Scaup Anyone?
Here are justttttt a few Scaup, mostly Greater with some Lesser, on the move while feeding on their way back to the north. Waterfowl are getting busy now, whether it is migration or courting, as our shores and waters are finally melting here in the Northeast. March means “move!” if you are a waterbird. Did you count them?
Read MoreFind Marked Piping Plovers
If you are birding beaches on the Atlantic Coast this spring and summer please be on the lookout for Piping Plovers bearing bands and flags. Information for reporting each flag color is provided below. If you are in Connecticut please cc both Laura.Saucier@ct.gov and ctwaterbirds@gmail.com with any reports, and feel free to email us with any questions. Please include the following information with each report: Flag and band colors, location on each leg, and any alphanumeric codes on the flags. Location of sighting Date of sighting Any photo that shows the bands and/or flag Coded black, gray,...
Read MoreChuck-will’s-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis)
This Chuck-will’s-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis), a female, was captured and banded in Costa Rica by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser, a first for the site list at Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica’s first national park. What makes the species special to us is a great birding memory from the spring of 2012. One early May morning I was walking the property at Stratford Point in Stratford, Connecticut, conducting an avian site survey. It was a temperate but cloudy, drizzly and foggy morning, with some confused migrant birds overshooting their likely targets, pushing into Long Island Sound and...
Read MoreSavannah Sparrow Up Close
This Savannah Sparrow would certainly rather be in the grasslands and farm fields than stuck to the pavement. Unfortunately for the bird at the moment, and often for the species in the winter, those favored habitats are covered in a very deep layer of snow and ice. Instead it feeds on any exposed seeds it can find in these grasses, just like other birds I have photographed and shown you lately. It is not an easy life but it may be easier and safer overall than migrating far to the south and having to return in a couple of months. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach...
Read MoreRedhead on Lake Erie
Here is a drake Redhead duck having a quiet swim in Lake Erie on a cloudy day with lake effect snow in the air. I love how their yellow eyes contrast with the red, and I envy how peaceful and content this bird looks in such frosty conditions. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
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