After a spring and summer of very little bird photography—many other photo projects demanded attention—I spent the two mornings of Veterans Day Weekend birding, first with the Windsor County Quest then visiting a few spots in the Upper Valley that interesting birds had also been visiting.
Yesterday began in the early morning gloom near the Norwich Post Office. Sure enough the Pine Grosbeaks were hard at work trying to rid the trees of berries. These 20 or so birds were so tame you could walk right up to them.
The next stop was Woodstock where I met Bob who had also come looking for Horned Larks in the corn fields below the waste water treatment plant. Together we searched the corn stubble, hearing but not seeing. Then when I got too close, still without seeing them, a group became airborne. It is amazing how well camouflaged these birds are. There were three Snow Buntings with the group of 15-20 Horned Larks. It was very hard to get close enough for a photo.
Back at our cars we noticed a pair of female Common Merganser near a large group of Mallards somewhat upstream. I headed over to check them out as Bob left to see the Pine Grosbeaks in Norwich. I wished him luck, though I doubted he needed it to see those birds.
I made a few photos of the merganser swimming when they decided to head downstream by air. I was fortunate to be able to get a few shots as they flew by. These photos were taken panning on a tripod.
Next I planned to head to Main Street Pond in Enfield where Bob MCQuade of Red Roof Frame Shop had told me some Buffleheads had been hanging out. He sent me a great photo of a pair of them Saturday afternoon, so I had to go and try my luck. But I decide to swing by Kilowatt South first even though I “knew” that any ducks on the Connecticut River would be way too far away for photography. I was right, but I did get to photograph an American Tree Sparrow that was in a group of 6.
I finally headed to my main destination for the day, the “pond” along Main Street in Enfield. I would have gone there first but I wanted good light for the beautiful ducks I expected to find there. Sure enough they didn’t disappoint.
There were two male and ten female Buffleheads present. They stayed near the middle of the small pond, seemingly sensitive to hikers and joggers on the beautiful Sunday morning.
On Saturday I wandered the area around Lake Runnemede in Windsor Vermont with a group of 20 led by George Clark and Chris Rimmer. It was a beautiful day, and we saw many species of birds, but none close enough for a decent photo. Here is the group trying to spot a bird.
Below is a brief slide show of the birders with one red-tail flyby over the river.
