Trip Report: Champlain Valley Birding

A small group of hardy birders with the North Branch Nature Center traversed the Champlain Valley on Saturday searching for waterfowl and other avian delights.  A harsh wind made viewing on the lake difficult, yet an impressive 12 species of ducks (and many other birds) were still seen throughout the day!  Some pictorial highlights are shown here, but our full bird list is also included below (with rare/uncommon birds in bold).

Highlight 1: Hybrid Goose!

This presumed Snow X Canada Goose hybrid was spotted by a participant at the Champlain Bridge.  At first, a dark-morph Snow Goose seemed like a reasonable ID, but after looking more closely, we concluded this bird was a hybrid.  If this were a dark-morph Snow Goose, the pattern wouldn’t be a perfect match for Canada Goose in both color and pattern (and white-edged secondaries would be visible).  If it were a Canada Goose with a pigment abnormality, the beak would not show the “grin patch” that is so characteristic of Snow Goose.  These, and other more subtle field marks, were used to support our identification.  None of us had ever even heard of this hybrid before and so we were more than thrilled to have discovered it!

Highlight 2: Raptors!

More than once, we were treated to the most spectacular views of raptors that any of us ever had.  As Rough-legged Hawks and Northern Harriers flapped in the strong wind, they hovered motionless at eye-level giving us extended close-up views.  All told, we saw eight species of raptors throughout the day.  

Highlight 3: “Ground Birds”

For the past week leading up to our trip, a huge influx of “ground birds” had been noted in the Champlain Valley.  This eclectic group of birds includes Snow Bunting, Horned Lark, and Lapland Longspur.  All three species were seen, with spectacular views of Horned Lark feeding on a roadside just feet from our group.  Lapland Longspurs were seen only on Gage Road in Addison, with a number of individuals transforming into their spectacular breeding plumage!

Despite the wind, we managed to see all this and more.  Here is our full bird list from the day:

 

Canada Goose	Glaucous Gull * rare
Snow X Canada Goose hybrid	Great Black-backed Gull
Gadwall	Rock Pigeon
American Wigeon	Mourning Dove
American Black Duck	Downy Woodpecker
Mallard	American Kestrel
Northern Pintail	Peregrine Falcon
Green-winged Teal	Blue Jay
Ring-necked Duck	American Crow
Lesser Scaup	Common Raven
Scaup sp.	Horned Lark
Bufflehead	Black-capped Chickadee
Common Goldeneye	White-breasted Nuthatch
Hooded Merganser	Eastern Bluebird
Common Merganser	American Robin
Turkey Vulture	European Starling
Northern Harrier	Bohemian Waxwing
Cooper's Hawk	Snow Bunting
Bald Eagle	Lapland Longspur
Red-tailed Hawk	American Tree Sparrow
Rough-legged Hawk	Dark-eyed Junco
Ring-billed Gull	Northern Cardinal
Herring Gull	Red-winged Blackbird
Iceland Gull * rare	Common Grackle