Blue Grosbeak, Brattleboro, VT, October 2018

Each year I make a trip to southeast VT in the early fall to look for sparrows and late warblers.  I almost made the trip to VT a week earlier, but literally at the last moment I changed my plans and headed to Maine instead, where I had a successful search for Prothonotary Warbler.  I made the right choice, right?  Then again, who knows what I may have found if I had stuck with my original plans to go to VT. 

So when my schedule opened up a week later I found myself once again thinking about possible statebirds in VT.  It wasn’t too late to give it another try, so I made my plans to make my regular annual trip to southeast VT.  I have 4 key targets on these trips – Orange-crowned Warbler, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Blue Grosbeak, and Lark Sparrow.  None of these are very likely, and certainly the last two are real long shots.  And only one of the 4 had been spotted recently – there was an Orange-crowned reported in the area a week earlier.  As a result these are almost always truly speculative trips.  But my stops are designed to be in good habitat for one or more of these species, and I was successful on my 2016 trip in finding a Connecticut Warbler which was another of my targets at the time.  So I was always optimistic that I might find one of my targets.  And if not, I’d still have fun birding in good habitat.

I was out of the house by 6:30 and arrived at my first stop at the Brattleboro marina on this crisp clear morning just before 8.  There is a large cornfield next to the marina, and the perimeter can be good for sparrows and dicky birds in the brush.  This site did not disappoint, with an estimated 230 sparrows of 8 species, 4 warbler species, and a late Indigo Bunting.  And overhead I watched as a Merlin and Peregrine passed by.  But despite spending more than 2 hours in great habitat, I couldn’t scare up any of my target birds. 

Next I was on to the Brattleboro Retreat Meadows, where a goldenrod/aster field has always looked like a great spot for Orange-crowned.  But this year the field had been cut, and habitat was limited to say the least.  The best birds were 3 early Wigeon in the flock of Canada Geese in the backwaters of the river. 

The Harris Hill ski jump area was my next stop.  There is a large open field at the base of the ski jump, and the perimeter has yielded good numbers of sparrows and warblers in the past, including my Connecticut 2 years earlier.  My routine here is to walk the perimeter “clockwise”, starting at the southern edge.  But this time I found almost no birds at all.  As I reached the southwest corner I found a few sparrows, and these birds were joined by a few others along the western wooded edge.  At one point I caught a glimpse of yellowish color in the brush, but it only turned out to be a late Magnolia instead of my hoped-for Orange-crowned.

By the time I reached the base of the ski jump most of the flock had moved up the hill along the edge.  I was tempted to follow them up the hill but I figured I had already seen most of them.  Just then a bird flew out from the edge directly overhead.  I got it in my binocs and as I watched it head to the north my initial thought was it was a large sparrow.  But the color wasn’t quite right – it seemed to have some chestnut shades below.  Luckily I was able to track it to the distant treeline and it landed in the open.  It was a chunky bird, uniformly chestnut brown.  Could it be a Blue Grosbeak?  Although it was very distant, I thought I could see a large bill.  Then I started to hear the characteristic loud “chink” calls.  I watched it perched in the tree for at least a minute, and tried to temper my excitement.  Was it big enough to be my target?  Was the bill large enough?  I was starting to second guess myself and lean toward just another Indigo when the bird flew from the northern edge of the clearing, and I watched it disappear into the brush near the southwest corner.  It took me just a couple minutes to get back there, but there were no birds in sight.  On a lark, I decided to play some tape of Blue Grosbeak call notes – no response.  Then a minute later I looked up and there was a female-plumaged Blue Grosbeak right in front of me!

Finally with close views I could see all the field marks – uniformly chestnut brown, rusty wing bar, massive grayish bill.  And it was calling again – giving those distinctive “chink” call notes.  I watched it for several minutes before it flew back toward the base of the ski jump.  This was an extreme rarity for VT, so I quickly went to my phone to call local birders – unfortunately I just got Hector Galbraith’s voice mail but was able to talk to Dave Johnston.  Dave said he’d be over in 15 minutes. 

While waiting for Dave to arrive I tried to re-find the Grosbeak so I could hopefully show it to him.  I headed back toward the base of the ski jump where I last saw it and found a few sparrows but little else.  Then I spotted a couple sparrows pop up from the grasses to the right to perch on top of a fence that surrounds the base of the ski jump.  I scanned the fence and saw a Song Sparrow, then another Song, then – there was the Blue Grosbeak!  As it continued to sit in the open all I could think of was that I wish I had brought my camera.  Lately I’ve taken a few photos holding my phone up to my binocs, and they’ve come out pretty well when the bird has perched still for a while.  So I gave it a try this time, and got these 3 pretty nice shots -

Shortly after taking these photos the bird dropped back down into the grass.  Luckily after Dave arrived we re-found the Grosbeak, including once seeing it perched back up on the fence.  Always nice to share a rarity.

Not surprisingly my later stops were uneventful by comparison.  It’s interesting to note that my last stop was at the Stebbins Road stump dump, which has always been on my itinerary because it has hosted Blue Grosbeak in the past.  Needless to say that’s now one less target to hope for in my future fall trips to southeast VT.

In my Blue Grosbeak statebird map below, the dark blue states are those where I’ve seen this species.  The cross-hatched states are those in its regular range where I still need it as a statebird – just a few more to go. 

On the other hand, VT and all the other New England states are outside its normal range.  And most notably, this was only the 8th Blue Grosbeak record for VT (per eBird), 5 accepted historical records and now 3 from this decade  –

• 5/84 - Norwich - noted in eBird as "1st accepted" state record
• 8/84 - Winhall - "2nd accepted
• 5/85 - Newbury - "hypothetical - 3rd accepted"
• 5/96 - Shaftsbury - "3rd accepted"
• 5/96 - Danby - same bird apparently entered into eBird at 2 locations - "4th accepted"
• 6/97 - West Arlington - "5th accepted"
• 10/10 - Vernon - 2 birds found by Dave Johnston at the Stebbins Road stump dump
• 10/11 - Vernon - same bird perhaps returning from the previous year?

And now -

• 10/18 - Brattleboro

This was #282 for my VT list, and the 248th species I’ve seen in each of the 6 New England states.  

I really like my fall trips to southeast VT!

Black Vulture, Hinsdale, NH, June 2015

Black Vultures have been coming to a Vulture roost in Brattleboro, VT off and on for the last several years.  The roost has been a bit north of downtown Brattleboro, right on the edge of the Connecticut River, putting it just a few feet west of the VT/NH stateline.  I first saw the Black Vultures on the evening of 10/30/07 – that day there were 4 Blacks with quite a number of Turkeys.  They flew in from the west, circled a bit, and then came in to the roost.  They were new for my VT list at the time, but never passed into NH airspace (even though they settled into the roost less than 100 ft from NH!) so I couldn’t add them to my NH list.  A few days later I was back in the morning to watch the vultures leave the roost.  Again I saw the 4 Blacks fly out of the trees, circle overhead, and fly off to the west.  And again they never crossed over into NH.

Occasional Black Vulture sightings have continued in the area during the warmer months most every year since.  Most sightings were right in Brattleboro, or nearby along the Connecticut River.  And although most were in VT, several were in NH either right along the river or in southwestern Hinsdale.  Each time another NH sighting was posted it was if they were taunting me.  Since Brattleboro was just 90 minutes away, and one of my favorite VT birding locations, I would go there a couple times each year and always keep my eyes open for Black Vultures.  But I was never lucky enough to find them.  And despite a few unsuccessful searches closer to the coast (they are sometimes seen at a roost in Newmarket), Black Vulture continued to one of the most common birds in NH that I still needed for my statelist.

Fast forward to June 2015 - There were two Black Vulture sightings on consecutive days in NH along the Connecticut River – one just south of Brattleboro and one a few miles to the north.  At least 1 bird was back!  There were no other sightings for the next week so I didn’t give it much more thought.  But then there was a report of a possible Little Blue Heron in the Brattleboro Retreat Meadows.  Although there was a pretty good chance that the sighting might be incorrect, I thought it could be worthwhile to check it out, especially by incorporating it into a Black Vulture search.  So I decided to head there the next afternoon, bird the Brattleboro marshes in the late afternoon looking for the heron, and then spend the evening watching for vultures to come into the roost.  Not only was I hoping that a Black would be in the group, but of course I hoped that I would see it in NH airspace.

The next afternoon I took a route to Brattleboro through southwestern Hinsdale, NH to maximize my time looking for vultures.  I didn’t see any vultures along the way though I always kept an eye to the sky as I was driving along.  I was now just a few miles south of Brattleboro on NH 119 when I passed by a convenience store and thought about stopping to grab a soda.  For some reason I decided not to stop, and kept driving toward my destination instead.  Less than a mile further up the road I saw 3 vultures a short distance up ahead of me and a bit to the west of the road.  I assumed they were just going to be Turkeys, but of course I needed to check them out.  Then I noticed one was smaller than the other two – could it be a Black?  They were still a little distance away, so I drove a bit farther along until they were even with me to the west.  Luckily there was a bit of a shoulder and I pulled off and quickly jumped out of the car.  One was indeed a Black Vulture!  I watched them for about a minute as the 3 birds circled a bit to the west, then headed north and soon disappeared behind some trees.

Of course it was easy to identify the Black Vulture.  The more difficult issue was determining which state these birds were in.  The stretch of NH 119 I was on at the time is immediately east of the Connecticut River, with very little land in NH between the road and the river.  The other key factor is the river itself is all in NH.  So that means there is at least a little NH airspace west of NH 119.  Thinking back to when I first spotted all 3 birds, they were just a bit west of the road, which most likely put them in NH airspace, though just barely.  Then as I watched them after I stopped, although they were to the west of me, I think they were close enough to still be in NH, likely over the river.  And then eventually they circled farther west into VT.  When they disappeared to the north I’m not sure which state they were in.  But in any case, I can definitely say I saw the Black Vulture in NH airspace at least for a little while.

Since the birds were only in view for a couple minutes it’s a good thing I didn’t stop to buy a soda.  Or for that matter, I’m lucky that I didn’t leave the house a few minutes earlier or a few minutes later.  Usually luck doesn’t play too much of a factor in finding new statebirds – but this time I was really lucky to find this bird.  Though my luck didn’t carry over to my search for the Little Blue Heron – I came up empty on that one.

Black Vulture was #356 for my NH list.  Although I’ve seen more species in a few other states, my NH statelist is definitely my best at 89 percent of the total ever seen in that state.  I’ve now seen Black Vulture in 30 states – virtually its entire range (see my statebird map below).  Though it is seen as a vagrant in a number of other states including Maine – the last New England state in which I still need this southeastern bird.

And one postscript – just a couple weeks earlier I finally added American Oystercatcher to my NH list.  At the time I remarked that the two most common birds I still needed for my NH list were the Oystercatcher and Black Vulture.  Nice to get both in the same month especially after so many attempts.  The next most common birds I still need for NH are Long-eared Owl and Atlantic Puffin.  Both are in NH most every year (Long-eareds undoubtedly nest somewhere), but are only rarely reported.