Just a quick note in case anybody decides to enjoy New Year's Day by birding along Lake Champlain before the snow starts.  I stopped at the pier in Port Henry this afternoon (31 Dec 2007) and saw what I think is the largest accumulation of waterfowl that I've ever seen on Lake Champlain.  Close to the ice edge on the New York side were 300 COMMON GOLDENEYE, and then a bit south, in the middle of the lake, there were eventually what I would estimate to be 1,000 COMMON MERGANSERS (more than 90% males).  There were also two adult BALD EAGLES right by the mergansers.  But, the truly impressive sight was a massive flock of COMMON GOLDENEYE and SCAUP on the Vermont side of the lake.  I would roughly estimate the flock size to be at least 5,000 individuals.  COMMON GOLDENEYE definitely appeared to be the dominant species, but the flock was too distant to get a feel for flock percentages or look for rarities like Barrow's Goldeneye or Tufted Duck.  I hope others
 can get out and take a closer look at this impressive flock, to get a better feel for numbers and species composition. 

The pier in Port Henry is located just north of the village, at the end of Dock Lane, which is off of Main Street.  The coordinates are 44 deg 03 min 00 sec N and 73 deg 27 min 02 sec W.  The ice edge on the lake basically ends right at the pier, which is about 1.8 miles northwest of the Crown Point bridge (as the merganser flies).  Does anybody know of any good access points on the Vermont side of the lake in this area?

Good birding,
Matt Medler