Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Oh man, here we go again, another Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) looking like bark! This individual is surrounded by wells that it and others of its species have drilled, one of many such trees in an orchard in a town park. This wintering area is obviously a productive spot and when you can look like a tree all day long, even if you’re an occasionally louder than usual tree, no one is going to bother you.
Read MoreBark or Bird?
What do you see here? If the scene were in the darker shade that it was in real life, without this edited photo, you might simply see a tree. I never realized how much juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus varius) look like bark! I suppose that helps to give them a little privacy when they are drilling into it while feeding and in a stationary, somewhat vulnerable position for a prolonged period of time. In this case this migrant bird was moving around looking for something a little more suitable at a stopover site. Have you found a Sapsucker in your yard this month? So many birds...
Read MoreParasitic Jaeger
Here are a couple greats photos of a Parasitic Jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus) via our friend, superb birder and expert naturalist Frank Mantlik as seen from Stratford Point a couple of weeks ago. Long Island Sound has been alive with everything from humpback whale sightings to various uncommon or rare fish, turtles and birds. This Parasitic Jaeger looks like an intermediate morph juvenile, and you can see it chasing a juvenile Laughing Gull in one of the photos. We observed this behavior from at least a few individual Parasitic Jaegers over several days during feeding frenzies involving...
Read MoreStratford Point in September
Here is the end of summer at Stratford Point, looking west towards the lighthouse and out into Long Island Sound near sunset. It was a hot, dry and extremely busy season, and a very successful one for some of our waterbirds including the Piping Plover and American Oystercatcher as the former may have neared the all-time record for fledged birds that we set only last year at 116! Our work in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds undoubtedly did help an all-time record number of Piping Plover pairs attempt to nest in 2015. We will have more information on the results of our spectacularly...
Read MoreYoung Northern Mockingbird
This fledgling/juvenile Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is described as such by me because it certainly looks and acts old enough to get its own food, but it keeps on begging for a delivery. One of the parents flew in and fed it a snack a moment later. It’s September, and it is time to get going, young one! The days keep getting shorter and soon enough you will be having to find your own meals. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
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