Forest Birds

Date: 5/26/21
Time: 6:40 - 12:30
Location: Stockbridge, VT-near Mt. Lympus, around 1700 ft up
Weather: Started off pretty warm, high 60s, and kept on getting warmer until it reached high 70s by the time I returned. Under the canopy, it was cooler and probably held in the low 70s. There wasn't major wind, as most of the time I was on the leeward side of a ridge or protected down below it to the east, but towards the end of the day the wind started coming through WSW, around 5-8mph. Thankfully the strong rain didn't hit until later this afternoon.
Habitat / Narrative:
Basics: There's a small ridge to the west of the house above a small field that continues onward pretty steadily along the road below (north, but it also continues at the same elevation or higher to the southwest). Behind the house to the south, there's a large scrubby field that drops down to a stand of coniferous trees, with some white pines and some plantation pines. To the south of the field, there's a small pond that feeds out into the woods, and so the land down below the pond, further to the south and west behind it is more of a forested wetland--think seep. There's a small bog even further to the west of that. The property and most surrounding land used to be farm fields, so there's still the stone walls in the second and third growth forest, with primarily hardwoods, with a few soft hardwoods like quaking aspen. Due to the elevation, we're at a bit of a transition place with deciduous and coniferous trees, so in most of the land there's a hefty blend, somewhat separated with stands of deciduous or coniferous. Unfortunately, the road to the east of the house has a problem with invasive knotweeds, so it's in the understory of some of the forest down there.

I started off in the forested wetland down below, and found a bunch of interesting animal sign--lots of porcupine leavings from pine cones, deer and moose tracks, and some bear sign as well. I saw and heard a Chestnut Warbler in the quaking aspens in a bottom corner of the field, and got used to the Ovenbird very quickly. Because of how close the stands of deciduous and coniferous are, I didn't ever notice that I found some birds in one location over the other, regardless of their preference. I heard the majority of the warblers down here, but I'd think that was more due to time of day than anything else. I was also going primarily off of sound, as the trees are easily pushing 50 feet and the leaves have all filled out beautifully.
I saw the mother moose who's been hanging around, and promptly cleared out to make sure I didn't get between her and her calf--I value my life.

From there, I went up to the pond and checked out Salamander Creek (family name, definitely not a real place), where the Red-spotted Newts tend to congregate. It's a very small creek, feeding out from the pond down through the wetland. I also came across a vernal pool and it had all but dried out--I'll be sure to check it after our big rain today.

Then I heard the moose again and decided to cut my losses, moving up to the northern forested area up on the ridge. I heard the Barred Owl, but the hoots were too soft under the Ovenbirds and Red-eyed Vireo, so I couldn't get any audio. I did find what I think is either an owl pellet or from a coyote--it had already been broken up on the side of the road, but it was a collection of gray fur and small bits and bobs. No bones, though, which is why I'm considering coyote on second thought. We also have coyotes in the area, as well as bears, which I see more up on the ridge than anywhere else. The bears tend to love the top--the plantation pines up there have all but collapsed, leaving a few rickety , too-tall ones among an absolute dense mess of striplings, brush, ferns, wild blackberries, and decaying logs. There was a lot of young pines growing in the understory nearby, so the going got a little tougher and I didn't visually see any more birds. The surrounding woods were easy to navigate though, with a pretty open understory--sparse low groundcover plants, but the main struggle here was the spiderwebs. Big shoutout to the spider-stick technique. There were a ton of woodpeckers, none of whom I could see--they were pretty far up in the trees, mainly on the coniferous ones. There were I included some audio I got of the drumming, but I'm not sure as to the ID. I also think I heard a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--the drumming almost seemed hesitant? And it trailed off at the end. It was faint, so I didn't get a specific soundbite, but it may come through in the background of some other recordings.
From the ridge, I made my way further north, where I was haunted by Red-eyed Vireos. I have some unidentified sounds from that leg of the journey, so I'll pass those along. I was confused on one of them mainly because the first portion of the song sounded like a Blackburnian Warbler, but then it got a little funky. I also heard what I think was a hawk? I relistened to all the common VT ones and couldn't figure out who was yelling though.
From the western part of the ridge, I dropped down onto the road and backtracked toward the house, then headed south into those woods. Big, open, clear understory, with some absolutely massive trees and large downed trees. I found a fun little rambo trap that could be a flooded bear den--a decent sized deep dip in the ground, which is pretty standard for that area, mostly covered with leaflitter at the bottom but there was an exposed section that was dark, still water looking like it continued out--I didn't fall in and find out, but maybe next time.
Then I was super excited to hear a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but I didn't hear any Scarlet Tanagers--by this time, its around 12, and I finished out the day continuing in that forest headed north. I didn't hear a lot of song at this point, and as I walked back it was just me and the Red-eyed Vireos.

I did encounter a little garter snake (probably eastern?) along the way. We got nice close n personal, so the photos pretty detailed.

Overall, 10000/10. Birding in an area I'm super familiar with was so comfortable, even with dodging the forest mammals, and I could focus in on listening and wandering without worrying about getting lost. Or rather, I loved getting lost and not worrying about it.

Posted on May 26, 2021 09:24 PM by avi_