VTBIRD automatic digest system wrote:

>
>------------------------------
>
>Date:    Tue, 3 Jan 2006 18:41:43 -0500
>From:    Kim Likakis <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Boreal Chickadee in Bennington
>
>  
>
>>Do Boreal Chickadee's nest in Bennington, Windham or Rutland Counties?  Or
>>is this bird simply a winter visitor?  This may be a Chickadee flight year
>>with several New England CBC's showing records or at least Unusually high
>>numbers of Black-Capped Chickadee's and in at least one case in Central
>>Mass., a Boreal as well.  Boreals are most often found out of range during
>>these flight years.
>>    
>>
>
>Will, the Parid population has been so high around here for 2005 that I
>would have a very hard time guessing if anything Black-capped was
>irruptive.  As for Boreals, I'd sure like to hear from others but there are
>no nesting records in the previous VBBA (1976-1981) for southernmost
>Vermont (that I could see) and I've certainly never heard of any from other
>sources.
>
>Year 2005 also brought marked increases in both nuthatch numbers down here,
>and I'm also seeing the most bodacious flocks of waxwings (cedar) seen in
>probably four or five years.  Still waiting on the siskins and redpolls.
>
>Kim L.
>
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>
>  
>

Boreals documented by the current VBBA effort (from this summer's 
block-busting?)
are all in the Northeast Kingdom as far as I can tell by playing 
place-name-recognition with
the block list for this species (from http://www.uvm.edu/~vbba):

Averill Lake - 6        CO
Bloomfield - 2             PO
Bloomfield - 3             CO
Caspian Lake - 3       PR
Gallup Mills - 5       CO
Island Pond - 1       PO
Maidstone Lake - 2       PO
Monadnock Mountain - 3       PO
Monadnock Mountain - 6       OB
Norton Pond - 6       PO
Seneca Mountain - 5       CO
Spectacle Pond - 2       PR
Stannard - 1             PO

(sorry about the formatting!)

Interestingly, only 4 of these are among the 2-dozen or so blocks where the
species was found during the 1976 atlas.

(The Patuxent BBA map viewer doesn't appear to be as up-to-date for 
Vermont as it
shows no BOCH records for the current atlas.... but try this link for 
maps of BBA results:  http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bba/index.cfm)

A quick check of VT eBird shows a few records from Windsor county in 
addition
to expected NEK observations, but they are (barely) out of the breeding 
season
(early May & November).

OK, that's it for my online birding today....

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Ernest W. Buford
 Rubenstein School of Environment
   and Natural Resources
 University of Vermont
 Burlington, VT  05405
 (802) 656-3324
 http://www.uvm.edu/envnr/sal/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~