Down by the Lake: Lake Champlain and the Winooski River

On Wednesday March 16, 2016, I headed down to Lake Champlain to see if I could catch any waterfowl. Lake Champlain is the largest fresh water body in/along Vermont. It was a grey day but warmer, in the mid 40s. I arrived at the sailing yard (in front of the sailing club building) at 3:15pm and walked out along the pier. Gulls (probably all Ring-billed) called from out along the rock support wall, that keeps the waves down for boats. I came across two Ring-billed Gulls who had perched themselves on the top of two beams. One stood almost on guard while the other (the further one from me) threw its head back, somewhat violently, and called out. I am not sure why it was doing this odd head motion, but it was not something that was necessary to call out. Perhaps this was a display? Perhaps a warning to me to leave them alone?

There was a fisherman trying to catch some fish (I believe he caught at least one), which lead me to believe there was fish for waterfowl here, but I did not see any. After spending some time at the pier, I decided to travel along down the shore. As I headed to the parking lot I spotted some American Crows flying overhead and a decently sized group of European Starlings along the railroad tracks.

After observing several more (I presume) Ring-billed Gulls, I decided to head to the Winooski River because I am very familiar with the park there, and thought the thinner parts of the river might have some different birds. Walking along the trail between the river and the park, there were two very large American Crows that flew into the trees above me. In the distance a small group of geese flew over head and landed upstream of where I was. I walked down to the edge of the river and waited as the gaggle drifted closer. I watched this flock of Canada Geese drift along, dunking in their wings and head every now and then. The two at the back of the pack started to go after one another. I think this may have been agonistic behavior, perhaps caused by a ranking conflict. The group drifted all the way down to the rocky outcropping in the center of the river. They climbed up onto the rocks, perhaps enjoying the sun that had started to come out.

Publicado el marzo 18, 2016 05:24 MAÑANA por bkelley