Your wildlife sightings are news to us! If you have pictures or stories of encounters with fauna or flora in the area, please email them to us and interesting ones will be posted to this page.
Ron Payne
rpayne72@myfairpoint.net
Giant Swallowtail Butterfly
On 29 May Ron Payne, Roz Renfrew and I saw a giant swallowtail butterfly at the Hurd Grassland in Weybridge, where OCAS conducts monthly wildlife walks. Kent McFarland of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies informs us that giant swallowtails first appeared in Vermont in 2010, when two were discovered in the Champlain Valley. He said “In 2011 we had a massive invasion of them into Vermont. Some even reported egg laying and larvae. We pondered if they could overwinter, and waited. They did indeed overwinter. Read the rest of this entry »
Red Admiral butterfly found on Chipman Hill in Middlebury
If you have spent any time at all outside in the past month or so, you must have noticed all the little brown and orange butterflies around. They are Red Admirals and they are seemingly everywhere right now. A combination of good breeding conditions last fall, a March warm snap and favorable winds have brought these butterflies to our area in record numbers. Butterfly enthusiasts and experts Read the rest of this entry »
Wendy Macziewski using live specimens to show Monarch larva development
OCAS, Middlebury Land Trust, and the Ilsley Public Library co-sponsored a monarch butterfly larva monitoring study session on Saturday, May 19. The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (www.mlmp.org) from the University of Minnesota sent Wendy Macziewski all the way to Vermont to conduct this training. Local OCAS member Peg Goldman worked hard over many months to ensure this event could happen. We thank you, Peg. Read the rest of this entry »
Cornwall Elementary School first and second grade classes with OCAS Board members, Ron Payne, Carol Ramsayer and Gary Starr
It’s a recipe for a Bird-a-thon adventure: begin with 18 enthusiastic 1st and 2nd graders, add 2 dedicated teachers, mix in a few helpful parents, and sprinkle with 3 OCAS board members. Send them off into the morning sun on a real bird walk, to see the birds and their behaviors that they’ve been studying about. They watched a Red-winged Blackbird touch down on the back of a Red-tailed Hawk. They listened for birdsong while walking along a country road. They explored different habitats: a wetland, various meadows, and a Read the rest of this entry »
OCAS birders will leave no tree, shrub or field un-searched for birds this weekend
Beautiful weather is forecast for our long-awaited OCAS Bird-a-thon this weekend! We’ll be searching for sandpipers, galloping after gulls, whining for warblers, fussing over flycatchers, and spishing in sparrows – all in the name of raising money for our education efforts. Find out more about the teams, and how you can donate to our FUNdraising Bird-a-thon, by clicking here: Read the rest of this entry »
Smooth Green Snake
A Smooth Green Snake was captured, photographed and released at the Watershed Center’s Waterworks property on Plank Road in Bristol on 13 May. The sighting occurred during Otter Creek Audubon’s annual Warbler Warm-up. The snake was found in the overgrown field adjacent to the Plank Road parking area. Read the rest of this entry »
Brewster’s Warbler, a hybrid of the Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warbler.
This morning the Otter Creek Audubon Society and the Watershed Center held the annual Warbler Warm-Up at the Waterworks Property in Bristol. 30 participants led by Warren King and Ron Payne recorded 58 bird species, including 12 species of Warbler including Blackburnian, Black-throated Green, Magnolia and Chestnut-sided. Proving that it never hurts to show up early, Gary and Cathy Starr got the best sighting of the day before anyone else arrived finding a Brewster’s Warbler, a hybrid of the Golden-winged and Read the rest of this entry »
Bluebird on a birdhouse steeple at the Hurd Grassland in Weybridge.
We couldn’t have asked for better weather for this month’s monthly wildlife walk at Otter View Park and the Hurd Grassland. Right at the start an Eastern Kingbird greeted us at the parking lot and a Yellow Warbler was spotted in a treetop not far away. Down at the end of the boardwalk we watched a female Baltimore Oriole struggle to pull up a strand of grass and then watched her weaving it into her nest. Four River Otters were swimming together in the creek while both Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers were flying from log to log and Read the rest of this entry »
Cornwall Elementary first and second grade students looking for birds
Standing in the meadow by the parking lot, Craig Zondag exclaimed, “Bobolinks singing in the distance!” and took off. “Wait,” we said, and we all caught up and headed to the far field. We could hear the burbly bobbling song of the bobolinks in the hedgerow beside us. Then one flew right over and landed in a tree, perching right where we could see it. Everyone pointed their binoculars and there they were. Then we listened and in the far, far distance we could hear a meadowlark singing. Another grassland bird was right near Read the rest of this entry »
OCAS members scouting a power line right-of-way in New Haven
OCAS is participating through Audubon Vermont with VELCO in a citizen science project to monitor the occurrence of shrubland birds along VELCO powerline rights-of-way in Addison County. The project will cover VELCO rights-of-way from West Rutland Marsh to Burlington. Rutland County Audubon and Green Mountain Audubon will monitor shrubland habitat in Rutland and Chittenden counties respectively. Shrubland birds, including Golden-winged Warblers, Blue-winged Warblers, Prairie Warblers, Brown Thrashers, Read the rest of this entry »
