A few years ago I missed the one and only
record of Pink-footed Goose in NH, a bird in spring migration in the
Connecticut River valley. Ever since,
I’ve watched the reports of the spring goose migration in New England in hopes
of being around for the next NH record, and/or maybe the first record for
VT. So I was of course very excited to
read posts of a Pink-footed being seen in MA in the Connecticut River
valley. After all, it has to go through
NH or VT on the next leg of its migration, right? That same day there was a post from Hector
Galbraith of 3,000 Canada Geese in Vernon, VT right along the Connecticut
River, just about 25 miles to the north as the Pink-footed Goose flies. So there was great habitat for the target
goose in VT should it decide to head north.
The next morning I checked the MA listserve and read an early morning
post that the Pink-footed was not being seen in MA. Minutes later I was heading out the door to
hopefully find the first record of Pink-footed Goose in VT.
By the time I got to the cornfields in
Vernon there was another post that the bird was being seen again in MA, so at
least that one wasn’t going to be feasible in VT that day. Maybe there would be others to look for. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any geese of any
type in the fields. So I called Hector
who suggested trying for them above the dam in Vernon. He also told me to keep an eye out for the
Golden Eagle he had seen the day before.
Although I read about it in his post, I didn’t really think that it
might be a target since they are frequently one-day wonders. But Hector thought it might not have been
migrating through, and could actually stick around with all the ducks and geese
as eagle food in the area.
When I got to the dam I ran into James
Smith and another birder he was with, and we walked down to the water’s edge
where we found at least 1,000 Canada Geese.
Despite our efforts we found nothing else of interest. The three of us then went to another spot
north of the dam but only had a few more geese there. James then went down to the cornfields to
chase down a Carolina Wren I had there earlier, and I decided to go back to the
dam to try there again. Just as I was
arriving at the dam I got a call from Hector – James had just called him to say he
had the Golden Eagle at the Carolina Wren spot, the same general area where
Hector had the bird the day before. It
took me just 5 minutes to get where James was, but by then the bird had disappeared. He said it was being dive-bombed by a
Red-tail, and then took a steep dive down toward the river and out of sight. I joked with James that since we were within
a few feet of the NH/VT line, maybe I could get the Eagle for both statelists
(I’ve never seen Golden Eagle in any New England state). Though I lamented that it would be more likely
that I wouldn’t get it in either state.
But since there were no rare geese to chase, I may as well spend some
time looking for the Eagle. So I
selected a spot with a good view of the sky in most every direction, and
started my vigil.
In the next 2 hours I had quite a number of
birds fly by, but no Golden Eagle. At
one point I got really excited when an adult Bald Eagle came into view until I
realized it was right size but wrong species.
A distant Peregrine Falcon was nice, as were several Ravens both in VT
and in NH. And several Red-tails and
Turkey Vultures were visible in both states as well. I also had a number of singing landbirds like
Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, and Cardinal – none of which would
have been in this area a few decades ago.
A bit later Hector arrived to join me in the search. Just minutes after he set up his scope we
noticed a distant flock of 500+ Canada Geese to the south coming our way. I put my binocs on the flock and noticed a very
distant pair of raptors up above the geese – one was dive-bombing the other,
and they were two different sizes. Could
this be the Golden Eagle? I put my scope
on it, and even though it was at least a mile away to the SSE, I could see the
tail was white with a dark terminal band, there were white patches at the base of the
primaries, and flat wings – it was the Golden Eagle. Hector was on it too, and we both agreed it
was in VT air space. We watched it as it
lazily made its way toward us traveling NNE.
As it got closer it eventually was almost directly east of us, and we
both agreed it was now over Hinsdale, NH.
A little later we lost it behind some trees, and we gave each other high
fives in celebration of some excellent sightings. I can’t thank James Smith enough for trying
to contact me about refinding the bird, and then Hector Galbraith for
contacting me with the latest report.
This was my third time that I’ve been able
to get two different state ticks by seeing one individual bird. The first time was a Common Raven over the
NC/TN state line in the Smoky Mountains.
The second time was right in this same spot in Vernon where I watched a
group of four Cackling Geese fly back and forth between VT and NH. It’s not important where you are
standing – it’s where the bird is located that counts.
Golden Eagle was species number 424 for me
in New England, and number 351 in NH and 260 in VT. These two ticks give me 1,963 in the 6 New
England states - I’m closing in on my 2,000 goal! And my 9 New England ticks through March 2014
are an excellent pace so far. I now have
Golden Eagle in 4 Eastern states, where it can be a difficult bird to find,
along with many of its regular states out west.
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