My two previous blog posts presented photos of birds in the Upper Valley, first in Vermont and then in New Hampshire. For this one I return to Vermont and show photos of birds at two sites 70 miles apart.
Birding with Bill in Boltonville
I attended what I believe was the 23th Annual “Birding with Bill in Boltonville” event May 20. This was my fourth. Bill is Bill Shepard, creator of the Connecticut River Birding Trail maps. Boltonville is part of Newbury, VT. We walked along the Wells River Rail Trail, a beautiful area with lots of diversity.
Here is part of the group at a spot near the Wells River. Bill is second from the left, pointing.
Along the trail we saw and heard many Veery.
There is a nice marsh along the trail.
An Eastern Kingbird seemed to be building a nest or gathering material for a nest behind the very top of a stump out in the water.
Another Kingbird was teed up on the other side of the marsh.
Song Sparrows are very common. Most of the time I do not bother to take a photo, but this one posed so nicely for so long, I could not resist.
Bill was lamenting the absence of Magnolia Warblers this spring. I continued along the trail when the group stopped to look at something, as shown in the group photo above. And I found one! Sadly, I was the only one to see it. It was gone when the group arrived.
I was able to photograph a Yellow Warbler that was not too high in a tree.
I do not like to photograph birds when looking almost straight up, but sometimes that is all that is available, as with this Yellow-rumped Warbler.
I heard, then saw a Least Flycatcher. For a simple brown bird, it is very pretty.
There was a Chestnut-sided Warbler singing near where we parked.
Then it scratched an itch.
Not to be outdone, a Gray Catbird was singing nearby.
And then it flew.
North Springfield Dam
I heard that Prairie Warblers were somewhat common along the “Airport Fence Trail” near the North Springfield Dam. So I headed down the river to see if I could find and photograph this beautiful warbler. I was not disappointed. Here is a slide show of some of the photos I was able to get of the Prairie Warblers I found.
I was able to photograph three other warbler species in the area. I found a Chestnut-sided Warbler in the same tree as a Prairie Warbler.
And I managed a photo of a Common Yellowthroat.
I found a Yellow Warbler with interesting fine “threads” coming from its head.
Here are four more photos of Yellow Warblers from along the fence trail.
I found a Chipping Sparrow gathering material for its nest.
And in the fields, a Field Sparrow. Perhaps it was doing the same, or is that an insect in its bill?
A bit south of the main trail, I found an American Robin on an exhaust pipe.
And on the airport fence an Eastern Bluebird.
I was carrying only one real camera, so I used my iPhone to photograph Mount Ascutney from the trail.
An Osprey soared high overhead, a nice climax to a great two hours. I’ll have to go back sometime.
