Prairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor)
Here’s a Throwback Thursday to a Prairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor) that I photographed several years ago. The species begins to return to us in the Northeast right abouttttt…now! I hope to be able to spot one or two in migration so that I can get some better shots and enjoy their buzzy, rising song. Look for them in scrub or shrub habitat, old fields, power line cuts, or even forests – just not the prairies. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreTrout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
With trees just beginning to bud, sunlight has been able to penetrate to the forest floor, providing light for many early spring wildflowers to bloom. One such wildflower that can be seen during this time of the year is the Trout lily (Erythronium americanum). These little lilies are easily recognized by their mottled leaves, which gives the flower their name as the markings on the leaves look like the markings of brook trout, and their bright yellow flowers. Interestingly, these flowers form colonies that can completely coat a forest floor and the colonies themselves may be hundreds of...
Read MoreCommon Green Darner
RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser was pretty excited when he told me he had our first of the year dragonfly yesterday, this Common Green Darner. These darners are migrants just like the neotropical avian migrants that are patiently waiting to flood the woods in the Northeast. Photographed for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Connecticut while on assignment for The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.
Read MoreNo Migration – Until Now?
Here is an image of last night’s radar taken a little before midnight with strong and heavy avian migration occurring across the Deep South and Gulf Coast. Very few birds made it into the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, and there was no action in the Northeast. It was yet another night of poor bird movement for us, continuing a pattern and a theme that has persisted for a while this April. We have had lovely weather recently all thanks to northerly-based flows keeping air moving off the land being warmed by the sun as high pressures have been centered over the Great Lakes or Mid-Atlantic. We...
Read MoreLouisiana Waterthrush
RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser and I were happy to hear that a Louisiana Waterthrush had already made its way to Connecticut in late March, besting early arrival records in what may be an early spring for many birds – despite this current arctic rebuke. There are even some Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Purple Martins in the Northeast! Birds like them have a very difficult time getting through freezing conditions, and with overnight lows going deep into the 20s it is going to be a rough ride for these bold returning individuals. This particular photo by Sean is of an individual captured in...
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