Mountain Top to Valley Marsh

Started yesterday very early with a drive to the top of Okemo and the mountain top boreal forest. Target for the camera was the Bicknell's Thrush. Gorgeous morning, especially after the several days of rain we've had, but chilly - in the upper 30s. Few birds were singing in the cool morning, except for the Winter Wren.

I never did hear the Bicknell's sing, but one did flash across the trail with all the characteristics of a thrush.

Once it warmed into the upper 40s, other birds began singing, including Swainson's Thrush. One even paused for the camera ...
 

Swainson's Thrush

Magnolia Warblers were common along the roadway, providing me with my first good opportunity to capture a breeding male after several seasons of trying.

Magnolia Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

 The chick-a-dee-dee end to a buzzy song alerted me to Golden-crowned Kinglet. When I see these little guys post breeding in October or November, they are quiet and sweet little things. But not now. This guy was revved up, and his orange crown was not a barely visible stripe, but an excitedly raised crown. He was a bundle of excitement.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet

  From Okemo, we drove to the Rutland marsh, near West Rutland. After picking tips from a group of birders, our first stop produced a clear view of this Virginia Rail, as he raced among the reeds and across a mud flat before flying off in pursuit of a lady love.

Virginia Rail

Virginia Rail

And then, while creeping along the road, this Least Bittern flew into the reeds and stayed still, watching us watching him.

Least Bittern

Least Bittern

Not a bad day ! ! Good Birding ! !

Fledgling Great Horned, et alia

When you are in a birding hotspot and see people lined up and staring intently in one direction, you know there is something noteworthy

In this case, at Heinz NWR in Philadelphia, it was a pair of fledgling Great Horned Owls, just two days out of the nest.

Great Horned Owls - fledglings

For all of the downy cuteness which these young birds exhibit, it is well to remember that if they succeed in "growing up" and making it as adult birds, they will be formidable predators. (See the posting of my column on April 1: "The Winged Tiger in our Woods."

Great Horned Owl - fledgling

There is a section of Heinz NWR known as "warbler woods." On Sunday, the trees were filled with warblers. They were high in the branches and quickly led to severe "warbler neck." As a result, the warblers yielded no photographs, but there were sufficient other opportunities. A sampling ...

Baltimore Oriole - female

Barn Swallow

Swainson's Thrush

Veery

Veery

 Good Birding!

Serendipity

This morning I went to the Green Mountains to a management area and did not find the Lincoln's Sparrow that was nesting last year, nor did I hear the towhee as I did last year.

Next I returned to the remote spot where I had gone chasing for a Canada Warbler photo op a week ago. Save for a very brief glimpse, I came up empty. No good looks. No photos.

But serendipity was with me. When I first approached the brushy area by the beaver dam, a bird landed on the dam 20 feet in front of me. The birding gods had smiled! ... a Blackburnian Warbler was gathering tasty caterpillars for his nestlings!!

Swainson's Thrush were singing in the forest around me, and I also came home with my first North American photos of this thrush (I had photos of Swainson's in Belize in March).

So I missed my target species for the morning. So what! I had good birding!

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!