The VCE Brute Force Biology team spent Mon night and Tuesday morning on 
our long-term study plot on the Mt. Mansfield ridgeline.  Conditions 
were about as warm as they can be up there, and black flies were 
insatiable.  Avian activity was quiet for mid-June, but a good dusk 
chorus of Bicknell's Thrush let loose, and we counted 18 birds total, 
catching 9 of those in our mist nets that evening and the following 
morning.  All but one had been banded in a previous year.  I did a 
series of point counts on Tues. morning, and the list below combines all 
encounters from that day:

Location:     Mt. Mansfield
Observation date:     6/10/08
Number of species:     14

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher     2
Common Raven     2
Winter Wren     5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     1
Bicknell's Thrush     18
Swainson's Thrush     5
American Robin     5
Cedar Waxwing     2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)     17
Blackpoll Warbler     13
White-throated Sparrow     15
Purple Finch     4
Pine Siskin     5
American Goldfinch     2


This morning I was on top of Burke Mt. for my annual Mountain Birdwatch count.  Tough conditions -- 43 degrees F, summit in clouds, east wind 10-15.  Birds were singing, but there appear to be no Bicknell's Thrush up there this year.  Last year I found 3, two of which were yearlings.  This peak is one that blinks in and out for Bicknell's, likely absorbing 'surplus' birds following productive breeding years (which alternate with the biennial boom-bust cone-squirrel cycle).  Last summer was a 'squirrel year', following a banner balsam fir cone crop, and avian breeding success was characteristically low, reflected in this year's scarcity of yearling birds.  We have yet to encounter a red squirrel on Stratton or Mansfield, and there were none on Burke.  Nesting success should rebound.  There is a low cone crop emerging, so we may have consecutive 'non-squirrel years', good for the birds.  


Location:     Burke Mountain
Observation date:     6/12/08
Number of species:     14

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher     5
Common Raven     1
Winter Wren     3
Swainson's Thrush     7
Hermit Thrush     1
American Robin     1
Nashville Warbler     4
Magnolia Warbler     4
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)     10
Blackpoll Warbler     5
Canada Warbler     1
White-throated Sparrow     8
Dark-eyed Junco     10
Purple Finch     1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/vt)

Chris

-- 
****************
Chris Rimmer
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
P.O. Box 420
Norwich, VT 05055
802-649-1431 ext. 1
www.vtecostudies.org




-- 
****************
Chris Rimmer
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
P.O. Box 420
Norwich, VT 05055
802-649-1431 ext. 1
www.vtecostudies.org

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