January 21, 2016
On Thursday January 21, i went down birding at the Winooski Salmon holes. It was overcast and about 25 degrees at 3PM when i went out. I first used binoculars from the parking lot to identify five mallards in one of the holes, feeding near the ice. I then walked down the path and hadnt gotten very far when I found a flock of 25 or so starlings sitting and squabbling in the canopy of a large red oak. While checking them out with binoculars I saw what were probably three juvenile robins within the starling flock. They were catbird like, but with a bright orange breast and some barring. At first i thought they were varied thrushes, though i am happy they were not, I don't want to be on TV. Farther down the path, the starlings spooked. Their movements towards an river-bound island provoked a large red-tailed hawk to fly out of the forest there. I guessed it female due to an unusually large body size. Farther down into the Winooski woods, i could find no birds but a few rock doves. There is a nesting pair of Pileated Woodpeckers that live on the path in the warmer months, however it is likely they fly deeper into the woods for the winter, and they were nowhere to be seen. I left at sundown and saw the mallards again from the parking lot floating down the river when i left. They must fly into the island brush when people get near though, because as soon as i get down to the river bank they are always nowhere to be found.
