After Lake Runnemede I went to Marton Road in Windsor, Kestrel was noisy around nest boxes. Mike. 


Michael T. Quinn 

Habitat Helper 

P. O. Box 639 
Windsor, VT 05089 
802.674.2522 

"Only Connect..." 



----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Rimmer" <[log in to unmask]> 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2012 8:38:40 PM 
Subject: [UVB] Lake Runnemede 

A record 26 birders attended this morning's Windsor Quest outing at Lake 
Runnemede. It was an excellent, if not spectacular, morning, with 
highlights below among the 33 species. 

Wood Duck 2 
Ring-necked Duck 6 
Lesser Scaup 1 female 
Common Merganser 7 
Double-crested Cormorant 3 flyover heading north 
Northern Flicker 2 
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1 
Tree Swallow 8 
Carolina Wren 1 singing 
Song Sparrow 16 
Swamp Sparrow 2 singing 
White-throated Sparrow 1 
Dark-eyed Junco 3 
Purple Finch 1 singing 
Pine Siskin 2 
Evening Grosbeak 1 

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/vt) 


A few of us stopped at The Simon Perarce floodplain site afterwards and 
had a male Red-bellied Woodpecker along the river, but little else of note. 

I've been keeping tabs on an Eastern Bluebird nest in Hillside Cemetery 
off Hopson Road in Norwich. I returned on March 25 from a week away and 
found a fully-constructed nest in the usual box (3 successful broods 
last year). The weather immediately turned cold, and stayed that way 
for almost 2 weeks, and I saw almost no further activity, other than the 
female bringing some nest lining on April 3. The pair was rarely 
visible nearby during this entire time. On April 11 at 7:30 am, a 
single egg was in the nest. On the 12th at 7:30 am the female was 
sitting tight and I did not check the contents. Yesterday at 7:40 am 2 
eggs were present, and there was no sign of either adult. I checked 
again at 6 pm - 3 eggs were in the cup and the female was inside the box 
perched on the rim (I didn't realize it until I opened the box, but she 
was completely unperturbed). This evening at 7:45 pm she was in the box 
again, presumably incubating. 

Last year the female (probably the same bird) laid her first egg on 
April 16 and was incubating 4 eggs on the 19th. In 2010, she also laid 
her first egg on the 16th and was incubating 4 eggs on the 20th. So, 
she's only a few days ahead of schedule this year after her false start 
during the balmy late March spell. 

Chris 

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