npeatman's Journal

Thursday April 21,

On Thursday my friend and I decided to go to Mt. Philo for our birding adventure. We parked her truck and began our ascent up the hill. We noticed that it oddly quiet for about half of the trip up the first bird we heard was the caw of an American Crow. Then slowly as we neared the top we heard a few more Black-capped Chickadees. We heard many of them at the top. All along the top we heard a few American Robins. As we were making out way to different vantage points to see the amazing view of the Adirondack mountains we also kept an eye out for any birds flying below or above us. We did not come across any. we crossed the top to the more wooded side of the hill and looked into the trees. That is where we saw one male American Goldfinch and what we determined was some sort of flycatcher. It had the body shape of a flycatcher and wasn't too big of a bird. It looked like there were maybe two all together. On our way down we decided to take a different path that lead us to what was called the Devil's Chair. As we came to the Devil's Chair we heard a White-breasted Nuthatch call. We hung out at that rock formation for a little bit and possibly heard an owl but we weren't able to confirm or deny this. We decided to stay longer to watch the sunset from the parking lot so we turned my friend's truck around and sat in the bed and listened as the sun sank. Which is where we heard many Red-winged Blackbird calls. There were at least seven of them. We also got to see three Northern Flickers fly off to another edge of the woods. One of them was a female. We also heard a bird calling from behind us which what we thought was a Northern Cardinal. We weren't 100% sure so I went into the red pines to see if I could either get a better look or to flush the bird out so my friend could see it. We were able to see it and determine that it was a male Northern Cardinal.

Tuesday April 5th

On Tuesday after class my friend and I went to Milton Vermont right near the sandbar where the waterfowl reserve is. As we were driving up to the sandbar both sides of the road had marshes and some open water. On the left side were the tall utility poles where we saw the 4 osprey making their nests. There were three different nests being made and one was flying in the background. We then drove down to the pull off that was on the bridge and saw the 2 Canada geese swimming in the open water near the bridge, on the Burlington side. We then parked the truck and looked at the 9/11 memorial near the flag and saw some ring-billed gulls flying overhead. Then a double crested cormorant flew overhead. On our way back over the bridge going back towards the sandbar over to the left on the St. Albans side of the bridge there were two common mergansers swimming near some reeds in the water. From what we could tell it was a male and a female swimming close by each other. We park the truck on the opposite side of the park and take out the binoculars to see some birds in the distance. That is where we saw the huge flock of mallard ducks way over near the trees. When we crossed the road we saw the great blue heron flying to reposition himself to a different hunting spot. When the brush started to build up on the side the red-wing blackbirds were flying on the edge, and the other blackbirds were flying to and from the northern-red cedar trees. We decide to go in between the trees to go to the waters edge to get a better look and maybe a hundred yards away a common goldeneye swims to a clump of reeds. There were two mallards over in this area as well, a male and a female. On our way back over to the truck on the grass there was a small grouping of robins foraging around for some food.

Wednesday 16

My friend and I decided to go to Oakledge park to do some birding because we had never been there. We saw and heard a few birds while we were exploring. We found a tree house and went inside of it and sat for a bit to see if we could see or hear any birds in the nearby woods. we heard and saw four Black-capped Chickadees near us. On our walk down to the water front we saw one fly over the trees in front of us first then we saw the other two fly shortly after and heard the first one caw. When we reached the water front we saw a Ring-billed Gull floating in the water. We walked out onto the little rock outcropping and five Ring-billed Gulls flew over us. We stood there scanning the water to see if we could see any other water birds or other birds in the trees or flying over. The water looked a little rough to see too many birds in the little inlet. Once we had gotten back to the truck we saw one Ring-billed gull sitting on the top of a light post. As we were climbing in we saw two American Crows flying in front of us in the parking lot. The first one had what looked like a large piece of bread in its mouth, the second one was following the first one. As we were leaving the park we had the windows down hoping to hear some birds. In the Staghorn Sumac trees next to the road we saw then heard about seven European Starlings. A little further up the road in the shrubs next to the Church we saw two Chickadees.

February 7th
My friend and I were riding around the Fletcher/Cambridge area of Vermont and on the edge of Fletcher and Cambridge we had pulled off the road on the edge of some woods I hunt at. We looked up in the trees to see if we could see any birds and there was an unknown bird flying to the top of a tree. We grabbed our binoculars and saw that it was a Pileated Woodpecker, unfortunately not clear enough to get a good picture. He hung out atop the tree for a bit as we watched him then just flew off. Later into the drive around the heart of Cambridge we found a barn and stopped to see if there were any Pigeons or other birds around there. There were two Rock Pigeons puffing out their feathers to stay warm. As we were driving up the road we look up in the sky to see a lone Turkey Vulture soaring above us. A mile later we were driving passed an open hay field to see a Raven flying low over the grass slowly gaining altitude. We stopped and watched him for a little bit.

February 17th
My friend and I traveled over to red rocks in Shelburne Vermont. We were walking down the main trail just about to start our decline to the rock face by the edge of the water when we hear about 7 Black-capped Chickadees flying around us singing. They were in the cedar trees above us. On our way back it was about 4 O'clock when we saw about 30 crows flying directly over us paralleling the lake going to their super secret roosting location for the night.

My friend and I went on the bird walk Thursday and saw 50 some crows flying overhead. Our TA later told us that they were migrating and that they do that at night as well. When we entered centennial fields we heard a Blue Jay and some Black-capped Chickadees. We stopped after the little bridges to watch some Tufted titmice fly around us. We got to hear their call, we also called a few of them in and got to see them close up without binoculars. We then walked a little ways, when we stopped it was hard to hear because we had to wait for people to catch up, but we were able to hear a few White-breasted Nuthatches. After a few minutes they came a little closer and we got to see them walking up and down the trunks of the trees.

On Sunday my friend were back in Fletcher Vermont riding around when we got to a top of a dirt road there was a Red-tailed Hawk on a tree branch watching a little field not too far away. When our car got right underneath him he just flew off.