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I've been doing a duckling brood count in the Missisquoi Refuge, in Cranberry Pool (off Dead Creek) - not many ducklings but great birding nevertheless, with both American and least bitterns, nesting osprey, nesting black terns, great blue herons, etc. Yesterday evening I watched an immature bald eagle for over 40 minutes as it stood on a large fallen log in the water eating something. It looked half-way between the second year and third year pictures in Sibley's: rich brown, white below its nape, mottled white on wings, quite a bit of mottled white on its belly, a quite definite eyestripe. Its feet and legs looked very yellow against the dark log. I also saw an immature black-billed cuckoo, so they must be nesting there. As we were kayaking out Dead Creek toward the Missisquoi, a bird flew from a downed tree that lay in the water, headed downstream and into a tall deciduous tree and I couldn't find it again. We saw it only from the back, unfortunately, but the impression was of dark brown and white wings with a clear pattern of brown or brownish black near the body and at the ends with a large patch of white in the middle. It flew with strong beats and no glides but may have done a swoop or dip right before entering the big tree. The bird was probably between jay and kingfisher in size (hard to be sure from that angle). I'm completely stumped. Red-headed woodpecker? There?? I have a feeling that there's more than one birder out there who will read about the wing pattern and immediately know what the bird was. Thanks! Maeve Kim Jericho Center