So following recent reports on the VT birding listserve I drove to the Putney Great Meadow, a vast field planted in part with corn, in part alfalfa and part clover. The birds were feeding on the invasive common buck-thorn along a railroad track at the far edge of the field. I was able to get some photos but only from a distance, so the quality is kind of low.
I believe it was a family of a male with a female and one fledgling but it could have been two fledglings. The fledgling looks similar to a female except for the bill which has a pink base instead of being entirely black.
Fledgling and male Orchard Oriole
A female was feeding on this Common Mullein (corrected - not Agrimony). But as soon as she spied me she flew off in a blur.
It's raining today, finally, after a paralyzing heat wave, time to catch up with house work, but there is all this activity outside my window....One in particular which over a long run would drive me crazy: the plaintive wee wee wee of a fledgling Rose-breasted Grosbeak, being quiet only for a moment when food is being stuffed down his beak. He keeps both parents working hard.
Thanks for stopping by.
