Northern Wheatear season
The Northern Wheatear is undoubtedly one of my favorite North American nesting species despite the fact it is one of the toughest to find in the contiguous United States. I have no real reason for why I love the bird except for the fact that it is so difficult to call it simply a “North American” species and I admire its biology. Two populations nest on the continent with a western group breeding in Alaska and far northwest Canada with an eastern group in north central and northeastern Canada, the former group migrating southeastward across Asia to move to Europe and finally...
Read MoreHurricane Arthur
There always seems to be something strange going on with the weather in the Northeast United States and this Independence Day weekend was no exception. I cannot recall a time where we were even talking about tropical cyclones in early July but sure enough, Hurricane Arthur decided to make a close pass right off the Mid-Atlantic and New England coasts on the Fourth after ramming through the Carolinas. The most engrossing image I saw in the last week was this radar grab by the Severe Weather Institute – Radar & Lightning Laboratories at UAHuntsville. As they said it depicts the power...
Read MoreSanderlings (Calidris alba) by Scott Kruitbosch
These Sanderlings (Calidris alba) were feeding along the gentle waves of Long Island Sound today in Stratford, Connecticut. Note that the bird on the far right has a silver federal band that I unfortunately could not read. They were part of a group of over 100 combined Sanderling and Dunlin (Calidris alpina). The two species are typically found together in Connecticut through the winter but I was excited to see any shorebirds and many other spring waterbirds will be arriving shortly.
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