Snowy Owl December Update
If you are in Connecticut please be sure to check out winter birding forecast #1 brought to you by Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. We will have more information on that new aspect of our partnership effort soon! In the month since I last posted an extended update about the 2014-2015 Snowy Owl irruption we have had a great number of additional birds coming south into the continental United States. Southern parts of Canada are also recording more owls at expected locations. The most intriguing part of their movement, in my opinion, is how Snowy...
Read MoreHead-turning Tufted Titmouse
This Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) is a real head-turner! Yes, I will be here all week, every week…but did you know these gals and guys are still expanding their range northward? Back in my grandfather’s (and Roger Tory Peterson’s) day in they were very rare in New York and New England. In the middle of the last century they started a massive surge to the north likely thanks to climate change, the spread of feeding stations, and changing habitats as the suburban and developed landscape opened up for their arrival. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach...
Read MoreContinuing Winter Raptor Surveys
This a friendly request and reminder that we at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History are surveying for wintering Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls in Chautauqua County, two state-listed raptors that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is tracking in Western New York. Fortunately they share habitat with other beautiful birds like the Snowy Owl and you may end up being in productive locations for them often in the next few months. If you find any of the two species from now until spring please let us know with as much information on the sighting as...
Read MoreNorthern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
Depending on where you live the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) may be an uncommon to rare species or a typical neighborhood pest. They have been advancing north in the past several decades, possibly because of development and more favorable habitats and likely thanks to climate change. They are still a scarce bird in the Chautauqua-Allegheny region likely for both of those reasons. Why the pest, you ask? One day, if you’re fortunate, you may wake up to a car alarm going off all night long outside your window…except it’s a bird doing a perfect imitation and it will...
Read MoreCommon Redpolls coming
Common Redpolls are starting to arrive further south as we hit the beginning of meteorological winter (December 1-February 28/29). Here is one bird enjoying a little snow snack as well as the eBird range map of sightings for the species for October through December, 2014. Hold on to your socks! Or fill them with thistle seed and put them out for the birds…
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