Category: Vermont Birding

After several months of repairs to the underside of the Airstream damaged last winter in our dramatic arrival  (belly wrap aluminum sections, plastic bannana wraps on front and back, and the replacement of the steps and step light), we started cleaning the inside.  I won’t mention the condition of the refrigerator.

Loaded up and ready to go camping

Having made reservations over at Groton State Park’s Stillwater Campground, we hooked up and launched Tuesday mid-day and gingerly worked our way down the driveway and road.  The trip is only about an hour and the traffic was light.

Vermont parks don’t have electric or water services and seem to be more set up for tent and lean-to campers.  The sites are generally pretty small and close together.  However, we chose an empty site which was spacious and being mid-week and before the major family camping season, was pretty isolated.  It even was level.

It felt good to settle into the routines of the Airstream even though the temperature was in the 80’s — quite hot for Vermont.  We got the kayaks set up and went for a short paddle before supper.  Groton Pond is dark from tannic acid and lined with camps — it’s crazy on the weekends with a lot of boats on a small body of water.

We opted for a movie on the computer instead of a campfire Tuesday night.  Everything on the camper worked fine although the noisy water pump could use some muffling.  We checked out the campground showers (two quarters for four minutes) and rated them excellent.  In fact, the overall appearance and cleanliness of the restrooms, the sites, and all facilities was exemplary — the staff and volunteers do a great job.

Wednesday was cold in the morning — 49 degrees or so — and I lit off the propane heater for a while.  I got an early morning paddle in — freezing my hands — and later took the dog for a long run alongside the bike.

Rain later in the day cancelled any campfire plans but we were snug in the ‘stream and glad to be in such a beautiful setting.  We decided to pack up the next morning and head home a bit early since the weather forecast was not good.  Another easy trip and except for dragging the back bumper on the driveway turn (another repair job), it was excellent. 

All in all, a successful re-entry after months of letting the Airstream sit.  It’s nice to have it ready to go as we look at the rest of the summer.  We also need to start thinking about winter travel for 2011-2012.  Stay tuned.

Black & White Warbler

I went birding yesterday morning at Salisbury Beach State Reservation, a place where I go instead of Parker River WMA when I have the dog with me (which is most of the time.)  Driving slowly along the campground perimeter, I saw a warbler fly in front of the truck and pulled over.  I could see some Black & White warblers through the truck window so I parked and immediately walked into a gaggle of flitting birds. (It was a good day in the area — at Parker River folks saw 22 species of warblers.)

Northern Parula

Black-throated Blue Warbler

The good news was that the trees are rather low and the birds close by.  The bad news is that for a second-year birder, just getting them in the binoculars is a task, and then getting identifying marks etc is a challenge.  Binoculars or camera, write notes or check Sibley’s, — oh for a knowledgeable birder along.  It’s a good problem to have — too many birds, not enough expertise — that’s how you learn.  I took my time, jotted down notes, shot a lot of photos, and came up with three new life birds.

Ovenbird

Ovenbirds where everywhere — and unlike at home, easy to spot.  I think that was because there were so many of them.  Black-throated blue warblers likewise were putting on an aerial display going after insects like flycatchers.

I’m sure I missed a number of birds but it was demanding but fun — even when a couple of kids on their bikes set up a BMX route on the trail I was using. 

Black-crowned Night-heron

Leaving the reservation, I spotted a heron-like bird in the marsh and pulled over, let a runner pass, and backed up to the spot.  I shot a couple of photos and tried to figure out what I was seeing — it wasn’t a Great Blue so I tried to make it into a Least Bittern.  It wasn’t until I had a chance to look at the photos closely that I’ve decided it was a Black-crowned Night-heron.  What it was doing up and about in the morning I have no idea?

Migration is so fleeting — a few weeks of birds passing through — and if you miss them, or can’t identify them, it’s wait until next year.  But the flurry of frenetic activity, the chirps and calls, and the colors makes it a special time for birders.

Mark your calendars and click on the following for all the latest info and registration for the 9th Annual Great Adirondack Birding Celebration:

We are thrilled to have Scott Weidensaul as our Sat evening keynote speaker in the Paul Smith’s College VIC Theater. Sat & Sun field trips are loaded with boreal hotspots and something new this year is a Beginner Birder Workshop lead by Joan Collins of Long Lake. Also new this year is our Friday Boreal Ecology Workshop at Massawepie Mire & The Wild Center lead by top-notch naturalists/birders Kendra Omerod and Alan Belford.

Friday will feature an afternoon wetlands walk, evening dessert reception, birds of prey show, & Owl Walk all at the Paul Smith’s College VIC. Sat will focus on field trips(lead by many members of Northern New York Audubon Society-a major sponsor of GABC) and afternoon bird-related workshops. Sunday allows you a second day of field trips giving another full morning to bird in the Adirondacks.

Hope you can make it!

Brian McAllister
Saranac Lake

Ever since returning from Texas, I’ve been hoping to get up to the Northeast Kingdom and look for a few birds up there that I’ve never seen.  Weather and commitments have held me back but I know that black fly season is coming on, so I took the long drive up to Island Pond today to do a little wet weather birding.  Penny, the Vizsla, came along for the ride but waited in the truck.

It wasn’t a Vermont Life day: soggy with low clouds and still early spring.  We stopped north of Lyndonville for some exercise and departing the turnoff area, nearly hit a dark, wet moose.  From Island Pond, it’s about ten miles, down past the grass airport at which I’ve landed many times, to the Moose Bog trail in the Town of Ferdinand.

My target bird was the Spruce Grouse although I was hoping for a Grey Jay or Boreal Chickadee as well.  I heard a number of winter wrens (saw one) and many yellow-rumps but after an hour or so, thought I’d be skunked.  I was walking the quiet trail in a light mist when up ahead, right on the path, I saw movement in a little spruce tree.  A big Spruce Grouse was standing there, eating away.  I had time to wipe off my camera lens, and get pretty close for shots.  I watched for some time and then turned around and left the bird to its meal.  I was surprised at how accomodating it was — much different from a Ruffed Grouse.

It made the long drive worthwhile and gave me an incentive to get back up there later this year and look for the other birds.

Each spring, dozens of Hooded Mergansers drop in at Berlin Pond, the water supply for Montpelier.  Usually paired off, they grace the early days of icy open water.  Some stick around all season on local water — nesting in trees like wood ducks.  The males are hard to miss with their big white patch on the crest.

The last few days, I’ve been watching them come and go at the pond.  I digiscoped a pair this afternoon as they paddled away between ice floes.  They’re my favorite duck.

Yesterday, while out birding with my Vizsla in Massachusetts, I saw a number of species but the highlight of the morning was an early butterfly, the Mourning Cloak.  We were in some oaks when I saw two butterflies flitting through the woods and climbing higher and out of sight.  Then one returned and cooperatively sat on some leaves not far from me.  I took some photos and then the dog returned from her explorations and spooked the pretty thing.

Not knowing my butterflies, I searched through my book to id what I had seen but it was hard.  Finally I found it and of course, once I read the description, it was clear that I should have been aware that it’s always one of the first butterflies to emerge in the Northeast since it overwinters.

My friends tell me that the other overwintering butterfly is the Milbert’s Tortoiseshell.  I’ll be looking for them in the days ahead.

Check the sightings here

For the last month, as I’ve been birding in the South, day after day I’ve read posts of Common Redpoll sightings throughout the Northeast.  It’s a bird I’m missing from my life list (I just started two years ago and they weren’t around last winter) and so I was hoping to see a few before they headed back north.  Today I did.

 I cranked up our feeding program upon our return to Vermont on Thursday although neighbors had kept the Chickadees and Nuthatches fed during our absence.  Still, for three days no Redpolls and I thought perhaps I’d missed the window of their presence.

Today a couple showed up on the tray feeder and later were joined by a couple more.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see even more in the coming days now that they have found us.  The Chickadees seem to be a little out of sorts at the arrival of these heavy feeders but their flashes of color against the snow are a delight to see.  Soon they’ll be heading back to Canada but it’s nice to tank them up before their flight north.

In Louisiana last weekend, there are signs of spring everywhere.  The peepers were singing and at daybreak, a chorus of Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, and a host of other early wakers, greeted us on our morning walk.  Even today, in windy but warm Virginia, robins are calling away as we enjoy the last warm afternoon of our trip.

Last week, in our return to Goose Island in Texas, I noted that Laughing Gulls were no longer plain but had their striking dark heads.  Northern Mockingbirds, instead of just “chipping” like they did in January, were trotting out their full repertoire of songs and were acting pretty frisky in the bushes.

At Natchez State Park in Mississippi, spring was a little behind what we just left in Louisiana.  But the sight of several pairs of bluebirds were a wonderful to witness in the early sunlight as were a dozen barn swallows swooping over the lake.

I know that reality will set in as we head north but these signs bode well for our home state.  When we visited Cameron Prairie NWR last week, we saw no Canada Geese and only a half dozen snow geese.  They are all on their way north – I’m reading reports of skeins of geese over Lake Champlain and elsewhere.  We’re following them this week.

We dropped down to Louisiana for a few days before starting northward.  Today we went for a birding outing exploring some national wildlife refuges south of Lake Charles.  Most of the geese and many of the ducks have headed out but there are still a lot of interesting birds.

We saw dozens of hawks perched in trees along the roads on the way down but had trouble identifying them at 70 mph.  Most were likely red-tails although I saw a Northern Harrier who was hard to miss.  We stopped in at the headquarters of the Cameron Prairie NWR and did a quick tour of their wonderful new center — replaced after one of the recent hurricanes knocked the prior one out.

Walking out the observation platform behind the center, I immediately saw all sorts of birds:  White-faced ibis, Glossy Ibis, two or three types of herons, many ducks, and an assorted sandpiper or two.  Many lifted off as I came nearer but it was an amazing start.

Black-necked Stilt (life bird)

Later, we drove a three mile Pintail loop seeing the previous types along with a few Snow Geese, Black-neck Stilts (which I had been looking for), and hundreds of Northern Shovelers.  There were also hundreds of hungry mosquitos so we stayed in the truck. 

We continued a long driving loop down to the coast and stopped at the jetty at Cameron.  After passing all sorts of oil equipment and ships, we got out to the beach, paid a small fee, and in a stiff breeze, saw hundreds of shore birds.  In the photo below, you can spot Laughing Gulls, Herring Gulls, Black Skimmers, Forster’s Terns.  I couldn’t see anything else, aside from White Pelicans but there may be another tern or gull in the gang.

We ended the trip with an Alligator sighting up close and personal.  Two new life list birds (Glossy Ibis and Black-necked Stilt) and an interesting look at a vulnerable piece of the U.S.  Seeing houses, a hospital, and emergency generators up on stilts is sobering.  But the birding is awesome and with migration coming, will soon get even better.