Common Nighthawks had been congregating in large flocks each evening during this
past week's sunny muggy weather, down in in the southeastern town of
Westminster. Tonight was the first evening I'd had the opportunity to get down
to that part of the state, but the weather had changed, and the Nighthawks were
not mine to be had.

But I did take the opportunity to explore the nearby
town of Dummerston, seeking an area for my 'official' birding location. 
Eventually, I settled on the Dummerston Center Cemetery along the East-West
Road.  The cemetery sits on a short hillside road, and faces a large meadow. 
Maple trees line the route of the road.  The cemetery's setting seemed like a
good spot for some woodland's edge & meadow birding.

The birding
wasn't too special:  a family of Eastern Bluebirds and a loose flock of Chipping
Sparrows were the most notable sightings, but what really caught my interest
were the tombstones. 

Many were of slate, the stone of choice during
the 1700s and early 1800s.  These early tombstones are in very good shape
considering most are 200 years old; very few have flaked or collapsed.  The
stones are large - often 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall - with inscriptions in
fine, bold fonts.  The early settlers of this town were very well esteemed.  One
prominent tombstone from 1799 noted that the deceased was the "Major of the 1st
Company of the 1st Regiment of the State of Vermont" and passed away in his 41st
year.

I want to go back to Dummerston Center Cemetery on a sunny day,
and photograph some of these tombstones in better light.

Dummerston's checklist:
Eastern Bluebird (adults & juveniles)
Chipping Sparrow (a loose flock of 32)
Gray Catbird
American Robin

I'd been reading in my eBird Alerts that folks had been observing Baird's
Sandpipers, Phalaropes, and other interesting shorebirds up at Delta Park, and
today was finally my chance to see them.  I'd never been to Delta Park, and when
I arrived I found quite a bit to explore: the river banks and boat launch, the
bike path bridge over the river to Burlington, and from there, on the shoreline,
I could see boaters, kayakers, and birders.  Birders with spotting scopes...
that's the spot I was looking for!

As I came out onto the shoreline, I
spied a massive flock of large black birds flocking over the water.  Cormorants,
I learned from veteran birder Roy Pilcher; almost a thousand of them.


Over the rest of the midday, I only managed 7 shorebird species* during my time
on the shore, but for me the far greater find were the birders.  Four men who
share my passion for birds and birding, and whose names are always at the top of
the eBird tallies.  Jim Osborn, Jim Mead, Matt Cafield, and Larry Clarfeld; each
of these gents were good spirited, enthusiastic towards birding and nature, and
open to sharing their sightings and stories with the newcomer in their midst. 
In the 8 years that I've been birding, I have not yet met someone I wouldn't
bird with again.  Whether they drove a Toyota Corolla or a Lincoln Navigator,
everyone has been enthusiastic to share what they've seen and where.

Today's checklist - 22 species:
Osprey
Ring-billed gull
Common tern
Double-crested Cormorant
Greater Yellowlegs*
Lesser Yellowlegs*
Baird's Sandpiper*
Least Sandpiper*
White-rumped Sandpiper*
Semipalmated Plover*
Sanderling*
Belted Kingfisher
Pileated Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
American Crow
Northern Cardinal
Mourning Dove
Black-throated Green Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Guildhall is one of Vermont's smaller towns, with only 261 residents.  Most of
the settlement in this town is along a highway corridor through the north of the
town; however, since I live in the south-central part of the state, I targeted a
southern section of the town that could be accessed from neighboring Lunenburg. 


The one road that crossed into Guildhall from the south crossed a
natural gas pipeline and then a small swampy area, before climbing up a small
hill.  This seemed like an area that would provide a diversity both of habitats
and of bird species. 

Well, it was not a rich bird habitat.  The wooded
hillside yielded only 2 Black-capped Chickadees and 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch. 
The swamp yielded only 3 warblers, 1 Blue Jay, and 1 Hermit Thrush -- all
totally common for this time of year.

I returned to my car totally
disappointed, and decided to give a gravel road a try.  After half a kilometer,
I hear a unique and different call... "bob WHEET" repeated 3 times over a 1
minute period!  I checked my iBirdPRO app and confirmed I had a Northern
Bobwhite out thru the woods; this was a new bird for my lifelist and my first
quail!  I followed the well-spaced calls thru the woods to the pipeline
corridor, and then slowly zeroed in on the area from which the call was coming. 
  Finally, there!  In the low grass of a mountain bike path thru the treeless
corridor I saw a black & white striped head.  The Bobwhite is a beautiful
bird, and I was thrilled to see it  Unfortunately I didn't have my nice 8MP
camera, so I had to settle for record photos from my 3MP iPhone's
camera.

All of the range maps (Sibley, Peterson, iBird) show Northern
Bobwhites ranging up into Connecticut and Rhode Island, but eBird.org shows at
least 20 reports in Vermont, as well as in Maine and Massachusetts. It turns out that
there is a game bird breeding farm in the Northeast Kingdom, and it is believed that
these are escapees; it's not known if they're now established or still new introductions.

 

 

Every once in a while a bird comes thru the area who makes everyone sit up and
take notice.  They then put the eBird report location into their TomTom nav
unit, and take off right after work... or take the day off altogether. 


In the last year I've had the privilege of seeing a Harris's Sparrow in Norwich
VT, an American Avocet who was blown into Seabrook NH, a Cape May Warbler who
over-wintered in Portsmouth NH, and a Northern Gannet who was dropped 100 miles
inland by Tropical Storm Irene.

This week, I was fortunate enough to
observe the Glossy Ibis down in Weathersfield VT.  It's a somewhat timid bird,
but periodically takes flight and swoops around the marsh.  For neighbors it has
a Great Blue Heron and 1 or 2 Green Herons.  This ibis is a surprisingly fast
flier... I had considerable trouble tracking it and getting a worthwhile photo;
in the end, only this silhouette was worth keeping.  I'll try again on our next
sunny day, as Weathersfield is only an hour away.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my quest to visit every town in the state. Many of these
towns are very small in population, but some contain historical gems. 


Brookfield is located in Windham County, in southeastern Vermont.  It's a long,
narrow town and has only one main road, which runs from Newfane in the south to
Athens at the north.  Roughly midway thru this town-with-no-side-roads is the
town office which offers the only parking area, and opposite it is the unique
Round Schoolhouse.  There wasn't another place to park, and there certainly
wasn't a more curious place to explore.  The farm fields and streams were
highlighted by a male Indigo Bunting, singing his song.

Checklist:

American Crow
Pileated Woodpecker
Alder Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Common Yellowthroat
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Bob-o-link
Cedar Waxwing
Gray Catbird
Song Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
American Goldfinch