Birds of Interest Several duck species inhabit the marsh, including black and wood ducks, mallards, blue-winged teal, and hooded mergansers. Woodcock may be found in the woods. There is excellent birding for marsh-dwelling birds such as bitterns, herons, rails, coots, and marsh wrens. Many songbirds nest in the woodlands, some of which forage in the marsh. Woodpeckers nest in and forage on plentiful snags. Ospreys sometimes pass overhead; they might be seen fishing in the river.

Halfmoon Cove Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is located in the town of Colchester. This WMA is a mix of floodplain forest and emergent marsh framing an oxbow of the Winooski River. The wildlife area's 294 acres stretch along the eastern/northern bank of the river west of VT-127. There is a parking lot and small boat access for the Winooski River on the west side of VT-127 at Billado Park, just north of the Heineberg Bridge. There is limited parking View Map at the end of Holbrook Court which provides foot access down a steep bank to the cove itself.

Halfmoon Cove itself is an oxbow of the Winooski River, which is now completely cut off from the river. As a result, it is now filling in with mats of cattails and other emergent vegetation. Between the cove and the river are silver maple-sensitive fern and silver maple-ostrich fern riverine floodplain forests. There is an alder swamp and shallow emergent marsh.

This sheltered cove and its surrounding woodland are surprisingly pristine, considering they are so near urban development. Common tree species are red oak, red maple, white pine, red and white cedars, cottonwood, pitch pine, and willow species. Many snags are useful to cavity-nesting birds and birds that eat insects living in dead trees. Common wetland plants include water lily, duckweed, cattail, and wild rice. Some unusual plants found in the cove are cursed crowfoot, white adder’s mouth, and nodding trillium.