Hello Vermont Birders:

Todd Day and I spent a few midday hours hitting spots in northern Addison
County primarily looking for shorebirds yesterday. We found eight shorebird
species and a lot of Wood Ducks along the way.

Our first stop was Bristol Pond boat access in hopes of spotting Sandhill
Cranes.  No luck on the cranes but we met some canoeists who said they saw
them (two adults, two young) a couple days ago.  Cranes or not, I highly
recommend checking out this location.  There is a huge patch of spotted
jewelweed opposite the boat launch area.  It was simply buzzing with
hummingbirds.  I confidently tallied 22 in view at one time (the actual
number was probably double that).  Neither one of us could recall seeing
such a concentration away from a feeding station.

Our next stop was the confluence of Dead Creek and Otter Creek in
Ferrisburgh.  Despite the extensive mudlfats, we did not spot a single
shorebird.

The shoreline at Button Bay Boat Access was another story.  It is off
Button Bay Road, just south of the state park, in Ferrisburgh.  The lake
edge here is primo habitat right now and birds are responding. Without
walking the length of the bayshore, we were able to spot:
Semipalmated Plover  9
Killdeer  24
Spotted Sandpiper  6
Greater Yellowlegs  3
Lesser Yellowlegs  17
Semipalmated Sandpiper  21
Least Sandpiper  112
and over 500 Ring-billed Gulls

From Button Bay, we headed to Panton.  When I first moved to VT almost a
year ago, Slang Road was the place to be for shorebirds. This year "that"
field is covered with soybeans.

At Stone Bridge Dam, at the end of West Road, we found another nice
concentration of shorebirds:
Semipalmated Plover  5
Killdeer  6
Spotted Sandpiper  11
Solitary Sandpiper  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  9
Least Sandpiper  108

Of note, all the sandpipers were juveniles at this point.

Good birding,

Eric Hynes
Hinesburg