Coincidentally, I was at Wright Park this morning too and saw the very 
same horde of feasting Goldfinches. I didn't have any of the raptor 
dramatics that Ian did, but I did mange to dig a Northern Waterthush 
and Red-eyed Vireo out of the flock. Further along the trails I found a 
Nashville Warbler and a Pied-billed Grebe on the Otter Creek. I also 
had a brief glimpse of what might have been a juvenile Cape May Warbler 
in a pod of Chickadees and Titmice, but didn't get a good enough look 
to confirm it. 

Full checklist:
http://ebird.org/ebird/vt/view/checklist?subID=S11538304

  --
Ron Payne
Middlebury, VT

On Fri, 7 Sep 2012 20:25:17 -0400, "Ian A. Worley" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I had an hour to "waste" at lunch time today so I went to Wright Park. 
> When I arrived some 60 Goldfinch were busily lunching on weed seeds 
> in the meadow at the head of the trail, while a number of recent 
> fledglings were begging and jiggling new wings from the branches of 
> shrubs and saplings. 
>
> Peace turned to chaos as low from the east a Harrier jumped the 
> lunchers, zooming about among the shrubs scattering the Golden crowd 
> like crumbs in an gale.  No catch was made. 
>
> An hour later, returning to the car I again found the chattering 
> finches, paused to listen, when a Merlin exploded at full speed into 
> the flock, darting, dashing, swerving, jinking ... always with three 
> or four panicking golden darts right in striking distance scurrying 
> for their lives while the rest flew in all directions like sparkler 
> sparks on the 4th.  Moments later, in some grasses between two 
> shrubs, the Merlin was munching on its lunch. 
>
> The full species list is at: 
> http://ebird.org/ebird/vt/view/checklist/email?subID=S11538774
>
> Ian
>
>