Harlequin Duck Video
Here is some HD video of that drake Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) doing all sorts of preening as he molts into his stunning breeding season shades. He seems content while working away at his feathers on a hot and sunny September day with Herring and Laughing Gulls on the rocks off Stratford Point in Stratford, Connecticut.
Read MoreHarlequin Duck
This is a drake Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) that is in the middle of molting into that gorgeously patterned blue breeding plumage. It may not be winter yet but they do enjoy wintering on rocky, surf-battered coastal shores like this one here at Stratford Point in Stratford, Connecticut. Between the fact it is doing nonstop preening as its fresh feathers come in, thus making a long uncertain flight an unpleasant notion, and the quality of the habitat here we feel like we stand a good chance of keeping this bird for a while. Fingers crossed! He will be a real stunner soon. Scott...
Read MoreMagnificent Bryozoan
And now for something completely different: a brick! More specifically, a brick with a colony of microscopic aquatic animals on it. This strange blob is a colonial freshwater bryozoan, also known as the Magnificent Bryozoan (Pectinatella magnifica). The brick is an old, classic Jamestown street paver. Both were found during our survey of the Chadakoin River in Jamestown today, as part of our Project Wild America youth ambassador program. I think this image illustrates nicely what we are finding during our surveys: at first glance the habitat looks run down, trash-filled and hardly worth a...
Read MoreNo Flower Picking!
It is that time of year again! Pink Lady Slipper Orchids (Cypripedium acaule) are among our favorite neighbors. You can see them flowering in good numbers right now in mature mixed forest habitats. As tempting as it may be to some, these beautiful plants make terrible transplants and will not survive a trip to your backyard. Please enjoy them responsibly and leave them where they belong. They look better in their natural habitat anyway and it will give you yet another reason to visit your favorite nature preserve or park!
Read MoreChuck-will’s-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis)
This Chuck-will’s-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis), a female, was captured and banded in Costa Rica by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser, a first for the site list at Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica’s first national park. What makes the species special to us is a great birding memory from the spring of 2012. One early May morning I was walking the property at Stratford Point in Stratford, Connecticut, conducting an avian site survey. It was a temperate but cloudy, drizzly and foggy morning, with some confused migrant birds overshooting their likely targets, pushing into Long Island Sound and...
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