A lot of the warblers have moved on for the winter, but some are still around. Chip talks about the Yellow-rumped Warbler and the Palm Warbler as two kinds of late migrators you can still see this weekend.

With the migration season well underway, Anson and Chip talk about some of the small birds coming through our area. One of those is the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a beautiful olive-colored bird where males have a bright red crown that is sometimes visible. The Golden-crowned Kinglet shows it's bright yellow crown all the time, and stays in Vermont through the winter.

In a first for Washington county, a Long-billed Dowitcher was spotted. This shore bird has a long beak like a Snipe and a very unique call. These are rare around Central Vermont because they prefer mud flats along river beds and sand bars, thus lending themselves more to being spotted in the Champlain Valley. Anson and Chip also talk about the Least Sandpiper and how to identify this tiny shore bird.

Anson and Chip talk about the different hawks that nest in Vermont and soon will be migrating out of the state. Not all hawks migrate south, a couple do stick around, but most fly south.

Photo by Mikell Darling on Unsplash

We're now in September, and with the changing weather means that birds are migrating through our state. Several types of Warblers have been spotted in Vermont recently that don't nest in the state.

The Northern Flicker, one of the only woodpeckers to feed on the ground, has been seen around the state lately. This beautiful bird is very colorful, with yellow flight feathers and a distinct black and brown spotted-like pattern. Also, the Nighthawk migration has brought them through Vermont, feasting on winged ants and preferring the eastern side of the state.

We talk again this week about common birds and how fascinating watching them is. We talk about the Mallard, a common species of duck that are in their annual molting stage right now.

Many people may consider August to be a boring time for birds in Vermont, but sometimes now is the time when you see common birds do uncommon things. Chip talks about a flock of over 100 Common Grackle that came by his house last week, an unusual group size in the woods despite being a common bird.

With the recent tropical storm that blew threw Vermont, that can mean that some birds can blow in that otherwise wouldn't normally live here. That's exactly what happened this week, where someone spotted a Storm-Petrel, most likely a Wilson's Storm-Petrel, on Lake Memphremagog. This coastal bird usually spotted off the coast of Maine at this time of year.

Anson and Chip talk about the recent report by Audubon Vermont on how the nesting season went for Peregrine Falcons. This crow sized falcon nests earlier in the year than a lot of other birds and likes sharp cliff faces.