New Exhibit: Keeping the World Wild – the Art of John and Suzie Seerey-Lester
RTPI staff has been working diligently to install a new exhibit entitled Keeping the World Wild – a stunning collection of original works by John and Suzie Seerey-Lester. Visitors will become immersed in the creative expressions of this incredible, world-traveling artist duo. World-renowned artist John Seerey-Lester and award-winning painter Suzie Seerey-Lester are both distinguished wildlife and landscape artists whose works depict large mammals, birds of prey, magnificent underwater creatures and environmentally sensitive tableaus. Be one of the first to view the...
Read MoreLighthouse Open House
Last Saturday we held an open house at Stratford Point and the adjacent Coast Guard lighthouse. Visitors were able to enter both sites, the lighthouse usually being private restricted property, and chat with members of the Coast Guard and our staff about everything going on currently and the history of both historic properties. Information booths helped in this effort including one staffed by Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds technician Ewa Holland who gave out brochures on our efforts to help birds and humans share the shore successfully as well as information on Roger Tory Peterson...
Read MoreBlue Dasher
It is odonate season, finally! Our various dragonflies and damselflies are emerging and migrating our way now that there is plenty of food in the air. Here is an up-close look at the Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis). While we at RTPI do not have any specific dragonfly monitoring programs underway this year we will be recording them during all of our other work in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey. This includes programs such as Project Wild America and Bridgeport WildLife Guards, from avian and reptile study sites, Natural History Atlas locations, at Stratford Point and...
Read MoreWildLife Guards Crew Leader Position
Related to RTPI’s work with Audubon Connecticut in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds is our partnership on the Bridgeport WildLife Guards project: http://rtpi.org/education/wildlife-guards/ RTPI is once again teaming up with Audubon Connecticut and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut to run the 2016 WildLife Guards program, which trains, mentors, and employs ten local high schools students and two crew leaders who monitor nesting birds and engage visitors, families, and friends about the City’s Pleasure Beach and its ecosystem. The WildLife Guards offer unique activities for...
Read MoreOrchard Oriole
This adult male Orchard Oriole finally gave me a decent couple of poses on a recent morning! My guy was foraging, singing, and defending his territory against various avian intruders when he paused to let me shoot him for a few seconds. His chestnut-like tones look fantastic against the green leaves and blue sky. Someday I want to get a photo of an Orchard Oriole and a Baltimore Oriole for a better visual comparison of their sizes. Orchards are noticeably smaller than their cousins, just a bit larger than our vireos and warblers. It is hard to believe this fella will be heading south for the...
Read MoreKilldeer
I finally got around to editing these photos of a Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) taken during the Noble Proctor BioBlitz Challenge last month. The bird appeared in the first photo like any other – no big deal. Oh no, this bird is “injured”! Not so much. This is a distraction display, feigning injury, in order to draw our group away from the area and protect a nest or young hatchlings. The bird makes it look like it has a broken wing and has lost the ability to fly, attempting to tempt mammals like us into running them down for a meal (before they fly away). If we did then...
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