Black-crowned Night-Heron
Here we have a foraging Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), a long-legged wader of marshes, ponds, and wetlands, enjoying fresh, salt or brackish waters. They are actually the most widespread heron in the world! Have they spread to your neighborhood? It is yet another of the many species we work to help through our efforts in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreAmerican Oystercatchers Relaxing
American Oystercatchers have been pairing off across Connecticut, and a few sites and birds have been reported as copulating. However, like the Piping Plover, we still have no confirmed nests likely because of the continuing cold conditions at times. With the warm-up of the last few days and late April coming there will be eggs soon. Until then these birds were relaxing on the beach out of the wind and tucking in their bills for a midday nap.
Read MoreWilson’s Snipe
As the snow recedes and the marshes, rivers, wetlands and wet meadows thaw, birds like this Wilson’s Snipe can finally trickle back to the north. You can’t bury your bill in the frozen earth, but thankfully for them the end of the winter’s grip is here. This late afternoon bird is being heated by that warming sun, knowing its path back to its breeding grounds will soon be easier.
Read MoreRed-winged Blackbird Male in Flight
It’s takeoff time! Red-winged Blackbirds are pouring back into marshes, wetlands, ponds and coastal areas throughout the Northeast. Males are back on territory, and here we can see one showing off those fiery shades. Spring is ready to explode! Even if it may start with more snow for some of us…
Read MoreAmerican Oystercatchers Returning
It’s that time! The American Oystercatchers are returning to the Northeast, and today in Connecticut we had our first bird in Westbrook. This is three or four weeks later than the first Oystercatcher sighting occurs in some years, with the historic cold keeping migrants at bay until now. Other species are also arriving more slowly than expected. Now it is all systems go for the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds as the threatened shorebird species is one of our focal birds. If you are going to be in Connecticut this spring and summer please email ctwaterbirds@gmail.com to sign up...
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