Hurricane Matthew & Migration
First of all, my thoughts are with all who were or are experiencing the very worst of Hurricane Matthew, a deadly tropical cyclone that has been ravaging areas from Haiti to Cuba, the Bahamas, and now the United States. I, like you undoubtedly, know people who took some of the heavy blows from the storm in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. It proved to be a very difficult forecast which only exacerbated fears, and as heavy rain falls right now in the Mid-Atlantic and New England before the post-tropical cyclone heads out to sea instead of taking that long-discussed loop,...
Read MoreExpect the Unexpected
Winter Birding Forecast #2 is brought to you by Audubon Connecticut in partnership with the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. The relatively mild December is making for great birding opportunities as we close out 2014. So called “half-hardy” birds such as Gray Catbird, Pine Warbler and Common Yellowthroat are putting in appearances on Christmas Bird Count (CBC) checklists and birds like Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren and Eastern Bluebird are being found in good numbers as are Yellow-rumped Warblers at some coastal locations. One of the biggest surprises of the week was the...
Read MoreNorthern Gannet (Morus bassanus) record shot between gulls
Normally I crop the photos that I take and show to everyone here on RTPI’s website and social media, but in this case I liked the framing of the raw photograph. Can you see that dot in the middle? Even if this record shot were cropped you would not be able to see much more of the Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus) flying out over Long Island Sound from last weekend’s Christmas Bird Count in Stratford, Connecticut. These Ring-billed Gulls happened to be in flight all around me as the rare but increasingly recorded bird passed by offshore. It was one of two Gannets we saw while...
Read MoreCloudy with a Chance of Snowys
This is the first of a series of Winter Birds Forecasts focused on Connecticut and the surrounding region brought to you by Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History and written by Patrick Comins, Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon Connecticut with Scott Kruitbosch, Conservation & Outreach Coordinator, Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. Photos by Patrick Comins. A spate of early sightings of Snowy Owls in the Northeast has the birding community excited for a possible repeat of last year’s mega irruption that saw dozens of sightings of...
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