A quick post with some of the birds I’ve found out and about in May.
I’ll be giving my slideshow, Travels with Ian 2025, of my favorite shots from 2025 twice before the end of the month. There’s lots of wildlife from around New England and shots from my trip to Alaska to see brown bears and the steam locomotive on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. Both are free and open to the public. The first show will be at the Bugbee Center in White River Jct. Wednesday May 27 at 1:30 pm. The second presentation will be at the Blake Memorial Library in Corinth, VT Friday May 29 at 6 pm. The Library would appreciate an RSVP sent to khotellingbml@gmail.com.
Back on May 8, I went out to visit the Westons and their neighbors. The Westons slept in and I went looking to see who else might be around.
Warblers are back and there was a good-sized flock foraging along the shore. Most were too high in the trees for good shots, but this common yellowthroat was working just about water level. This purple finch (Harold, he says my number came up) was eating tamarack seeds. The Westons finally stirred and one gave a nice stretch before heading off to the far end of the pond for breakfast.
I went back to visit them again the next day.
They were up before the dawn and checking out the real estate looking for a nesting site. They discussed the spot where the nest has been for the last several years but didn’t seem to come to a conclusion. The literature says the male picks the nesting site. But, watching it seems to be a joint decision. Much like how I decided on the colors to paint the kitchen. One of the birds stretched a leg and showed he was banded. Last year, the female disappeared from the pond in early August and wasn’t seen again. I suspect that wasn’t good news, that’s early for her to have left voluntarily. The male stayed on the pond and faced off against a challenger every time I visited. My first thought was we had a new female on the pond. I reported the banded bird to the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Vermont’s loon researchers. They told me that the banded bird was a male that had landed in someone’s driveway. The Center sent someone to rescue the bird. They banded him and released him in a pond without a nesting pair of loons. We’ll never know if it was Mr. Weston or the challenger that was chased off the pond. I’m hoping this is the same bird that I’ve likely been watching for years. Mr. Weston gave me a nice stretch. Or he was throwing his wings up in frustration…. Mrs. Weston answered with her own stretch. Then they resumed the search for a nest site. It didn’t look like they came to a decision on where to nest. Mr. Weston stretched again and they headed out for breakfast. The Westons’ pond has a good population of snapping turtles. I’ve had three great looks at turtles in shallow water so far this year. All three turtles were large, but nowhere near the size people claim they’ve seen. They actually top out with a carapace – the upper part of the shell – about 20″. This turtle appears to be basking. Snappers like to stay in the water rather than climb out to bask. They’ll float along with their head and top of their shell exposed. The tree swallows and barn swallows were back on their favorite perch, waiting for the insects to get out and about. Eastern kingbirds (Elvis, the King) are back and paired up. They seem to prefer dragonflies for their diet. Dragonflies are scarce in the early spring, kingbirds feed on smaller insects until the dragonflies return or emerge. Some dragonflies migrate, in other species the adults die out in the fall leaving larvae to survive overwinter. I spent some more time trying for the warblers. This chestnut-sided warbler teased me for several minutes before pausing in the open for his photo. One of the Westons gave a stretch as I head out for the morning.
On May 11, I put the boat in the Waits River in Bradford, VT to see who might be around.
There were a couple dozen sandpipers around, this least sandpiper was foraging for breakfast in the reeds along the shore. There were several solitary sandpipers foraging as well. Another least sandpiper. Least sandpipers are allegedly the world’s smallest shorebirds. They’re often called ‘peeps’ for their size and call. As I floated by, I checked to see how our northern flickers were doing. Only to be surprised to see a tree swallow in the nest the flickers had been working on. There were flickers calling in the area, but I don’t know where the couple from the last post settled. I beached the boat and watched this solitary sandpiper foraging for some time. The same sandpiper finding a snack. And the same bird with another catch.
I’m watching the weather, looks like we’re going to have a nice weekend, I’ll be back out early.
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