Notch Brook and Mount Mansfield State Park Birding

May 28th, 2021
Start Time- 7:20
End Time- 12:00
Weather- Cloudy, 49 degrees, Winds light and Variable
Habitat- Mixed Deciduous and coniferous forest, Deciduous forest, power line with mixed forest edges

I Began birding at the end of the Notch Brook Road in Stowe Vermont. From the end of the road I took one of the cross country ski trails and began climbing through a mostly deciduous forest. Immediately I heard red-eyed Vireos, Common Yellow throat and a Red-breasted Nuthatch who must have been in a coniferous stand nearby. I also Saw American Robins and heard Blue Jays. As I ascended I came to the base area for the cross country center which provided a field habitat next to mixed deciduous and Coniferous forest. Connected the the field was a power line that ran up the gradient of the hill. It was on this edge near the power line that I was most succesful sighting and hearing many birds such as Black-and-white warbler, Ovenbirds, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler and White-throated Sparrow. One of the chestnut-sided warblers that I heard I was able to spish very close to me. Its chestnut mark ran the entire length of its body and it had very vibrant colors. When I tried to spish a White-throated Sparrow I scared it off. I walked further up the power line and found an area with both Black-throated warbler species next to each other. When I returned to where the White-throated Sparrow was I again heard it sing and this time used a recording on my phone to entice it out of cover, its reaction was exciting! It charged out of the mixed forest and nearly hit me in the head. I continued to play the recording and it responded and flew very close to me investigating. Soon two more White-throated Sparrows arrived and I was able to be very close to them drawing them in with the recorded song. I repeated the same process with a Black-throated-Blue Warbler and got an extremely close encounter with that bird as well landing about five feet from me.

Posted on May 28, 2021 11:18 PM by andrewzilka1