I was out of town for a timbersports competition during the bio-blitz so I was not able to see many species and count them towards the burlington team as I was in New Hampshire and Maine. So for this assignment, I am going to share some of the species I saw while I was away and during a birding expedition I took on wednesday (4/23) with a friend of mine and Walter Poleman.
We went to Saint Michaels Natural Area Woodside to see some migratory birds which are at their peaks of migration currently. The trails Woodside brought us along the Winooski River and through a silver maple floodplain forest. In addition to silver maples, the predominant trees were cottonwoods which were the largest trees in this ecosystem. The most interesting species we saw was the spotted sandpiper which was on the bank directly across from us. I am surprised that there weren’t more pines where we were searching as the soil was quite sandy which is common in pine barrens of new england. It is likely that the flooding which is becoming more and more common in Vermont is too much for the pines to handle.
We saw some mammal tracks in the sands on the very edge of the river, they didn’t seem to be beaver so it was potentially muskrat.
Overall, we saw 28 species of birds which are listed below and were logged on Ebird.org
- Wood Duck Number Observed: 2
- Mallard Number observed: 2
- Mourning Dove Number observed: 3
- Spotted Sandpiper Number observed: 1
- Belted Kingfisher Number observed: 1
- Red-bellied Woodpecker Number observed: 3
- Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 2
- Hairy Woodpecker Number observed: 1
- Pileated Woodpecker Number observed: 1
- Northern Flicker Number observed: 2
- Blue Jay Number observed: 1
- Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 10
- Tufted Titmouse Number observed: 2
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet Number observed: 2
- Golden-crowned Kinglet Number observed: 1
- White-breasted Nuthatch Number observed: 6
- Carolina Wren Number observed: 2
- European Starling Number observed: 1Exotic: Naturalized
- American Robin Number observed: 9
- American Goldfinch Number observed: 3
- White-throated Sparrow Number observed: 2
- Song Sparrow Number observed: 13
- Eastern Towhee Number observed: 1
- Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 3
- Brown-headed Cowbird Number observed: 2
- Rusty Blackbird Number observed: 1
- Common Grackle Number observed: 3
- Northern Cardinal Number observed: 6
WordPress is not allowing me to upload the photos directly to the blog so I have created a google photos folder that should give access to all of the photos from this adventure.