeder at the West B. Post Office. I've never had a non-hummer at one of those feeders before - have you or anyone else?

---Hollie Bowen, Brattleboro

Please Take in Your Bird Feeders

How distressing it is to me that folks still have their feeders up, even though they "take them in at night." Seed spills on the ground while the birds are feeding and still attracts not only bears but racoons. Would you please encourage folks to take their feeders down in April and put them back up in the late fall. The birds will manage fine without them.

---Karen Murphy, West Guilford, VT

**NOTE: There is a new state law taking affect on July 1,2013, addressing feeding of the bears. I have sent out a copy of the news release to all who subscribe.

Birding in Colorado

A few weeks ago while the rest of you were enjoying the peak of our eastern migrants, brother Rich and I visited Colorado to search for some western species. Briefly, we began in Denver, headed southward exploring the Rocky Mountain foothills through Colorado Springs and Pueblo, then to the wide-open plains that were highlighted by the Pawnee National Grasslands, finishing up with a few days in Rocky Mountain National Park. Most birders travel to Colorado earlier in season targeting Prairie-chickens and Sage-grouse on their leks. We decided to forego the opportunity of cross-state drives and pre-dawn birding, and opted for better late May weather. The strategy worked, as we had 14 days of glorious weather, identifying 181 species that included 15 new lifers for me. To my great satisfaction I was able to finally find two nemesis birds . . . the Yellow-headed Blackbird (should have had it long ago), and Clark's Grebe (to complete the North American grebes). Oddly enough, one of the trip highlights was Tree Swallows (yes, Tree Swallows) at one location where they were feeding en masse all around us on a hatch of some insect on the sagebrush....an amazing Hitchcockian display. Go figure . . . we head cross-country to be delighted by Tree swallows.
---Greg Prelich

Montague Sandplains in MA for Whip-poor-wills

A couple of years ago Bob Engel led an excursion to Montague Sandplains in MA to listen to, and perhaps see, Whip-poor-wills. As I was traveling at that time I had to miss it. I went back this year and, although I didn't get a good look at the birds, they were close enough to allow me to record their calls which I published in my blog:

http://onejackdawbirding.blogspot.com/2013/06/vanishing-whip-poor-wills.html

Montague Sandplains WMA is a unique pine barrens area maintained by controlled burning and mowing. My post contains a link to Joshua Rose's excellent description on the Hitchcockcenter.org website:

http://hitchcockcenter.org/index.php/blog/blog_entry_50th/429

For anybody interested in going there I put a map with directions on my post. It's about a 45 min drive from Brattleboro.

---Hilke Breder, Brattleboro, VT

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please share your birding news with us.

Any new migrants?

What have you seen while on a trip?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Al Merritt

chpmnkx@sover.net

SVAS www.sevtaudubon.org

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

{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.