Lake Champlain is the largest lake in Vermont, something on the order of 125
miles long. There are 5 towns in the islands which are organized into Grand Isle
County. I spent a wonderful afternoon birding up in the Islands on 17-June, and
logged reports in all 5 towns in a half-marathon between 2 and 8pm.
The
highlights of the day were the 5 Osprey nests along US-2 in Milton, an Eastern
Meadowlark in North Hero, and Scarlet Tanagers in Alburg. I did the "Life Bird
Boogie" twice that day -- for the Meadowlark and for the Tanagers!
The
Meadowlark sighting was definitely serendipity. I was driving up the highway
with my windows open (it's been a hot summer this year) when I spotted what I
thought might be a hawk, sitting on a phone line overlooking a wet field. After
finding a safe place to pull off the highway, I trekked back to the field. The
Meadowlark's song told me that this was no hawk, but I was truly surprised by
the size of this bird; I had expected Meadowlarks to be Robin or Blackbird
sized, but this was definitely on the scale of a Crow. Unfortunately, even at
15X zoom, my camera couldn't do justice to the golden yellow bird on the wire.
My checklist:
Mallard
Wood Duck
Osprey (5 occupied nests)
Turkey Vulture
Great blue Heron
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Easter Wood Pee-wee
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Belted Kingfisher
American Crow
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
Marsh Wren
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
European Starling
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
Veery
Cedar Waxwing
Mourning Dove
American Redstart
Yellow Warbler
Song Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Bob-o-link
Red-winged Blackbird
Northern Cardinal
Scarlet Tanager
American Goldfinch
miles long. There are 5 towns in the islands which are organized into Grand Isle
County. I spent a wonderful afternoon birding up in the Islands on 17-June, and
logged reports in all 5 towns in a half-marathon between 2 and 8pm.
The
highlights of the day were the 5 Osprey nests along US-2 in Milton, an Eastern
Meadowlark in North Hero, and Scarlet Tanagers in Alburg. I did the "Life Bird
Boogie" twice that day -- for the Meadowlark and for the Tanagers!
The
Meadowlark sighting was definitely serendipity. I was driving up the highway
with my windows open (it's been a hot summer this year) when I spotted what I
thought might be a hawk, sitting on a phone line overlooking a wet field. After
finding a safe place to pull off the highway, I trekked back to the field. The
Meadowlark's song told me that this was no hawk, but I was truly surprised by
the size of this bird; I had expected Meadowlarks to be Robin or Blackbird
sized, but this was definitely on the scale of a Crow. Unfortunately, even at
15X zoom, my camera couldn't do justice to the golden yellow bird on the wire.
My checklist:
Mallard
Wood Duck
Osprey (5 occupied nests)
Turkey Vulture
Great blue Heron
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Easter Wood Pee-wee
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Belted Kingfisher
American Crow
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
Marsh Wren
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
European Starling
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
Veery
Cedar Waxwing
Mourning Dove
American Redstart
Yellow Warbler
Song Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Bob-o-link
Red-winged Blackbird
Northern Cardinal
Scarlet Tanager
American Goldfinch
Here's that Eastern Meadowlark. It was at least 100 yards away, so the photo is not great... but good enough to serve as proof!
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