Field Ornithology: Day 5

I went to Shelburne Bay and the Laplatte River Marsh again today in Shelburne, VT. There was a mild wind, but it was super cold this morning with a high of 54 degrees F for the day, so there was not as much activity today as there was on Tuesday. When I got there, there were half the shorebirds and marsh birds present than there was on Tuesday, including a Caspian Tern (which looked a little too skinny and small to be Caspian), Red-winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, Mallards, Canada Geese, and Double-crested Cormorants and two Common Mergansers flying by. There was a group of 4 vultures just sitting on the rocks at the end of the parking lot which was a little weird, and a group of people walked towards them and all they did was walk away a little which was interesting. I did the opposite path/walk today and walked past a bunch of grassland and shrub land first. I only saw a few barn swallows, grackles, more red-winged blackbirds, an unidentifiable which flew my and landed too far away from me to see or hear, and a few Yellow Warblers. As I walked along the path and the grassland turned into more forest and understory habitat, I was greeted with a Great Crested Flycatcher, a Phoebe, a few Common Yellowthroat, a House Wren, and I think a Swamp Sparrow! I got a voice recording and a picture of it so I will post those after! I kept walking past the swamp/marsh in the woods where I saw the sparrow and approached a loud school group on the path, so I just turned around and walked back. I'm pretty sure I heard a thrush or a wren as well but I'm not sure what the call/song is, so I will send those to Allan Strong for identification. I went off on a small side trail to walk through a fully wooded area and kept hearing the Yellow Warblers, Yellowthroat, the Great Crested Flycatcher, and a Red-eyed Vireo. There really was not anything else calling because it was still cold but getting later in the morning so everything was slowing down. Many grackles, a pickerel frog, and a few voles I think and overall it was not as a productive day as I thought, but I definitely could have just been in the wrong places!
Thank you for a fantastic class and a fun week of birding!

Posted on May 29, 2021 12:19 AM by elizabethkaufmann