Lake Champlain is the largest lake in Vermont, something on the order of 125 miles long. There are 5 towns in the islands which are organized into Grand Isle County. I spent a wonderful afternoon birding up in the Islands on 17-June, and logged reports in all 5 towns in a half-marathon between 2 and 8pm.

The highlights of the day were the 5 Osprey nests along US-2 in Milton, an Eastern Meadowlark in North Hero, and Scarlet Tanagers in Alburg. I did the "Life Bird Boogie" twice that day -- for the Meadowlark and for the Tanagers!

The Meadowlark sighting was definitely serendipity. I was driving up the highway with my windows open (it's been a hot summer this year) when I spotted what I thought might be a hawk, sitting on a phone line overlooking a wet field. After finding a safe place to pull off the highway, I trekked back to the field. The Meadowlark's song told me that this was no hawk, but I was truly surprised by the size of this bird; I had expected Meadowlarks to be Robin or Blackbird sized, but this was definitely on the scale of a Crow. Unfortunately, even at 15X zoom, my camera couldn't do justice to the golden yellow bird on the wire.

My checklist:
Mallard
Wood Duck
Osprey (5 occupied nests)
Turkey Vulture
Great blue Heron
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Easter Wood Pee-wee
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Belted Kingfisher
American Crow
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
Marsh Wren
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
European Starling
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
Veery
Cedar Waxwing
Mourning Dove
American Redstart
Yellow Warbler
Song Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Bob-o-link
Red-winged Blackbird
Northern Cardinal
Scarlet Tanager
American Goldfinch

Attached Thumbnails