Help Birds - Choose Bird Friendly Coffee!

One way to support migratory songbirds is to buy Smithsonian Bird Friendly Certified Coffee. Bird Friendly farms are paid a premium in exchange for providing quality habitat by maintaining foliage cover and not using pesticides. Species that have been shown to use Central American, South American, and Caribbean coffee farms as habitat include scarlet tanager, wood thrush, rose-breasted grosbeak, eastern wood pewee, ovenbird, golden-winged warbler, magnolia warbler and many others.

The Brattleboro Food Coop is now stocking Dean’s Beans MIGRATION CELEBRATION, which carries USDA Organic, Fair Trade Federation, and Smithsonian Bird Friendly certification. It tastes really good, especially this time of year :)

Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society

April Update

Greetings from the Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society! We hope you are doing well and enjoying spring migration. Our first warblers have begun to arrive to the Connecticut River Valley, including Pine, Palm and Yellow-rumped warblers. The April Program will feature John Anderson's presentation on the history of the Putney Mountain Hawkwatch on April 26. For more information and to register, please visit: Monthly Meetings

Our spring walks and field trips start very soon! A complete schedule is available here: Bird Walks If you are interested in leading or hosting a bird walk or field trip, please reach out to Cory Ross at coryross24@gmail.com. We are always looking for new people to help out with our programming. Hosts greet people at the start of the walk and serve as an extra set of eyes while helping birders to find birds with their binoculars. Guides lead the walk and teach attendees about the birds, plants and animals at a particular site.

We're excited to be partnering with the Hogback Mountain Conservation Area to sponsor a birding walk on Hogback Mountain May 15 in memory of long-time SVAS member and area naturalist Bob Engel. To find out more, please visit: Bird Walks

Photos: Left: Bob Engel leads a bird walk by Cherrie Corey Middle: A Prairie Warbler by Cory Ross Right: A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker by Cory Ross

Massachusetts Coast Field Trip

March, 2022

Thanks to everyone who joined us for one or both days for the winter seabird field trip recently. We were treated to unseasonably warm and sunny weather and close looks at several ocean duck species. Saturday was spent birding around the Cape Ann Area near Gloucester. Sunday included a visit to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, where the birds were surprisingly quiet. We also enjoyed a fabulous dinner together Saturday night in Newburyport. All told, we totaled 42 species, including some hard-to-find ones like Brant and Great Cormorant. Most of the commonly-seen sea ducks were present including all three scoter species, long-tailed duck and harlequin duck. Trip photos are below. Thanks to everyone who joined us!

Above: Top left: A male common eider viewed from Granit Pier. Top Right: Birders scope the waters from Niles Pond. Bottom Left: Great Cormorants along Bass Rocks. Bottom Right: A male bufflehead

Below: Top left: birders appreciate a Harlequin Duck up close from Granite Pier. Top right: Black Scoters swimming below Halibut Point State Park. Bottom left: a lone Brant at Granite Pier. Bottom right: birding along Bass Rocks.

Above: Top left: A White-winged Scoter Top right: A great cormorant viewed close up. Bottom left: the sun begins to set behind Halibut Point. Bottom right: A male Harlequin Duck.

Below: Left: A pair of Long-tailed ducks at Parker River NWR. Right: A male red-breasted Merganser.

Dead Creek Field Trip

We recently completed a much-anticipated field trip to the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in Addison County, Vermont. We had an unseasonably warm day with abundant sunshine. The great weather and a great turnout of eager birders made for a wonderful day of birding. Highlights included more than 2,000 snow geese seen taking off from the Goose Viewing Area on Route 17. The flock took a dramatic flight over the Adirondacks, drawing plenty of "oohs" and "ahs" from the crowd.

We spent a couple of hours chasing some unexpected rarities that were reported from the Crown Point Bridge - a Northern Gannett and a Razorbill. Neither bird is a common find inland. Some of the group had some success with the razorbill, viewed at a great distance from some expert birder's spotting scopes. At least one member of the party saw the Gannett in flight while we were driving over the bridge.

Other exciting finds included white-winged scoters, horned grebes, snow buntings and great views of several Northern Harriers. We finished the day of birding at Gage Road, where we were treated to a stunning sunset and beautiful views of a couple of Short-eared Owls.