Toward mid day today Ed Hack had an excellent view of a Vesper Sparrow in Royalton, VT. Spencer Hardy and I were alerted by Ed, and this afternoon we visited the Royalton site where sparrows and other birds were quite numerous. Although Spencer and I did not find the Vesper, we were rewarded with views of 8 other species of sparrows and a variety of other birds. While we were there, Ed Hack returned to join us in searching. In addition to the birds listed below, we had excellent views of a Mink searching along the northern shoreline of the White River. The Royalton site includes, in part, some acres of unharvested corn with sizeable weedy patches both alongside and within the corn plantings. The location, alongside the White River, surrounds the junction of Gilman Road and Royalton Hill Road. This junction is on the south side of White River across a green bridge from Route 14 which is on the opposite (northern) side of the river. The green bridge is about a quarter mile south of the junction of Routes 107 and 14. George Clark Norwich, VT Oct 8, 2012 2:50 PM - 5:03 PM Traveling 0.4 mile 25 species Canada Goose 220 Two flocks in flight. The larger flock contained about 200 birds. Hooded Merganser 5 Common Merganser 1 Turkey Vulture 21 In flight; appeared to be gathering near a roost Bald Eagle 1 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Mourning Dove 32 Birds were seen flying from the unharvested corn fields. Belted Kingfisher 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Blue Jay 6 American Crow 19 Common Raven 1 Common Yellowthroat 2 Palm Warbler 2 Both eastern and western forms present. Chipping Sparrow 2 Field Sparrow 2 Savannah Sparrow 11 Song Sparrow 20 Lincoln's Sparrow 2 Swamp Sparrow 2 White-throated Sparrow 9 White-crowned Sparrow 18 Pine Siskin 60 One large flock plus scattered smaller groups. American Goldfinch 2 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/ vt)