Vermont Birder

Birding Hubbard Park

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Richard

Last week, I had the truck in for maintenance and rather than sit in the waiting room with a mindless tv program blaring, I decided to take a walk with the dog and do a little birding. Fortunately, we have a wonderful forested park right in downtown Montpelier so off I headed toward the golden dome of the statehouse.

Hubbard Park rises straight up behind the statehouse and has a winding trail that weavesbup through tall pine and hardwood trees to an observation tower. No sooner did I enter the wood when I heard an Ovenbird over the din of morning traffic. There is construction underway downtown so the singing Red-eyed Vieros and Hermit Thrushes competed with back-up signals from dump trucks. This faded as we climbed and I began to hear Black-throated Greens (and Blues) and other woodland birds as we climbed.

The trail was rebuilt by Youth Conservation Corps teams who also built some clever resting spots like this one.

In 1899, Montpelier was given 134 acres of land by John E. Hubbard for use as a park and then, in 1911, was donated additional land was donated where the present stone observation tower stands.

You come out of the woods into a lovely clearing, filled with birds, in which stands the Hubbard Park tower. Penny and I don’t do towers — but I hear the view is great.

We started to encounter dogs and walkers as we entered into the roads of the park. It is a popular exercise spot for canines and at present, there is no leash requirement so it can be a little dicey with a bossy Vizsla, who is on a leash. We maneuvered by several groups of people and dogs as we moved down toward the new shelter. There were some American Redstarts and Blackburnian Warblers calling high in the foliage and a half dozed Red-eyed Vireos.

The park is extensive and hooks up with trails at the North Branch Nature Center and other city land.

As we descended back toward the “Meadow Area” of Montpelier, we started running into some field-habitat birds and I grabbed a couple of photos:

This American Goldfinch was chowing down on some plants and ignored us.

A juvenile Common Yellowthroat played hide and seek as I tried to take a photo.

We were soon back on city streets and heading back toward the garage to pick up the Ford. It was such a lovely outing, right smack in the middle of the capitol city of Vermont. Without a lot of work, I logged 20 species, and know that I missed some. So if you are visiting Montpelier, carve out some time to walk the trails of this great resource. You can drive most of the way up this time of year and avoid some pretty steep climbs. It is a safe place and a great place to air out a restless pooch — and see and hear some neat birds.

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Posted in Birding With Penny, Local Birding, Vermont Birding, Washington County | Tagged Hubbard Park | Comments Off

Polishing Project Comes to a Crash Landing

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Richard

I can look out my bedroom window and see the brightly polished side of the Airstream and exactly where I stopped work on Thursday. I decided to take a break Friday and go birding and so I did. I injured myself on the trail and am incapacitated for a while — so the Airstream renovation is on hold.

You can read about it on my birding blog here: https://www.vtbirder.com/birding-should-not-be-a-contact-sport/

Posted in Vermont Birding | Comments Off

Birding Should Not Be A Contact Sport

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Richard

Friday morning, I took off with the dog early in the morning to see if I could add a Peregrine Falcon to my County Big Year list. I headed toward Marshfield Mountain, a spot where they nest and are often seen, and we were heading in the narrow access road about the time the morning fog lifted. It promised to be a beautiful Vermont summer day.

This deer fly road all the way in on the side mirror - I probably should have taken that as a sign of the travails ahead.

This deer fly rode all the way in on the side mirror – I probably should have taken that as a sign of the travails ahead.

Parking the truck and dousing up with bug dope, we headed down the trail, listening to warblers and enjoying the pretty morning. No one was around — there was no noise other than the dog’s crashing through the underbrush and my humming. The Deep Woods “Off” was working pretty well. I wasn’t quite sure of the directions and sure enough, took the wrong offshoot of a trail which after fifteen minutes, was obviously leading me away from the mountain. Reversing, I soon found another offshoot and started on a narrow, root-laden trail through the woods. Two Brown Creepers greeted me with their calls and cavorting. There were a lot of blowdowns across the trail from recent storms but the traveling was rather easy — and many woodland birds were active. Then, as I approached an opening where the mountain would be visible, I heard the distinctive call of a Peregrine and got a quick glimpse as it flew off.

I moved ahead to an opening and saw the cliffs of the mountain. I then traversed a rocky area and went on but soon realized that the trail was heading up part of the mountain. Given the fact that I had a leg that’s been bothering me a bit, I turned around to return to the opening where I could spend some time watching for another Peregrine.

The cliffs of Marshfield Mountain where Peregrine Falcons hang out.

Just as I returned to the boulder-strewn area, disaster struck. Somehow, I slipped a bit and landed hard on my right foot. My right leg crumpled and I took a hard fall with excruciating pain. I yelled and of course, the dog came back to see what was up — I just laid there, unable to move. After a bit, I attempted to right myself but could put no weight on my right leg. So, here we are, about a mile in, no cell coverage at all, and no one around. It was still early, only about 10 AM and I had a water bottle and some food so I figured, if worse came to worse, I could just stay there until help came. (Mary did know where I was and of course, the truck was at the trailhead.)

Let me just give you a snapshot of the next two and a half hours: I found a limb to use as a crutch and could only move by holding it with both hands and leaning on it as I moved my right leg, then my left. It was terribly painful and I was wincing, swearing, and falling down as the crutch slipped, and then broke in half. I found another and foot by foot, started making it up the trail. Every root or rock was a potential trouble spot and going down hill was impossible. I resorted to crawling down the hills on hands and knees, doing the same over some of the logs across the trail, and under others. I took some breaks but it was a long muddy sweaty haul.

At one point, I noted that because I was bent over, staring so intently a where to plant the stick and my foot, that I was seeing all sorts of caterpillars and frogs and insects that I had just cruised past on the way in. At one point, I even decided to check out a warbler and through sweat-stained binoculars, watched a Black-throated Green feeding down low.

I made it back to the access road but even that, relatively smooth, was challenging. Boggy spots and little stream crossings took their toll and I would go say 50 feet ok, then place my foot wrong, and cry out — and on we went. There were a couple of uphills I hadn’t noticed on the way in and they were a challenge. I had parked the truck way to the side of the road, nearly in a ditch, and had a devil of a time getting to the door to open it and get the dog in. The tall grass held back my right foot and it killed me to pull the boot ahead, so I tamped the grass down and slowly moved the foot ahead. Getting up into the tall truck was also fun — I couldn’t get my right leg under the steering well and finally crawled nearly to the passenger side to get my boot past the brake pedal. Then we ran the air conditioner, drank water, and gave thanks.

The trip home was tough because I could not lift my right leg to get to the brake pedal. I finally got into a system of grabbing my leg when I needed to move it and also using second gear to slow down. I had to go about 20 minutes before cell coverage and called Mary from Plainfield. Since the dog was with me and it was now pretty warm out, I needed to get her home before hitting the ER.

Mary had lined up our neighbor to help me. She got the dog straightened out with water and food down cellar and David then helped me struggle from the truck to Mary’s Civic — which is pretty tight even when I’m healthy. We got situated, to the ER, and went through a series of exams and X-rays. The folks, on a beautiful Friday afternoon, were great and the results showed no broken bones. They put a brace on me, got me set up with crutches and some meds, and we were on our way home. Of course, the leg in a brace didn’t really fit in the Honda, even with the seat way back so it was a tough ride home. Then, I couldn’t make it up our shed steps so I just crawled into the house on hands and knees, dragging my new brace.

Here’s the long stabilizing brace that has the toughest Velcro in the world.

So, not much has changed in a day. The doc thinks I might be something related to the knee but we’ll have to see an ortho surgeon next week. It was quite an effort for County Bird #131. I think most of my birding in early August will be reading birding blogs — but I’m thankful for getting out of the woods, good health care, and wonderful support from Mary, family, and friends.

Posted in Birding With Penny, County Big Year, Vermont Birding | 12 Comments

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge — A Great Birding Spot

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Richard

One of my favorite birding haunts is on Plum Island, Newburyport, MA. The Parker River National Wildlife Refuge is a prime Atlantic coast habitat for more than 300 species of birds. Our daughter and her family live less than an hour away so whenever we visit, I try to get over and check out the situation. The only problem is that dogs are not allowed at all and so it’s a hassle at times to find ways to leave Penny elsewhere. Like all refuges, a Senior Pass or a Federal Duck Stamp gets you in free.

I like to do some homework before I visit and one of the best sources is Tom Wetmore, who visits the refuge nearly every morning and keeps detailed records on his website. He has a wonderful “A Birder’s Guide to the Parker River NWR and Sandy Point SR on Plum Island” that you should download and print.

You can grab some of the same information from eBird but Tom tends to personalize it — and he often sees many notable birds first. The issue with eBird is that there are dozens of hotspots along the island so you need to check numerous sites. Here’s a map of some of the spots:

Parker River Refuge has a number of accessible sites and for someone unable to travel far, good birding in many spots along the access road. On a weekend, hundreds of slow-moving cars traverse the area although you have to watch out for folks heading to the state beaches at the end of island (outside the refuge). Some of them could care less for birds, or birders.

Hundreds of migratory shorebirds, waterfowl and songbirds use its salt marsh and freshwater impoundments. Shorebird migration begins in July, with numbers peaking in August. photo by USFWS -Northeast

Hundreds of migratory shorebirds, waterfowl and songbirds use the salt marsh and freshwater impoundments. Shorebird migration begins in July, with numbers peaking in August. photos by USFWS -Northeast

The Boardwalk near the Hellcat area is famous for warblers and songbirds. The birds are nearly at eye level. One end of the walk is the marsh/impoundments and the other, the ocean.

Peregrine falcons can be seen on the refuge from mid-September through November. In winter, the snowy owl returns – I saw my life bird there two years ago. Rough legged hawk and short eared owls can also be seen. Loons, grebes, scoters, and other waterfowl winter along the refuge shore.

Here’s how Tom Wetmore describes this neat spot:

If you are interested in only one specific group of birds you may be able to find a better spot in Massachusetts to see them, but if you are interested in finding the widest variety of birds from the widest variety of groups and on any day of the year there is no better spot to visit in the state than Plum Island.

Bird list: http://1.usa.gov/19zljMJ

Posted in Accessible_Birding, MA Birding, migration, National Wildlife Refuges | Comments Off

Bird Banding at North Branch Nature Center

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Richard

Yesterday morning, Mary and I dropped in at a public bird banding demonstration at North Branch Nature Center led by Director Chip Darmstadt. Jen and Mac came a bit later and were fortunate to see a rather rare Yellow-billed Cuckoo — not caught but just hanging out in the area. I had seen banding several times but Mary had not and we both we enthralled by the one bird we saw banded and released. Here are some shots — a young birder, experienced in banding, handled this one with guidance from Chip.

A young birder retrieves a bird from the bag in which it is held after capture.

It is a feisty young Grey Catbird

A volunteer records information on each bird as it is examined. The data is sent to the Institute for Bird Populations.

The bird is carefully examined. The brownish fuzz under the tail tells Chip that this is a hatch year bird.

Banding rings and a sizing tool.

One of the last steps is to weigh the bird.

This guy, who watched intently, just found out he’s going to get to release the catbird.

Not a great release shot but there goes the young catbird, no worse for wear, and now part of an extensive database. Perhaps we’ll trap him next year and read his band – or next week.

If you have an opportunity to observe banding, I highly recommend it. You not only learn about the process and how to handle birds, but you also get a better appreciation of all the research work that is being done to track and monitor our avian friends. Good birding.

Posted in bird banding, Local Birding | Tagged North Branch Nature Center | 1 Comment

A Morning Delight

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Richard

Most of our land is White Pine and hardwoods but our neighbor to the south has a delightful meadow that the dog and I visit several times a day on our walks. We cross an old stonewall and enter into a clearing which is getting overgrown with pine seedlings and bushes. It is a great place for seeing hawks, White-throated Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and Common Yellowthroats. The morning sun hits it early so even in winter, it is a nice stopping spot.

There is a berry bush there which I always check for birds, especially now that the fruit is ripe. Yesterday morning, I heard the Cedar Waxwings above me before I saw them and sure enough, one started working the bush, popping up for a morning photograph. What stunning birds they are — and they seem to know it. One of my favorite birds.

Have you got my best side?

Posted in Backyard birds, Local Birding | Tagged Cedar Waxwings | Comments Off

Black-billed Cuckoo — check!

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Richard

As you know if you follow my Vermont Airstreamers blog, I’m in the midst of a major renovation project and thus, am spending little time for birding. This morning, I was tempted to spend an hour or two early at North Branch Nature Center, seeing if I could run into the Black-billed Cuckoo they have been hearing nearly daily. I have been down there on several occasions recently with no luck — and today I decided to press on and get some errands done downtown. I came home with my supplies for the Airstream project and after coffee, headed out to strip some clear coat off two stubborn panels.

I had tested a couple of stripping compounds and had just started to check them when I heard a cuckoo sound just across the driveway and up in the woods. I ran to the garage to get my binoculars and Mary, whose window was open, said, “Was that a cuckoo?” I said it was and went up to look for a few minutes but it had ceased calling. I returned to my project since I needed to rinse off the stripper before it dried on. About then, the Black-billed Cuckoo called again from a different spot.

A Black-billed Cuckoo on Wood Road in North Middlesex, VT.

So, I had my cuckoo — a life bird and a County bird — but I was not satisfied because up to this point, have always seen the bird I log as a life bird. I know that hearing it is a positive ID and I worked for about another fifteen minutes, hearing the bird periodically. Finally, I decided to drop things, get the dog, and go for a little walk looking for it. And so we did, down the driveway and across the road where I last heard it. After ten minutes, I caught movement of a cuckoo-sized bird but had trouble finding it in the foliage. I finally got part of it in the binoculars just as it started a very soft co0-coo-coo. I fiddled with the camera, struggled to get it in the frame, and snapped off a couple of shots for a record. I grabbed the binoculars as a second cuckoo joined the first but they moved off before I could get the camera up again. They moved off, calling now and then, and the dog and I returned up to the trailer to get back to work.

Black-billed Cuckoos have been a nemesis bird for me now for several years – I can’t tell you how many trips I’ve made to look for them. And two just show up in our dooryard! Such is birding. I’m glad I got a good look and the photo – it feels more like a real life bird — number 357 and the second one this month.

Posted in County Big Year, life bird, Life list, Local Birding, Vermont Birding, Yard birds | 3 Comments

Mid-July Birds

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Richard

After a nice cold front passage, the dawn chorus this morning, starting before five, was lovely. Several very persostent and loud American Robins sang non-stop, nearly drowning out the other singers. Song Sparrows tuned up as did Common Yellowthroats and Purple Finches. A ways off, a White-throated Sparrow sang the “peabody, peabody” tune. Then, about 5:30, it got very still except for the quiet cooing of a Mourning Dove. What a lovely way to start a summer Sunday in Vermont.

I put out the bird feeder and suet about six and a Hairy Woodpecker shows up right away with a “it’s about time” attitude. Four finches hit the feeder as does a chickadee. I hear our first Chestnut-sided Warbler and Blue Jay.

On our early morning walk, the dog and I took our time, she checking new smells, I listening for bird calls and enjoying the cool morning air. A sweatshirt felt good — a little unreal after the 90+ temperatures of last week. I heard a Brown Creeper and then an Ovenbird. The bird activity picked up again as the sun rose.

I heard a Black and White Warbler and then a Yellow-rumped Warbler began singing right overhead. I chased it around with the binoculars and then the camera but it moved pretty erratically. I grabbed a couple of lousy shots including this one:

Down in the meadow, things were hopping in the dew-soaked goldenrod. Several Common Yellowthroats and about a half dozen Song Sparrows cavorted. The foliage and weak morning light made photos tough. Here are a couple:

Yellowthroats love to hide in the underbrush — and are a challenge to photograph.

There were several juvenile Song Sparrows like this chasing each other around.

I happened to look up just as a hawk, likely a Broad-winged, flew over with a rodent in its talons. It was being harassed by a group of smaller birds. It returned, empty-handed, a bit later and I suspected it might have youngsters to feed. Several Red-eyed Vireos started up in the tall sugar maples, singing their seemingly never-ending song. I could spot them but they were way up there and moving a lot.

As I headed back, I thought about how precious these days are, filled as they are with bird song and many youngsters learning the ropes. They’ll be heading out soon — I haven’t seen our Rose-breased Grosbeak pair in about a week and suspect they are easing southward. I was encouraged, as I poured another coffee, to see one of our juvenile hummers tanking up. They have a long trip ahead of them.

Drink up buddy, you’ve got a long trip ahead of you.

Posted in Backyard birds, Bird Behavior, bird calls, bird song, Vermont Birding, Washington County, Yard birds | Tagged dawn chorus, local birding | Comments Off

Slow Going

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Richard

Between the weather, which has continued hot and humid with afternoon showers, and the persistent flecks and patches of clearcoat (which have to be removed with dabs of Strypeeze), the polishing is quite a project. As you can see, the top areas I have completed look pretty good. They will next get a pass with a finer polish which should remove most of the swirls and cloudy areas. Of course, I realized the other day that the two replaced panels in back did not have clearcoat, and seem to be a slightly different aluminum. They will polish up but not as shiny but who really cares?

You can see the contrast between the polished and unpolished areas here on the panel just above the buffer.

One thing this project has stimulated is my planning for this winter’s trip. I’m reviewing the dozens of campground where we have stayed and lidting the good ones, with sites we like, and also have a “never again list by states.

We’ve had a cold front come through so polishing should be a bit more bearable. It’s fun to chalk off one more section, but there’s always more ahead. Fortunately, we are in no big hurry.

Posted with Blogsy

Posted in clearcoat, polishing, renovation | Comments Off

Let The Polishing Fun Begin

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Richard

After over 30 hours of prep (But who’s counting? I am.) I’m starting in on the polishing. I’m starting with F7 Nuvite, a rather coarse polish from Vintage Trailer Supply here in Montpelier. I’ll run a finer polish later if and when I finish this set of sessions, which will likely be 20-25 hours. The weather, hot and muggy, is not conducive to long periods of work. So I sit down inside with iced coffee and write about it.

Here’s how the front looked at the start – lots of oxidation from the peeled clearcoat.

Polishing involves smearing very small strips of polish on an area and using a slow-speed polisher to allow the particles in the F7 to strip off a minute layer of aluminum. You let the electric polisher do the work but it still takes a lot of energy to control it.

Building arm strength controlling polisher. It looks cooler out than it was – 80 degrees with high humidity.

It is a messy process – lots of small black bits of polish and I always wear a mask – even though it is tough in the heat. I decided to keep the initial session on the top front panel and will perhaps tackle another section this evening. If you are inclined to polish an Airstrteam or an airplane, Steve from VTS has a nice primer you can download here.

The polished area looks very bright, with swirl marks from the coarse polish. So far, so good.

Posted with Blogsy

Posted in polishing, renovation | Comments Off

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