Migrating Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)
Here’s an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) that I recently photographed in the middle of migration, passing directly overhead from our hawk watching position. It is looking straight forward while powering down the coastline on a stiff northwest wind. Perhaps it will spend part of its journey or the winter using a bird feeder as a hunting area. While this may not be what many birders like to read these raptors are hungry birds, too. Young hawks have very high mortality rates and 8 or 9 out of 10 birds will die in their first year with migration, starvation and even...
Read MoreHunting Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
This Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is on the hunt and you can tell this is the case by seeing where its head and eyes are pointed – straight down. It is also holding its wings and tail in positions for a lazy, floating flight. While it is not hovering it is using the wind to slowly comb over the landscape in search of small mammals. Even if you are far from the bird, like I was in this photo, you can often still see the distinctive “belly band” of dark splotches across the white undersides. We are about to hit the peak of their migration in the Northeast so be on the...
Read MoreDeKay’s Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi)
With last week’s warm temperatures and sunny days, many critters took advantage of the ideal autumn conditions and were out hunting or in search of their soon to be used winter hideaways. This seemed to be the case for a little DeKay’s Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) that was found slithering across a forest road in the Finger Lakes National Forest by my husband and me. The little snake was soaking up the sun and was moving towards the leaf litter of the nearby forest floor, a place they often seek prey and hide in. As the snake was making its journey we took a few snapshots…...
Read MoreNot a cat’s play toy
This is an Eastern Chipmunk. It is not a cat’s play toy. I did not witness its death but considering how much one of the local cats seems to enjoy hunting them in the area I found it plus the fresh, pungent aroma that feline left behind immediately next to the body I can surmise how it happened. Even if it was not that cat this occurs many, many times…millions upon millions…to small birds and mammals each day. Besides the death of wildlife why do we allow our small fur children to run amok in the dangerous outdoors? We all need to bring our cats in the house, no matter...
Read MoreSnowy Egrets feeding under the clouds
I took these photos earlier in the week while conducting surveys in coastal Connecticut for our work in the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. It was a warm and cloudy day with calm but soon to be increasing winds ahead of a cold front. The southerly flow made for a quieter morning in terms of passerine migrants but these feeding Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula) kept me busy. The Snowy Egret is listed as “threatened” under the Connecticut Endangered Species Act. While we as a society no longer hunt birds like these beautiful long-legged waders to adorn our clothing with their...
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