It was great to go on the West Haven Field Trip! Birders saw and/or heard 56 species. One participant sent us an email, saying, “A highlight was seeing the Brewster’s Warbler, and Kris saw and heard a Golden-winged Warbler. … It was also fun to see Bobalink [sic], and to watch as a parent fed three young Cliff Swallows sitting on the road. Of course, we got a little herping in too – lots of Green Frogs!”
Weather: Cloudy and breezy with rain starting right after 2:00 p.m. Temperatures in the 70’s F. Location: West Haven, Vermont and surrounding area
As mentioned in the winter’s Chip Notes, we were eagerly awaiting the debut of Dick Allen’s Bufflehead Duck carvings. They are here!
Bufflehead male, carved by Dick Allen
Bufflehead Ducks are characterized as small, diving ducks that migrate through the region on their way to summer grounds in Canada and Alaska from wintering sites in coastal and southern United States and Central America. Inhabiting ponds and small lakes where they consume crustaceans, mollusks, and insects underwater, Buffleheads nest in aspen and poplar tree cavities created by Northern Flickers. The male Bufflehead’s striking triangular white patch extending from the eyes to the rear of the head inspired the bird’s name. The Bufflehead’s ability to achieve a near-vertical take-off from the water’s surface is another reason we take special notice of this notable species.
Bufflehead female, carved by Dick Allen
The male and female pair will take their places with other waterfowl near Dick’s pair of Lesser Scaups in the Spring Migration scene of the Wetland Diorama.
For this year’s raffle bird, we offer a wood and cork decoy, carved and painted by Leo LaBonte of Essex Junction, Vermont. The bird is about 10.5” from beak to tail, and looks lovely in its temporary home by our guest register. Many visitors have already commented that it would look even nicer in a permanent home (theirs!). Tickets are $1 each, or buy 6 for $5. You can buy tickets by phone, if you like!
Leo LaBonte started carving a little over 12 years ago. He is mostly a self-taught carver with one class under his belt that helped him to overcome a few hurdles and smooth out the process. He mostly focuses on decoy carvings but has also carved ducklings, small songbirds, and a few figurines. He has won numerous awards for his decoys including the Art Knapp Hunting Decoy Contest and the Thousand Islands Museum Decoy and Wildlife Art Show. In more recent years he has also taught his two sons to carve, resulting in 2 more award-winning carvers in the family. In 2009 both sons won awards at the International Wildfowl Carvers Association Young Guns competition!
Although generously donating the Blue-winged Teal to the Museum, Leo usually sells his decoys. He is in the process of putting together a website (under construction as of this writing). If anyone is interested in contacting Leo please call or email the Museum (802) 434-2167 and museum@birdsofvermont.org.
Go Wild, Go Birding! International Migratory Bird Day Festival at the Birds of Vermont Museum
Join us at our annual Bird Day Festival, celebrating migratory birds. This is a free, community-wide event co-sponsored by Audubon Vermont and the Birds of Vermont Museum. Events start at 8 am, and go until 4 pm (trails close at sunset).
We were open last Saturday to celebrate and support the Great Backyard Bird Count. Naturally, we counted birds—and a few others—as well. Our results from that open time follow, and we will have our full count results posted to eBird as well.
Observed on February 19th, from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Blue Jay
9
Hairy Woodpecker
2
Downy Woodpecker
1
Dark-eyed Junco
4
Northern Cardinal (female)
1
Tufted Titmouse
2
Mourning Dove
6
Black-capped Chickadee
4
White-Breasted Nuthatch
1
European Starling
1
American Crow
1
We also observed an Eastern Cottontail and 3 Red Squirrels.
How did your counts go?
“Almost everything delights a chickadee.” —E.B. White
Perhaps not snow, though.
Chickadee on a snowy day, in an evergreen
I was using a Canon PowerShot S3 IS, and out of curiosity I set it to the sports setting (I don’t do or watch much sports) while photographing chickadees and downy woodpeckers near and at the Museum feeders. The birds were sharp, the snow not so much. I liked it.
Post and photo by Kir Talmage, Museum webmistress/program coordinator
Wing tip marks
Last night or early this morning, some large bird left tracks in the snow (the marks are at least 2½ feet across — no measurement because I didn’t have snow pants and didn’t much feel like sliding into the creek). But which bird?
The foot-trail between the wings climbs from the tiny under-the-road creek up to the trail that goes from the entrance path to the bridge. (This will all make more sense if you have visited here). There are plenty of turkeys around and I suppose they could have made the trail and used their wings for balance while climbing. We see them frequently. both walking and flying.
On the other hand, there are more wing-tip marks down at the bottom, under a minuscule hemlock, without footprints or a wading-through-snow trail. The habitat is also good for barred owl: many hemlocks along the brook, and a patchwork of open cut fields, old beaver meadow, drier upland deciduous forest. Both barred owl and turkey have been seen and heard here.
I’m guessing owl, but let me know if you have more clue (easy!) or would like to see other photos.
Visitors often ask us what we feed the birds. We currently have several feeding locations: the ground (including up on some rocks), crabapple trees, and elevated seed and suet feeders. We also hang oriole and hummingbird feeders in summer.
On the ground, we sprinkle kernel corn and mixed seeds, to attract turkeys, sparrows, juncos, blackbirds, and others. Not only do we sprinkle this by the viewing area, but in the summer Bob scatters corn by the pond for resident and visiting waterfowl (although the turkeys appreciate it too).
The crabapple tree produces small, cheery-sized apples, which attracts grouse and many of the smaller birds who also visit our feeders. This tree is visible in the photo below, in the background behind the feeders. There are other crabapples and feral apples on the property (that’s another post, someday).
The hummingbird feeders are hung just outside the viewing window and another outside the front door, but those are removed for the winter. We usually see hummingbirds during the first week of May, and they typically leave the first week in September. We do keep the feeders up through most of September, to support those migrating from points north.
Our upper feeders hold (generally) black oil sunflower seed, sunflower chips, mixed seeds, thistle, and suet. These attract a wide variety of birds, from doves to jays, grosbeaks to finches, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and many more. We hang a jelly feeder for orioles in the summer also. Check out our birds at the feeder posts for records of what we’ve seen when (a click on those post titles will take you to the posts and any pictures as well).
Our webcam shows a few of our upper feeders; this image is from a sunny morning in November 2010.
Four Feeders (visible with web cam), food types labeled. The crabapple tree is the red-dotted one in the background behind the mixed seed feeder.
Our elevated feeders–the ones in the photo–are mounted on a 4″-diameter steel pole, 8 feet above the ground. The pole is set in concrete, and has a baffle beneath. We grease the pole every now and then. Most feeders are hung above the cross-bar part of the pole, although occasionally we will hang a feeder below.
Why all the elevated infrastructure? In a word, bears.
It is recommended that people in bear country not feed birds when bears are awake, especially early in the year when they are just awakening and are hungry after hibernation. For us in Vermont, this is roughly April 1 through November 1. However, as a Bird Museum, we also want to attract birds so visitors can enjoy them as we do, not to mention learning about and from them. Thus: tall, greased poles than black bears can’t knock over. (They have tried…)
