Get Your Bird On at Seyon Lodge this Fall
I had the wonderful opportunity to spend almost 24 hours scouting out the site where my sister Amy & I will be hosting our first ever Bird is a Verb Weekend September 23rd-25th. I jumped in my little orange car on Wednesday and took the almost 2 hour drive down to Seyon Lodge State Park in the heart of Groton State Forest.The lodge is set on a beautiful trout pond in the midst of 27,000 acres of State Forest. With only a short time to try to get as familiar with all the trails as possible, I headed out to make the loop around Noyes Pond after I dropped my bag off in my cozy room on the second floor.
Noyes Pond is well know to folks who like to fly fish and the pond is only accessible for fishing by row boats the Lodge rents to guests. This has kept the pond in an incredibly pristine state, free of invasive weeds and impact from heavy use. I took a loop around the pond on a trail that went from mixed spruce-fir forest to mixed deciduous forest and delighted me with a nice suite of birds. Spotted sandpipers were busy rock-hopping along the shoreline and waves of Golden-crowned Kinglet families flitted overhead with a following of fall warblers in the mix. A whole family of Winter Wrens boldly scolded me the next morning on the same trail with bouncing deep knee bends, trying to look as fierce as possible as they checked me out.
Now, it’s obvious the weekend will be all about birds but satisfying a birders appetite will not go neglected. And I gotta say, Emmett who was the innkeeper on duty while I was there did not disappoint.
Check out the mushroom risotto with fresh green beans and dill from the Lodge’s garden! Whoa…and get a load of the InnKeeper’s Breakfast I had after two hours of birding in the early morning. Poached eggs on a bed of greens with a hollandaise sauce, local bacon and toast, with a killer cup of coffee-or two! I was ready to head back out for more birds after that belly pleaser.
I guess what I’m getting at is that it is sure to be a fabulous weekend in September. Please check out our plan for the Bird is Verb Weekend at the Vermont State Parks website. Space is limited and you know you don’t want to miss… early fall in Vermont, birding with a sister duo you’ll never forget and the quaint yet decadent beauty of Seyon Lodge!
List of birds in my 24 hour birding adventure in Groton State Forest:
Spotted Sandpiper
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Veery
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Black & White Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Downy Woodpecker
Blue-headed Vireo
Great Blue Heron
Pilieated Woodpecker
Black-throated Green Warbler
Red-eyed Vireo
Hairy Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Cedar Waxwing
American Crow
Blackburnian Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
American Robin
Common Yellowthroat
American Goldfinch
Song Sparrow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Winter Wren
Common Loon
Wood Thrush
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Ovenbird
Brown Creeper
Hermit Thrush
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Chipping Sparrow
Mourning Warbler
Canada Warbler
Yellow-shafted Flicker
Broad-winged Hawk
