Memories by Maeve
As a birthday gift, Bernie gave me two nights at Shore Acres Inn, a home base for solo birding and walking in The Champlain Islands.
I lived in Vermont for over twenty years before I was fully aware of the Champlain Islands. After my first birding day there, I was hooked! The nearness of the lake no matter where you are, the small towns, the twisting back roads, the open farm fields, towns, farmland, swamps and marshes, areas dense woods and miles and miles of shoreline - All that diverse habitat means lots and lots of birds, over 300 species and counting.
Click on the blue links for each section to see a list of birds that Bernie and I have seen at each location!
Good birding starts before actually getting to the islands. Just drive slowly along Route 2 along Sandbar Wildlife Management Area, looking into the many acres of water and wetlands. This is an important migratory stopover for waterfowl in the spring and fall, and one of the most productive waterfowl breeding sites in the state, supporting Black Ducks, Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, and Wood Ducks. And people from all over come to ogle the nesting Ospreys.
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| This female did NOT want anyone taking her photo! |
Sand Bar State Park is open all year, the road and parking lots are plowed, and the port-o-let is clean and serviced. I've seen over seventy species of birds in the park, all during spring, fall and winter.
One of our favorite spring migration sights was a Wilson's Snipe right beside the parking lot!
The southernmost island, reached by driving across the Sand Bar causeway, is 14 miles long and over 3 miles wide, making it the largest in Lake Champlain. It's sometimes called Grand Isle and sometimes called South Hero because it’s shared by those two towns.
Not far from the causeway is the Landon Community Trail. There’s a good-sized gravel parking lot with an informational kiosk and a loop trail that's about a mile long.
Even with a fierce cold wind, I enjoyed over twenty species of birds.
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| American Redstart (a type of warbler) |
I was busy watching a singing American Redstart when my eye was caught by movement almost at my feet. A Veery walked within six feet before suddenly realizing that I wasn't some sort of shrub.
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| Veery (a kind of thrush) |
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| Landon Community Trail |
Just outside the town of South Hero are two birding "hotspots".
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| A little pond on Tracy Road often has a surprising variety of ducks and herons. |
The nearby South Hero Marsh Trail (also called the Roy Marsh Trail) is straight and flat, about two miles along a former railroad bed. Osprey nest along the power line cut and soar overhead. And Black-crowned Night-herons are regular nesters in the swamp.
There truly is something called “island time”. I start living on island time as soon as I cross over onto North Hero. Traffic becomes less and goes slower and vistas open up more. I breathe more deeply. I relax. And I head for two of my favorite places in the whole state: North Hero State Park and Pelot's Point Natural Area.
Less than ten minutes from Shore Acres is Pelot’s Natural Area.
This has become one of our favorite places on the islands. The diverse habitats are peaceful and beautiful, the trails are well-defined, and there are many, many birds. Bernie and I have seen or heard a total of 77 species at Pelot's!
Here are some photos of this wonderful spot.
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| fossil |
text by Maeve, most of the photos by Bernie
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