Lapland Longspur, buntings & larks

The farms in Addison County, Vermont, are hosting many flocks of Snow Buntings and Horned Larks. We drove many of the roads; flocks were constantly flying from the roadside and swirling about the barns and feed areas. Here are a few images ...

Snow Buntings

Horned Larks - a portion of a flock which numbered in the 100s

Horned Lark

Snow Buntings atop a silo - 3 Lapland Longspurs are also present

Detail with Lapland Longspur

Good Birding!!

Coastal Birding

A day trip yesterday to the Massachusetts coast - Cape Ann & Newburyport area - produced good birding (which is something of a redundancy, since birding is, by definition, good - and a good way to spend a day).

About halfway through the morning, I realized that Common Loon was still absent, and made a particular point to look for it. No luck. Perhaps they were out to sea, or went - were blown - south by the recent, and rather strange, coastal storm.

Other than that, the usual suspects were present, though it seemed to be that the numbers were low. Tide was low in the morning, and the birds that were seen were rather far out, so photography was difficult.

On a day when wintering sea ducks, grebes, and alcids were the expected targets, the highlights were quite different.

At Eastern Point Lighthouse, an American Pipit posed briefly ...

... and at Salisbury Beach, a flock of 50+ Snow Buntings swirled around the campground.

Buffleheads were quite common all along the coast. The sharp contrast between the Bufflehead's bright white hood and bright white body with the dark wings, head, and neck have made this a challenging bird to get a good photograph of, and I have yet to meet the challenge. Nevertheless, in the low angle of the winter sun, the head and neck glistened with an iridescence that was stunning. This gentleman quite apparently has his eye on the lady.

The contrasting light and dark plumage on the Harlequin Duck poses the same photography challenge as does the Bufflehead. They were quite common along our route from the Granite Pier to Andrews Point - a reliable area to see these birds if you need them for a life list.

The King Eider was out to sea, or at least our of our sighting, yesterday. Common Eiders were - well, common - though there were no huge rafts as I have often see, and most were too distant for good photos. But this female was near the breakwater at the lighthouse ...

Good birding!

Snow Geese at Dead Creek, Snow Bunting on Putney Mtn

Last Sunday, we made the annual pilgrimage to Dead Creek WMA for the Snow Geese, meeting other friends from Brattleboro, and as always in a small state like Vermont, meeting other birders we know from around the state - in this case, Ted Murin (co-author of Birdwatching in Vermont) who was scouring Lake Champlain with his celestial scope in search of migrating sea ducks and pelagics.

At the WMA, the geese were feeding far from the viewing area, but occasionally a few came over at a relatively low altitude.

Then something would spook the geese, (a passing Peregrine, harrier or eagle perhaps) and two or three thousand birds suddenly took flight, darkening the horizon with their numbers.

Pipits and several species of sparrows worked the grasses along with a few Pectoral Sandpipers . We were surprised at how few raptors we saw - a single perched Peregrine, and this young Northern Harrier ...

Good company, and a glorious late October day, augmented the birding ...

Coser to home, Tuesday was my day on Putney Mountain - dismal gray day with no hawks flying. But when I arrived at the viewing area, this Snow Bunting was there to greet me. Seems early for these true snow birds, but it is a reminder of what is soon to come ...


And a technology note: I have been losing confidence in my computer, either because Microsoft kept "updating" Vista, or because the equipment was getting worn. So I spent a chunk of this week shopping, buying, and setting up a whole new system. It went well - at least as well as can be expected when using a Microsoft OS (Windows 7) - not seamless, by any means (after all, I am talking Microsoft!) - but okay. I say this, knowing full well that MAC users are nodding in smugness. What can I say? And BTW, the new monitor greatly improves the quality of photographs - when I look at your photographs, they are greatly improved, while my photographs really rock!!

This also means, that my usual post of the weekly column may be slightly delayed from its usual Saturday at 6AM. But soon.

Good birding!

The weather for today is supposed to turn, with showers likely. so I thought it would be a good idea to visit the waterfowl roost in the morning.

Highlight had to be a brief pause on a power line by an Eastern Meadowlark, which I've never seen in the lower Connecticut River Valley of Vt-NH, and which is rarely reported by anyone.

As for the waterfowl - Not! Empty. Virtually nada - a few ring-necks, blacks, mallards, hoodies, and goldeneyes.



In the farmland on the Vermont side south of Vernon Dam, there were many waterfowl grazing the fields and in some ponds, including 8 snow geese, green-winged teals, pintail, woodies.

Many of the same species were on the West River in Brattleboro and in the cornfield behind the marina. Also, three Snow Buntings.