Great Egret in Brandon Vt

My computer chimed meaning that a new email had arrived , I didn't check it till about noon and was surprised by what I found, "A call from a friend via a cell phone alerted me to a great egret here in Brandon. Located by the Dean Farm bridge on Union St. Sue Wetmore ". At the same time the phone rang, it was Bill Jalbert. I ask him if he knew where the Dean Farm was in Brandon? Why, because Sue Wetmore reported a Great egret in Brandon. You wanted to go looking for it? Half hour latter I was in Rutland meeting Bill and his son, Bill checked Google maps for the location and we were off. The cloud front was breaking up the sunshine and blue made it a perfect day for a Birding Adventure. As usual with birding adventures when we got there the bird was nowhere to be found. Asking a couple of fishing guy's if they had seen a large white bird that looks like a blue heron only produced more frustration, "ye it was over there about 20 minutes ago" pointing to the field behind them.Bill headed west of the bridge and I went east to double check the wet areas again. I got it was all I heard and then the sound of Bill running to get his camera, I join him running. Here are some image I took.

Image of Great Egret with pray

Bill and his son had to leave, I stayed and kept birding the area. here is a list for today:

Great Egret 1

Wood Duck 4

Ringbillied Gull 15

Great Blue Heron 1

Mallard 2

Tree Swallow 9

Cardinal 1

Crow 4

Kestrel 2 one flying by with pray

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker 2 courting

Killdeer 3

Canada Geese 6

White Breasted Nuthatch 1

Yellow shafted Flicker 1

Robin 2

and 7 Painted Turtles basking in the sun

About 5;30 I headed west on Rt 73 to see what I could see, the farm at the junction of Rt 73 and 30 is always productive and today was no different. Grackle taking flight

Kestrel 2

Killdeer 3

Sharp-shin 1

Hundreds of Starlings, Cowbirds, Grackles and Redwinged Black Birds maybe a thousand in all

this image is of 268++Cowbirds gritting on the side of the road, spooked by traffic

Morning Dove 7

and this Wood Chuck with a mouth full of fresh salad.

Good Birding

Pete

Story and images © Peter Manship all rights reserved

Great day of Birding in Vermont

Took advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday and went for a long birding ride.
Best bird of the day was a late Rough-leg hawk hover hunting in the fields just south of the Richville road on 22a in Shoreham. Later in the day at Basin Harbor ( bay? don't know the correct name) had 34 TV's circling as if looking for their evening roost.

Turkey Vulture lit by warm afternoon sunlight. We didn't stick around to try and locate the roost, instead raced ahead to try and find a good location for the sunset. (see header) while there watching the TV's 3 Ravens chased a Redtail hawk out of their territory. Once the Redtail was safely out of their territory the Ravens broke off the chase. ( note the full crop on this red-tail, white lump at base of neck full of its last meal)

Anyone know what this plant is? It was growing in light shade , rich woodland soil and about 6"tall with pink and blue flowers coming from same stem.Here is the list of birds and mammals for the day:

Rough-leg Hawk 1 dark morph
Redtailed Hawk 5 one juv RT

Ospry 12 scattered all over the dead Creek area ,watched pr south of
Chimney point bridge nest building and copulating

Northern Harrier 1 male(Gray Ghost )
TV's 43
Kestrel 3
Raven 7
A. Crow 12
Cardinal 5
Great Blue Heron 5 1 pr seen flying north over lake Champlain
Bufflehead 15 from Ft Cassin rd
Bald Eagle 2 -1 adult and this juvenal (below) at Ft Cassin made it through the tree safely Tree Swallows
Mallards
Hooded Mergansers
Wood Ducks
Canada Geese several nesting
Kingfisher
Common Mergansers
Redwing Black birds saw a large flock (about 150) flying over a field on
Lapham Bay road,a beautiful sight when all the birds turned and flashed their red wing patches !
Wild Turkeys many , one group of 27
Whitebreasted Nuthatch 6 all on territory calling, very noisy
Hairy, Downy and Pileated woodpeckers

Robins
Grackles
Brown-headed Cowbirds
Tufted Titmouse 3
Tree Swallows many
Song Sparrows

House Sparrows
Chipping Sparrow 2
Chickadees
Blue Jays and Ring billed Gulls

Mammals:

Also had a Red Fox walk pasted us just as it was getting dark at Basin Harbor.
Found a field with 10 deer in it. Saw 46 plus Painted Turtles at Brilyea excess road to Dead
Creek WMA, Addision Vt. Way to many Gartar snakes for my comfort !!! Lots of Muskrats

and at Ft Cassin had a young muskrat come right up to me crying as if look for its parents . Good Birding
Peter Manship

written and photographed by Pete Manship © 2010 all right reserved