This morning at Ledyard we found a male Orchard Oriole, then a female, 
then a nest!

There don't seem to have been any previous sightings (or nesting) of 
this species in Norwich, although eBird indicates sightings in Pomfret 
(1977), Thetford (1995), and Vershire (2004, 2006) - among a fair number 
elsewhere in Vermont. One was seen earlier this month in Royalton.

The site is where Norwich-Hanover road crosses over the railroad tracks, 
on the south side.

Anyone wishing to see the birds should be careful not to disturb these 
and other nesting species in the immediate vicinity. Today we also found 
nests of Baltimore Orioles, Phoebes, Chestnut-sided Warblers, and 
Redstarts quite close to the Orchard Oriole's nest, despite being fairly 
close to the busy road and not-so-busy tracks (full list below). The 
best access is from a park-and-ride lot on River Road (NW corner of 
bridge) and then walking south on the railroad tracks. We suggest 
staying on the railroad track bed and yielding to any trains.

Spencer & Doug Hardy
Norwich

[log in to unmask] wrote:
> Location:     Ledyard Bridge Area- CT River, Norwich
> Observation date:     5/31/09
> Number of species:     15
>
> Canada Goose     100 - flying over in 2 flocks
> Mallard     7 - all males
> Common Loon     1 - in the river
> Chimney Swift     3 - above the loon
> Eastern Phoebe     1
> Warbling Vireo     1
> Northern Rough-winged Swallow     2
> Gray Catbird     2
> Cedar Waxwing     2
> Yellow Warbler     2
> Chestnut-sided Warbler     2
> American Redstart     2
> Orchard Oriole     2
> Baltimore Oriole     2
> American Goldfinch     3
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
>   

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