Sachems
Speaking of Sachem skipper butterflies, I had so many this year! They seemed to be popping up all over the place in August and September. Here we have the female along with a couple of photos of a male. They are a nonresident and enter our Northeast region from the south. Gardens are a great place to find them enjoying a variety of flowers. Were you able to spot any at your home or favorite patch? Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreBrown Thrasher
The Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) was another photographic target of mine this spring. I typically do get to enjoy the species a bit each April and May, but they are difficult subjects to shoot. Part of the problem is that they have dramatically dropped in abundance since Roger Tory Peterson’s time which makes me appreciate moments like these all the more. For a species that was a tolerably common breeding bird for many people, including Roger’s homes in New York and Connecticut, is now often a ghost in both behavior and population. Habitat loss and degradation, competition with...
Read MoreWhite-breasted Nuthatch
This female White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) was having a snack in the park, but she and others of her species may be visiting your yard for some sunflower seeds, suet and more this season. How many do you have at your home? I seem to be spotting a few more White-breasted Nuthatches than average so far this “winter”, though unfortunately I do not have any of their Red-breasted cousins around. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreTom Turkey
Are you all turkey’d out? It really is spectacular to think about how many Wild Turkeys have retaken their former territory in the Northeast thanks to reintroduction programs and proper management. A bird that was extirpated from Connecticut when I was a child – and I am 30 now – has been flourishing for half of my life across the state, with similar success all throughout its former range. It is a success story so recent but so incredibly effective that we gloss over it more than we should. This victory is but one of many possible if multiple organizations and groups of...
Read MoreGull Feeding Frenzy
There have been enormous numbers of gulls feeding in Long Island Sound over the past few months with sizable numbers of bait fish and schools of other species to prey on. This is before today’s mega and historic weather-based Franklin’s Gull invasion of the Northeast! More on that later…but going back to this summer and early fall, the busy food web has even attracted several whales into the waters. Laughing Gulls, absent for much of the summer, have been seen in great abundance since late summer. Their activity, along with that of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, brought in...
Read More
