I love this time of year. After the exuberance of summer and the vibrant colors of fall, I’m thankful for the days growing shorter. The nights longer. Temperatures falling. Silhouettes of bare branches against a leaden sky promising snow. All of nature winding down. Encouraging quiet. Reflection. Introspection. [more]
Winter Raptor Surveys Commence
With the calendar flipping into December we have now entered the winter raptor survey season! The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History will be assisting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a third season of wintering raptor surveys in Chautauqua County in 2015-2016. The primary focus of these surveys is to determine where Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus), ‘endangered’ in New York, and Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus), ‘threatened’ in New York, are spending the winter season to roost and feed. We need...
read moreRTPI’s Holiday Open House
Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History’s Holiday Open House – Saturday, December 5, 2015 10AM – 4PM Enjoy the work of bird artist Michael DiGiorgio, a contributor to the most recent edition of the Peterson Field Guide to the Birds, in our From Field to Frame exhibition, as well as: *Free Admission *Refreshments *Roger Tory Peterson artwork and memorabilia *Part of Swedish Christmas Market Day in Jamestown – “Julmarknad” organized by the Scandinavian Studies Program at SUNY-JCC Please be sure to find the time to visit us on Saturday...
read moreRed Fox (Vulpes vulpes)
This Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) is a “vixen” (female), and the only reason I know that is because she is a dear old friend. The Red Fox pair who breed on the Stratford Point property are well known to us, and we are well known to them. The male, usually called a “dog”, has a scar on his face and a damaged eye. They are intelligent and inquisitive creatures, and they do learn a little about who is around them frequently and whether or not they are a threat. In this case she was very sleepy and sunning as she snoozed,...
read moreAmerican Bittern
This is the American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), a stupendously cryptic and sensationally camouflaged heron species of freshwater and brackish marshes and wetlands. During late fall and winter they can be infrequently found moving south to warmer or coastal areas where the water does not freeze. Even their movements are meant to blend in perfectly to surrounding vegetation, stalking prey including fish, amphibians, insects, mammals, reptiles, and more. The American Bittern was once a terror in the night to many early American settlers...
read moreSnow Buntings
It is early enough in the avian wintering season that both the earth and the birds – in this case, Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) – are brown. We do not have a solid snow cover yet, and it is amazing how well this plumage is designed to help them blend in to the ground. The Snow Bunting camouflage looks like brown grass and, somehow, a rocky, sandy and rough earth, with their wings showing off the darker pattern of what the tundra and short grasslands look like now. Notice how well these birds keep themselves just off the...
read moreAsh-throated Flycatcher
Early this morning Tina Green and AJ Hand reported an Ash-throated Flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens) at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport, Connecticut, the sixth record for the species in the state. I was able to run over and join our friends to watch this awesome, hungry and active bird as it flew from tree to tree while feeding in lovely sunny, calm weather. Here are some record shots… Birds like this come to us via the same mechanism as those Cave Swallows, as so many November rarities do – steady southerly flow pushing...
read moreHWA Survey Season
Once again it’s that time of year to brave the cold for conservation sake! That’s right, the season for surveying Eastern Hemlock trees (Tsuga canadensis) for the presence of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges tsugae) has officially begun. Commonly referred to as HWA, Hemlock Woolly Adelgid is an aphid-like invasive insect that specifically attacks species within the Tsuga genus. Within the United States, four species of hemlock exist: Western and Mountain hemlock in the Pacific Northwest and Eastern and Carolina hemlock...
read moreCave Swallows
After an enthralling day with the biggest invasion of Franklin’s Gulls across the Northeast and Atlantic coast since at least 1998 (more on that in another entry later this weekend) our collective hopes were high for more sensational rare birds with them. This Friday, one of the most memorable birding days in years, had all available Connecticut birders mobilized along the coast, looking for life and state Franklin’s while trying to remember to watch for many other target species. One of these was the Cave Swallow, a classic...
read moreBuilding the Future
Here we have a couple of adorable little ones learning by doing and constructing baby Piping Plover chicks during an outreach event for the Bridgeport WildLife Guards with Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History this past Saturday. We were one of the exhibits during a celebration of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) for children of all ages at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The kids are building a hatchling out of a marshmallow, pretzels, chocolate and...
read moreWinter Raptor Surveys
The Harriers have arrived! This is a migrant Northern Harrier hunting over coastal grasslands in November. The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History will be assisting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a third season of wintering raptor surveys in Chautauqua County in 2015-2016. The primary focus of these surveys is to determine where Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus), ‘endangered’ in New York, and Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus), ‘threatened’ in New York, are spending the...
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