Birds are just UFOs until Identified

Milton VT

54 degrees Fahrenheit to 66 degrees Fahrenheit
Sunny and clear

Started at North Road – 6:35

Habitat: Vegetation about half a foot-tall containing both grasses and wildflowers. Most of the land was flat with dips of wetland. There were also patches of trees, such as conifer trees where the barn swallows are and trees near the water, where the blue jay was.

The list:
Red-winged Blackbirds x30
Field Sparrow x4
Barn Swallow x5
Blue Jay x1
Canada Goose x1
Brown-headed Cowbird x2
American Robin x9
Mourning Dove x2

The number is no over statement for the Red-winged Blackbirds. While I was waiting for my ride, I spent the time by counting the Red-winged Blackbirds popping up from the large field. The two massive fields were both covered in Red-winged Blackbirds. I felt lucky to have heard the Field Sparrows among the mass of Blackbird calls. I found the Barn Swallows and Blue Jay in a small group of trees in the field. The Brown-headed Cowbird, American Robin, and Mourning Dove were all found in the more Suburban portion of the road. Though, I wonder if the Brown-headed Cowbirds were near the field to sneak some eggs in to Red-winged Blackbirds’ nests.

Moved to Milton Town Forest – 8:40 – 12:10

Habitat: The starting field had mostly tall grass with patches of tall reeds surrounding standing water. There was a small stream cutting through the middle of the field. The forest between the field and the river was mixed conifer and hardwood with Sugar maples, Striped maples, American Beeches, raspberries, Hemlocks, Yellow birch, and Paper birch. The lake was open water but had some tiny rock “islands” and had no reeds/mudflat for the birds to nest. There was also another section of the area which was a forest but only had conifers, mostly Eastern White Pines, with little vegetation. This is where the birds such as the Downy Woodpecker, Winter Wren, and Black-capped Chickadee where found

List of birds
Field
Red-winged blackbird x2
Song sparrow x1
American Robin x3
Red-tailed Hawk x1
Gray Catbird x3
Common Yellowthroat x4

Forest / Lake
Blue Jay x2
Black-and-white Warbler x2
Ovenbird x2
Black-throated Green Warbler x1
White-breasted Nuthatch x2
Wood Thrush x2
Red-eyed Vireo x1
Male Northern Cardinal x1
Winter Wren x1
Downy Woodpecker x1
Black-capped Chickadee x3

Road
European Starling x4

When the diversity of the North road seemed lacking, my aunt suggested the Milton Town Forest, which was a listed option for today. There was a beginning field, so I did get more experience in spotting field birds. A small group of Common Yellowthroat darted around the field, which was entertaining to watch after a minute of painful attempts to identify tiny birds. The Catbird was also another troublesome one in the way of their sounds being quite different than the one I found yesterday. Today, the three found sounded just like kittens mewing for their mother. A very scary experience until I saw the bird picking at sumac before mew-chirping

I was hoping to see some ducks, so I made my way to the lake and to get there had to pass through a patch of forest. The lake was a disappointment as there was no waterbirds at all, so the listing is solely from the forest edge or within the forest. There was a marshy area, but I didn’t find too many birds near, just the black-and-white Warbler nearby.

Posted on May 21, 2020 07:45 PM by tormiller