Oh, man!! I had had a very successful long weekend -- surveying over a dozen southern Vermont towns in 4 days -- and yesterday I discovered that the last town in my iPhone's NOTES app was #132 Groton. NOOOOO!!!

Glastenbury, Shaftsbury, Bennington, Pownal; Ludlow, Chester, Andover, Londonderry, Jamaica, Townshend, Windham, Weston, and Wardsboro; Rupert and Dorset, Proctor; Montpelier, Waterbury, and Williamstown.  All lost, and all full-day birding expeditions.  I averaged 150-200 miles a day that weekend.

Apple suggests trying to restore my last backup from iTunes, but I'm not optimistic.  I know that the map I keep, the photos I took, and the memories I still have will give me some recall, but the scientific value of that weekend is mostly lost.  Many of these towns will have to be re-surveyed, I'm sure.  Glastenbury, Weston, and Windham have strong memories, but the others... not so much.

What a loss!

Mention to most people that you spent the day birding, and they will ask 'What birds did you see?"  When you go birding along VT73 thru the Brandon Swamp, and the birding is not about what you see but what you hear.  Herons, rails, wrens, owls... all heard but unseen.  Today I came away with 4 recordings of birds I could not see and did not recognize immediately -- Two of those recordings were of birds that were probably within 12 feet of the road edge.  I'll need to compare my recordings to Peterson's guide to Bird Songs and to my iBird Pro recordings, to see if I can make concrete identifications. 

Initial Checklist for Sudbury:
Mallard
Virginia Rail (both male and female calls)
Marsh Wren
Belted Kingfisher
Willow Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
White-breasted Nuthatch
American Robin
Mourning Dove
Gray Catbird
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Swamp Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Unknown #1
Unknown #2
Unknown #3
Unknown #4

Cornwall lies in the lowlands of the Otter (Creek) Valley, north of Brandon and Sudbury, and when the rains are as heavy and incessant as they have been this summer, the valley floods.  As I drove from Brandon to Sudbury, the level of the Otter was only 2-3 feet below the highway,  but when I came back across thru the Cornwall Swamp WMA, the water was within inches of the road, which formed a dam to the floodwaters.  Fortunately for the road, the water level was just as high downstream as upstream, so the road was not being eroded... just topped.

This setting made for a fascinating and very enjoyable birding session.  For almost a mile I walked thru a flooded forest, with dark, tannin-stained waters flowing on either side of the 'causeway'.  I was taken aback by the Northern Waterthrushes, which I rarely hear; they made me think I was in a tropical environment rather than in Vermont.  At the far end of the flooded forest, the setting changed, and the roadway was flanked by flooded fields and then a covered bridge crossed the swollen creek.  Beyond the bridge, there were still more flooded fields. 

The wildlife was very active.  Birds and frogs, a snakes and a rabbit kept my senses at their max.  There were no herons to be found, but I could hear two Wilson's Snipes winnowing over the flooded fields, a Virginia Rail oinked at one point, and a Great-crested Flycatcher added to the mix.  Can't wait to go back and spend a few hours there!

Checklist for Cornwall Swamp WMA:
Wood duck
Red-eyed Vireo
Killdeer
Virginia Rail
Wilson's Snipe
Great-crested Flycatcher
Eastern Wood Pee-wee
Barn Swallow
Northern Flicker
White-breasted Nuthatch
Common Yellowthroat
American Robin
Veery
Gray Catbird
Northern Waterthrush
Bob-o-link
Red-winged Blackbird