Jeannette and I just returned from a relaxing and joyful two days with family in Vermont.

Nephew Sam gets his life list off to an early start; gotta start ‘em young!

Our Christmas Day birding was limited to a snowshoe in the woods, and feeder watching between bouts of gluttony. While neither produced much in the way of avian diversity, beautiful weather (temps in the mid to upper 30’s and lots of sun), made both exceedingly enjoyable. The quantity of Black-capped Chickadees at the feeders was particularly impressive, and the action at the window feeder (see above) was excellent. I particularly enjoyed the antics of the chickadees when they approached the window feeder – they would often cling to nearby icicles before landing on the feeder. Occasionally, they would also hover at the tip of the icicle to catch a drop of melting water. It certainly doesn’t take rarities to keep me – or Sam – entertained!

On Wednesday morning, we headed out (spotting a flock of about 20 Snow Buntings in a field along the road towards Stowe) and stopped for a walk at the Stowe Recreation Path. Despite nice habitat – woods and brushy edge bordering a still-open brook, fields, yards, and the edge of town, birds were suprisingly few and far between.

After a great lunch at Waterbury Wings (the hot breaded buffalo wings scored a very impressive 9 on my very particular scoring system), we took Rte 2 into Montpelier, just for a change of scenery and to check for shrikes along the way, and any frugivores that may have been feeding on downtown crabapples. No luck in either case, and a walk at the North Branch Nature Center was not very fruitful (we were hoping for an active feeding station, but the one lone tube feeder only hosted some Black-capped Chickadees.

Meanwhile, back home, this morning I took a quiet walk at Hedgehog Mountain Park – still hoping for a White-winged Crossbill to add to my Hog list - before heading in to the store.