A Screech and a Lifer at the Green Mountain Goatsuckers Birdathon
For this year’s Birdathon, our organization’s 20th, the Vermont Center for Ecostudies Green Mountain Goatsuckers started nocturnally, with a 3:30 a.m. departure time on Tuesday May 19. Even that early, the cardinals and robins at the office were singing.
Our goal: see as many species as possible, focusing on the upper Champlain Valley. Our team consisted of captain and data manager Megan Massa, staff biologist Kevin Tolan, conservation biologist Desirée Narango, and executive director Susan Hindinger.
Our first unique bird of the day came from a quick Dunkin’ stop for road fuel that netted us a surprise Merlin in the predawn light. It was an extremely poor day for raptors, so this was a spot of false hope!
Desirée photographing the Merlin (tiny speck on the utility pole) in the Dunkin’ parking lot. © Megan Massa
We started properly at Geprag Community Park, a good spot for Golden- and Blue-winged warblers and other scrub-loving species. We were standing in the parking lot when Kevin and I heard something and immediately turned to each other with a raised brow. Two people who have studied grassland birds had just locked onto the same sound: the high, thin tik-tik-tssssssssss of a Grasshopper Sparrow. Across the street, a single bird was singing amid the Bobolinks and the deeper, but similar, song of Savannah Sparrow. Then an Eastern Meadowlark perched up high and sang to (nearly) complete the suite of grassland birds found in Vermont.
Susan and Kevin work together to “digiscope” the Eastern Meadowlark by taking a phone picture through the spotting scope. © Megan Massa
A Meadowlark sings on top of a tree, as taken by a phone through a scope. © Megan Massa
There at Geprag we got our only confirmed look at one of those “winged-warblers”, a Golden-winged. The extensive gene flow and inter-learning of songs between these closely related species means that calling one to species requires a really good look. That’s tough for a bird that loves scrubby fields and young forest. Later in the day we’d have several birds singing the typical Blue-winged Warbler song but we couldn’t spot them, so they were left unidentified.
From there we decided to cruise Pond Road south of Shelburne Pond for marsh birds. We mostly struck out here besides the cooing of a Least Bittern and a briefly calling Common Gallinule.
Kevin scans the marsh on Pond Road looking for rails or bitterns. © Megan Massa
We pushed on to the shores of Lake Champlain where we encountered some of those missing marsh species where the Laplatte River enters Shelburne Bay, including the great find of a Black-crowned Night Heron by Desiree. The trail was also rich with herps (Eastern Garter Snake, Pickerel Frog, Map and Painted Turtles).
The next necessary stop was at a gas station to refuel again. Chimney Swift and House Sparrow were plentiful urban pickups on our drive to our next spot, Delta Park in Colchester. As we wound through suburban to urban neighborhoods our eyes were peeled for our biggest miss from last year’s Birdathon, Northern Mockingbird. To no avail! I must have said fifteen times that day, “Show me mockingbird! Where the @!#$ is Northern Mockingbird?!”
Eastern Screech-Owl © Kevin Tolan
At Delta Park we met up with VCE communications director Alden Wicker, who made sure we got more than just photos of birds and quick selfies. I had a very special bird staked out here thanks to a few friends who provided painstakingly exact instructions on where to find it: a super chill, super cooperative Eastern Screech-Owl at the entrance to the bike path. We did get beeped at by a biker not pleased that we were standing in the middle of the bike path. Oops.
The Green Mountain Goatsuckers looking at a Eastern Screech-Owl © Alden Wicker
By this time dark clouds were rolling overhead and the hot, dry air was turning into a cool breeze. Any potential relief was temporary as only a few raindrops fell before the baking sun turned back on.
A Fish Crow flies overhead at the compost dump at St. Michael’s College Natural Area © Alden Wicker
Heedless of the heat, onwards we went to the compost dump at St. Michael’s College Natural Area, one of few reliable spots for Fish Crow, who gave us a single nasal caw to confirm. A surprise Great Black-backed Gull was an added treat here. We ran into Gavin Young, who was also looking for a Philadelphia Vireo reported earlier that day, but it hadn’t been refound. We decided to bail out but not before I found a huge female Grayish Jumping Spider and made everyone stop so I could photograph her.
By this time it was getting truly hot and it was time to break for lunch. We went to a beachy-monikered “Lakeshore” establishment where it turned out you couldn’t actually see the water at all. But some food and cold beverages let us plan the rest of our day.
Colchester Pond brought more sun and a seemingly endless supply of Northern Yellow Warblers. And two “self-found” rare birds… That it turned out were well-known to other birders already: a Red-necked Grebe as a distant speck on the water and a Prairie Warbler in the powerline cut. The most fun thing here was a toad party on the shore, where maybe 10-15 American Toads were singing, in amplexus, and laying eggs in the water. A woman passing us on the trail was so excited to see the toads that she called her husband on the phone to come look.
Toad party © Megan Massa
Next it was time to haul up to Franklin county. We’d planned to hit the airport for Grasshopper Sparrow, but with our serendipitous find at dawn we got to skip that stop. Instead, we headed to Missisquoi NWR, where we watched Cliff and Barn Swallows nesting under the roof of the visitors center in the now-brutal 4 p.m. heat. Also brutal was a recently crashed truck that had gone off the road into the marsh. The driver, border control, state troopers, and recovery vehicles worked over the next hour to extract it.
We made our way to a long-shot spot: Rock River WMA, a stone’s throw from Canada. A Prothonotary Warbler enjoying the flooded forest here had been seen the previous few mornings, and a Cerulean Warbler down the road. These are both more southern species quite rare in Vermont. On a cooler day, they might have stuck around and been active into the afternoon, but our late 5 p.m. visit on an abnormally hot day meant we missed them both. Let it be known that timing really matters!
Nearly 15 hours into our birdathon day, we were starting to flag. Our last stop of the evening was the one with the most potential consequence: Desiree could get a lifer in Upland Sandpiper, which was being seen regularly from Ed Choiniere’s farm along Gore Rd. He is welcoming to birders and we scoped the fields as golden hour set in. Finally, while scanning, I spotted a large tan and white shape fluttering over the fields. The uppie landed on a fencepost where we all got to see it, including Ed. We celebrated with lifer pie made by Susan, chatted with Ed about the history of his farm, and then the Green Mountain Goatsuckers called it a day with 116 species!
Megan and Désiree celebrate seeing an Upland Sandpiper. © Megan Massa
An Upland Sandpiper through a scope © Megan Massa
Lifer pie for Désiree made by Susan © Megan Massa
As with any big day, we had some bizarre misses. You’ll notice that there isn’t a single hawk other than Northern Harrier and Turkey Vulture. We also missed a lot of forest species, like Black-throated Blue Warbler. Rich hardwood forest is less common in the Champlain Valley than it is in the Upper Valley, and we never found ourselves in deep forest.
We all arrived home around 9-10 p.m. exhausted, a little sunburned, but deeply satisfied with a full day’s work. Paying rapt attention to everything you see and hear, constantly scanning trees and shorelines and listening to the full spring chorus, is almost more tiring than the heat of the day. And despite all that attention, STILL NO MOCKINGBIRD!
Thank you to everyone who supported any of the VCE teams in this year’s Birdathon. Check out our full list on our eBird trip report. There’s still time to participate, and stay tuned for the prizes and awards!
Species accumulation over the course of the day. © Megan Massa
