A friend and I visited Ft Cassin in Vergennes Vermont yesterday looking for eagles.
We found 14 eagles spread all around the area. The most interesting part was finding 5 juveniles and one adult on the ice south of the river outlet fighting over a fish. One juvenile managed to hold off the others with lots of wing flapping displays.
But after about ten minutes of defending its fish the larger adult (female probable) moved in and took the prize uncontested.
It was also a good day for hawks, here is the only image I got of the light morph Rough-legged Hawk that I found in a field south of Richville rd and rt 22a Shoreham VT. I think that it is a adult male but would love some input from others about this beautiful Rough-legged Hawk. 
here is what we found yesterday from ft Cassin Vergennes down Rt 22a to Rt 4 Fair Haven Vermont.Bald Eagles 14 6 adult 8 juv
Red-tailed Hawk 13
Rough-legged Hawk 4
Kestrel 3
Northern Harrier 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Bluebird 5
Good Birding to all!
Peter Manship
Story and Images © 2010 Peter Manship LLC
and yesterday with Bill 
Note the dark throat which is typical of northern Canada 
I got zip for Bluebird photos even though we were standing 2 feet apart. Bluebirds seem to be somewhat of a problem for me; can you say nemesis! At Ft 
drying out his or her feathers, I think that this juvenile eagle could be a 3rd year bird. Can anyone clear that question up.
finally, taking flight! See header above also.
This is where we got separated from the Audubon group. With a dead radio and not capable of communicating with the Audubon group anymore, we just birded our way south along the lake. One of the highlights was finding a Peregrine Falcon almost where we had found one last winter on Lake Street in 
Sunday would prove to be an amazing birding day. We covered south of Rt 125 
Jason signaled the others and "texted" the other NH birders who were combing the seacoast for an Ivory Gull, which was never found. It was amazing! Ten minutes later it was like old home week; people started pouring in to see the Sage Thrasher.
This Horned Lark made a small bowl in the sand by flipping its wings. You can see sand flying in the next image.
All in all I had a great time seeing everyone again and spending the rest of the afternoon birding the NH seacoast. Interestingly, they were all looking for high point value birds for the 
It started out slowly, but that changed very quickly. There were three streams of birds - one north and south of our location and one overhead. That's not to say there weren't others;
there were. They were scope range at best and more importantly, largely overlooked because of the distance to them. Plus there was an extraordinary number of blackbirds flying by at close range. The stream to the southeast was very large and dense, but you had to look through a scope to see it. Case in point. The image below shows birds passing in front of the moon . Not too far away, but
in the lower left hand corner is a distant and larger group of blackbirds passing by that went unnoticed by me until I got home and was looking at the images on the computer. Image below is a 200% enlargement of the marked area from the image above.
This is an example of what it was like. It points out how hard it would be to try and get an accurate count of the total number of blackbirds flying in to the Great Bog roost area in Portsmouth NH.
The dark pink area on the horizon in the center of the above image looked like this image below through my 400mm lens.
It was a life experience that is very difficult for me to put in words. Even the images don't convey the scope of the event. They do, however, offer fragments of a much larger picture. The image below is looking east and similar views were going on to the south and west when I recorded this image. The roost fly-in lasted about 45 minutes or so and the sound was impressive.
What I would say, is that if this happens again next year, a trip down there to experience it first hand would be highly recommended. Who knows, maybe we could carpool next year!
Marv Elliott of the Rutland Audubon had the winning guess of Nov 4th. A special thanks to all 47 people that entered the Thelma Mileage Contest. Marv will be receiving a framed Red-tailed Hawk image from those taken at Mt Philo back in September. Again, thanks for taking the time to enter.
As 8:30 rolled around I noticed that there weren't any birders here. They must be starting somewhere else. No biggie, I'll bird the coast and eventually our paths will cross.
On the north side of Rye Harbor State Park there were quite a few shorebirds working the wrack line (washed up seaweed, etc.). I settled in photographing the shorebirds when I flushed a sparrow that looked different. Couldn't relocate so I was returning to photograph the shorebirds when it popped up just in front of me. After photographing it I asked Denny Abbott if he knew what it was. Looking at the image "Ipswich" type Savannah Sparrow was his response. A life bird for me! Here are some image of the 
and some shorebirds - 
A molting juvenile 
juvenile Black-Bellied Plover:
There was a flock of about 70 Snow Buntings feeding in the parking area. 
I left Denny and headed north. I was hopping to find Steve and the 
Here is a link to images of the M
As the day was coming to an end, I asked Steve if we could head over to see "The River of Blackbirds." I
More info and images from the "River of Blackbirds" in a separate post. Plus Thelma turned 200,000 contest results in next post. 
I welcome any input about the birds ID.
and more Cedar Waxwings, but no Orange-crowned Warbler. Butterflies were out sunbathing, taking advantage of the warm sunshine. A half dozen Clouded Sulphurs were showing their wear and tear this late into the season.
An Eastern Comma Butterfly (winter form) was also enjoying the sun before hibernating in the leaf liter for the winter. They are one of the first butterflies to fly in the spring, often seen late April and early May. 
Farrell Access road to Dead Creek was very slow; however, there was a lone female Hooded Merganser feeding at the pool in the bend in the road. When I finally arrived at Brilyea Access with winds out of the northwest, it was also quiet. Highlights there were two Pie-billed Grebes, Green Winged Teal, American Black Ducks, Mallards and a feeding Great Blue Heron. I had just enough time to take this image.
There was one of those large farm “honey bucket” spreaders bearing down on my position; it was time to move. At the goose viewing area there was Lady Bugs all over the place,
and the Moon. What can I say! 
The Snow Geese might be down in numbers, but it is still a thrill to see them fly. Here is a link to a report in the 
They only flew one more time towards the end of the day as the light was fading and most of the geese were in the southeast field anyhow; not a good place for sunset images. I looked back one more time just as I was leaving. Wow! I jumped out of Thelma, the jeep, (the official vehicle for all BFO adventures) and was able to record the header image. On the road as I approached the top of the hill on Route 17 and 22a, I saw the sunset reflected in the rear windows of the Addison town office building.
A different way of showing it was a nice sunset.
which leads me to this. Guess the date that Thelma the Jeep goes over 200,000 and win a beautiful framed BFO's bird image for your effort. Person or persons closest to the date and time wins. All you have to do is email me with your Date and Time guess. Here’s a clue. I’m sure that this will happen in the next two to three weeks at the latest.
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