Actually it is not possible to take a "loop" around the Islands, but one can make a "loop" and include the Islands on the "loop". We did just that. The first target was the National Wildlife Refuge named Missisiquoi. It is located a few miles south of the Canadian border, and a few mile east of the state of New York.
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| This gives a general idea of the Refuge. We stayed on the roads and crossed to US 2 at the middle left road. |
Missisiquoi is a 5,000 acres of wetlands and marsh. bisected by the river of the same name. Besides the water ways, and islands along the river there are 5 trails in the NWR that give access to the Refuge. We did stop by three of those trail heads to scope out the areas. We made a stop at the Refuge HQ where we met Lisa a 20 veteran of the Refuge. She gave us valuable information as to where we might easily access the marsh called Stephen Young, and a marsh further down the road (A WMA) called Mud Creek . The former was a fine marsh where we did see NORTHERN HARRIER, BROWN HEADED COWBIRDS (A flock), EASTERN PHOEBE, SWAMP SPARROW, GREAT BLUE HERON and a GREATER YELLOWLEGS. It was a very beautiful marsh, with plenty of natural hiding places for wildlife of all kinds. the sparrows and shorebirds had a free reign of the place.
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| Ruth spotted this birdhouse in the middle of the vines. |
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| The Stephen Young Marsh from the center . |
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| An Osprey nest in the Young Marsh. |
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| One of the five trails is the RR trail (ahead on the left) |
In order to get to the other good possibilities of birding there we drove to Buck's Bend Rd. where there is a boat launch a mile in from the highway. On the way there were birds along the roadside. A wonderful alder row was one of the places we saw SLATE COLORED JUNCO, CHIPPING SPARROW, NORTHERN FLICKER, DOUBLE CRESTED CORMORANT ( on the river) , AMERICAN ROBIN, RED BELLIED WOODPECKER (long time since seeing this one),and across the road went a RUFFED GROUSE. The TURKEY VULTURES were active today.
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| Mud Creed WMA . Very quiet except for the Great Blue Heron we scared away on arriving. |
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| The Missisiquoi River at Buck's Bend. |
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| Explanation of the jeep trail. |
Our final drive was to US 2 north of the Islands and then through the islands with stops here and there for observations along the waters edge and some stops for barns that Ruth had previously scoped out for possible photos. The sun was not out but it was lighter than the day before.
We did not pick up any birds even at the Sand Bar WMA on the way home.
Some other photos from the day.
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| Chalk up another barn for Ruth |
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| Many piles of wood, some stacked, for winter. |
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| The last photo of the drive. A Great Blue Heron by the Lake shore. |
Tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy day , so we do not have a plan yet.
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