A couple of days ago I learned of a Brown Booby being seen at Lake Paran near Bennington in Vermont. Being deep in the interior and a mere 80 minutes from our house in Northfield I was quite intrigued but, judging by reports, the bird seemed quite mobile and soon disappeared only to be relocated about 25 miles north at Emerald Lake State Park a day or so later. After quickly checking the Caldwell Road fields in Northfield for shorebirds (2 Semipalmated Plovers, 2 Least Sandpipers and a Wilson's Snipe were new arrivals) I buckled up for the 90 minute drive to East Dorset hot on the heels of Hurricane Ida which had just passed south of us overnight.
On arrival I found Emerald Lake to be relatively small surrounded by mature woodland, neatly positioned between the Green Mountains to the east and the Taconic Mountains to the west. Moreover, the lake appeared to be relatively shallow and not quite what I was expecting. The booby soon appeared and put on the most fabulous display working circuits around the lake and plunge diving frequently. To some degree the experience recalled the Brown Booby at Onota Lake in the Berkshires back in August 2018, but this bird was brighter, more mature in terms of plumage and an awful lot closer!
All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience on a beautiful autumnal day and within comfortable driving distance of home. Surprisingly, I only encountered a couple of other birders during my time there and had the lake to myself most of the time. I also noted my first migrating Broad-winged Hawk of the season heading south.
Brown Booby has been documented in Vermont before with multiple records of at least two individuals from the Lake Champlain area.
1 comment:
Fantastic bird in a beautiful setting! Nice shots.
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