| 8 Upper Valley birders spent last Saturday exploring Addison County, in particular looking for the Snow Geese flocks that appear almost every fall. We were not disappointed. The Geese were right where we expected as soon as we arrived--we did a very rough estimate of 3000 birds! After our fill of the geese we birded other areas of Addison and found good numbers and diversity of waterfowl. This part of the state is great for those of us who can't get our fill of ducks and gulls on the Connecticut River. Many thanks to Pip Richens and the Mascoma Chapter of NH Audubon for organizing this trip. Spencer Hardy Norwich, VT 48 Species: |
| *Snow Goose - apr. 3000, including at least 4 Blue Geese |
| *Gadwall - 3 |
| *American Wigeon - 2 |
| American Black Duck |
| Mallard |
| *Northern Pintail - at least 10 |
| Green-winged Teal - many |
| Lesser Scaup - 1 |
| *Black Scoter - 15, all females |
| *Long-tailed Duck - 3 |
| Bufflehead - 4 |
| Common Goldeneye - 5 |
| *Ruddy Duck - Several locations and groups of 1-5, great to see! |
| Common Loon - At least 14 from Chimney point |
| *Red-necked Grebe - 1 |
| Double-crested Cormorant - Several |
| Great Blue Heron - 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk - At almost every stop! Northern Harrier - 2 or 3 seen from the cars |
| *Rough-legged Hawk - Great views of a light morph along the road |
| *American Coot - 2 |
| *Bonaparte's Gull - At least 30 for the day |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| Herring Gull |
| Great Black-backed Gull - At least 10 for the day |
| Mourning Dove |
| Pileated Woodpecker - 2 |
| Blue Jay |
| American Crow |
| *Horned Lark - Most people got to see at least a couple on the ground, then ~50 in flight |
| Black-capped Chickadee |
| White-breasted Nuthatch |
| Brown Creeper - heard only |
| American Robin |
| European Starling |
| *American Pipit - Several flyovers of small groups while we watched the geese |
| *Lapland Longspur - 2 or 3 with the Larks, unfortunately very cooperative |
| *Snow Bunting - One flock seen in flight of at least 150 |
| American Tree Sparrow |
| *Fox Sparrow - 1 spotted by Peter Labelle |
| White-throated Sparrow - 2 |
| Dark-eyed Junco - One bird with a bright white chin, but otherwise a normal Slate-colored Junco |
| Northern Cardinal |
| Red-winged Blackbird - Large flock feeding in a corn field |
| *Rusty Blackbird - 5+ with the Red-wings, seen by almost everyone |
| Common Grackle - 2 with the blackbirds |
| *White-winged Crossbill - 1 flyover, heard and seen. Hopefully a sign of things to come |
| American Goldfinch |