Boreal Birds - NEK VT Moose Bog & Victory Basin

Birders talk about going to the Northeast Kingdom and getting a boreal trifecta (seeing three species of boreal birds in one day) or a boreal Grand Slam (four boreal species). On Thursday, with the help of NEK birding expert Tom Berriman, we had a BOREAL BONANZA!

We watched a Spruce Grouse preening, only a few yards from us, apparently oblivious to our presence.

We enjoyed Black-backed Woodpeckers - plural.

 

We had brought with us peanuts and sunflower seeds, and Gray Jays rewarded us by flocking around us and eating from our hands.

We saw White-winged Crossbills, first quick flyovers at Moose Bog and then in the road and on a tree at Victory Basin.

We saw a sad sight along River Road in Victory: a male and female crossbill dead in the road, obviously having been hit by a car.  

Tom said the birds often come down to dirt roads and pick up small pieces of gravel with their tongues. Because the species evolved in tundra areas further north, with few roads, few people and very few vehicles, they don’t seem to notice oncoming cars as potentially dangerous.

We never got a good look at a Boreal Chickadee, though we heard them in several locations. We were just too entranced by the other birds that seemed so comfortable with us, birds that went on with their daily lives and granted us the privilege of watching. 

The three of us practiced slow birding, moving carefully and quietly, stopping in one place and letting nature get used to our presence.

First, we spent five hours at Moose Bog. (Tom: Five hours. Three-quarters of a mile. Bernie: Walk less. Bird more.) Then we drove to Victory where we spent another two-plus hours.  

Vermont’s only boreal habitat is found in the NEK. The area is characterized by spruce/fir forests, bogs and wetlands, sphagnum moss, moose and wildness. 

The NEK's boreal habitat provides breeding territory for several species that are more common further north, in Canada. 

We found the area full of a unique beauty: the bare snags, the hundreds of spider webs, the dark and mossy forest.

(There's a bird in the above photo - one that Bernie didn't notice when he was taking the picture! We think we're watching them. But they're watching us!)

Insect-eating pitcher plants are common at Moose Bog.

Our day started with a spectacular sunrise along Newark Road, near where we’d stayed. 

The rest of the day lived up to its promise!

 
 One of the joys of birding is viewing bird behavior!

Magnolia Warbler in fall plumage

Thanks so much to Tom, whose expertise, enthusiasm, good eye and amazing ear for bird calls gave us a day we won't forget!

For your reference:
Wenlock Wildlife Management Area and Moose Bog

Birding Vermont's Moose Bog, by Bryan Pfeiffer

Vermont Birds and Words

Lake Champlain's Floating Lab - UVM Melosira

Birders spend their time in nature, surrounded by nature. Many of us get interested in dragonflies, or butterflies, or wild flowers. Most become passionate advocates for habitat protection and conservation. Yesterday, we learned about protecting a very special habitat, Lake Champlain.

We went out on the UVM research vessel Melosira 

to learn about biological, chemical and physical measurements made by limnologists (people who study inland waters). 

Maeve tried her hand at steering the boat - while we were still docked!

While Captain Steve motored out into the lake, Kris and Amelia from the Rubenstein Science Lab told the group about the geology and formation of Lake Champlain and its extensive watershed.

The boat stopped and everyone on board used instruments for various measurements. 

The CTD measures conductivity, temperature and depth - and costs $20,000!

Readings from the CTD were fed into a computer program and graphed. The lake temperature was about 72-74 degrees for the first fifty feet down, then precipitously dropped to 42 degrees. 

Here's a much less high-tech tool. This little girl was gathering water samples so we could all look at plankton under microscopes.

The cruise was part of the Rubenstein Lab's outreach program, one of three public outings this summer. 

The many children aboard were serious and focused on the scientific tasks.

Even the adults were enthusiastic!

Other public outreach initiatives include classes at ECHO and local schools, providing hands-on learning about the lake to students and their teachers.

Scientists at the Lab also meet with fishermen, officials at marinas and water treatment plants, and people who own lakeshore property to encourage responsible boating and run-off management. One recent success was a change in filters at the Burlington water treatment facility that resulted in an immediate decrease in the quantity of microfibers reaching the lake.

 

We didn't spend a whole morning without noticing birds! Here's a mallard-domestic duck hybrid seen along the waterfront.

Here's just a little bit of the vast amount of information we learned from Kris, Amelia and Steve on the cruise.

Lake Champlain is the sixth biggest lake in the United States, after the five Great Lakes. 

Vermont's own Great Lake is 120 miles long and 12 miles across at the widest point. The depth reaches 400' deep near the Charlotte-to-Essex ferry route, at the site of an ancient tectonic slip. Most of the lake is much more shallow, and problems with water quality are greater in the shallowest areas such as Missisquoi Bay, Malletts Bay and St. Albans Bay.

Lake Champlain has a much higher ratio of adjacent land to water than the five Great Lakes, so it receives a greater amount of run-off from surrounding mountains, cities, suburbs, forests and farmlands. 

Kris noted that agriculture often gets the blame for lake pollution but in reality, acre for acre, urban areas put more algae-feeding nutrients into the lake than farms. Vermont has much more agricultural land than urban land, though, so the aggregate effect is higher for farmland.

The Lake Champlain Land Trusts web site also offers more information about Lake Champlain.