VERMONT BOTANICAL & BIRD CLUB NEWSLETTER

April 2009

2009 ANNUAL MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

The 114th Annual Meeting of the Vermont Botanical and Bird Club will be held at Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vermont from Thursday, June 25 – Sunday, June 28, 2009. Nestled in far southwestern Vermont at the foot of Mount Anthony, Southern Vermont College is located on the grounds of the former Edward H. Everett Estate and Mansion built from 1911 – 1914. Within short distances are the slopes and hollows of the Taconic Mountains, the floor of the Vermont Valley and the western slopes of the Green Mountains, all of which offer interesting and varied field trip destinations. The Club last visited Southern Vermont College in 1999.

2008 MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

Vermont Botanical and Bird Club, Gillett Pond, Richmond June 21, 2008 Photo: Deborah Benjamin

The 113th Annual Meeting of the Vermont Botanical and Bird Club convened on Thursday, June 19, 2008 at Bolton Valley Resort in Bolton, Vermont and ended on Sunday, June 22, 2008. This is the Club’s first visit here.

On Thursday evening, President Deborah Benjamin introduced the evening speaker, Jim Shallow, Audubon Vermont Conservation and Policy Director, who presented “Wings of the North: Vermont Songbirds and Global Climate Change”. Barn Swallows flew to their nests just outside the 2nd story windows – we could hear their twitters and see their shadows on the thin curtains.

In Friday morning, early morning birders walked along the Picnic X-C Ski Trail and adjacent snowshoe trail.

On both Friday and Saturday, Robert Jervis led Trip 1. to the Birds of Vermont Museum and Green Mountain Audubon Center in Huntington; members stopped at the Bolton Pot Holes on their way back to homebase. Trip 2. to Gleason Brook Rich Colluvial Woods in Bolton; Gillett Pond in Richmond; and Richmond Floodplain Forest in Richmond was led by Everett Marshall on Friday and Peter Hope on Saturday.

On Friday evening, Walter Poleman, Senior Lecturer in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at UVM, presented “Bolton Bedrock and Boulders for Botanists and Birders”. The Summer Solstice would be at 7:59 PM.

Saturday morning, early morning birders walked along the Pond Loop and Broadway Trail.

Saturday evening, the Annual Meeting was held at the Fireside Room. This year’s Scholarship students introduced themselves and the evening wound up with the Slides by Members Show.   

EVENING PROGRAMS

THURSDAY, JUNE 19:

WINGS OF THE NORTH: VERMONT SONGBIRDS AND GLOBAL CIMATE CHANGE

Jim Shallow, Audubon Vermont Conservation and Policy Director, leads Audubon’s regional Forest Bird Initiative in the Bird Conservation Region # 14: Atlantic Northern Forest, which covers 80 million acres of forest ranging from Connecticut to Nova Scotia.

Audubon Vermont has 4000 members in 7 chapters and oversees 24 Important Birding Areas (IBA’s) including 4 globally important Lake Champlain Island Sanctuaries. Their mission is: “to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the Earth’s biological diversity”.

Vermont ranks very high in the diversity of neotropical breeding birds with 61 – 70 species recorded per survey route of the North American Breeding Bird Survey. 40 species of birds have been identified as responsibility species, including Bicknell’s Thrush with 90 % of it s breeding population occurring in BCR # 14. One reason for this diversity is that Vermont straddles the southern range of a boreal forest region and the northern limits of a southern forest region.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conducted its Fourth Assessment of Earth’s climate over time and found that the temperature might rise 4 – 11 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 100 years globally and that we may see a rise in sea level of 10” – 23” in that same period of time. This would make a decisive change in forest cover and Vermont’s climate might resemble that of the state of Georgia. Many familiar tree species would be displaced.

In The Birdwatcher’s Guide to Global Warming, four areas of concern have been identified: range changes, timing of migration and breeding, direct habitat impacts and new diseases.

1) Range – In the past 40 years several species that were rare or non-existent in Vermont have moved north and are now more common – Northern Cardinal, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Mockingbird, and Tufted Titmouse.

2) Timing – Tree Swallows have been observed to be laying eggs on average 9 days earlier in 1991 than what was observed in 1959. The presumed reason is that insects are hatching earlier.

3) Habitat - A warming climate will affect the composition of the Vermont’s mountainous forests. A 4 % increase in temperature would reduce the boreal habitat needed by Bicknell’s Thrush and eliminate the species from the Catskills of New York and most of Vermont. A 9 % increase would mean that its boreal habitat would only be found in the Presidentials of the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

4) Disease – West Nile Virus was first detected in New York in American Crows and subsequently in other corvids. Blackpoll Warblers are experiencing a 4 % annual decline that may be the result of outbreaks of pine beetle and spruce budworm. Hemlock wooly adelgid has not been able to move into Vermont because it cannot withstand winters with -23 degrees average. Eastern Hemlock is important to Blackburnian Warbler and Hermit Thrush; and it provides cooling shade along streams which benefits fish.

A Climate Change Atlas for 147 Bird Species of the Eastern United States compiles information into a database. Three key actions may help – support state and national measures for CO2 reductions; reduce individual and collective carbon footprint; support ongoing conservation.

FRIDAY, JUNE 20:

BOLTON BEDROCK AND BOULDERS FOR BOTANISTS AND BIRDERS

Walter Poleman, Senior Lecturer in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, also teaches an intensive two-week program in ecology at Vermont Law School each summer. Instead of text books, he uses the landscape to teach his students about what species are found where and why.

He has chosen four bird species for his students to learn about. Scarlet Tanager is a touchstone species with foresters and learning about this bird can help one manage a forest for diverse structure. Bobolink is not native to New England, but by studying this species one can learn a lot about grassland management. Chestnut-sided Warbler, rare in the times of John James Audubon, became steadily more common after the 1900’s and thrives in areas that have been recently cut over. Pileated Woodpecker, a resident bird that overwinters in Vermont, prefers standing dead trees - another part of the cycle of a forest.

Tree species of the southern Vermont piedmont are studied - some with regard to their vulnerability to non-native pathogens, such as hemlock wooly adelgid and emerald ash borer. Ferns are studied with respect to their habitat preferences – maidenhair fern of rich northern hardwoods; and ostrich fern of the floodplain forest. Invasive species are examined along with their place in the disturbance of native species in a variety of habitats – wild chervil and Japanese knotweed.

In order to put ecology into perspective, students look at what lies beneath in the substrate – the bedrock and the surficial layer that covers the bedrock. Through this study, they become prepared to answer the final exam question: “Why is it important to know about geology if you’re studying ecology?”

Looking at Bolton, we find that the underlying bedrock is Underhill Formation, a silver-green, magnetite-bearing chlorite-muscovite-quartz with phyllites and schists. A nice exposed example is at the Bolton Potholes. Sitting upon the bedrock are deposits of glacial till – jumbled material containing clay to boulders; sand – many exposed sites along the Bolton Valley Access Road; clay – pure pockets of it here and there; and recent alluvium from rivers, most notably the present day Winooski River.

There is a nice exposure of rock of the Pinnacle Formation at the junction of the Jonesville Road Bridge and the Stage Road that we passed on our way to our field trips. This rock is composed of greywacke, a type of dirty sandstone, and greenstone, an amphibolitic rock of volcanic origin.

About 15,000 years ago, the whole Winooski River basin was filled with glacial meltwater that flowed west toward Glacial Lake Vermont. Gillett Pond fills the remaining space where there was a great flush of glacial meltwater that flowed around Robbins Mountain on its way all the way to Hinesburg.

A nice aerial view of the Chittenden County Uplands, taken with pilot Ian Worley, shows our current landscape where many conservation groups work to preserve the natural and cultural features of this land that has seen a lot of time. Walter’s last slide gave ecological examples featuring the letter “B”: Bloodroot, Black-throated Green Warbler, Boulders, Bears, Bolton. “The Sun is just coming out! It’s one minute until the Summer Solstice!”

SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 7:00 PM, FIRESIDE

ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES

1. Secretary’s Report

Debbie Benjamin handed out copies of the List of Evening Programs 1987 – 2008 that gives the names of presenters and titles of their talks. She then presented details about the newly purchased slide projector screen that we have been using for this meeting. It is a Da-Lite Picture King that features a nice smooth screen that has a springloaded feature that keeps it rolled up tight when not in use and a keystone eliminator feature that allows the top of the screen to be tilted forward.

Bulletin and Bulletin Index. By looking forward and backward, three projects are being undertaken to keep the Club’s Bulletin alive. Published at intervals, the last Bulletin came out in 2002. Articles are being solicited from professional and amateur naturalists alike for the next Bulletin. The Club website has been adding searchable text copies of past Bulletins. A title and author index to the Bulletins that was initiated in 1987 is being worked on to bring it up to date to a point where places and subjects can be added over time.

2. Treasurer’s Report

Charlotte Bill, Treasurer, presented a two-page summary of the Club’s 3 Accounts and its 2 Scholarship Funds; and a Report on the 2007 Annual Meeting.

1) Certificate of Deposit, Merchant’s Bank, Enosburg Falls, VT that shows a Balance on 6/19/08 of $7,101.76.

2) Green Century Equity Fund, Green Century Funds, Indianapolis, IN that shows on 6/20/08 a Net Asset Value of $12,997.76 (664.847 total shares valued at $19.55 per share).

3) Checking Account, Chittenden Bank that shows a Balance on 6/21/08 of $10,219.81.

The Current Year/Rollover Scholarship Money in Checking Account shows a Balance on 6/21/08 of $2,348.29. A total of $605.00 was donated to this Fund in response to the 2008 appeal.

The Scholarship Endowment Fund on 6/21/08 showed a Balance of $6,562.50. A total of $430.00 was donated to this Fund in response to the 2008 appeal.

The Annual Meeting at Jay Peak Resort in 2007 had $10,005.92 in Expenses. Revenues totaled $10,398.00 which gives a Net of $392.08. The transfer from the Current Year Scholarship Fund for Scholarship Students was $590.00.

3. Scholarship Committee Report

Dorothy Allard said that we accepted four very qualified scholarship students and one teacher to this year’s meeting. In addition to emails and posters to professors at Vermont colleges, she sent an email notification through the Department of Education to all of the High School Principals in the state. For more details about this year’s students see later in this newsletter.

4. Nominating Committee

Chairman Peter Hope read the slate of Officers:

President – Deborah Benjamin
Vice-President Plants – Dorothy Allard
Vice-President Birds – Connie Youngstrom
Treasurer – Charlotte Bill
Secretary – no candidate

He asked that members think about a possible volunteer for the position of Secretary. Ann Burcroff moved and Lynne Arnold seconded that slate of Officers be approved. The motion passed unanimously.

5. Announcements

Dorothy Allard said that she was contacted by Margaret Fowle of the Peregrine Recovery Project that the National Wildlife Federation would no longer fund the project after the current year. She said that they were looking for an organization to take over responsibility to oversee volunteers. Discussion followed and it was decided that the Club could not undertake such a project at this time but that it would welcome the continued support on a volunteer basis by any of its members.

Debbie Benjamin announced the upcoming Montpelier Bioblitz that would take place for a 24-hour period beginning at 3:00 PM Friday, July 11 and wrap up at 3:00 PM Saturday, July 12 in which teams would go out and list all living organisms that they could find. She showed the list of volunteers signed up so far and encouraged anyone to add their name if they were interested.

Dorothy Allard described the newly formed nonprofit organization called the High Pond Farm in Plymouth, NH that offers Friday through Sunday seminars in a variety of topics including geology, bryology, odonates, birds, fungi. See their website at www.HighPondFarm.org

Debbie Benjamin announced that the Vermont Botanical and Bird Club has added its name in support of the Vermont Wildlife Partnership at the direction of the membership at last year’s meeting and discussion.

A special thank you to John Sullivan for so generously putting books from his collection out on a table for anyone to add to their collection. He is happy knowing that his books will go to people interested in ongoing learning.

6. Field Trip Reports

Birds:

Vice-President of Birds, Connie Youngstrom, read the bird list and tallied up 76 species. See the List and her comments later in this newsletter.

Plants:

Vice-President of plants, Dorothy Allard, said: “So we all know that without plants there would be no birds”. She remarked that we saw a lot of habitats on our trips. At Gleason Brook we saw a rich hardwood forest that was very reminiscent of the cove hardwood forests of the southern Appalachians. At the Richmond Floodplain Forest giant silver maples and ostrich fern were abundant. The group debated whether there was red elm as well as American elm there. At the Birds of Vermont Museum, we traversed white pine forest, hemlock forest, red pine forest and northern hardwoods in a very short distance. At the Green Mountain Audubon Center we enjoyed the beaver pond and wetlands with several sedge species. See the full list later in this newsletter.

7. Meeting Location Ideas for 2009

Debbie Benjamin outlined her correspondence with Middlebury College and Basin Harbor Club before settling on Bolton Valley Resort for this year’s meeting. Middlebury College kindly replied that they could not offer us room and meals at the time of our meeting as they have a very full academic season. Basin Harbor Club could only give us reasonable rates if we moved our meeting time to the weekday period.

Several places were mentioned as possible sites for the 2009 meeting including Killington area, Mount Ascutney area and Magic Mountain. Several people mentioned Southern Vermont College in Bennington where the Club visited in 1999 as a good all around location where we haven’t been for awhile.

8. Butterfly Report

Phillip Ballou read his list of butterflies for the meeting. See it later in this newsletter.

9. Adjourn

Dorothy Allard moved and Peter Hope seconded that the meeting adjourn. All in Favor.

HENRY POTTER SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS

This year’s scholarship students include two students from the past year and two new students along with their high school teacher.

1) Shannon Bonney was accepted for a second year scholarship. Unfortunately, an obstinate deer tick bite incurred while doing field work prevented her from coming to the meeting. She was taking the necessary antiobiotic treatment and had received strict orders from the doctor not to go out in the sun. She graduated from Green Mountain College in May, 2008 in ecology and sustainable development and is currently working for the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation River Management Program.

2) Hollis Smith attended this meeting, her second time as well. She is finishing her class-work at University of Southern Maine and is doing a literature review of vernal pool ecology.

Douglas LaPoint, teacher at Spaulding High School in Biology and Environmental Science, saw the memo sent to all High School principals and thought that this would be a great opportunity for two of his students who he thought would be excellent candidates. They are:

3) Darienne Chouinard, a Freshman, and

4) Lawrence Richards, a Sophomore.

Doug and Darienne and Larry all belong to Student Action For the Environment (SAFE) at Spaulding and have worked together on many projects including: in conjunction with the Friends of the Winooski River, participating in a 30 hour fast to raise money to fight global and international poverty. Last year’s event raised money for Doctors Without Borders; this year’s project raised $1100 for Malaria Nets. They also worked for the Barre City Green Up Week (rather than Day).

Darienne – “As a child, I could not stand to be indoors. I preferred running barefoot outside, making mud pies, and pocketing insects (i.e. worms, caterpillars, and to my mother’s horror, spiders).” She has a growing interest in wild and medicinal herbs.

Larry – “I spend hours outside engulfed in the natural beauty that is Vermont and I want to pay proper respect to that beauty by learning the names of the things that make it beautiful. I grew up outside with my family around me – the natural world provides me with a way to still connect with my deceased grandmother”

SLIDES BY MEMBERS
SATURDAY EVENING

1) Phillip Ballou showed us pictures from his trip to Mexico last November in search of the Winter haunts of the monarch butterfly. On the way to the mountains, he visited an Aztec pyramid with 250 steep steps to the top. There are seven mountain peaks where monarchs overwinter. One had a path with more than 700 steps. During the day, monarchs were everywhere – in the air moving up and down the mountainside in waves and on the ground near a stream gathering moisture and nutrients. Monarchs stay in Mexico from November to March and then they move north to Texas where they lay a brood of eggs on milkweed. Then the next generation takes over and it takes 3 – 4 generations to get to Vermont.

2) Peter Hope showed a slide of Bob Jervis (one of the trip leaders) taken on May 7, 1977 when Peter worked for VINS and contracted Bob to do a 3-day workshop. A second picture of Bob was from Chickering Fen by the famous cedar post. He showed the two maidenhair ferns from the 2007 meeting – Aleutian and Woodland – and Green Mountain maidenhair fern for comparison from an earlier trip to Belvidere Mountain. He showed royal azalea in full bloom from the UVM Hort Farm on May 20 of this year. He then showed slides from Gleason Brook on a day when the 80 degree temperatures caused the leaves to come out – Dutchman’s Breeches, Squirrel Corn, Dwarf Ginseng, Braun’s Holly Fern, Narrow-leaved Glade Fern (from Emerald Lake State Park).

3) Roger Bradley showed White and Red Baneberries side by side for comparison. We saw a cecropia moth with a 5” wingspan perched on a 1 ½” pipe with its brown cocoon. His garden is host to beautiful wildflowers and several have an unusual color form or a different regional form that he finds fascinating. Ragged Robin – a red one and a white one; a Redbud – the normal red one and a white one. Jeffersonia, twin leaf – the American form and the Japanese form. Turtlehead – a white one and a pink one. Roger showed the painstaking work that he put in on the Bear Island Bridge back home – it is 40’ long and covered. Pam helped shingle the roof. “I brought these slides for Fritz because I know he likes to build bridges and cabins.”

4) Tig Arnold gave a very nice review of the places that we visited and the things we saw during this meeting. Lichen in the field near Gale’s cabin, wolf’s claw clubmoss, cut-leaved grapefern, the goshawk nest 50’ – 70’ up, oneflowered wintergreen – all at the Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington. We then enjoyed the chipping sparrow that fledged that morning from its nest just outside the door. Then several plants at Gleason Brook rich woods – ground cedar, maidenhair fern, Braun’s holly fern, Goldie’s woodfern, silvery glade fern, nettle (a close-up where each needle was visible).

5) Michael and Regina DeCorte shared pictures from a trip to Equador and the Galopagos Islands. The birding at the ecolodge in a lush rainforest was remarkable. “The diversity is huge. I don’t even know what category I’m looking at. A trip to Equador for birds is something to behold.” Then it was off to the islands with their dry and hot climate where the animals and birds don’t have natural predators and so are very tame – penguins, tortoise, blue-footed booby, frigate birds, brown pelicans, marine iguanas, land iguanas. We landed back in the states and saw Liberty State Park across from Manhattan in Jersey City where a recent sighting of a snowy owl in March delighted many birdwatchers.

CONNIE EARLE 1918 – 2008

Longtime Club member and friend, Connie (Dale) Earle, died on November 8, 2008 at her home in Manchester, Vermont. She had a lifelong interest in nature and in photography.

At the 1993 meeting at the Hulbert Outdoor Center in Fairlee, Vermont, Connie showed spectacular slides of frost patterns on the windows.

“Connie Earle showed a series of frost pictures of patterns she saw on the windows during Winter’s coldest nights. Imaginary feathered landscapes in cut glass colors appeared before the camera’s eye and, with her patient experimentation for exposure, became transformed into beautiful images for our eyes.” [Vermont Botanical and Bird Club Newsletter, February, 1994]

The Club will celebrate Connie’s memory at its next meeting with pictures, slides, photographs and words.

MEMBERS’ MEMORABLE MOMENTS

“There aren’t many maps where Vermont is a red state.”

“I learned pishing from Roger Tory Peterson when I was 11 years old.”

“Where the small people play croquet.”

“You’ll be sori [sic] for saying that.”

“I brake for walking fern.”

“Geologists have the most amazing vocabulary, even more so than botanists.”

“It ends up with a barbecue – a big party for nature geeks.”

“We’ll eat all of the fish and birds that we find – and the dragonflies.”

“I found a deer!”

“I found a cow!”

“Ask him for his story – I think there’s blood involved.”

“It’s either a row of little breeches, or somebody had a lot of teeth extracted.

“If it’s not a hummingbird, it’s a tanager; if it’s not a tanager, then it’s a flycatcher.”

“Let’s boogey through the sterile stuff."

FIELD TRIPS

FIELD TRIP 1.

1. Birds of Vermont Museum, Huntington

The Birds of Vermont Museum features over 470 carved birds representing 258 species patiently carved by Robert Spear, Jr. over many years. The woodcarvings depict Vermont’s nesting species in their natural habitats as well as North America’s endangered and extinct species. The Museum is part of the 100-acre Lawrence 9 Nature Preserve and includes walking trails through a variety of habitats. Our guide both days is Robert Jervis who in the principle researcher and author of “Baseline 2000 – An Ecological Study of the Lawrence Nature Preserve in Huntington, VT”.

2. Green Mountain Audubon Center, Huntington

The Green Mountain Audubon Center is adjacent to the Birds of Vermont Museum. Starting from the Sugarhouse Trails area on Huntington Road, the trails wind through a complex of beaver ponds, deciduous and white pine woods, a hemlock swamp (with a boardwalk) and shoreline of the Huntington River. In May of 2004, the 255-acre property and the neighboring Birds of Vermont Museum property were designated an Important Birds Area. In early 2005 students of Walter Poleman and students in the Field Naturalist Program at UVM studied the area and published their findings in “Important Birds Area Green Mountain and Birds of Vermont Museum Inventory Assessment”.

3. Bolton Potholes, Bolton Near the bottom of the Bolton Valley Access Road on the east side (right as you go uphill) is a limited area to park at the edge of the road and walk a very short distance to a beautiful geological feature of Joiner Brook which includes waterfalls, cascades and scoured potholes.

FIELD TRIP 2.

1. Gleason Brook Rich Colluvial Woods, Bolton (south of the Winooski River)

Located a short way south on the Long Trail from the trailhead on Duxbury/River Road is the Gleason Brook Rich Colluvial Woods. Signs of reaching the bowl include a rich flora – maidenhair fern, silvery glade fern, Goldie’s wood fern and narrow-leaved glade fern. Farther up, the soils become abruptly acidic on a rocky shoulder. pH ranges from 7.2 to 5.1 in a short distance.

2. Gillett Pond, Richmond

Gillett Pond is a beautiful spot for lunch in hemlock woods where the narrow glacially formed pond abuts Robbins Mountain. For those who have enjoyed Peter Hope’s reflections on water slides at the meetings in past years, this is his favorite place of inspiration. During scouting, a Northern Waterthrush was singing from one direction and a Louisiana Waterthrush from another.

3. Richmond Floodplain Forest, Richmond Approximately 35 acres along the south shore of the Winooski River, the floodplain forest is part of the Richmond Land Trust and represents the most extensive remaining floodplain forest on the Winooski River and includes levee forest, first terrace and second terrace and associated backwater marshes and pools.

4. Monitor Barns West and East, Richmond Time permitting and weather suggesting, we may visit the Monitor Barn West on Friday and the Monitor Barn East Trails on Friday and Saturday. They were built in 1903 and are a unique pair of dairy barns amidst more than 1000 acres of prime agricultural lands, wooded hillsides and three prosperous farmsteads. The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) has its central office and work quarters located here. The trails include red oak-northern hardwood forest and dry oak forest.

BIRD NOTES 2008

The first morning dawned cloudy and damp with a feeling that rain was on the way. I’m always impressed with you botanical and birding folks as there was an eager crowd ready to look for birds so early on that murky dark morning. We set off for a walk around the trails adjacent to the ski area and heard lots but saw little in the way of birds. A nice list of birds grew as we heard them singing, mostly what you’d expect in the mixed forest that predominates at Bolton Valley. Scarlet Tanager, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Canada, Black and White, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, and Blackburian Warblers, Hermit Thrush and Veery were included in the list.

The greatest excitement of the day, while out on our field trips, came while walking the winding trail at Birds of Vermont Museum. Bob Jervis led the entire group to the tree where a Northern Goshawk had its nest high up in the branches. The birds warning calls could be heard as we approached. Also seen at the bird feeders at the museum were a number of Evening Grosbeaks, whose numbers have steadily been on the decline, and are less commonly seen nowadays. Pouring rain by this time, we were glad to be indoors and have a good long look at Bob Spear’s amazing bird carvings.

We then went on to Green Mountain Audubon Center where the trails brought us to a variety of habitats. Our bird list grew with the addition of Indigo Bunting, Hummingbird, Catbird, Common Yellowthroat, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. A Veery, Chestnut-sided Warbler, lots of Redwings, a Kingbird, and Baltimore Oriole at the beaver pond just before the next downpour let loose and drove us all back to the cars.

Clearing skies greeted us early Saturday morning for the second walk around the grounds of the ski area. Added to the list were Winter Wren, Cedar Waxwing, Wood Thrush.

By the time our group set off on the Long Trail, headed for the rich colluvial forest along Gleason Brook, the skies had cleared nicely and everyone was glad for that. While taking lots of time to study the wonderful array of ferns with Peter Hope, we kept an ear out for songbirds. Wood Warblers topped the list, but Scarlet Tanagers, Rose –breasted Grosbeaks, Winter Wren, Wood Pewee, Veery, Red-eyed Vireo and perhaps a Philadelphia Vireo (but probably wasn’t, so we didn’t count it.)

Our lunch stop by the shore of Gillett Pond was a peaceful place to take a break and listen to the bird song. We heard and/or saw Northern Waterthrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Baltimore Oriole, and Black-throated Green Warblers. While on the prior scouting trip a week earlier a Louisiana and a Northern Waterthrush sang from opposite shores of this narrow water body-an excellent opportunity to compare their songs.

Our day concluded with an interesting walk along the Winooski River in the shade of the tall silver maples. The bird list increased with the addition of Warbling Vireo, Tufted Titmouse, American Redstart, Spotted Sandpiper, Bank Swallow and Rough-winged Swallow. The swallows lilting flight over the swiftly moving river and several trips to and from their sandbank nest holes were fascinating to see.

BUTTERFLIES 2008
(compiled by Phillip Ballou)

BIRD LIST 2008
(compiled by VP Connie Youngstrom)

PLANT LIST 2008
(compiled by VP Dorothy Allard)

Vascular Plants

Bryophytes 2008 (compiled by VP Dorothy Allard)

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