Lake Champlain Birding Trail   Otter Creek Audubon Society

Running south to north for more than a hundred miles, Lake Champlain has always lured travelers; explorers, traders, revolutionaries, tourists and a variety of birds. As a corridor within the Atlantic Flyway, the Champlain Valley is an important migration route. More than 300 species wing their way each year through this broad valley, which is bordered by the Green Mountains to the east and the Adirondacks to the west. Some 200 species nest here.

Geography alone does not explain the valley’s avian appeal. For centuries, the fertile soil has attracted farmers who have created a thriving habitat for birds. Hawks and owls hunt for mice in the fields and songbirds enjoy an abundance of seed. Ducks and marsh birds like Lake Champlain’s swampy estuaries and bays. Colonial nesting birds such as cormorants and cattle egrets breed on some of the many islands that dot the lake.

                      BROOKS TO BAYS NATURE TOURS

"Birders will love this place – we did the “Breakfast with the Birds” and then went paddling in the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area with Jeremy from Brooks to Bays – recorded 36 species including nesting Cedar Waxwings on the grounds."

The Wheeler Family, June 2006-

The Barsen House is a perfect birders' refuge.  The grounds are an object lesson in how to landscape for birds, and with Lake Champlain, the Green Mountain National Forest, and the farms of Addison County a short drive away, you can bag a great
species list and still have plenty of time to relax around the fire. 

Dr. Brian J. Olsen
Research Assistant Professor
School of Biology & Ecology
The Climate Change Institute
University of Maine

Bird sightings Memorial Day Weekend 2010

Mourning Dove,Rock Pigeon,Great Blue Heron,Barn Swallow,
Tree Swallow,Rough-winged Swallow,Purple Martin,Warbling Vireo,House Wren,Black-capped Chickadee,Gray Catbird,American Robin,Chipping Sparrow,Song Sparrow,Red-winged Blackbird,Common Grackle,
Orchard Oriole,Baltimore Oriole,House Sparrow,House Finch,Common Starling,
American Goldfinch