More Monarchs
Monarch migration season is heating up! Having an office at likely the best site in all of Connecticut for the species, and one of the best across the Northeast region – Stratford Point – really helps to give us a glimpse of their population. I will be watching them pour through in the next two months while showing you the highlights whenever I can capture them with my lens. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreMonarch Profile
No matter the wind or the weather the Monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterflies seem to keep on making a decent flight right now. This one provided me a lovely profile shot while feeding on some ever-popular Eastern Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in a city garden. You can almost feel the texture of those papery wings. I keep appreciating each and every one I find! Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreRadar Overnight August 21, 2015
And here is what you get after you have a cold front move through in the day before a clear evening with now northerly winds…heavy migration! That is a classic Atlantic coastal signature for late August. Go find these birds today if you are not already outside and enjoying them.
Read MoreInsects to Birds
It is starting to get darker earlier each day. The sunflowers are growing in height. The insects are peaking, and our bees will be slowing down shortly. For now the flowers are feeding the bugs, but soon enough they will be transitioning to feeding all of the birds pouring down to the south, with the later arriving seed eaters ready to feast on sunflowers right out of the garden. Is it going to be a large irruptive season for the winter finches? While it is too soon to tell for certain, some Red-breasted Nuthatches and Purple Finches seen out of place to the south in a few places late this...
Read MoreRadar Overnight August 20, 2015
This is a radar image from overnight on August 20-21, 2015. As you can see there were a lot of birds in the air moving south from the Mid-Atlantic as far west as this image goes. The cold front and associated heavy rain and thunderstorms that brought the helpful northerly winds was advancing from the eastern Mid-Atlantic slowly into New England. They are really coming now! As we near September the volume and diversity of species heading south will build for us. Get out there this weekend and go find some “fall” migrants.
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