The Hermit Thrush Newsletter
A location that is small and very easy and rewarding to explore is Lagoon Road in Hinesburg. It’s less than a mile west of the Route 116 (Hinesburg Road) and Charlotte Road traffic light intersection. The village of Hinesburg has the fortune of having several great birding hotspots within a couple of miles of Lagoon Road, like Geprag Community Park, Russell Family Trails, Hinesburg Village Cemetery, and Carse Wetlands.
As I mentioned in our last issue, the board of directors of the National Audubon Society voted to retain the “Audubon” name. The Green Mountain Audubon Society (GMAS) is a chapter of the National Audubon Society, so this decision directly affects us. At our May board meeting, the board of directors of GMAS reaffirmed our desire to remain connected with the National Audubon Society but also to monitor the issue of the “Audubon” name within the nationwide network of independent Audubon chapters, with a particular focus on the other chapters within the state of Vermont.
Carse Wetlands Natural Area is made up of a beaver pond and surrounding wetlands, a large meadow, and a mixed woods forest. The great variety of habitats supports plants, insects, mammals, and of course, many interesting birds. So far, 151 bird species have been reported from 279 eBird checklists. The property can be divided into four zones: Forest trails, the powerline meadow, the creek (a LaPlatte River tributary), and the marsh with trails running north/south.
The Vermont Land Trust (VLT), in partnership with the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge in Chittenden County, won a $25,000 grant from Cornell University’s Land Trust Small Grant Program to increase habitat connectivity and shrubland breeding habitat for Golden-winged Warblers. The award, which will be supplemented with $15,000 from local donors in Charlotte and an in-kind contribution from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, complements similar work done in 2020 on an adjacent Charlotte property, the former Nordic Farms, and also funded by Cornell.
Whether you’re a conservationist, a lister, or a bird advocate, please take a moment to read this action alert. As many of you know, the Franklin County Airport supports the largest breeding population of Grasshopper Sparrows in Vermont. There is only one other location in Vermont that has a somewhat sustainable, albeit smaller population historically, therefore the airport site is critical for this species to continue to breed in Vermont, to sustain a population. Currently, the airport also hosts breeding Eastern Meadowlarks and Eastern Whip-poor-wills. All three species are listed as threatened in Vermont.
As Shakespeare wrote in his play Romeo and Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” This old saying has become relevant to the Audubon family just recently, and I want to share some information about that with our membership, although you may already have heard the news. Last year, the board of directors of the National Audubon Society authorized an evaluation of the positive and negative associations with the “Audubon” name. They did so as a possible precursor, depending on the results of that evaluation, to a name change for the National Audubon Society.
