Another Western Rarity
There are scattered very rare western birds continually being spotted across the Northeast. A gorgeous male Painted Bunting in New York City’s Prospect Park made some big news recently, and yesterday Stefan Martin found a Townsend’s Solitaire in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, Connecticut. Masschusetts, Vermont, Maine and New York have also had Townsend’s Solitaires recently, as you can see on this eBird occurrence map for the species – orange markers are less than 30 days old while others are from October and early November. Keep your eyes open for all sorts of...
Read MoreWaterbird Working Group Meeting
This past Monday the Southern New England‐Long Island Sound Waterbird Working Group annual meeting was convened for the first time since 2013. A couple dozen representatives from government agencies and NGOs from Maine to New York, including RTPI Conservation & Outreach Coordinator Scott Kruitbosch, met in Connecticut to discuss the last season and prepare for the coming nesting season both in person and via webinar. It takes an enormous group effort to protect and save some of our most threatened birds. Photo by Audubon Connecticut Director of Bird Conservation Patrick...
Read MoreExpect the Unexpected
Winter Birding Forecast #2 is brought to you by Audubon Connecticut in partnership with the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. The relatively mild December is making for great birding opportunities as we close out 2014. So called “half-hardy” birds such as Gray Catbird, Pine Warbler and Common Yellowthroat are putting in appearances on Christmas Bird Count (CBC) checklists and birds like Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren and Eastern Bluebird are being found in good numbers as are Yellow-rumped Warblers at some coastal locations. One of the biggest surprises of the week was the...
Read MoreCloudy with a Chance of Snowys
This is the first of a series of Winter Birds Forecasts focused on Connecticut and the surrounding region brought to you by Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History and written by Patrick Comins, Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon Connecticut with Scott Kruitbosch, Conservation & Outreach Coordinator, Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. Photos by Patrick Comins. A spate of early sightings of Snowy Owls in the Northeast has the birding community excited for a possible repeat of last year’s mega irruption that saw dozens of sightings of...
Read MoreDon’t feed the deer
As tempting as it may be it is NOT healthy for the wild White-tailed Deer, or you, if they are fed by humans. I can recall some winter days as a child where hungry deer were laying in our backyard for prolonged periods. The winter season can be very difficult on these friendly mammals but it is not in their best interest, health or safety to start eating anything we put out whether it is for caring about an individual, an attempt to protect other plants, to supplement the population, or any other reason. The Maine governmental website has an extremely extensive and detailed list of why we...
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