Magnolia Warbler
This week is the end of May, and the soon to be end of northbound avian migration. You might be lucky enough to still pick up some birds moving north – a late warbler or two, some shorebird stragglers, a tardy thrush, or some of the intentionally slower flycatcher species such as the uncommon Olive-sided Flycatcher that can be heading to breeding grounds in June. I have yet to see one of them this year after missing them last year as well. Before then I had seen one or multiple Olive-sided Flycatchers for five straight years including August birds at the Jamestown Airport and on our...
Read MoreGrape Leaffolder (Desmia funeralis) Moth
Last year I started looking more at the seemingly endless world of moths, a Roger Tory Peterson tradition and passion when he was a small boy in Jamestown. Day and night, cloudy or clear, cool or hot, forest to shore – there are moths everywhere, and their flight seasons are always changing throughout the spring, summer and fall. I intend to continue to do some mothing this year when I can find a little time here or there. On Friday evening I found several new (to me) and unique moths including this Grape Leaffolder (Desmia funeralis) moth. I will keep doing my best to identify all...
Read MoreBlack-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)
Here is a Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia) performing a tree insect inspection a couple of weeks ago during the height of their migration through our region. This is a brilliantly marked male with quite a bit of black on his face, throat, breast, wings – everywhere. Whenever I post Black-and-white Warblers on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram I happen to notice how many people truly love them. Many of our neotropical migrants are well liked by even the non-birder, but everyone – everyone! – seems to go crazy over these classy birds, often declared a...
Read MoreEastern Bluebird Feeding
May is the time for the next generation of Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) to join our world as nest boxes across the land are filled with the growing and begging beaks of nestlings. These young birds, like so many others, require a lot of constant room service, and mom and dad are busy feeding them nonstop. I took only a moment to photograph this Bluebird as I did not want to interrupt it as it headed home with a delivery. Their unbelievably beautiful plumage looks unreal against the increasingly green backgrounds of forest adjacent to this orchard. The line between art and life is very...
Read MoreFlagged Piping Plover
We have found multiple flagged/banded Piping Plovers in Connecticut in 2016, and here is the story of one of them. Back on March 31 one of our coastal waterbird technicians, Ewa Holland, found a green flagged “09C” bird at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison. It remained there until at least last Sunday, May 22, appropriately last seen by Ewa. It had not had nesting success and was still attempting to find a place and mate in poor habitat on a small section of beach. It was with another bird on May 22 and doing aerial displays. However, another one of our field staff,...
Read MoreYellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)
We had a very welcome late morning visitor at Stratford Point today in the form of this Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) as it searched out tent caterpillars on the bluff. The American Robins and Common Grackles were not as welcoming, thinking this bird was going to go after their nests and little ones. The light was not the best for photography, but it is hard to get better views of a cuckoo than this! Stratford Point keeps bringing in the migrants even as we near the end of May. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
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