Foliage Flight
Goodbye to the fall foliage, and goodbye to those dots – they are Turkey Vultures heading to the south for the winter. Some will try to hang on in the Chautauqua-Allegheny region, but once the snow starts coming and life goes into hiding it becomes very difficult for these scavengers to find food, and the competition skyrockets. We will see them drifting up along Lake Erie again next spring.
Read MoreLeucistic Savannah Sparrow
This appears to be a partially leucistic Savannah Sparrow, a migrant individual that I was surprised by yesterday morning. Leucism is when pigments are produced at less than normal levels or in an unexpected pattern. In this case many of the feathers on the head and throat do not have typical pigmentation. Interestingly the yellow patch on the face can still be seen, giving this unique bird an all the more fascinating look. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreSavannah Sparrow
Masses of Savannah Sparrows are still on the move right now, pushing through our fields, grasslands, shrublands, farmlands and other open areas with significant food supplies and enough room to hide. Autumn allows you to study so many individual birds that show us how much variance there can be within what we call a species.
Read MoreSavannah Sparrow
This Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) was one of dozens of migrants of the species that I spotted this past weekend. Their numbers are increasing as they head south for the winter. As we go deeper into autumn we will see hundreds of them in fields, grasslands and farms across large open spaces in areas like Chautauqua County or coastal scrub and shrub habitat in locations such as Stratford Point. Get those Peterson Field Guides ready! They will not all be this easy to identify…
Read MoreRed Admiral Feeding
The Red Admiral butterfly parade continues! Many have been pouring through the north, and are often noted as having been a primary Purple Martin food source this summer with bits of them left at gourd colonies. This individual paused for a moment and actually allowed me to snap off a shot as many typically have been flying by me without a second look. This sort of flight year really does help our aerial insectivores, a good example of the importance of our food web from bottom to top. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
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