Vermont/New York

Don't strain your eyes, there's no bird in this photo (Covered Bridge, Charlotte VT)

Elena and I went to Vermont last weekend to visit some dear old friends who live right by the shore of Lake Champlain. We had a great time! It wasn't great birding weather, but we did get some in.

Grebes a crowd

There were a lot of Horned Grebes right offshore--just a little too far to get really good photos in the overcast light. I hadn't realized that Grebes were so social--they were typically in groups of three to five birds, with some groups up to eight.

Raptors were romping along the shore, too--Red-Tailed Hawks, Northern Harrier, Rough-Legged Hawk (lifer!). There were Ravens around as well, who sometimes chased the hawks or were chased by them.

I also spent a couple of hours at the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge, which is just beautiful and I recommend it to anyone who goes to that part of the state. I had some noce close views of Hairy Woodpeckers, and watched a Cooper's Hawk chasing a flock of Robins.

"Here's the world-famous vulture sitting in a tree"

On our way to the airport Sunday morning, we saw this Turkey Vulture just hanging out in a tree by the road. Some might think that's a bad omen, but not me.

peek-a-boo!

We actually got home early enough that I went over to Central Park in the afternoon to look for the Yellow-Breasted Char that's been at Sparrow Rock (near Tanner's Spring) for a week or so. I had tried several times to see it in the mornings before work and failed, and Sunday continued the streak. I've dipped several times in a year on a species of bird pretty often, but this is the first time I've dipped on the same individual bird five times. But I was consoled by a very cooperative Blackpoll Warbler.

Blackpoll and berry

I did eventually catch up with the Chat this week--for about ten seconds, and couldn't get a photo in focus. Oh well. Bird's still there as of Friday afternoon, so I may have more chances to miss it again.

Spring is over, but summer hasn't started

Let's start with the big news from Central Park: the Warbling Vireos have hatched!

Warbling Vireo feeding nestling

The hatching happened over the weekend while I was sick, but I was able to get a couple of nice photos of the nestlings being fed today. I'm pretty sure there are at least two nestlings, and this species usually lays four eggs, so they might be more.

It was interesting watching the nest. It seems to work just as I've read: most of the feeding is done by the female, though the male does some and is always nearby guarding the area. What happens is, he'll give a short burst of song, then fly in to quickly check the nest, and fly off; sometimes he'll sing again after flying out. The female arrives a minute or so later and does a more thorough job of feeding.

Also, the intervals between feedings are surprisingly long (again, just as I've read), between five and ten minutes. They're supposed to get increasingly frequent during the two weeks it will take the little ones to fledge.

That seems backwards, doesn't it? Shouldn't the newborns demand constant feeding? I wonder if it's a defense against parasitism. The much larger cowbird babies need more feeding. That's why they kick their host's offspring out of the nest--they'd starve if they had to share resources at all--and kicking them out is part of why they have to be larger at hatching. Anyway, it seems to me that the very slow feeding schedule of the Warbling Vireos would be bad for such nestlings--maybe that's enough to keep their nests from being parasitized.

Anyway, Spring ended with the traditional sighting of a flurry of female Blackpoll warblers.

that's all, folks!

Blackpolls are the latest Spring migrants among warblers, and the females (as in many species) migrate later than males, so when you see female Blackpolls coming through, it's about over.

Of course, there are some later-arriving non-warbler species, like this Yellow-Billed Cuckoo.

a two-cuckoo year!

That sighting game me both Cuckoo species for the year, which doesn't always happen. And there are always stragglers, like this Lincoln's Sparrow who is stuck in Bryant park:

Lincoln's lurking near the library

There was a nice Swamp Sparrow, too, and a couple of White-Throateds, all around the birdbath in the northeast part of the park. Hopefully the'll all find their way out soon.

So spring is gone, but it doesn't feel much like Summer yet--cool though humid. But there are fledling birds all over--robins and Starlings and House sparrows, and at Turtle Pond, a raft of ducklings.

a raft of ducklings

I think these are Mallards, but another observer thought Gadwalls. There is a possibly nesting Gadwall pair as well as a female Mallard nesting near the pond. I think their bills are too long for Gadwalls, though those flank spots are very Gadwallish.

Since we're back to the baby birds, here's another pic of the Vireos. Wonderful little birds.

I warn you, you're going to be seeing a lot of this nest the nest couple of weeks