Through My Kitchen Window

You don't have to go far for good birding. Just look out your kitchen window. It helps if you have a feeder set up. I put out a platform feeder and tube feeder filled with sunflower seeds, a suet cake, and a heated water bath. Although I live in the 'burbs, I am fortunate to have a small forested area in my backyard and a few large cedar trees that provide protection for the songbirds from winter weather and foraging hawks, not to mention a large picture window in our kitchen/family room that looks out on this scene.

Any day is a good day when you identify a new bird species to add to your life list. I've been wondering for weeks (years actually) when I would see my first Pine Siskin. These irruptive finches have been reported all around me on the Vermont bird list. But today was the first time they showed up at my feeder. A fitting end to a good birding year. A few other notable birds for me in 2008 were Spruce Grouse and Boreal Chickadee (Moose Bog), Black-backed Woodpecker (Victory Bog), Red-shouldered Hawk (Essex Junction), Cave Swallow (Charlotte), Cliff Swallow and Black Tern (Missisquoi NWR), Snowy Owl (Delta Park and Burlington waterfront), Great Gray Owl (Burlington), Barred Owl and Harlequin Duck (Shelburne Point), Long-tailed Duck and Tufted Duck (Colchester-South Hero Causeway), White-winged Scoter (Shelburne Pond), Brant, Greater White-fronted Goose and Barrow's Goldeneyes (Shelburne Bay), Sandhill Cranes (Bristol Pond), Pine Grosbeaks and Bohemian Waxwings (Technology Park), and Common Redpolls and a Carolina Wren at my house. 2008 was a great year for local birding despite or perhaps because of the dismal economy.

So Happy New Year to all. I hope that 2009 will be your Great (Birding) Year.

The Birds of Shelburne Bay

So here goes with my first report. This afternoon I travelled to Shelburne Bay. On my way I checked out Technology Park in South Burlington. I spotted an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk perched in a tree at the corner of Old Farm Road and Kimble Ave. The hawk was being watched-well-like a hawk by two American Crows. At Tech Park I found the two resident Red-tailed Hawks, but saw no sign of the 20-odd Wild Turkeys that reside in the woods between the park and the O'Brien farm. They will be back. The Bohemian Waxwings that regularly feast on frozen cherries in the trees lining Community Drive have yet to arrive this winter. I'll keep you posted.

At Shelburne Bay the bird life was sparse. I did spot one of the two resident Bald Eagles, about 50 Common Goldeneyes, 25 Common Mergansers, and a few American Black Ducks and Mallards. That was it. By comparison, last Friday afternoon I found over 300 Common Goldeneyes in the Bay, including a pair of Barrow's Goldeneyes. Things changed in the interim. Still, the viewing conditions were good. Hopefully, the weather will continue to cooperate and the birds will return in good numbers for the GMAS field trip scheduled for next Saturday morning, January 3, 2009.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! To be honest, this blog is an experiment, since I know nothing about blogging or the blogosphere. I do know something about Vermont outdoors, though, having lived in Vermont for over 45 years. I've indulged in Vermont's manifold outdoor activities throughout that time. Specifically, I am an enthusiastic birder and angler. This blog will be a journal of my successes and failures at birding and angling throughout the year. Visitors to my blog will be able to follow me on my birding and/or angling excursions throughout Vermont and possibly elsewhere, if they wish to do so. Or not.

This blog will complement the information provided on the website of the Green Mountain Audubon Society, which can be accessed at http://greenmountainaudubon.org/. There you can find places to go birding in Chittenden County, links to websites dealing with Vermont outdoors, and soon a blog newsletter which will include birds sighted in our region. My blog will not reproduce the information that you can find on the GMAS website. Rather, I will provide real-time information that reflects my own personal observations.

One other point. I contribute occasional bird sightings to the Vermont Bird Listserv and to Vermont eBird. Naturally, these sources are more comprehensive than my blog. However, I am pretty selective about the information that I post on the Vermont Bird List and it takes quite a bit of effort to mine the data recorded in eBird. My blog will be simple to consult and will be more interactive than either of these sources.

So enjoy! I expect that my blog will evolve over time as I become more familiar with the format and more expansive in its design. I welcome comments and hope that some of my enthusiasm for Vermont outdoors will carry over to my readers.