April 5th

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.

Posted on April 8, 2016 03:36 AM by npeatman