Noble Proctor BioBlitz Challenge at Hammonasset on May 14, 2016
Noble Proctor BioBlitz Challenge at Hammonasset on May 14, 2016 Please join family, friends, colleagues and students for 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. A BioBlitz is a race to find every species of life possible – birds, mammals, plants, insects, and more. We will form teams to search the park and record all the species we can discover. At 1:00 PM, we will come together...
Read MoreUSCGC Willow (WLB-202)
Here’s the USCGC Willow (WLB-202), a United States Coast Guard seagoing buoy tender, cruising past Stratford Point tonight near sunset. You can see some gulls passing by, but we also saw Northern Gannets streaming through Long Island Sound most of today – one could no doubt get some great looks from the Willow!
Read MoreRoss’s Goose
This Ross’s Goose (Chen rossii) was a pleasure to see today at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut after being discovered by Stefan Martin and Danny Williams. There have only been a handful of records for the species in the state. Don’t worry, it didn’t fly away – it was only stretching those wings! Ross’s Geese winter in the southwestern or far western U.S. and breed in the arctic. Presumably this bird was on the way north before being swept our way on the winds from the latest cold front. They have been seen more frequently, albeit still very rarely, on...
Read MoreSnowy Away
This is about the best photo of a Snowy Owl that I could get in the last couple of weeks. They have been elusive, to say the least, even when nearby. Most of that time I have encountered the far more wary individual – one of two hanging out for the winter in the Stratford Point area – and it has been certainly as jumpy as ever lately. On Tuesday it was chased off by crows before anyone noticed it hunkered down in the grasslands. The shot here is the result of it flying off last week before I could even raise my camera between the door and body of my Jeep from hundreds of feet...
Read MoreRusty Blackbird Blitz Begins
Citizen scientists – the 2016 Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz is now a go, and coming to a state near you! I am the statewide Connecticut coordinator for the Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz, running from March through mid-June across the continent and focused in Connecticut from mid-March through April. This effort to save the one of the fastest declining once-common landbirds in North America needs your help. You can see more about the species in the below two-page informational document about the Rusty Blackbird (PDF downloadable here) and on the International Rusty...
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