Today Ed Hack and I looked for birds along the Route 5 corridor in  
eastern Windsor County, VT, from Kendall Station Road in Norwich to as  
far south as Hoyt's Landing in Springfield.  The Connecticut River had  
substantial areas of open water from the Wilder Dam downstream to well  
south of the I-89 bridge but was largely ice covered north of Wilder  
Dam and also by Springfield Meadows and at Hoyt's Landing. Some bird  
highlights follow.

About 200 Mallards and 4 American Black Ducks were crammed into an  
impressively small area with open water just south of Kendall Station  
Road. An additional estimated 100 Mallards were along the Connecticut  
River by Hartford south of the Route 4 bridge. A pair of Hooded  
Mergansers were on the river at North Hartland. The largest flock of  
Common Mergansers included 4 below Wilder Dam; 3 other Common  
Mergansers were at scattered locations farther south.

An adult Bald Eagle was seen flying at Pompy in Norwich, and another  
was perched below Wilder Dam. A adult Red-tailed Hawk was at  
Springfield Meadows. A few American Robins included 2 at Hemlock Ridge  
in Wilder. Additional species at Springfield Meadows included an  
Eastern Bluebird, a Snow Bunting, 3 American Tree Sparrows, and 5  
Common Redpolls.

George Clark
Norwich, VT