Noble Proctor Video
NEXT SATURDAY: A celebration of Noble Proctor’s life in the form of a BioBlitz Challenge at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, Connecticut on Saturday, May 14, 2016 from 8AM to sunset. Our headquarters for the BioBlitz will be at the pavilion near Willard’s Island. At 1:00 PM, we will come together as a group, sit down for lunch, and have a gathering at the pavilion to say a few words about Noble. Please take a look at this touching and wonderful short video on Noble by Patrick...
Read MoreWhite-throated Sparrow
I recently caught this White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) in the middle of a meal… …which it seemed to try to hide from me until gulping it down. Their whites and yellows are much bolder right now than those that winter with us as they conclude their spring migration. In some cases you may have White-throated Sparrows year-round with some birds that overwinter at your house and head far north into Canada for the breeding season while other individuals move in to our area from even further south and nest relatively close to us in New York, Pennsylvania, and...
Read MoreBarred Owl (Strix varia)
This Barred Owl (Strix varia) saw me long before I saw it, monitoring my movements from afar while perched in this tree on a cloudy May morning. Those enormous dark eyes tracked me in a relaxed fashion as I was still rather far away when I noticed it. I had been watching several warblers and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher before my eyes stumbled on this slightly larger species. Barred Owls are, of course, usually snoozing during the day, but not always – and the spring season is when I have seen them the most active diurnally. This bird did not wake up because I was there, nor was it sleepy....
Read MoreCabbage White
The Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) is a non-native “pest” butterfly species, and here you can see it is feeding on a Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), a non-native weed…but you know what, the ship has sailed on trying to solve that problem. I realize that is easy for me to say because I am not employed in agriculture. However, we are not going to wake up tomorrow and eliminate these species from North America. Even if we were to try it would be terribly harmful, and in the case of the dandelion we would be pumping even more toxic chemicals into our environment – as...
Read MoreWorm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum)
I was thrilled to find and then get great views of this Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum) singing and feeding earlier today. I first heard its insect-like trill of a song from along a steep, rocky slope in the forest featuring a lot of vegetation in the understory – precisely what they want for the breeding season. We in the Northeast are at the northern edge of their range, and finding the uncommon birds can be difficult. Worm-eating Warbler populations are said to be stable, but they certainly do decline and increase in certain regions depending on local conditions....
Read MoreIntern Night Tonight – May 4, 2016
Please join us at RTPI on Wednesday May 4 from 6-7pm for a night of fun and learning as we enjoy presentations from two of RTPI’s fantastic interns. Alex Shipherd and Bryce Alexander, both Jamestown Community College students, have spent much of the spring semester assisting in winter raptor and hemlock woolly adelgid studies, respectively. Throughout the winter field season, Alex monitored known locations of roosting Northern Harriers and Short-eared owls within Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties while using GIS to find other probable locations in which they may occur. Bryce assisted in...
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