January 24, 2007

While skiing, Dave Thurlow flushed a Wilson's Snipe from a marshy area at Sparrow Farm in East Montpelier.

January 8, 2007

Here's an acrostic poem composed by the 15 women and 7 Girl Scouts on the Sunday afternoon Women's Nature Walk with NBNC educator Sandal Cate:

Nature Walk Acrostic
Advance past ash and alder
Branching birch tree and beaver pond
Cattails on the trail
Delightful but daring duck domain
Earth, we love your support
Full branched birch, feet in the flood plain
Green grass in January
Happy habitat
Icy pond
Jumping on bridge
Kids in knee high boots kicking bridge
Lovely January day
More mud, and milkweed pods
Nice nest
Orange brown sumac stem
Peaceful day
Quickly moving water
Rushing river
Some squishy walking on Sunday
Tree trunk too big to hug
Underwater living
Various levels of beaver dams
Woolly bear caterpillar
Xtreme warmth in mid-winter
Yellow birch-open branched happy golden birch
Zig-zagging twigs!

It was a fun Sunday!


Plainfield Christmas Count Results
The Plainfield Christmas Bird Count, held on December 12, 2006, revealed a lot about the birds now wintering in the area. More than 20 intrepid observers counted a total of 34 species (4,128 individual birds) on December 12 -- plus another five species (43 individuals) not on count day but during the week of the count. Here's the list (with some highlights in bold):

2 American Black Ducks
59 Mallards
2 Common Mergansers
2 Bald Eagles
2 Northern Goshawks
3 Red-tailed Hawks
1 Merlin (count week)
5 Ruffed Grouse
90 Wild Turkeys
199 Rock Pigeons
128 Mourning Doves
1 Belted Kingfisher (count week)
33 Downy Woodpeckers
31 Hairy Woodpeckers
2 Northern Flickers
3 Pileated Woodpeckers
209 Blue Jays
742 American Crows
33 Common Ravens
1343 Black-capped Chickadees
7 Tufted Titmice
40 Red-breasted Nuthatches
42 White-breasted Nuthatches
8 Brown Creepers
21 Golden-crowned Kinglets
25 Cedar Waxwings (count week)
1 Brown Thrasher (count week)
1 Northern Shrike
703 European Starlings
25 Northern Cardinals
41 American Tree Sparrows
60 Dark-eyed Juncos
15 Snow Buntings (count week)
1 Pine Grosbeak
90 Purple Finches
20 White-winged Crossbills
20 Common Redpolls
137 American Goldfinches
19 House Sparrows





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December 27, 2006

A quick drive around Berlin Pond yielded some lingering waterfowl – in fact, most likely some of the same individual ducks seen on the December 15 Christmas Bird Count. Out in the open water were 3 Common Goldeneye, a female Ring-necked Duck and a Hooded Merganser. Also two dozen Mallards (that's a male's blazing blue speculum and feet pictured to the right) were in a small farm pond near Berlin Pond. No sign of that female Black Scoter.

December 18, 2006

Birds are still the major theme of Nature News this month. This morning a flock of 25 Cedar Waxwings flew over the nature center.

December 16, 2006

Another Christmas Bird Count today – Plainfield, which includes parts of towns from Marshfield to Montpelier (including the nature center). Highlights from this count include a Bald Eagle (an adult), first seen by one team near Max Gray Road in Calais and then by the "Nature Center Team” in East Montpelier, just off Route 14 south of Route 2. Also notable were 2 Northern (“Yellow-shafted”) Flickers at the Barre Country Club (the first since 1996), a Northern Shrike and 57 Mallards (a record high count for that species).

Stay tuned for complete count results or visit the Mad Birders website for Mad River/Northfield results.

December 15, 2006

Some preliminary results from the Mad River/Northfield Christmas Bird Count. The “Nature Center Team” of Sandal Cate, Matt Brantner and Chip Darmstadt covered a territory around Berlin Pond.

Highlights from their count include 65 Canada Geese, 3 Common Goldeneye, a Ring-necked Duck, a female Black Scoter, a pair of Hooded Mergansers and a lone American Black Duck on Berlin Pond. Also, a Ring-necked Pheasant at the north end of Berlin Pond (not in the count circle) and a Northern Shrike on Crosstown Road in Berlin.

December 14, 2006

With no or little ice on the North Branch of the Winooski, there have been a few lingering water bird sightings. Both a female Common Merganser and a Belted Kingfisher were seen/heard today.