Winter Raptor Surveys
We are in the heart of the winter raptor survey season, and we need the continued help of citizen scientists like you! The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History is assisting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a third season of wintering raptor surveys in Chautauqua County in 2015-2016. The primary focus of these surveys is to determine where Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus), ‘endangered’ in New York, and Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus), ‘threatened’ in New York, are spending the winter season to roost and feed. So far this winter we seem to have a...
Read MoreCozy Climate
As the snow falls across Chautauqua County and Western New York let us take a moment to remember when it was not a frigid arctic tundra and birds were singing, flowers blooming, and so forth…a few weeks ago. Those species that are expanding their range and trying to conquer new territory to the north as climate change makes it feasible are in for a rude awakening this week. Birds like this Northern Mockingbird or the Carolina Wren might have been living it up recently, feeding on anything they like in warm and mostly snow-free conditions. Now they will be in deep trouble, struggling to...
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...
Read MoreSnowy Owl eBird Map 12-08-15
I heard that some people around these parts like Snowy Owls, huh? Where are the birds now? Well, here is where they were from October 1 through this morning on December 8 thanks to eBird, with all of the orange markers being sightings in the last 30 days. From glancing through individual sightings they seem to be hugging the coastlines so far from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, and while this is typical, it seems to be the case a little more than usual. Snowys are in the fields, farms and grasslands more to the west in other areas of the upper Midwest and Great Plains. I would imagine that...
Read MoreWinter Raptor Surveys Commence
With the calendar flipping into December we have now entered the winter raptor survey season! The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History will be assisting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a third season of wintering raptor surveys in Chautauqua County in 2015-2016. The primary focus of these surveys is to determine where Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus), ‘endangered’ in New York, and Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus), ‘threatened’ in New York, are spending the winter season to roost and feed. We need your help, too! From December through March please...
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