Vermont Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin and Hudsonian Godwit, September, 2014

The second annual Lake Champlain “pelagic trips” were planned for a Saturday and Sunday in mid-September out of Burlington, VT.  Last year’s trip was tremendous with good numbers of numerous species more typically seen on the ocean waterfront, including 3 VT statebirds for me – Red Phalarope, Little Gull, and a distant Jaeger, sp.  This year’s trips were a couple weeks earlier in the year and more closely timed with Jaeger migration which were my key targets.  Needless to say I was really looking forward to the 2014 trip, signing up for the Sunday trip hopeful that it would yield a couple statebirds.  And since the boat leaves early in the morning, my plan was to get a hotel in the area the night before, and do some birding in northwest VT on Saturday as well.

As the Sunday of the pelagic trip approached I researched the VT listserve and e-bird for possible new statebirds to chase after from land.  But although there were a couple recent sightings of possible target birds, none seemed like they would be chaseable.  I was quickly coming to the reality that I would not likely get any new VT statebirds from land.  And then came worse news that the trip was postponed due to predicted strong winds.  The trips were rescheduled for the following weekend, but I had a pelagic trip planned off the RI coast the following Sunday which would conflict with the new dates.  To say I was disappointed was an understatement.

But then I started thinking about some options and driving times.  If I could sign up for the Saturday option for the rescheduled trip, I would still have time to make my way to the RI coast Saturday night before the Sunday RI pelagic trip – after all it was “only” a 5 hour drive from Burlington to the RI coastline.  I contacted Allan Strong who was organizing the trips, and he was able to put me on the trip the following Saturday.  So I was in business, though I wouldn’t have any extra time for birding RI from land before that second boat trip.

And with a week delay in the VT trip it was time to re-research possible target birds.  Unlike last week, there were a couple target birds being seen in the area that were likely chaseable – Dunlin and Black-bellied Plovers were being seen in small numbers at several sites.  And then there were tantalizing reports of a Hudsonian Godwit at Brilyea Access and another at Goose Bay way up at the northwestern tip of VT.  Unfortunately neither Godwit was being seen as my trip neared, so they weren’t very likely.  After receiving some excellent advice from several local birders, I was optimistic that I might see a couple statebirds from land along with several possibilities from the boat.

I finally arrived in northwest VT around Noon and my first stop was the southern end of the Colchester Causeway.  Local birder Ted Murin suggested I check out mudflats that had formed to the southwest of the causeway adjacent to a small island, and his advice was perfect.  As I neared the flats I scanned them from a distance with my binoculars and quickly picked up a larger shorebird that was likely a Black-bellied Plover.  I picked up my pace as I walked a bit further down the causeway to get closer to the flats.  I set up my scope and started looking for the Plover.  I quickly found it, and then another, and then 3 more for a total of 5.  And then I noticed 4 larger peeps a bit farther away – Dunlin!  That was both of my expected targets in just a few minutes of birding.  Also feeding on the mudflats were a Sanderling (only my second time in VT for that species), 2 Baird’s, 6 Semi Plovers, and 3 Semi Sandpipers.  Quite a nice diversity for that late in the season. 

VT was my last New England state for both the Plover and Dunlin – I now have 232 species in each of the 6 states.  My statebird maps for these 2 species are rather similar – I’ve seen both in all the coastal states and many inland states but still have a number of gaps out west. 

With a lot of time on my hands, I started to weigh my options.  I could check Brilyea and Goose Bay to try for the Godwits, though they hadn’t been seen for days.  I could also spend time on a lake watch, with the Charlotte Town Beach typically being the best spot.  But since I was already way out on the lake on the causeway, I decided to spend a little more time there hoping to see something migrating down the lake.  After 30 minutes I only saw one migrant, a Peregrine, so the lake watch options didn’t seem like they would be too fruitful.  So I decided to head to Brilyea and search for shorebirds (and the Godwit) there.

After a somewhat tortuous drive through Burlington I finally made it to Brilyea and soon arrived at the spot just south of Route 17 where the Hudsonian Godwit had been seen.  A couple birders were there with their scope and said they might have the bird.  But it turned out to be just a Yellowlegs, and the only other shorebird there was a Pectoral.  My next stop was the upper impoundment which was being drawn down, and had yielded my first VT Stilt Sandpipers earlier in the month.  Along the walk to the end of the impoundment I found a number of both Yellowlegs, Semi Sands, Killdeer, and a distant Dunlin.  Surprisingly there no shorebirds at the upper reaches of the impoundment, though a flock of 60 Green-winged Teal was a bit of a surprise.  And the early fall colors in the fields and woodlands were nice too.

Although it was getting late in the day, I figured I might have just enough time to make my way up to Goose Bay to try for the other Hudsonian Godwit.  I had good directions to the location to get the best views of the mouth of Dead Creek.  But I was told that the birds were far away, and not easily identifiable if there was any heat shimmer.  Plus I would be looking to the west, so afternoon viewing conditions were bad.  But despite all the negatives, I decided to give it a try.  Since that was the first time I had ever been to that spot, it would still be nice to get to know the location for future trips even if the Godwit was no longer around.

About an hour before sunset I finally arrived at Shipyard Road in Highgate, just 3 miles south of the Canadian border.  I set up the scope and although viewing wasn’t great, it wasn’t nearly as bad as advertised.  I quickly found several Black-bellied Plovers on the flats – eventually counting 9 in view at one time.  And in the foreground (though still nearly ½ mile away), I found a flock of Dunlin that I estimated at 40.  (That gave me 45 Dunlin at 3 locations and 14 Black-bellies at 2 locations.)  There were also a number of other smaller peeps too far to ID, several yellowlegs, a number of Great Blues and Great Egrets, and distant dabbling ducks.  Then I started to pan to the left and came upon a very large shorebird feeding in the channel.  It looked like a football with long legs.  Could I have re-found the Godwit?  I watched for at least the next 5 minutes until I eventually was able to see the long up-curved bill and felt 100% sure of the ID as the Hudsonian Godwit.  That was quite a surprise since it had not been seen for almost a week.  And I was very lucky to have found it since there was a lot of habitat where the bird would be hidden from view.  I spread the word about re-finding the bird, and it and a second one were seen in the area for the next couple weeks.

I’ve now seen Hudsonian Godwit in 8 northeast coastal states as a regular fall migrant, 3 Plains states as a spring migrant, in AK as a nester, and now OR and VT as a rarity. 

I had 3 statebirds already, and hadn’t even gotten on the boat for the “pelagic” trip.  Which as it turns out was a good thing, since the boat trip was really slow.  On the bright side, the weather was great – clear skies, almost no wind, and temps rising from the 50s to the upper 60s.  But migrants were few and far between, with just a couple small migrant flocks of White-winged Scoters and Greater Scaup, and several Red-necked Grebes on the water.  Luckily one of the Grebes was on the NY side of the lake, which was new for my NY list (now at 267).  But there were no birds for my VT list.  I’ll guess I’ll just have to wait for next fall’s pelagic trip, or maybe a lake watch from Charlotte Town Beach, for a chance at Jaegers and even rarer species for my VT list.

With 3 new species for VT I ended the trip with 267, and now have 1,984 for my 6 New England states.  Just 16 more to go to reach 2,000.

Sedge Wren, Stilt Sandpiper, and Ruddy Turnstone in Vermont, September, 2014

As the Summer of 2014 progressed a number of possible statebirds were reported in northwest VT.  First came the report of a pair of Sedge Wrens likely nesting in Middlebury.  Then came word of a drawdown of one impoundment at Dead Creek with 1 and then 2 Stilt Sandpipers – and who knows what other rare shorebirds that might be attracted to these flats in the future.  Then there was the big news of a Brown Booby on Lake Champlain.  Unfortunately the Booby disappeared (more accurately became unreliable though still on the Lake) before I could get there.  Finally came repeated reports of a pair of Ruddy Turnstones in St. Albans.  That was more than enough critical mass to make the 3 ½ hour trek to the northwest part of VT.  This time, unlike most of my other trips, I decided to get a motel room in the area the night before my birding day to avoid having to make the 7-hour round-trip drive in one day. 

I had timed my trip to be a day before the next front in hopes that the shorebirds wouldn’t have moved on yet.  And I received excellent details from VT birders for locations for the Wren, Stilt, and Turnstone.  So I was pretty optimistic that I might get the Stilt and Turnstone.  The Wren, however, was another story.  It was last reported 11 days earlier, and it was getting really late for even these late nesters to still be sticking around their apparent nesting spot.  Sedge Wrens are reported in late summer in northwest VT most every year, and although I had tried for them twice before, I waited too long both times.  I was worried that I might be too late for this third try as well.

I was able to leave early enough to get to the Wren location in the evening of the first day.  With perfect directions I quickly found the correct tall grass field where they had spent the latter half of the summer.  It was very still and quiet, so I listened intently for their characteristic call and song, but with no luck.  So I walked off the road to get to the edge of the “their” field and listened some more, but only heard a distant Red-bellied Woodpecker.  I know Sedge Wrens are very tape-responsive, so I made a couple short imitations of their call note, and almost instantly heard one note coming from the field.  Then I heard another call from a short distance away.  This second bird popped out in the open at the field’s edge and gave me distant but good looks.  Success!  VT is only my fourth New England state for Sedge Wren.  My statebird map below also shows that I have a number of gaps in this species’ normal summering and wintering ranges.

The next morning I met up with long-time birding friend Hank Kaestner and we headed to the Brilyea Access portion of Dead Creek WMA to try for the Stilt Sandpipers.  After a short walk we were at the upper reaches of the impoundment where the drawdown was occurring.  There wasn’t a lot of habitat, but we quickly found numerous Yellowlegs (almost all Lessers), a handful of peeps, and a couple Semi Plovers - though no Stilts.  We walked off the trail to get a different view of the flats but still no Stilts.  We continued walking east to get different views, and tried really hard to turn the Yellowlegs into Stilts, but to no avail.  We finally made it to a point of land and the farthest east we could walk to get a final view of the flats.  We were now looking almost directly into the sun, so viewing wasn’t the best.  Despite the glare I spotted a Stilt Sandpiper in the distance, along with a second bird and then a third one.  A pair of Short-billed Dowitchers were feeding with them, along with some of the ever-present Lesser Yellowlegs.  A nice group of birds for comparisons of size and shape, as well as feeding habits.  VT was my last New England state for this species - my 228^th in each of the 6 states.  I’ve seen Stilt Sandpiper in most of its regular US range as a migrant, and a couple states as a rarity.

Hank and I next went on to Charlotte Town Beach for another shorebird search, and also for a quick lake watch.  There were 40 Killdeer and 1 Semi Sand on the shore, but nothing else.  We spent a bit of time looking over the lake but the sole highlights were a small number of Common Terns and Bonaparte’s Gulls flying down the lake.  The skies were starting to look threatening, so rather than continue on the lake watch, I decided to head north to the St. Albans Bay Town Park to try for the Turnstones.

After a short drive I arrived in St. Albans which is about as far northwest as you can get and still be in VT, and in the US for that matter.  There is a sandy beach at the Town Park which apparently is normally favored by swimmers and dog walkers.  But this year an algae bloom had fouled the beach and caused the town to close it.  As a result, not only were there no people and dogs to bother the shorebirds, but the decaying algae on the beach had attracted lots of shorebird food.  There had been good numbers of shorebirds there for several weeks, including the 2 Ruddy Turnstones.  I got to the edge of the beach and began to scan the narrow patch of habitat with my binocs.  I found a number of Yellowlegs and a couple flocks of peeps, but no Turnstones.  Then on another scan I noticed a large dark shorebird just a short distance away – a winter plumaged Ruddy Turnstone.  Another scan revealed a second bird, along with 2 Baird’s Sandpipers that hadn’t been reported there in the past.  I got these phonescoped photos of one of the Turnstones.

Not so easy to pick out the brown bird amongst the brown algae

Easier to spot in profile

Like the Stilt Sand, VT was the last of the New England states for me for Turnstone – number 229.  And VT was my second inland state for this otherwise common coastal species.  Though I still need it in OR.

With 3 VT statebirds on the trip that gives me 264 for VT, and 1,980 for New England.  I’m closing in on the magic 2,000!