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| Home | Join | News | Discussion Forum | Resources (updated 1/12/10) | Quiz | Download our Newsletter! Would you like to contribute an article, quiz picture, trip review... to the newsletter? If so, email Larry June 24, 2010 - Interim Update There haven't been many updates here lately. I'm glad to say we've been so busy with programs and spring migration that there hasn't been time for an update! However, the fourth issue of our newsletter is now posted for you to download. May trip reports are also now being posted, thanks for your patience! May 2, 2010 - Boreals at Moose Bog -New!
The highlights of the trip were most certainly the two male Spruce Grouse that we observed at close range. One individual (pictured on the right) strutted right past us within a few feet! Our other highlight Alas, the Gray Jays eluded us, and just the sounds of Boreal Chickadees were heard. But this will give us just one more reason to return to this quintessential Vermont birding locale.
After months of planning and fundraising, our group of 14 teens and adults were rewarded with a fantastic trip to the beautiful country of Nicaragua. Thanks to Planting Hope, our group experienced the incredible biodiversity of the country, as well as the wonderful culture and friendly people. Home-stays with families in the small town of San Ramon and field trips with Nicaragua teens made for an incredibly rich experience. Much of our time was spent watching wildlife shoulder to shoulder with Nica teens also passionate about nature and the environment! To learn more, read issue 4 or our newsletter and for photos, trip reports, and more, visit the trip website. March 28, 2010 - Bird Study Skins Workshop We began by looking at some of the many study skins in NBNC’s collection, many of which date back over 30 years. These pre-made specimens offered a chance to view beaks, feet, feathers, and other features up-close and see both common and rare birds in a new way. After viewing some specimens, we prepared to produce our own study skin. The Cooper’s Hawk we prepared had hit a window earlier in the month. While some might consider the act ’hard to stomach’, we got a good look at the internal and external body structure of a bird. While a bird’s needless demise is saddening, we were grateful to be able to teach and learn more about how birds live.
In keeping with the tradition of having winter events on cold days, we started birding at 5am with a howling wind and a bitter cold 6 degrees, but by the afternoon the sun was shining, the wind had died down, and it was in the 20's. We started the day whistling in an Eastern Screech-Owl, and for the next twelve straight hours, we searched high and low for every species of bird we could find. Our rarest species was a small group of Turkey Vultures (uncommon in winter) but our highlight was a beautiful red form Eastern Screech-Owl found by Nik and pictured on the right.
December 19, 2009 - Plainfield Christmas Bird Count As is often the case with our winter birding events, the coldest day of the year was aligned with the 50th annual Plainfield CBC. With starting temperatures of -11 F, and barely breaking above 0 (zero) by noon, it was harsh conditions. Yet, our youth component managed to locate some fantastic birds! The only Northern Shrike of the count was found by one of our youth participants in a suburban neighborhood near Barre. Even on the coldest of days, there are great birds just waiting to be discovered. November 23, 2009 - Big Day Attempt #1 When November hits, many birders put their binos away until the CBC's roll around, but today marked the first Vermont Big Day attempt by Feather Questers. From a strategical standpoint, the time of year was too late for most migrating breeders and too early for many migrating overwinterers, so we had our work cut out for us. The current November big day record stands at 60 species, as our group only managed to get 41. We did have great looks at some good birds, including Red-breasted Merganser, Horned Grebe, American Tree Sparrow, and Sharp-shinned Hawk to name a few. However, we didn't pick up many rare birds, and somehow managed to miss some common birds like American Robin and White-throated Sparrow (what's up with that!?) When all was said and done, we had a great time birding. And next November, we'll try again a little earlier in the month. (The list below is in order seen)
October 23, 2009 - Birding & Hawkwatching in the Champlain Valley A group of seven young birders spent a cool Friday in the Champlain Valley. Upon arrival to Dead Creek, we were greeted by a flock of at least 400 Red-winged Blackbirds, foraging amongst the recently mowed corn field near the goose viewing area. A Northern Harrier approached the flock, seemingly trying to hunt, but was chased off by the mobbing group of blackbirds. Later on, a Cooper's Hawk tried its luck and even managed to seperate a blackbird from the flock. It took several dives at it's prey, but in the end, it flew off with empty talons.
The air was cool and the sky clear as a group from Feather Questers gathered by a sugar shed in Addison. For many years, this has been a site where Northern Saw-whet Owls have been banded during their fall migration. Not many owls are caught when it is rainy, windy, or too bright. Conditions were perfect in the early evening and we were privileged to see the banding of four Saw-whets. To be able to view these common, yet seldom seen inhabitants of our own backyards was quite a treat. September 13, 2009 - Shorebirding the Champlain Valley It was an exciting day of birding for a small group that turned out for our fall shorebirding trip. We decided to forego a trip to the coast, and instead, stuck closer to home. While we only saw three species of shorebirds, our decision payed off with 51 other species, with the highlights including extended views of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Magnolia Warbler. A complete list is below:
July 18-19, 2009 - Bicknell's in the Mountaintops Our attempt at this trip last July was thwarted by weather, but this year proved to be a different story. We had a clear night on Saturday with a spectacular sunset and a foggy Sunday morning in which we observed Bicknell's Thrush at close distances as well as the other high-elevation species and more! A complete checklist from the trip can be found below:
June 20, 2009 - Peregrine Falcon Foray During our final organized monitoring day for the Marshfield Mountain Peregrines, we were treated to views of both adults in the same field-of-view in our telescopes! Although we didn't see any fledglings during our visit, we did see stray climbing gear within a close proximity of the perched adults. Such sightings are stark reminders that despite the past successes of this mating pair of falcons, without monitoring, conflicts with humans are still a threat. June 19, 2009 - NBNC Monitoring Walk #1 It was a moist morning for our first in a series of summer monitoring walks on our property, but some good birds were seen despite the weather. Highlights included fledgling American Robins, House Wrens entering a nest box with food and exiting with fecal sacs, and a Baltimore Oriole. Our complete list is below:
June 6, 2009 - NEK Beginner Bird Walk: Joe's Pond A group of young birders were treated to some excellent birds this morning. The highlight of the morning might have been the discovery of an American Kestrel nest cavity. Although the kestrels didn't enter the nest while the youths were there, we were treated to extended views of one kestrel feeding on a small rodent while the other called incessantly. May 9, 2009 - World Series of Birding
Fueled by caffeine and adrenaline, the “North Branch Noddies” managed to see and hear 156 different species of birds, topping their previous yea We also raised over $5,000 to support NBNC’s Youth Birding Program. Our team's total species count for the trip was 173 and icluded two dozen species of warblers (Northern Parula pictured above, photo by Sean Beckett) Other non-avian sightings included Box Turtle, Spotted Turtle, Common Five-lined Skink, Fowler's Toad, American Bullfrog, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, American Beauty and much, much more!
"The North Branch Noddies"
* bird found in Cape May but not during competition
A group of eight participants joined us for our first of a series of walks in partnership with NEK Audubon. It was a fair-weathered morning at the Blue Mountain School nature trails. Both male and female Red-winged Blackbirds are now present, calling away with Common Grackles as Tree Swallows circled overhead. Black-and-white Warblers, Northern Parulas and others were singing and a large flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers gleaned insects off the pines less than 10 feet from our group! Other non-avian highlights included basking Painted Turtles (7 on one log!) and a fully in-tact deer skeleton. April 13, 2009 - Tales from Texas - Installment 4 A new installment of Tales from Texas is now posted in which Alyssa explores sometimes shaky interactions with the public and poses some interesting issues and misconceptions that can occur when dealing with Golden-cheeked Warblers and their preferred ashe juniper habitat. April 11, 2009 - Peregrine Falcon Foray It was a beautiful day for our first Peregrine monitoring trip of the season. Roughly a dozen youths ventured into Groton State Forest hoping for the opportunity to view Peregrines at their nest. Although we didn't see any Peregrines, wildlife was abundant. Moose sign was plentiful, including fresh tracks, scat and fur. Butterflies were awing including Mourning Cloak and unidentified orange lepidoptera. Great Blue Herons were seen on the nest atop the cliffs at Marshfield Mountain. Our bird list is shown below:
April 1, 2009 - Tales from Texas - Installment 3 More "Tales from Texas" are now posted. Ever wonder how you tell two Golden-cheeked Warblers apart? Well, I don't want to spoil it, you'll just have to check out Installment 3 to find out. March 25, 2009 - Tales from Texas - Installment 2 The second installment is now posted, with lots of great info for anyone who ever wondered what it might be like to work in the field studying birds.
One of our former youth birders, Alyssa Borowske, is currently in Texas studying Golden-cheeked Warbers. Read her story, as it unfolds in Texas, by visiting our Discussion Forum. In some local news, an impromptu trip to Lake Champlain islands in search of ducks turned up migrants and rarities. Among the migrants, flocks of geese (Canada and Snow) were seen overhead traveling north. Other returning residents and passing migrants included Northern Pintail, Wood Duck, Northern Shoveler, Great Blue Heron, Ring-necked Duck, American Wigeon, Gadwall and more. Some winter ducks still remained, including roughly 1,000 Scaup, Common Goldeneye, and Bufflehead. Wild Turkey were also seen displaying. The highlight may have been a male Tufted Duck, a rare Eurasian stray which shows up almost yearly in Vermont. After two hours of birding, our total duck count was 15 species.
This weekend, our youth group (pictured on the right) competed in the Superbowl of Birding Competition, birding for twelve straight hours from 5AM to 5PM. We started the day with Eastern Screech-Owl and ended it with Snowy Owl and saw an amazing variety of birds in between. Although we ranked second in the youth division (winners are determined by a points system based on the difficulty of finding each species) we managed to see 59 species, more than any other youth team. Our team was also featured in an article in The Boston Globe. Our bird list for the day is below:
January 10, 2009 - Mid-Winter Bald Eagle Survey The recent trend of cold days for youth birding events continued today, but the full sun and lack of wind made for a comfortable day of birding. Our transect for the survey, which covered the Lower Winooski River (between Waterbury and Lake Champlain), was mostly frozen over and not productive for sighting any eagles. Although we didn't see eagles, winter finches were plentiful. Our group got views of Pine Siskins, Pine Grosbeaks (picture above), a Common Redpoll, and a White-winged Crossbill. Other highlights included a large flock of several hundred ducks, mostly Mallard, in which a Northern Pintail was spotted. December 14, 2008 - Plainfield Christmas Bird Count Another great year of the Christmas Chickadee Count... I mean the Christmas Bird Count. While Chickadees topped the list as most numerous again this year, highlights included Brown-headed Cowbirds spotted by our youth team, the first time they've been seen on the count in five years! Some other highlights included Hermit Thrush and Turkey Vulture, both first time sightings in the 49 years of the Plainfield CBC. The species total was 45, and complete results will be posted as soon as the compilation is complete. December 6, 2008 After numerous sightings of Snowy Owls during the week, a few teens went out on an imptomptu owl trip in search of the sought-after birds. We were successful, and maganged to see two Snowy Owls. Other raptors seen during the afternoon included Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk and Northern Harrier. A search for Short-eared Owls in Addison around dusk turned up empty.
November 15, 2008 - Coastal Birding at Cape Ann
Despite a forecast calling for terrentialdownpours and gale-force winds, we headed straight for the coast. Somehow, we still managed to get a dry but hazy day of birding. Even though visibility was poor, we managed to see 43 species, highlighted below. The most notable sighting had to be that of a Cave Swallow, which was only found in Massachussets for the first time in 2003. In recent years they have been sighted far outside their normal range in the fall. (One was also seen in Charlotte, VT that same weekend)
November 10, 2008 Local teen-birder Spencer Hardy was featured in an article in The Boston Globe, which discussed research he has been conducting on bird nests found on glacial ice high in the Andes. Spencer helped to discover that those nests belonged to White-winged Diuca Finch. Read more about Spencer's discovery of one of the most extreme breeders in the world. July 19, 2008 - Bicknell's Thrush at Killington A few brave teens set out despite a sketchy forecast in search of Bicknell's Thrush, and other high elevation species. Waking up at dawn didn't leave much time for our search. As impending rain clouds billowed towards us, we heard some Bick's, but saw none. After only a short search, we descended the mountain, getting thoroughly soaked on the way. After we reached level ground, and changed into some dry clothes, it was off to West Rutland Marsh, where we heard many Virginia Rail at our feet, but failed to spot the elusive birds. A cuckoo sp. was also seen flying accross the street. May 10, 2008 - The World Series of Birding NBNC teens competed for the eighth time since 1999 in the World Series of Birding competition in New Jersey. For 24-straight hours, we looked for and listened to every tweet and twitter of avian life in Cape May County. Hearing the Chuck-will's-widow at quarter-to-midnight, our team raced to the finish line, having seen or heard 154 species in the day, and ranking fifth in our division. In addition, we expect our team to have raised $5,000 for youth birding programs at NBNC. A complete checklist is below. Birds seen during the scouting day, but not the competition, include Black Skimmer, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Meadowlark.
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In this remote area of the Northeast Kingdom, participants got a chance to experience a hike in the boreal forests more typical of Canada than the US. Along with the unique forest came a unique set of birds whose ranges barely penetrate into New England. 
was a pair of Black-backed Woodpeckers excavating a nest cavity (pictured on left). The birds were spotted by one of our youth participants as we were in the cars getting ready to leave!
April 16-26, 2010- Naturally Nicaragua!
Montpelier, VT
January 30, 2010 - Superbowl of Birding VII
While our species count was down from last year, we had many new species and, most imporantly, had a great time. Winter finches have not been prevelant this year and a strong west wind made finding alcids difficult. Ground birds such as Horned Lark and Snow Bunting were absent as well. But some new finds for us included Red-necked Grebe, Red-throated Loon, Northern Shrike, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. In this competition, birds are ranked by difficulty to find (1 point being easiest and 5 points being hardest). In our complete species list is shown below, 2-pointers appear in bold, 3-pointers are bold and in caps, and our 5-pointer is bold, caps, and italicized: 
Other highlights from the day included several thousand Snow Geese flying overhead and congregating at the far ends of the fields. American Pipits and Green-winged Teal were plentiful, being seen in several locations. Yellow-rumped Warblers were seen as well as several unidentified shorebirds. In only 20 minutes hawkwatching at Mt. Philo, we saw at least 20 raptors including Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk and Red-shouldered Hawk. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was that we saw three species of reptiles! (it never got over 45 degrees F) The Red-bellied Snake (pictured right) was a first record for Addison as indicated by the Vermont Reptile & Amphibian Atlas. See below for a complete checklist from our trip: 
October 10, 2009 - Saw-whet Banding at Snake Mountain
Killington, VT
As a new twist to this annual competition, in which NBNC has participated since 1999, our team was comprised of 'alumni' youth birders, who have participated in past programs and are now pursuing higher education. For 24-hours, we birded non-stop across Cape May County. 
r’s total. While the Noddies placed fourth in their division of the competition, they found more rare and unusual birds than ever before including Black-necked Stilt (pictured right) and Swallow-tailed Kite. 
May 2, 2009 - NEK Birding Walk
March 22, 2009 - Tales from Texas - new Online Journal! 
January 24, 2009 - The Superbowl of Birding VI
- Owl Prowl 