Canoeing on the Potomac

Saturday I went canoeing on the Potomac River with some new birder friends. One worked for the Potomac Conservancy, and needed to do an informal survey of invasive plants on an island owned by the Conservancy. We paddled out to Minnie's Island, with some difficulty since the water level was so low and the area rocky. We enjoyed great looks at a very active Green Heron, and then pulled the canoe out and hiked around the island, looking at plants, bugs and birds.

 It was so lush and green, and the hum of cicadas so loud I felt like I was in a tropical forest in South America, or back in time. A native sunflower bush was attracting droves of Eastern Tiger-Swallowtails and Monarchs.

We birded around and discussed the various invasive plants, trying to ID them and and figure out how best to go about doing a removal and restoration. The high water line was well overhead, which really gives you goosebumps when you realize the ground you're standing on could, and has been, under water.

After we finished surveying the island, and feeding the happy mosquitos, we got back in the canoe and paddled up-river for a while. We saw what at first looked like a stick bobbing toward us, as it came closer, we realized what we were looking at was a water snake - swimming with an eel in it's mouth! It swam under the boat, and to a rock where it lost the eel. I felt sorry because I wondered if our paddling in for a closer look had distracted the snake enough for the eel to twist away. I hope it wasn't our fault he lost his lunch. He was a big gorgeous snake, probably a brown water snake. So exciting!

It was definitely the highlight of the day, and after paddling up a bit further, we headed back to the boat launch and hauled the canoe back up to the lockhouse, then headed home. It was a great morning and although I had so many mosquito bites coating my legs it looked like chicken pox, I was extremely happy to have gotten out on the water.

Reminiscing About Texas, 2006

I was Wildbird Magazine's 2005 Birder of the Year, which won me a trip to Texas in early spring of 2006. Here's the recount article that I wrote for the July/August 2006 issue of WildBird:

The trip to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas was an incredible experience. We--my mom, Amy Hooper and I--started off the trip by spotlighting for Common Pauraque on Saturday with Sheridan Coffey and Martin Reid. We walked along the water at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. When we finally saw a pauraque fly, it became my first lifer of the trip. My nonbirding mom unexpectedly enjoyed the outing so much that she chose to bird with us for the rest of the trip.

Sheridan and Martin enthusiastically guided us for the first two days. On Sunday, we first stopped at Anzalduas County Park (956-585-5311) and saw  Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, a quirky species. The Turkey and Black Vultures (a lifer) riding a thermal over the park provided an unexpected surprise. We also saw Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, a Northern Parula, Couch’s Kingbirds, Great Kiskadees and a magnificent Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.

On our way back to Bensten, I spotted my life  Harris’ Hawk. Once at Bensten, we got our first look at Green Jays, and on a feeder, we watched a Long-billed Thrasher, an Altamira Orioleand an Indigo Bunting take turns. In a photo blind, we heard Plain Chachalacas calling from all sides.

Next stop:  Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, where we birded with intern Heidi Trudell. Life birds included Black-crested Titmouse and Roseate Spoonbill. We sat to wait for the day’s last lifer, a Buff-bellied Hummingbird.

On Monday, we visited the hawkwatch at Santa Ana and saw Broad-winged Hawks, Mississippi Kites and many others overhead. The lift-off was breathtaking. Up the river at Chapeno, we picked up Ringed Kingfisher from a distance as well as Brown Jays, one juvenile and one adult. We later parted ways with Martin and Sheridan and headed to San Benito.

Tuesday morning, Pat Wade joined us as our guide, and we quickly got my first lifer of the day: Tamaulipas Crows carrying nesting material. Then we went to the  Sabal Palm sanctuary, where I got my life Carolina Wren singing on a branch. We also saw the controversial Gray-crowned Yellowthroat.

The  Aplomado Falcon (unbanded) and the White-tailed Hawk provided roadside treats on the way to South Padre Island, an amazing place. My last lifer of the trip was Upland Sandpiper off-island, and like my first Texas lifer, I lost a pint of blood to the mosquitoes in order to get it.

I gained more than 40 new birds, enjoyed fantastic experiences and met some superb people. To top it off, my mother gained a better understanding of who I am and what birding is. I’d say that alone made it a successful trip. 

Stoweflake Hot Air Balloon Festival

Birding at Dean Shield's House

This morning I joined the Ecology professors and some students from their class for a bird walk at Dean Shield's home. He and his wife have a gorgeous home in Tunbridge, about 20 minutes from the law school. Opportunities like this are what set VLS apart from your average law school. It was a gorgeous morning, and we got a great species list for the day, adding some great birds like green heron, belted kingfisher, a calling great-crested flycatcher, and chimney swifts.

The misty fog burned off pretty quickly

The pretty flowers are called Bladder Campion - Thanks for the ID Peter! 

Gorgeous posing cedar waxwing

Cedar waxwing take 2

Do you see the Baltimore Oriole's hanging basket nest hidden in the branches?

A Very Pertinent Post from a Reader:

Anonymous said...

I can't figure out how to comment onthe 350 badge. I would NEVER post this badge because it features bird killing windmills. I refuse to give any more money to the Sierra Club because they use the figure of this windmill. There are other windmills which do not kill birds. At what cost do we blindly continue our over populated path.

10:12 PM

 Leigh said...

Hi, thanks for sharing. I have huge problems with wind power for precisely that reason. I think many people aren't even aware of how much of an impact wind power projects have on birds. They do kill birds predominately because they're placed on the flight path of migration routes, where wind funnels through passes, etc - places birds travel through for the same reason. There needs to be more emphasis placed on putting wind power projects in place that are designed to protect against those casualties.
Glass has an incredible impact on birds as well though, millions of birds are killed every year for hitting windows during migration, both of houses, and of tall office buildings. At present, very little is being done to make people aware of this deadly effect, and while there are some people working to develop glass that birds can "see" while still being see-through for humans, not nearly enough is being done to market it at a large scale. There are many many problems out there facing birds, wind energy is just one of them, and frankly, I see wind energy as the lesser of two evils because at least it's working to wean us off the use of fossil fuels, which kill many birds as well - the Gulf spill is only one example.

Anyone else have valuable thoughts, comments, information to share? 

P.S. - I know this is a passionate issue for many people, myself included, but please try to restrain yourself from directed anger or ranting, and instead share insights and try to foster a valuable conversation on the issues.

Low-Impact Development Can Have a Huge Impact on Run-Off

Many people don't realize how much runoff from urban and suburban areas impact the water quality of our rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans. Here's a link to EPA's site on how low-impact development, and green infrastructure improvements can vastly decrease the impact that non-point sources have on pollution.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The disaster in the Gulf will have lasting effects on the environment for many years to come. Here is a link to the Official Response site on the Gulf clean-up. The images of oiled birds and turtles have me tossing and turning every night, and new and disturbing aspects of the spill are brought to light daily. Below is a link to a YouTube video made by a birder in the Gulf, which shows some of the unintended negative effects of the response on sensitive species. I think it highlights just how unprepared BP and the agencies were to handle a disaster of this magnitude.

There is an effort to raise awareness and funding for the continued recovery effort. It's important that this be done because the general public has a woefully short attention span for disasters - think Katrina and Haiti. This jeweler has a Gulf collection - it's my understanding that some of the proceeds go towards the clean-up effort.

If It Was My Home - Visualizing the BP Oil Spill

This link helps to give you a visual understanding of the size of area the spill encompasses. Pretty frightening in these terms.

Quechee Gorge: Vermont's Grand Canyon

Hiking Mt. Tom with Victor

Mt. Tom is a small peak above Woodstock, VT, very similar to Kent's Ledge, which I've hiked on several occasions. It was a quick, fairly easy hike, at least until the last stretch where it was very steep. The weather was gorgeous, cool, breezy, and sunny out, mid 70s. Perfect day for a hike!

Birding With Peter and Merril

Right before I left VT to visit home in Cali, I went on a very relaxed bird walk with Peter and his girlfriend Merrill. We just walked around the area surrounding his house (really nice vegetation along a brook). We had red-eyed and blue-headed vireos, a veery, a least flycatcher calling and ovenbirds singing. I was buzzed by a ruby-throated humming bird, and of course chickadees followed us wherever we went.

 Because it was mid-afternoon, and ridiculously windy, warblers were a wash, but it was still nice to get out and hike around a bit. They had been out turkey hunting at the crack of dawn, and had some dinner to show for it! Personally, I think I'll stick to watching birds ;)

Welcome to South Royalton

Welcome to South Royalton

Happy Earth Day!

Celebrate the planet by taking steps to make it a healthier place to live. Walk or bike to work or to the store, buy local and organic, non-GMO products, use re-useable shopping bags, use earth and human-friendly products like Seventh Generation, and most of all, get outside and enjoy the gorgeous spring weather! It's not about absolutes - nobody can do all of it, all the time - but it is about doing everything you can realistically to make steps toward a healthier planet and body.

In honor of the day, here's a great article showing how environmental education is succeeding in some places.

Spring Has Sprung!

Its beginning to feel a lot like spring around here. The robins are out in abundance, eastern phoebes are calling out raspy, "phee-bee, phee-bee!" from the tree tops, and the dawn chorus greets me each morning as I wake. We had some gorgeous weather this past weekend, but it's supposed to rain this week.
Fiddleheads!

Hopefully it will clear up soon, and I can get out for a hike, or maybe even an overnight trip??

A cautionary tale though, friends warned me not to put my winter gear away yet, mother nature has been known to surprise Vermont with an April snowstorm in the past. Wouldn't that be fun?