Bird Notes

June 14, 2009

Birds of Vermont Museum staff — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:09:12 +0000

Walking on the managed side of the road two birders went for an early morning bird walk and saw Blue Jays (4), Great-crested Flycatcher(2), Downy Woodpecker (3), Song Sparrow(1), House Wren (10), American Crow (2), Evening Grosbeak (2), Eastern Phoebe (1), Hairy Woodpecker(4), Rose-breasted Grosbeak (3), Brown-headed Cowbird (2), Eastern Bluebird (2), White-breasted Nuthatch (1), Brown Creeper (2), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker(3), Eastern Wood Peewee (1), Ovenbird (6), Winter Wren (2), Least Flycatcher(1), American Robin (3), Veery (1), Louis9ian Waterthrush (1), Blue0head Vireo(1), TWO WOODCOCK CHICKS!!, Black-throated Blue Warbler (1), Black-throated Green Warbler (1), Red-eyed Vireo(1), Barred Owl (1), Mourning Dove(1), Chipping Sparrow (1), White-throated Sparrow (1), Black-capped Chickadee (3), and Baltimore Oriole(1)

May 31, 2009

Birds of Vermont Museum staff — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:40:33 +0000

On May 31, 2009, a beautiful Sunday morning, we walked on both sides of the road. Our group saw and heard (*heard only) Blue Jay, Eastern Phoebe, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Evening Grosbeak, *Brown Creeper, Scarlet Tanager,*Great-crested Flycatcher,

Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker,*Belted Kingfisher, Louisiana Waterthrush, *Baltimore Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Crow, *Ovenbird, Wood Thrush, *Black-and-white Warbler, *Veery, Red-eyed Vireo, *Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Black-capped Chickadee, Blackburnian Warbler, Northern Goshawk, Blue-headed Vireo, Tufted Titmouse, Common Grackle, and Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

JULY 17, 2006

Birds of Vermont Museum staff — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:57:00 +0000

Today Carrie saw a BROAD-WINGED HAWK at the southern edge of the boundary trail on the managed land side of the museum property. She also saw two Indigo Buntings in the field above (south) of the pond, one male and one female (or fledgling?). Yesterday we saw a MONARCH BUTTERFLY on the roadside of the museum and today we found MONARCH eggs and three very little (1/4”) caterpillars on the milkweed just outside of the museum front door. Yesterday I also saw a QUESTION MARK BUTTERFLY on the road by the museum’s mailbox.

July 14, 2006

Birds of Vermont Museum staff — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 23:15:00 +0000

At the junction of the Red and Yellow-and-white trails, there are a number of scratched-up areas in the leaves, each with widely-spaced claw marks showing in the soil. The claw marks are so far apart that I believe that these scratchings must be those of a small flock of turkeys!
Birds I heard singing today between 12:00 and 2:00 pm:
Ovenbird, giving its flight song, somewhere between the Red and Blue trails;
Scarlet Tanager, over by Saxton’s Ravine Trail;
Hermit Thrush, up on the hill;
and Mourning Doves, singing from various places including the wires above the roadside meadow on the Managed Land.
While I was working in Gale’s garden, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird zoomed past me– I usually don’t see or hear them around there, although I know they are around the museum a lot!
The Blue Jay feathers at the end of the bridge which I discovered last week (I think) are rotting away– I was a little surprised that they would rot away so quickly, but it is damp there.

July 12, 2006

Birds of Vermont Museum staff — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 23:04:00 +0000

It doesn’t seem like the Goshawks are nesting anymore– I haven’t heard them at all lately. Today (the 12th) I heard something that sounded like the squalling of Goshawks, but I think was actually Blue Jays– their voices are distinctive, even when they imitate raptors!
When I was working in Gale’s garden, I happened to see something that was quite curious– three Great Crested Flycatchers flying and hopping about near Bob’s new birdhouse at the edge of their yard. Two of them were fairly small, and the third was bigger– it seemed like it was the normal size for an adult Great Crested. After a great deal of calling and flying about, two of them– the large one and one of the smaller ones– separately went to the front of the birdhouse, perched there, and peered in! As they are cavity nesters, I thought they could be checking the birdhouse out for second-brood nest– but what is perplexing is the fact that there were three of them. Perhaps they were competing with one another for a mate, or maybe it was a parent trying to chase off two fledgelings. But if this was the case, why would thy have beein looking into a nest hole? An interesting mystery.

JULY 8, 2006 ANNUAL BUTTERFLY COUNT

thenaturalist — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 19:52:00 +0000

I know butterflies aren’t birds, but I thought our ANNUAL BUTTERFLY COUNT should go in the blog, so here it is:

WEATHER: Warm, sunny, pleasant
PARTICIPANTS: About 30
SPECIES SEEN: 18

1. Monarch
2. Long Dash Skipper
3. European Skipper
4. Cabbage White
5. Northern Crescent
6. Eastern Comma
7. Dun Skipper
8. Northern Broken Dash
9. Tiger Swallowtail
10. Summer Azure
11. White Admiral
12. Question Mark
13. Peck’s Skipper
14. Silver-spotted Skipper
15. Great Spangled Fritillary
16. Baltimore Checkerspot
17. Little Wood Satyr
18. Northern Pearly-eye

July 5, 2006

Birds of Vermont Museum staff — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 00:29:00 +0000

There are Blue Jay feathers scattered about right at the beginning of Lawrence Lane, on the rise after the bridge. One of the Goshawks must have gotten a jay there.
An Ovenbird was singing near the intersection of the yellow, pink, and white trails.
A Brown Creeper was singing somewhere up near the red pines.
3 Blackburnian Warblers were singing up at the Oak Ridge/hemlock forest border. I watched one, in a large pine tree, for a minute– he alternated singing and grooming himself, hopping about in the twigs all the while.
In the same area there was at least one Blue-headed Vireo singing, and at one point I could hear the sounds of a vireo argument– one was the Blue-headed Vireo I’d heard before, but I couldn’t tell if the second bird was a Blue-headed or not.

July 3, 2006

Birds of Vermont Museum staff — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 00:27:00 +0000

The Goshawks were making a huge amount of noise today– a constant hoarse squalling. I wonder if it was the young begging? Or was something just really irritating one of the adult birds? The noise went on the entire time I was out in the woods, perhaps one or two hours.

June 26, 2006

Birds of Vermont Museum staff — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 11:48:00 +0000

I followed a female CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER to a nest with 4 eggs and a RED EYED VIREO nest hanging above the Sherman Hollow Rd.

June 25, 2006

Birds of Vermont Museum staff — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:34:00 +0000

I found a VEERY building a nest below the pond while looking for a CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER nest and another VEERY nest at the end of the Natural/ Unnatural Trail. I honed in on some begging YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS in a nest just uphill from the Museum trail. I followed a SCARLET TANANGER uphill even further, but found two ROBIN nests, not a TANANGER nest.