Vermont Rare Bird Reports 2024

Identification was made by Jacob Crawford from my submitted photo.

iPhone camera; eye

Multiple annual trips to the coast of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts at different times of year to view and identify shorebirds including various peep species.

Partially submerged rocks lining the causeway bike path crossing the area of lake Champlain between Colchester and South Hero Vermont.
Other birds in the area seen previously were red-winged blackbirds, cormorants, and gulls. These other birds were not seen resting on the same rocks as the sanderlings, they were seen floating in the water and flying across the bike path above the rocks.

Other birds seen on the same, or nearby, rocks were ruddy turnstone, dunlin, and semipalmated sandpipers.

The birds were only viewed briefly, but during that time they were standing fairly still together on the rocks. No feeding or other behaviors were observed.

None were heard.

When travelling S/SE by bicycle from the local motion island line ferry towards Mills Point on the island line trail, I initially observed birds on a rock at the waters edge off the west side of the trail. Using an iPhone 14pro, I photographed these birds, which turned out to be ruddy turnstones and two dunlin, using 3x optical magnification.

Approximately 100 feet further down the path, I spotted additional sandpiper-like birds together on a large rock and stopped to photograph them as well. I was not, at that time, able to identify them in the field. The sanderling identification was later made by Jacob Crawford from photos I took of this grouping. Some of the descriptions below are taken directly from his description/assessment.

Sandpiper-like general size and shape.

Taken from Jacob’s assessment: “These birds have thicker, fairly long bills, black legs, chunky bodies that appear substantially larger than the nearby Semipalmateds. The bodies of the two birds on the right are sporting the rusty browns and blacks on their wings and mantles with a sandy brown breast. The other bird on the left is likely paler because it hasn’t quite taken on its full alternate (breeding) plumage yet.”