Today's monitoring walk around West Rutland Marsh, our 124th, was memorable for several reasons. Fifteen participants enjoyed the 'tropical' weather while tallying 27 species. This is 11 more than last year's November walk and considerably more than our historical average of 18!
Included among these species were American Tree Sparrow (2) and Pine Siskin (7). A Wilson's Snipe was flushed from near the boardwalk.
The highlight of the day was our own murmuration of starlings - about 1,200 swirling back and forth against the sky with the added excitement of a Cooper's Hawk swooping through.
As often happens we were distracted by things non-avian including identification of the abundance of fruit at the marsh, numerous butterflies (Sulphurs), and two snakes - a Garter and a Ring-necked. A photo of the Ring-necked Snake can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rutlandcountyaudubon/6332205243/in/photostream
American Black Duck 2
Mallard 6
Common Merganser 3
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Wilson's Snipe 1
Rock Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 3
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 8
Black-capped Chickadee 21
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Robin 42
European Starling 1200 chased by a Cooper's hawk
American Tree Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco 5
Common Grackle 12
Brown-headed Cowbird 19
House Finch 10
Pine Siskin 7
American Goldfinch 20
House Sparrow 7
The next marsh walk is scheduled for Saturday, December 10, at 8 a.m.
Sue Elliott
http://www.rutlandcountyaudubon.org
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