Varied Thrush is Visiting

Today I saw the Varied Thrush which has been hanging out in upstate Vermont since last weekend.  I've been monitoring the email reports but reluctant to bother the couple whose backyard it is visiting.  Hearing of their hospitality and realizing that I knew them from my affordable housing activities, I drove over today and sat in the truck, hoping to see the bird from the road.

Shortly, Don came out and invited me to come into the house to see the bird.  So before I knew it, I was sitting on the bed in their bedroom, watching for the thrush out the window.  June kept saying, "Be patient, it was here earlier.  It will come back."  I was out of the snow and cold, watching Blue Jays and a host of winter birds hit the feeders, and having a wonderful conversation with June about our work together converting a Vermont Inn into a successful elderly housing unit.

The bird popped into view and was very accommodating, perching high in the tree, coming down to ground feed, and leaving and returning.  It was bigger than I expected and looked very healthy.  The colors are striking -- but it's thousands of miles from its normal winter location out west and one wonders where it will go, how it will survive.  I guess that's always the questions on vagrant birds so far off course.

The photos are poor because they are shot through several panes of cloudy glass (plus I am never good compensating for snow) -- but who's complaining?  It was such a wonderful pre-Christmas gift and the couple feeding the VT (as they call it) could not be friendlier or more inviting.  If you want to find out more, email Pat Folsom.  It is a life bird for me and a beautiful sight with the newly fallen snow.   I have posted photos here.

Woodpeckers At The Feeder

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

We've had a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers and a couple of Downy Woodpeckers hitting the suet pretty steadily for a week or so.  It's given me a chance to lock in the differences -- particularly the longer bill of the Hairy and the more pronounced nose tufts of the Downy.  They are also decimating the old apple tree out back -- it's amazing it still is alive.

Bohemian Waxwing Fallout

For the last several days, I've read reports of folks spotting groups of Bohemian Waxwings throughout central Vermont, including a sighting yesterday in Montpelier.  I had errands to run this morning and sort of looked around with no results and sort of forgot about them.

However, I forgot the videos I had to return so this afternoon, I fired up the truck and returned to town -- and spotted a gaggle of birds in a maple tree off Elm Street.  Hoping that they were not starlings, I got the binoculars on them as they flocked to a couple of fruit trees on the corner of Pearl Street.  They were waxwings alright -- beautiful in the afternoon light, and fairly cooperative.

76 Bohemian Waxwings in downtown Montpelier, VT

They stayed put for about five minutes in a maple while I counted them -- I got 76 of them give or take a couple.  I did not see any Cedar Waxwings mixed in.  The only camera I had was a small point & shoot so the image captures the number but not the beauty.  When I came back 15 minutes later they were off somewhere else.  For me, it was a great reward for the extra trip to town.

Razorbills and Red-Necked Grebes

After attending early church at St. Paul's in Newburyport, I bundled up, bought a duck stamp, and visited the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge for some chilly bird watching.  It was 31 degrees with a stiff NW breeze - bracing weather along the Atlantic.

Northern Pintails

Mallards

I was looking for the razorbills reported off Lot 1 and sure enough, with help from a couple of local birders, saw three or four of them bobbing and diving in the ocean.  They were easily seen with the scope but too far out for my photo gear.  A red-necked grebe, common loon, and a couple of scoters were also out there.  Both the razorbills were life birds for me.

Further down the island were hundreds of black ducks, Canada Geese, and Mallards.  I was looking for some Redheads that have been hanging out at a pool on the southern end but did not spot them -- I was freezing and wishing I had my Vermont winter gear on.  I did see a couple of pair of handsome Northern Pintails.

As I was leaving, a Great Blue Heron alighted in a marsh just off the road and posed as I slowed the truck and shot its picture out the window.

The refuge is such a wonderful resource for birding.  Bird walks from Joppa Flats Education Center go there most Wednesdays and Saturdays and you can keep up with observations and news by joining the Yahoo Plum Island Birds group.

"Catch any Scoters Yet?"

Camera ready, I walked through the sand dunes at Salisbury Beach State Reservation to the Ipswich River, hoping not to spook any waterfowl.  My dog, Penny, was just ahead, nosing through the beach grass.  At once, I spotted a flock of water birds up in a cove -- they looked like scoters through the binoculars.  I took a couple of quick shots and veered away, not wanting the dog to hassle them.  Little did I know that they were tethered decoys!

 

No wonder those birds didn't spook, they are decoys

I walked down the beach and the Vizsla got involved with a Common Eider, and as I was getting her out of the water and starting back to the truck, this tall guy with binoculars strode up and asked, "Have you caught any scoters yet?"  Huh?  I guess my blank look gave him the answer so he continued, "Oh, I guess you're not part of the team."

Now my curiosity was piqued and I peppered him with questions.  I'd seen a number of boat with guys wearing camo and I thought they were hunters -- but didn't see any shotguns.  They were nosing into the group of scoters, and I had really wondered what was going on.

Black scoters, White-winged scoters, Surf Scoters, and a Common Eider rest on the Merrimac River

My visitor had just arrived from British Columbia -- he was a wildlife biologist brought in to help.  He explained that it was a project by the Gorham, Maine BioDiversity Research Institute and the team was trying to capture a dozen female white-winged scoters.  They had mist nets set up and were also trying to snag scoters from the boats.  His job was to determine the age of the scoter.  They had a vet on the team to implant a satellite transmitter in the bird's cavity.

We talked a bit about the importance of tracking individual birds to see better how migration patterns work - I noted a recent report I'd seen on perigrine falcons and how interesting it was.

It was cold and windy and he had work to do so I let him go but watched for a while -- from the warmth of the truck.  Those scientists were earning their money -- it was nasty weather - fit for ducks.

"Have you got a transmitter on board?"

It was a wonderful chance encounter with an interesting research operation.  And while it is tough for me to sort out the three kinds of scoters we see in this area, I'll probably never see another one in the air without thinking, "have you got a transmitter on board?"

Birding With A Bird Dog

Penny, our Vizsla, is my canine companion who hangs with me - or not, depending on what other possibilities might attract her attention, on outings both in the truck and in the woods.  We've had adventures with moose, coy dogs, porcupines -- you name it.  She's not the greatest help in my birding efforts since while she's supposedly a pointer, she usually is a "chaser."

"What kind of duck is that, Dad?"

Today was another episode. I was checking out waterfowl at Salisbury Beach State Reservation in Massachusetts, walking the beach with Penny along the Ipswich River when she discovered this duck in close, and immediately began to point it, then wade in to catch it.  The duck just kind of cruised along, just out of reach, for about five or ten minutes.  The water had to be icy but Penny was determined.  I finally got her by the collar, got the leash on, and back we went to warm up in the truck.  The duck, a female Common Eider, (thanks Tom Wetmore) was last seen, in the company of a couple of scoters, just where we found it.