Members of an OLLI class called "From Wetlands to Dry Lands - Birds Are Everywhere!" took a field trip to a local site that features three kinds of wet lands (river, marsh and lake).
Delta Park in Colchester is an Important Bird Area (or IBA), an Audubon designation for a location that has either globally threatened bird species or species with restricted ranges or breeding habitats.
It was COLD!! And WINDY!!
Some birders were completely unrecognizable.
And everybody wore layers and layers and layers!
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| photo by Barbara Mines |
Delta Park is small but packed with beauty: sand, saplings, shrubs, cattails, reeds, trees, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondacks in the distance.
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| photo by Barbara Mines |
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| photo by Barbara Mines |
The nearby bike path gave us great (but windy!) views of the wetlands and the mouth of the Winooski.
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| photo by Barbara Mines |
Scores of gulls greeted us with loud cries.
In the next photo, the second bird from the right looks like it has an oddly long and straight bill -
but it was actually a stick that it carried with it as it flew!
It was definitely more like winter birding than spring birding, except that many of the birds we saw were newly-returned migrants that had spent the winter months far south of here.
A Belted Kingfisher flew by, a FOY (first-of-year) bird for all of us!
Squadrons of Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles filled the skies.
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| Grackle - by Barbara Mines |
Song Sparrows sang from the wooded areas. Green-winged Teal huddled on the lake shore. (The next two photos are by Barbara.)
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| Green-winged Teal using a Canada Goose's bulk as a shield against the frigid wind. |
This goose gave us an unusual view of its beautiful tail.
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| photo by Barbara Mines |
We also saw mallards and gorgeous Wood Ducks, the males looking like floating rainbows.
Another sign of spring was this Black-capped Chickadee, repeatedly diving into a hole in a birch tree and removing beakfuls of rotting wood - maybe excavating a nesting hole!
The final bird of the trip was a feisty Carolina Wren who scolded us repeatedly from trees right next to the parking lot.
A cold but beautiful birding expedition!
OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) is a nationwide adult learning program using college campuses. Check out their website for upcoming events, including more of Maeve's classes and field trips!
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