A great day of birding in the Champlain Valley – but the Bird of the Day wasn’t a duck, raptor, lark or bunting. While I was looking at ducks at DAR (along with a birder from NY and two birders from Minnesota), a bird that looked like it didn’t belong there flew between me and the lake. My brain started scrambling for odd vagrants that could explain the shape and size and came up with Varied Thrush. Then the bird landed and gave two of us extended looks – and it was a Hermit Thrush! (With the over-wintering Yellow-Rumped Warbler last year and this thrush now, DAR is becoming a little sanctuary for critters that just don’t feel like migrating.)

Maeve Kim
Jericho Center