Historic Blizzard of 2016
Here we are again – another year, another crippling blizzard crushing the Northeast. This century has been extremely volatile weather-wise for much of the east coast, and the winter seasons alone have been historic in some way nearly every year. We thought for a while that El Niño would keep it a more routine sort of winter, but once it showed it would be the strongest El Niño of all time there were a lot of unknowns…especially after historic warmth had its hold on us through the end of 2015. Basking in the 70s for Christmas, it was nevertheless certain that a cold air mass would...
Read More2015 Waterbird Results
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Wildlife Division (CT DEEP) has now released the official nesting results for the state-threatened Least Tern and the federally-threatened Piping Plover from the 2015 monitoring season, and the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) – Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History – has completed our American Oystercatcher report. The first bit of fantastic news is that we hosted a new all-time high number of Piping Plover pairs in the state with 62 attempting to breed...
Read MoreJanuary Black-bellied Plover
This Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) is one of several that have been hanging out around the Stratford Point area all winter. The species can overwinter in Connecticut if the season is cooperative enough without ice, snow and frigid temperatures making foraging and surviving more difficult, and so far we have been treating them relatively well. While it has been a chilly week we have only had a trace of snow, and the daytime temperatures still climb to above freezing. In only two months dozens of our volunteer monitors will be hitting the field for the beginning of the Audubon...
Read MoreJanuary Great Egret
This is your typical January Great Egret (Ardea alba) in New England…right…wait, what? As we plan and prepare for the fifth season of the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, part of our year-round effort is NOT finding these long-legged waders during the avian wintering season in Connecticut. I photographed this bird yesterday, and today the temperature climbed to 60 with severe thunderstorms in the area. Thanks again, El Niño, and you as well, climate change. We will have a chilly week in the Northeast, and the Lake Erie snow machine will turn on dumping inches or maybe...
Read MoreWintering American Oystercatchers
The American Oystercatcher is not a species you expect to find in New England in December! These two birds were photographed on Monday, December 21, as they fed on the shores of Stratford Point near low tide. I was surprised to see them, but it was not astonishing given our continuing extreme warmth. They were flagged in my eBird report, and they will be flagged if they are re-spotted on the Stratford-Milford Christmas Bird Count this upcoming Sunday, December 27. This focal species of our efforts in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds is usually a late February or more often early...
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