Bird Fest 2014 day 1
This is the first of two blog posts on RTPI’s Bird Fest 2014 which took place on Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7. The first day featured two excursions focused on wetlands and grasslands. The wetlands stop took us to Akeley Swamp Important Bird Area just south of the New York-Pennsylvania border in Pine Grove Township, Warren County for a walk led by Don Watts. As you can see our morning fog lifted out and revealed a perfect June day. This afforded us a lot of good viewing opportunities and a chance to conduct rail callback surveys via my iPhone – we had Virginia Rails and a...
Read MoreRTPI Bird Fest 2014
Thanks to all who joined us for RTPI Bird Fest 2014! All four excursions featured some lovely surprises and great company. This shot of some of our group yesterday morning at Akeley Swamp IBA shows RTPI President Twan Leenders pointing and trip leader Don Watts scoping, perhaps at the recently hatched Hooded Mergansers we observed. Special thanks to Don, Jim Berry, Tim Baird and Terry Mosher for giving us their time and knowledge to lead the trips. We’ll show you our finds and photos this week…
Read MoreBlack-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus)
They’re often like ghosts but I was able to enjoy superb if brief views of a couple Black-billed Cuckoos yesterday. They move so silently and blend in so well.
Read MoreBeach birds and volunteer monitoring
Yesterday I was a part of beach training for the new volunteer monitors of the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW). This session, to help those entering the AAfCW program with how to safely monitor and survey Piping Plovers and Least Terns, was conducted by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection with staff from Audubon Connecticut and myself from RTPI on hand. AAfCW and our collective staff act as a bridge to aid the State of Connecticut and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, regulatory agencies for these state and, in the case of the Piping Plover,...
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