Early Morning with the Bicknell's Thrush

This morning I had one of my most delightful times atlassing for the Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas. With Richard Foye, I drove to the top of Mt. Snow (with permission/arrangment with the ski area, on their service road) to cover the “inaccessible” areas of the Mt. Snow block. With frost on the ground and freezing hands, we watched the sun rise and listened to the birds wake up - including

BICKNELL'S THRUSH (at least four singing males)


BLACKPOLL WARBLER



AND ... Swainson’s Thrush, Winter Wren, Magnolia Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler (carrying nesting material), Chipping Sparrow (sounding like juncos), Dark-eyed Junco (sounding like juncos), Purple Finch (including flight display and flight songs), Common Raven, American Robin, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Pine Siskin, Red Crossbill (possible possible)

Almost incidentally, (we had to pay attention to the road - which demanded attention!) we had on the way up and down -
Wild Turkey, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, American Crow, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Common Grackle, Blackburnian Warbler, Gray Catbird, Song Sparrow, Blue-headed Vireo, (and probably some more that I can’t remember)

... and in the valley, there were -
Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Killdeer (with young), Canada Goose (with young)

This was between 5:00 am and 8:00 am. Not a bad way to start a day!