VERMONT'S BEAUTIFUL WINTER BIRDS - Part Two: Away from Your Feeders

Part One of Vermont's Beautiful Winter Birds was all about the winter beauties we Vermonters might see at our backyard bird feeders. But many other birds hang out in the state's agricultural fields and on our lakes and rivers.

Snow Bunting

Let's start with little birds. Snow Buntings, Horned Larks and the much less-common Lapland Longspurs frequent agricultural areas and the sides of dirt roads. 

Horned Lark - photo by Ken Copenhaver

Lapland Longspur - photo by Julie Filiberti

A folk name for Snow Buntings used to be "Snow Flakes" - and they can really look like a blizzard, swirling over a snowy field. Once they land, they seem to disappear entirely.

But sometimes these little birds are easy to see! Bernie and I once saw 250 or more Snow Buntings, along with a few each of the other two species, basking in a relatively warm mini-climate caused by sun on a pile of black tires. 

And now to much larger birds!

Red-tailed Hawks are often seen soaring high in the sky at mid-day, when the sun has warmed up the ground and there are nice thermals aloft. They’re also often seen on power poles and trees along major highways. 

Red-tailed Hawk attacking Great Horned Owl - photo by Sarah Rosedahl

Northern Harriers are rarely seen perched. They’re either floating over fields and marshes and grasslands, looking for prey – or they’re hunkered down on something they’ve just caught. This rich brown bird is a female. Males are much smaller and are colored gray, white and black. 

Northern Harrier - photo by Marc Beerman

Rough-legged Hawks are here in the northeast from November through March only. By late March or so, these handsome hawks have departed for their breeding grounds in the Arctic. In the winter, they’re most often seen in the Champlain Valley, hunting the fields in Addison County. 

Rough-legged Hawk - photo by Josh Lincoln

Vermont's three falcons can also be seen during the winter: American Kestrels; Merlins, which are a bit bigger and considerably darker: and Peregrine Falcons. A good place to look for Peregrine Falcons is atop barns or silos, where they might be on the lookout for pigeons or starlings.

American Kestrel - photo by Peter Swaine

Adult Bald Eagles are unmistakable, with their bright white heads and tails. Immatures are just as big, but they’re dark brown and streaky. Bald Eagles of any age often fly with almost perfectly flat wings. These huge birds sometimes congregate near ice fisherman, waiting for some bait to be tossed their way. 

Bald Eagles

In the winter, Vermont's lakes are often crowded with diving ducks, dabbling ducks, loons and grebes. 

Mallard drake

Dabblers are ducks that tip up to get food that's not far below the surface of the water. Mallards are the most common dabbling duck, often joined by a few American Black Ducks. 

female Mallard

Male and female Black Ducks look somewhat like female Mallards, but Mallards have much yellower bills.

American Black Duck

 

Lake Champlain has very large flocks - called "rafts" - of diving ducks from November through March. The most common are scaup - an odd word that derives from an old Scottish term for "mussel bed" because mussels and oysters are the favorite food of these ducks. Greater and Lesser Scaup look very similar. Birders need a lot of experience, and a lot of time with a good field guide, to be confident about identification.

Scaup - photo by John Sutton

Common Goldeneyes, on the other hand, are easy to ID. Males have rich black-and-white patterning on their sides, with heads that can appear black or glossy green. Females have brown heads with mottled gray wings and backs. Both sexes have the diagnostic golden eyes that gave the species its name.

Common Goldeneye female

Common Goldeneye male

Buffleheads are North America’s smallest diving duck. The size and shape of the white patch on the drake’s head changes depending on how excited or agitated or defiant or aggressive - or amorous - he’s feeling. Females are overall dark with much smaller white patches just below the eye.

Bufflehead - photo by Joe DeMarte

Mergansers used to be called “saw-bills” because they have serrated bills. They eat mostly fish - and fish are slippery. Two kinds of mergansers are often seen during Vermont winters: Common Mergansers and  the smaller Hooded Mergansers. The females of both species are mostly brown and gray, with messy brown hair-dos.

Common Merganser female

Common Merganser male

Hooded Mergansers - males and female

Winter-time bird-lovers might also see geese, both Canada Geese and Snow Geese. Canada Geese used to all head south in late autumn, but more and more are choosing to overwinter in the north country.

Snow Geese often don’t return north until March, but there might be a few around now.

Common Loons can also be seen in many Vermont bodies of water during the winter. I think everyone recognizes loons in summer plumage, resplendent in deep black and crisp white. But loons change their plumage in the winter, and their gray colors blend extremely well with the icy waters. 

Common Loon in winter plumage

And whenever you’re near the water, you’re almost sure to see some gulls! The most common winter gulls here in Vermont are Ring-billed Gulls – with yellow legs and, of course, with that neat ring on the bill.

Herring Gulls are the second most common. These much bigger gulls have pink legs and a dot of red on the bill. 

Gulls present unique identification challenges because they go through several different plumages as they age. So any group might have mostly white birds side by side with birds that are mottled tan and white.

And we can see big black birds during Vermont winters!

Common Raven

Sometimes it’s hard to be sure if you’re seeing a raven or a crow. Or, if it's a crow, whether it's an American Crow or a Fish Crow. If the bird makes a noise, there’s no question! American Crows really do say “caw caw”. Fish Crows are much less common, and they make a staccato “eh eh” as if they’re disagreeing with something. 

American Crow

Ravens have a wide variety of noises from deep noises that can be heard for more than a mile, to gurgling croaks, to harsh grating noises, to loud knocks, even to a sound like a typewriter spacebar – if anyone remembers that noise! If the bird isn’t making any noise, look for a raven’s long slightly pointed wings, a fairly long wedge-shaped tail, and – if you’re close enough – a shaggy-looking throat. 

We hope everyone enjoys the winter birds of backyards, towns, cities and neighborhoods - and the winter birds of fields, woods and water! 

text by Maeve, most of the photos by Bernie, others by generous members of the birding community