About 9:45 this morning as I was driving around a curve on Campbell  
Flats Road heading towards its intersection with Route 132 in Norwich,  
VT, a male Ring-necked Pheasant with a sharply pointed tail and a red  
patch on the side of his head moved from the edge of the unpaved road  
into dense vegetation between the road and nearby Ompompanoosuc River.  
The bird was fairly clearly not paying any attention to a nearby sign  
indicating no trespassing.

Although in past years I have encountered individual Ring-necks on the  
Vermont side of the Connecticut River in Hartland and Weathersfield,  
this was the first time for me in Norwich. Ring-necked Pheasants in  
the Upper Valley in VT seem likely to be either escapes from captivity  
or wandering birds derived from fall releases for hunting in New  
Hampshire.

This morning, water levels were down at Pompy. Water birds included  
about 15 Canada Geese, dozens of Mallards, an American Black Duck,  
several Green-winged Teal, a Green Heron, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, a  
Lesser Yellowlegs, and a Spotted Sandpiper. For a time the two  
yellowleg species were together on the flats and provided nice  
opportunity to compare their respective body and bill sizes. A Sharp- 
shinned Hawk flying by was likely a migrant.

George Clark
Norwich, VT