The Columbus Day bird walk was supposed to be a Snow Goose Extravaganza – but the annual visit by thousands of Snow Geese is late this year. Trip leader Maeve Kim changed the focus of the outing to a search for migrating sparrows and other songbirds. Three of the five people who signed up for the trip showed up, undeterred by the early morning downpour. We were treated to a gorgeous day, a wonderful picnic lunch, and unusual numbers and diversity of birds – including one European bird that’s rare for Vermont! We spent time using spotting scopes to study birds at Shelburne Bay, walked the Ti-Haul Trail, and then took our scopes to Charlotte Town Beach. Trip participants were Corky Muldoon, Madeline Miles and Jean Cannon. Here’s the bird list:

• Canada Goose
• American Wigeon
• Mallard
• Common Merganser
• Common Loon
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Blue Heron
• Killdeer
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Turkey Vulture
• Lesser Black-backed Gull – a rare bird in Vermont!
• Bonaparte’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Herring Gull
• Belted Kingfisher
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Phoebe
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Hermit Thrush
• American Robin
• Gray Catbird
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Song Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• White-throated Sparrow
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Northern Cardinal
• House Finch
• Pine Siskin
• American Goldfinch