Diario de caitlindrasher

Today I went to Woodside Natural Area in Essex, VT. When I got to the natural area at 11:30am, it was 66F, and when I left at 1pm it was 72F. It remained mostly cloudy the entire time I was there, and felt very humid with no noticeable wind.

During this visit to Woodside I was overwhelmed with the amount of bird calls that I heard! There were many calls that I wasn't familiar with, but those that I could identify include American Robin, Canada Goose, White-breasted Nuthatch, Belted Kingfisher (possibly), Red-winged Blackbird, Mourning Dove, Cedar Waxwing, Black-capped Chickadee, American Crow, and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

As I started walking down the trail from the parking lot, I quickly noticed a flash of yellow going from a tree to the ground. Upon closer examination I realized that it was a male American Goldfinch, and it wasn't the only one. There was another male American Goldfinch in a boxelder tree, and a female in a red maple sapling that appeared to have wet feathers. In the same general area, I noticed a Hairy Woodpecker to the northeast side of the trail on the base of a tree. On the opposite side of the trail, there was another Hairy Woodpecker at the top of a tree. A moment later, a pair of Canada Geese flew overhead, calling.

Continuing down the trail towards the river, I heard a Song Sparrow call from the northeast side of the trail. Sure enough, there was a Song Sparrow sitting on a twig of a boxelder tree. There was also an American Robin hopping on the trail in front of me.

Down by the river, I saw three Canada Geese swimming in the water. I also saw a garter snake in the grass by the edge of the clearing!

Just off of the trail to the south of the beaver wetland, I saw two House Sparrows in some brush. In this area, I started to hear some Red-winged Blackbird calls coming from the wetland. I was able to see one in the grass at the edge of the wetland from this south side, as well as a Common Grackle. This was just a preview of what was to come, as I saw at least four individual Red-winged Blackbirds (all males) and six individual Common Grackles from the lookout at the north side of the wetland. They were all perched on small trees or more hidden in the cattails. I didn't hear any Common Grackles calling, but the Red-winged Blackbirds were quite vocal.

Continuing on the trail headed back toward the parking area, I spooked two Northern Flickers that flew away toward the wetland. I also spooked a Mourning Dove that took off in the same direction. Nearby, I saw a Downy Woodpecker high up in a tree, which then led me to see a group of seven Cedar Waxwings at the top of a hackberry tree (I had also previously seen three Cedar Waxwings on the northeast side of the wetland.)

For the grand finale, I saw a Red-shouldered Hawk flying overhead that was being dive-bombed by an American Crow.

Today Emily Feng and I went birding at Lone Rock Point in Burlington, VT. We started our walk at 1pm from North Beach and followed the trail around the property, ending up again at North Beach at 2:30pm. The temperature remained around 25F and it was very windy, with around 24MPH winds with gusts that felt like much more than that. Before we began walking on the trail we saw two Ring-billed Gulls and one Herring Gull onshore and just offshore from North Beach. As we started walking on the trail, we heard one Black-capped Chickadee call. Due to the very loud winds, we quickly realized that this may not have been the best day to hear bird calls!

Continuing on the trail, we came to an opening known as the Parade Grounds. Here we a few more Black-capped Chickadee calls as well as two White-breasted Nuthatch calls believed to be from different birds.

We continued along the trail to the many lookouts over the cliffs on the water's edge. It was extremely windy here, and I expected to see gulls using the wind to help them fly with minimal effort. However, we did not see or hear any birds in these very windy spots. Continuing on the trail along the waters edge, we eventually heard and then saw two Canada Geese flying low over the water below us.

Since it was a bit chilly and still very windy, I was happy to get away from the cliffs and back into the mixed hardwood forest (where we seemed to be encountering more birds anyway.) Coming back on the opposite side of the Parade Grounds, we heard one American Crow call, another White-breasted Nuthatch call, and 4-5 Black-capped Chickadees.

Upon returning to North Beach, we encountered two Ring-billed Gulls (possibly the same ones that we initially saw) and a female Mallard on the water that flew away as we got closer. A moment later we noticed a male and female Mallard pair on the beach, and they entered the water when we approached. An additional male Mallard flew in a minute or two later and joined the pair on the water. There were also four Canada Geese swimming just offshore in the same area.

Despite the high winds and cold weather, we were still able to hear and see some birds in the area. Next time I will definitely pick a less windy day so that I can hear more calls!

During spring break I went with a friend to Gale Meadows Wildlife Management Area in Winhall, VT. I often kayak and go birding here, and have seen up to two bald eagles flying over the pond at one time, so I was especially hoping to see a bald eagle during this visit. We walked the trail around the pond on March 11th from 10am-12:15pm. The temperature began at 41F and got up to 55F, with a wind speed of 11 mph. It was initially mostly cloudy, but became mostly sunny by the time we left. The pond still had a layer of ice, though it appeared thin and didn't always meet the shore.

After getting out of the car, I heard what I believed to be a Red-breasted Nuthatch call from the southeast side of the parking lot. From the same direction I also heard a Blue Jay call, and some Black-capped Chickadees.

Walking along the trail, I heard many Black-capped Chickadee Calls, especially in the parts of the trail forested by eastern hemlocks, where I visually spotted 10 Chickadees. I also heard a few American Crow calls while walking on the trail. We stopped at the second main clearing off the trail with the fire pit that has a view of the pond and Stratton Mountain. Here I was able to hear Black-capped Chickadees calling to the south, across the pond, as well as a Blue Jay calling from the same direction.

From this clearing, I looked out over the pond to the southeast. I noticed a dark object on the ice, though for this pond that isn't abnormal - there are many trees sticking out of the water that lived here before the property was flooded with water to become a pond. My first thought was that the object could be the top of an underwater tree, but it started to slowly move. My next thought was that it was a goose, since it appeared to be a large bird. I finally took out my binoculars and realized that it was a Bald Eagle walking on the ice! A minute or two later, it took off and flew into an eastern hemlock tree on the south side of the pond.

Thinking that nothing could top this experience for the rest of my walk around the pond, I was happy to next see a pair of American Crows eating a dead fish on the ice. When they heard my friend and I walking on the trail, they flew and perched on a tamarack tree growing on the floating peat moss in the middle of the pond. I don't think they returned to the fish until we were far out of sight/hearing range. I later saw another American Crow sitting in an eastern hemlock tree on the waters edge, just off the trail.

We eventually turned around and began to make our way back to the parking lot, and when we returned to the clearing we tried to find the Bald Eagle again - but no luck. In that same clearing, however, I saw a Brown Creeper on an eastern white pine tree.

When we were nearly to the car, I heard a flock of Canada Geese calling overhead. I couldn't see them, however, because of the canopy cover of the hemlocks.

I am so glad that we went on our walk when we did, it was amazing to see a Bald Eagle hanging out on the ice! I am curious as to whether the crows caught the fish that they were eating, or if it may have been leftover by the eagle.

Emily Feng and I decided to brave the cold this long-weekend and do our observations near the Donahue Sea Caves. The temperature was 11F, with 9 mph wind and mostly sunny skies. The Donahue Sea Caves are located in the Winooski Valley Park District, and can be found by following a trail that begins across the road from Burlington High School.

Walking down the trail, we heard multiple Black-capped Chickadee calls, in both a mixed hardwood section and a stand of softwoods (predominantly eastern hemlock.) We first explored the sea caves, and as we were walking along the edge of the frozen pond we also heard a call from a Northern Cardinal, and another from a Nuthatch (sounded more like a White-breasted Nuthatch.) There weren't any birds in the cave, but there was a large bird nest tucked into a crack in the back cave wall.

Once outside again, we stopped in the clearing adjacent to the pond. There was a lot of bird activity here, and we first noticed the Black-capped chickadees flying from tree-to-tree. During the 20-30 minutes we spent there we were able to distinguish at least 5 separate Chickadees. There were also 2 male Northern Cardinals that appeared to be circling around us for awhile, flying in an out of the smaller trees/shrubs/grasses at the pond edge. Also near the pond edge were 5 Dark-eyed Juncos; one was perched in a tree near the pond edge and appeared to have its feathers puffed up and its face tucked away. The others were flying in and out of the grasses at the edge of the trail/water. On the opposite side of the clearing, there was 1 Tufted Titmouse pecking at the ground underneath a stand of eastern hemlocks, looking for food. Adjacent to the hemlock stand heading up one slope, were a few yellow birches. There were at least 5 American Goldfinches pecking at the catkins left on the yellow birches.

From here we headed back up the trail toward the road. We stopped in a mixed hardwood stand only 6 m from the road edge when we noticed a flash of black, white, and red in a snag on the side of the trail. There was a Hairy Woodpecker sticking its beak into pre-existing holes in the snag, as it appeared to be looking for bugs to eat in the tree. This first Hairy Woodpecker flew away, but two more were spotted coming to the same tree. There was also another American Goldfinch perched just inches away from the second Hairy Woodpecker. We also saw 2 Mourning Doves in this area, flying downhill into more mixed hardwoods.

After this walk on this very cold day, I am amazed how active the birds were! I could barely take my large gloves off to write notes. Maybe the 11F and sunny day felt warm to them after a subzero weekend.

Today I did my first observation for WFB130. I went to Shelburne Bay at 11:30am. The temperature was 30F, and it was a cloudy and moderately windy day. I began with a walk down the trail by the Bay Park area, and not too long into my walk I heard the short whistle song of a Black-capped Chickadee. I followed the song into a stand of snags, and saw around 5-6 Chickadees. One was on the ground - hopping around - and the others were flying from snag-to-snag. After getting back on the trail and continuing to walk, I came across a less-defined trail that headed northwest. I followed this for a few steps and came across a wing of what appeared to be some species of Gull (see photos in observation list.) Back on the main trail, I encountered another wing about 15 m away from the first.

On my way back to the parking lot, I saw 27 Mallards (mix of males and females) just offshore, downhill from the parking area. There was also an American Crow sitting on the shore near the Mallards.

I continued my observations at the boat ramp area, and first spotted another group of Mallards just offshore from the boat ramp. There were 18 Mallards that I was able to count, but it also appeared that there could have been some additional (3-4) Black Ducks mixed in with the group. Also in this area were 20 Ring-billed Gulls and 1 Herring Gull, all resting on the ice at the mouth of the LaPlatte River. These gulls had their heads tucked into the feathers on their backs, and appeared as though they were trying to keep warm. There were a couple instances when a large gust of wind would come by, and some of the gulls would soar into the air with the assistance of the wind.

Overhead, I noticed what appeared to be a female Common Merganser flying northwest of the boat ramp area. This bird had a chestnut-brown head, and dark wings that had white secondary feathers. Just before I left, I also saw a flock of Canada Geese (16) flying in the same direction as the Merganser, and an American Crow pecking around in the parking lot.