Meet at Shaws in Waitsfield to carpool to Center Fayston for a Sunday spring walk with Jeannie Elias.

Meet at Sainsburys’ CrossHaven Farm (Take 100B about 2 miles north from Moretown to Spillway Rd, cross the river).    Come enjoy the hospitality of Scott and Pat Sainsbury.   Woods, meadows, river habitats abound on this beautiful property.

Mad Birders have been thrilled with the sight of an immature (First Year) Bald Eagle.  “Great Eddy’  was initially spotted by Katie Woodruff near the Covered Bridge over the Mad River on January 12th.  The bird has been seen every day since including on the 16th, when it traveled a few miles north to Moretown.  These photos by Rick Haynes, Craig Goss and Scott Sainsbury capture the bird roosting and in flight.

Common Redpools are being seen in large number by birders throughout the Mad River Valley.  Craig Goss had this flock in the snowstorm yesterday up in Fayston.

 Mad Birder Ave Haviland has had regular visits from this Barred Owl this week at her feeder in Fayston.

Bohemian Waxwings in Waitsfield last week.

Bohemian Waxwings thrilled Mad Birders and Waitsfield Elementary School students last week.

The Mourning Dove is a common year round resident in the Valley.

See you on the Christmas Birding Day!

Waitsfield Elementary Students to participate in Audubon Christmas Bird Count

Children do it almost by instinct.  They count.  Usually the things they count are objects they love: toys, candy, gifts, friends, and even family members.  If they are outdoors they will count anything they see… ants, leaves, stones… or even birds.  So it should come as no surprise that kids at the Waitsfield Elementary School will be counting birds as part of the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count happening in the Mad River Valley on Friday December 17^th.   Many of the kids at Waitsfield Elementary trace their knowledge and enthusiasm about birds to Mrs. Patti Haynes, who has been a Para educator at the school for the past 16 years.  Patti, in turn, expresses gratitude to her childhood babysitter in New Jersey, Mrs. Chewning, the local librarian and an Audubon Society member, who provided the spark for Patti’s lifelong interest in bird watching.

Getting school children interested in birds is pretty easy to do if you are as enthusiastic as Patti, and she had help from other Waitsfield Elementary School teachers and some parents as well.   In 2009, when Patti decided to improve her electronic reporting of daily bird counts (eBird is an online citizen science tool to record and share bird sightings around the globe), it was natural to figure out a way to include the school as a reporting location.  A bird feeder was constructed outside one of the classrooms.  Each week a student in that classroom was given the title of ‘Birdwatcher’ and had to report to Patti (Mrs. Haynes) the number and species of birds seen.

Since 2006, the local birding club, the Mad Birders, has been participating in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) which involves counting birds within a 15-mile diameter circle.  That Waitsfield Elementary School is located within this circle, had a birdfeeder, and had Patti, along with loads of enthusiastic kids; this set the stage for the school’s participation last year in the local effort. This year the students will be counting birds again.

There are two ways to participate in the CBC, field counting and feederwatch counting.   Field counting involves teams of two or more bird watchers going out into the territory on foot or by car and counting the birds they see or hear.  Feederwatch counting is done from a fixed location and involves counting the birds that come to the feeder.

This past week Mother Nature helped generate some advance publicity for this year’s Mad River Valley Christmas Bird Count by sending in a flock of very pretty and exotic winter birds called Bohemian Waxwings.   During the four previous years that the Mad Birders counted birds for the CBC, only one Bohemian Waxwing had ever been spotted.  Emails flew back and forth among Valley birders about this unusual sighting and when the birds were spotted at the General Wait House in Waitsfield on the morning of Friday December 10th, Patti took some students from Mrs. Georgeanne Baker’s class to see them.  Mrs. Baker is one of many teachers inspired by Patti to become a bird watcher.  Afterwards, Mrs. Baker posted this note from the class on the Mad Birders’ electronic mailing list:

“Dear Birders,

Some of us saw the Bohemian Waxwings behind the Wait House with Mrs. Haynes during recess around 11:35 a.m.  We saw about 10 of them.  They were feeding on berries and a couple of them were dive bombing for a berry and then flew up to the top of a tree, and again and again.  They swallowed the berries whole!  They let us get very close to them.  Mrs. Haynes told us to look for their cinnamon under-tail and on the tip of the tail, yellow dots.  We saw this clearly from where we were standing.  Mrs. Haynes had binoculars with her.  When we looked through them, the birds looked gigantic.

See you on the Christmas Birding Day.

Mrs. Baker’s Class”

Dozens of Mad River Valley Birders along with the students of Waitsfield Elementary School (and their teachers) will be counting birds all day on Friday December 17^th.  If you see folks with binoculars or kids in the school yard at recess that day that seem to be looking for birds, don’t forget to wish them a Happy Christmas Birding Day!

Meet at the Cemetery on Freeman Hill in Moretown to hike this quiet road with Jeannie Elias.  Freeman Hill is just south of Moretown Village on Rte 100B.   Migrant activity should be great.

Join Mad Birders at the Big Picture Theatre parking lot.  We will explore the Mad River Path as well as the area behind the theatre.  This walk is part of Mad River Path’s Walk and Roll celebration.

Mad Birders will meet at the Cemetery on Freeman Hill in Moretown at 7:30 PM to walk the hill to locate  the elusive American Woodcock.  This member of the sandpiper family calls on the ground, then does an amazing aerial display, usually at dusk.   We are often delighted to see/hear other species such as Wilson’s Snipe, Wild Turkey, and others.

Saturday, April 30.  Meet at Shaws at 7:00 AM to carpool to Champlain Valley.  Bring lunch, water, and snacks.  Be prepared to spend the day birding in different locations near the lake.  Wear waterproof footwear and layers.