Category Archives: Vermont Birding
Winter Birding — Bring It On
As I noted last week, we are being bankrupted by the influx of Pine Siskins that mob our feeders, leaving their small poops all over everything, and making the Black-capped Chickadees wonder what hit them. Yesterday, I saw about 25 … Continue reading
Kenn & Kim Kaufman’s new book
Kenn Kaufman, originator of the Kaufman Field Guide series, is well-known by birders and naturalists across the country. Many of us remember his first book, Kingbird Highway, a wonderful tale of his long hitch-hiking search for birds as a teenager. … Continue reading
Posted in Vermont Birding
Tagged Bear Pond Books, Black Swamp Bird Observatory, field guide, Kenn & Kim Kaufman, North Branch Nature Center
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Vermont Airstreamers is taking a sabbatical
Since we have decided not to travel to the Southwest this winter and since the Airstream is sort of laid up due to the damage to the back, I am putting this blog on hold for a while. I invite … Continue reading
Posted in Vermont Birding
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Birding License Plates
I met a Canadian birder last winter in Texas who had an interesting side hobby: she collected birding vanity license plates. I decided to start doing the same myself, starting with hers shown here. Of course, since then I have … Continue reading
Beyond a Murder of Crows
Most birders know some of the collective names of birds such as a murder of crows, a skein of Canada Geese, a charm of goldfinches. Sue McGrath, who leads bird walks in the Newburyport, MA area, recently published a humorous … Continue reading
Sorting Sparrows
I took the Vizsla on a birding outing this morning to the local North Branch Nature Center – I wanted to check out the community garden for birds. I hitched up her leash to my belt and off we … Continue reading
Posted in Birding With Penny, Vermont Birding
Tagged Chipping Sparrow, North Branch Nature Center, sparrows, White-crowned Sparrow, White-Throated Sparrow
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Stock up on Niger Seed, the Siskin Boys (& Girls) are in town
We take in our feeders at night to avoid bear and raccoon problems. Early yesterday morning, I hung up the bird feeder and thistle feeder and immediately had a dozen Pine Siskins flitting about, waiting for me to leave. The … Continue reading
Posted in Backyard birds, bird feeding, Vermont Birding
Tagged Backyard birds, bird feeding, Pine Siskins
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Quieter Woods
Things are pretty quiet these days in our woods as I walk the dog on our trails — aside for some deer watching us nearly every walk and numerous red squirrels and chipmunks, the activity has died off as birds … Continue reading
Posted in Birds, Local Birding, Vermont Birding
Tagged American Goldfinch, Backyard birds, Common Yellowthroat, fall migration, Kenn Kaufman, Song Sparrow, White-Throated Sparrow
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A Solitary Sandpiper
We don’t have a lot of shorebird habitat hotspots in central Vermont so we make do with puddles in cornfields, small mudflats along the rivers and ponds, and other spots where water gathers. We go over to Lake Champlain or … Continue reading
Posted in Birds, Local Birding, Vermont Birding
Tagged county bird, digiscoping, Solitary Sandpiper
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Bird Watcher’s Digest Subscription Drive
I just read a compelling blog post by Julie Zickefoose, an author, illustrator from Ohio who has written many great birding articles and books. I am currently reading her The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds. Julie, who writes … Continue reading
Posted in Vermont Birding
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