Butterfly Walk
Butterfly Walk at Stratford Point Saturday, September 10 at 10AM Stratford, Connecticut Leaders: Patrick Comins, Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon Connecticut Scott Kruitbosch, Conservation & Outreach Coordinator, Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History Connecticut Butterfly Association Vice President Explore Stratford Point’s 28 upland acres filled with grasslands, pollinator meadows, feed plots, and a variety of shrubs and trees for common to rare species at this beautiful coastal site. This is one of the best places to find Monarchs in abundance in all of...
Read MoreSwarthy Skipper
The Swarthy Skipper (Nastra lherminier) is a very small and mostly nondescript butterfly. These photos are of an individual earlier this spring in full sunlight. The tiny butterfly has some wear on it and is a bit faded. Their upperwings are a darker brown with underwing a light brown or yellow with some lighter edges and white veins. You can see it here feeding on a red clover flower, and it is even smaller! These nectar sources are common for the species as they will stay low in the grass in short or cut areas only adding to their inconspicuousness. As of today the only place we know they...
Read MoreeXXpedition Great Lakes, August 20th 2016
Unseen plastics. Unseen pollution. All-female crews from Canada and the USA are sailing together for the first time this summer on August 20, 2016 on all five of the Great Lakes, Lake St Clair and the St Lawrence River to shed new light on the link between human health and plastic in the world’s waterways. The science lead for Lake Erie – Dr. Sherri Mason of SUNY Fredonia – will be joined by RTPI’s Communications Coordinator, Melanie Smith and several other environmental educators. The data collected will be provided to multiple organizations, including the United...
Read MoreYellow Warbler
One benefit from the scorching and inclement weather of the past week was the slow passage of a weak cold front (ha ha, “cold”) that brought us some actually conducive avian migratory conditions. Think about it…when was the last time before this recent August turbulence that we in the Northeast had any winds out of the north? We have had endless southerly or westerly-influenced flows bringing heat, humidity and then thunderstorms and heavy rain, all the opposite of what the birds are looking for to migrate south in this time of year. We are now in mid-August and any time...
Read MoreRed Fox
I had not seen any Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) friends for a while, but this one is clearly as healthy as any can be and looking great. Take a look at that exquisite coat with no sign of mange and no visible injuries to the animal. That in itself is very rare to see in a Red Fox, and without knowing too much I would hazard a guess that this is one of the pups born last year. It spotted me before I spotted it – per usual – and when I stopped it stopped and relaxed. I really do think they know “who” we are, like any dog would after a while, and it knew I was only going to...
Read MoreSevere Thunderstorms
I spent most of yesterday at Stratford Point, arriving at the tail end of the Connecticut Ornithological Association Shorebird Identification Seminar as the group wrapped up a walk and moved indoors. It was a dangerously hot day with an excessive heat warning and unbelievable tropical-feeling dew points. We decided to bring the Bridgeport WildLife Guards to the office instead of the beach, and that is how the rest of my day went. I left in the late afternoon but had to return in the evening as well-timed and positioned thunderstorms exploded to our west. I hopped in my Jeep for the office...
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