Hot Birds in Vermont
Here are a couple of birds you don’t see every winter in Vermont. That’s a Baltimore Oriole above, which has been hanging out at Sandy Cutting’s place in Irasburg since December 14. He’s been eating cracked corn and a bit of suet. Elegant shot, Sandy! Thanks for sharing.
And below is a Harlequin Duck (with Mallards) that Gary Sturgis photographed last Sunday, December 14, at the Grand Isle ferry terminal (and shared with my pal Josh Lincoln). Hard to tell whether this is a first-winter bird or an adult female. In any event, it’s quite a find. I’ve included below my own shot of a typical shock-and-awe adult male from the Massachusetts coast.
And since I’m in New Mexico, far away from both of these birds, I’ll offer yet one more at the bottom of this post: a Mexican Jay.
This spring and last the Baltimore orioles that spent weeks at my oriole feeder never arrived. I live in Montpelier and had many visiting in the years past. Is it weather related ?
Hi Joyce, I doubt we can attribute any pattern to bird behavior like this over a short period of time. Sometimes it’s just circumstances — weather, mortality, local food abundance, whim — sometimes it’s just chance.