Miraculously it did not rain on today's six
participants in Rutland County Audubon's West
Rutland Marsh walk. 61 species were seen and/or
heard.

The highlight was a yellow-billed cuckoo bringing
our species list to 118 for this monthly event!
Two black-billed cuckoos were also heard.

Great blue herons(5) were seen flying either to
the marsh or in the direction of the herony
located north of the marsh. Red-tailed hawks(4)
and one male northern harrier were seen.

Numerous marsh wrens(7) and swamps sparrows(14)
were heard as well as many yellow warblers(21)
and common yellowthroats(15). Alder
flycatchers(4) and willow flycatchers(5) were
heard.

Nesting is well underway for the eastern
kingbirds, warbling vireos and Baltimore orioles
observed nest-building during last month's walk.

The variety of habitats besides cattail marsh at
the West Rutland Marsh IBA was evident today.
Along Whipple Hollow Road birds included winter
wren, wood thrush, Nashville warbler,
black-throated green warbler, black-and-white
warbler, Canada warbler, white-throated sparrow,
purple finch and dark-eyed junco.

Bobolinks(3) and a field sparrow(1) were heard in
the unmowed farm fields.

Sue Elliott
http://www.rutlandcountyaudubon.org



__________________________________
Discover Yahoo!
Get on-the-go sports scores, stock quotes, news and more. Check it out!
http://discover.yahoo.com/mobile.html