Purple Sandpiper
We had a couple of special visitors stop by Stratford Point last week. The first was Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History President Twan Leenders who happened to spot the second, a Purple Sandpiper sitting on the rocks taking in the waves. We always feel like we should see more of the species at the site, but they tend to be found more often on the rocks offshore on the breakwater or jetties at nearby beaches. After taking a couple of direct hits from waves it flew off to the breakwater. We appreciated them both stopping by! Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach...
Read MoreWhat in the Whorled?
On a recent visit to coastal Florida, a personal friend encountered what she though to be a vacant seashell, but soon discovered that it was in fact occupied by a feisty resident. Knowing my profession (and my affinity for what I affectionately refer to as “goobies”; the world’s slimy, obscure, and often over-looked and under-appreciated critters), she shared the photos she had taken in hopes that I could assist in identifying her find. Somewhat serendipitously, it turned out to be the very creature that I studied intensively in grad school. You might be inclined to...
Read MoreScaup Surge
Thanks to recent warm temperatures and favorable winds, Greater Scaup (Aythya marila) like those shown here are now on the move back to the north, and during the past couple of weeks their numbers have been growing across the region. While you can find some throughout the winter in open areas on large bodies of water such as Lake Erie, most members of this species migrate south to evade the cold. We have been able to enjoy several thousand – probably 5,000 or 6,000 and maybe more – in the waters of Long Island Sound off Stratford Point. Most stay rather far offshore and away from...
Read MoreUSCGC Willow (WLB-202)
Here’s the USCGC Willow (WLB-202), a United States Coast Guard seagoing buoy tender, cruising past Stratford Point tonight near sunset. You can see some gulls passing by, but we also saw Northern Gannets streaming through Long Island Sound most of today – one could no doubt get some great looks from the Willow!
Read MoreGreater Scaup
There were so many more ducks pushed out into the open ocean during the past two winters with the icy Great Lakes and nearly every inland body of water being locked up for most of the season in the Northeast. This year species like these Greater Scaup can still be found in more northerly areas with sometimes historic warmth occurring. As of yesterday the Great Lakes ice cover was only at 7.2% compared to 2015’s 49.0% and the even more frozen 77.7% in 2014. Our local Lake Erie was essentially entirely ice at this point in the last two winters because it is so shallow, measuring at 94.5%...
Read More
