What a fantastic spring day: warm, sunny, blue skies; mud rutted back roads; sap buckets hangng; and birds beginning to do what they do at this time of year. Today I hit several spots mostly on the VT side of the river between Springfield and Vernon. First stop, 0915: Springweather Nature Area in Weathersfield. My expectation was possibly seeing Bald Eagle activity at the nest that has been used off and on over the past years but has yet to produce any fledgling eagles. Well this is looking to be not their year...again. Sitting on the nest was an incubating Great Horned Owl. Stop 2, 0950: The south end of Skitchewaug Mountain in Springfield viewed from Route 5. Upon getting out of the car I heard a wailing Peregrine Falcon. A few minutes later it was spotted perched on a rock ledge under a cliff face overhanging preening. No mate was seen, so I'm assuming this is the earlier arriving male. Two Common Ravens flew overhead but elicited no response from the falcon. Driving south along Route 5 long stretches of the Connecticut River are now free of ice or breaking up. Stop 3, 1030: Bald Eagle nest near end of Upper Meadow Road (TH 23) in Rockingham. One of the adult eagles was sitting on the nest. Another adult eagle was spotted at a distance to the south perched in a tree in the vicinity of Roundies Cove. Let's hope they are success parents this year. Several Canada Geese were heard but not seen. Stop 4, 1100: Mill Street in Bellows Falls which provides views of the Connecticut River below the hydropower station. --Mourning Dove 1 --Blue Jay 5 --American Crow 2 --Black-capped Chickadee 1 --White-breasted Nuthatch 1 --Carolina Wren 1 --American Robin 45+ a very conservative count --European Starling 6 --Northern Cardinal 1 --Common Grackle 1 --House Finch 1 --House Sparrow 2, one carrying nesting material --No waterfowl seen on river. Stop 5, 1215: Vernon pool from canoe portage immediately upstream of dam. Some open water but only 7 Canada Geese resting on partially submerged log. From here I crossed the river into Northfield, MA and traveled north to Hinsdale, NH to checkout Wantastiquet Lake, the large setback off the Connecticut River on the NH side (Stop 6, 1315). There was alot of open water in the setback as well as on the river extending upstream from Vermont Yankee. But the only waterfowl I saw was 3 Common Mergansers. If the male Barrow's Goldeneye was there it was out of sight from my vantage points. Otherwise, 14 Ring-billed Gulls, 3 Herring Gulls and 4 Great Black-backed Gulls were on the ice. -- Kenneth Cox South Reading, VT http://northernwingsbirder.blogspot.com/