Loves Marsh WMA

Tips for Birding

Drive down Johnson Spooner Road from Float Bridge Road. Go past the Evanoika Fishing Access and cross a small bridge. On the right is a small parking area. Walk down to the marsh. A spotting scope is helpful. 

Birds of Interest

Loves Marsh is an excellent waterfowl habitat. Nesting ducks include black, wood, mallard ducks, and hooded mergansers. Ring-necked Ducks and occasional scaup can be seen in spring and fall. Also present are wading and water birds such as great blue herons, American bitterns, kingfishers, red-winged blackbirds, marsh wrens, swamp sparrows, and eastern kingbirds. Spotted sandpipers and Wilson's snipe might be seen foraging along the shore. Osprey and Bald Eagle are occasionally seen. The surrounding woods support forest and edge-dwelling songbirds such as tree, barn, and cliff swallows, blue jays, gray catbirds, cedar waxwings, yellow-rumped warblers, and ovenbirds.

About this Location

Loves Marsh Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a 100-acre parcel owned by the State of Vermont and managed by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. The WMA lies in the town of Castleton at the north end of Lake Bomoseen. It can be accessed from Johnson Spooner Road, which is south of Float Bridge Road. Parking is located along the town road.

The WMA has both a large cattail marsh and open-water wetlands. Sixty-two acres of the parcel is open water; the northern section contains the cattail marsh. Cattail marshes are sometimes considered common and uniform, but they are highly productive communities and provide critical habitat to many wildlife species. There are some mixed hardwood forests located around the edge of the marsh. The wetland was created by an impoundment; a dam is located at the southern end of the marsh. Loves Marsh WMA has excellent birding.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

  • Entrance fee

Content from Loves Marsh Wildlife Management Area guide and map and Susan Elliott

Last updated December 3, 2023