Hi Greg,

There are some tricks to locating Sedge Wrens, but many of the sightings 
seem to occur on private property which makes access difficult.

Sedge Wrens have two spatially and temporally distinct breeding 
seasons.  First, they breed further north (Quebec, etc.), migrate south 
(e.g., Vermont), and breed again.  So, you shouldn't really start to look 
for them seriously until about mid-July.  (Note that we do get some passing 
through on their way north in late May and early June).  They are quite 
nomadic, and we seem to get more birds when we have a wetter summer.  So, 
if things really start to dry out in late June, I wouldn't spend a lot of 
time looking for them.  I couldn't find any at several "traditional" spots 
last summer, which was on the dry side.  In the first year of the Atlas, 
which was quite wet, I think I found them in 4 places.  The best habitat 
seems to be hayfields that grade into wetlands where reed canary grass 
predominates.  Although I have never seen them at this exact spot, if you 
are driving past Shelburne Pond on 116, look at the grassy east of the 
cattails on the west side of the road.  Similarly, the area west of Rt. 7 
along the Mallett's Creek wetlands.  These are "classic" Vermont Sedge Wren 
habitat.  Unfortunately, we seem to have a lot more habitat than we have 
Sedge Wrens.

Allan

At 07:31 AM 6/15/2008 -0400, you wrote:
>Can anyone recommend locations in the Champlain Valley for Sedge Wrens? I
>guess they were seen in 9 blocks this past breeding bird survey. Any tips on
>locating these birds in Vermont will be greatly appreciated.
>Thanks,
>Greg
>Vergennes



*******************************************************************
Allan M. Strong
University of Vermont
The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources
347 Aiken Center
Burlington, VT 05405
802-656-2910
*******************************************************************