I took advantage of an oil change appointment at Merchand Brothers garage this morning to bushwhack through the wet shrub-cattail habitat around the pond by the Upper Valley Aquatic Center, then south along the fire road south of the center, and back along a brushy field edge to Rt. 5. As elsewhere in the past week-plus, I was impressed by the numbers of Swamp Sparrows. I have never seen as many as I have so far this fall. Highlights: Turkey Vulture 1 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 2 Eastern Phoebe 1 Carolina Wren 1 singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Gray Catbird 2 Cedar Waxwing 4 Common Yellowthroat 6 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 4 Savannah Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 25 Lincoln's Sparrow 1 Swamp Sparrow 18 conservative count; most birds seen clearly, others heard clearly White-throated Sparrow 20 Red-winged Blackbird 60 Brown-headed Cowbird 10 Purple Finch 1 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15355881 -- Chris Rimmer Vermont Center for Ecostudies P.O. Box 420 Norwich, VT 05055 802-649-1431 ext. 1 www.vtecostudies.org