Hooded Merganser leaving a wake
Even the smallest creature can leave a tremendous mark. This little Hooded Merganser male left quite a wake in the waters of this pond on a cold December day, but those ripples will quickly fade away. When you are outdoors please remember to leave only footprints and take only memories.
Read MoreJamestown Audubon Center & Sanctuary
My thanks to the Jamestown Audubon Center & Sanctuary for having me as their speaker for the October First Friday Lunch Bunch yesterday. We had a great time talking about the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds and RTPI’s constant conservation, stewardship, education and outreach work for threatened species across the Connecticut shore as we continue Roger Tory Peterson’s legacy in the state he was proud to call home for so many years.
Read MoreAudubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds at Jamestown Audubon
Tomorrow, October 3, I will be presenting a program on the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) at the Jamestown Audubon Center & Sanctuary at 11AM. AAfCW an active conservation, education and outreach project that provides stewardship and survey efforts by volunteers and staff working to help the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) in an innovative joint initiative on Connecticut’s beaches, islands, and other coastal areas to monitor birds like the federally threatened Piping Plover and...
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...
Read MoreAutumn in the sky
Here’s one view of Long Island Sound last night as vivid autumn colors took over the sky. The Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds had a wonderfully successful season and on Wednesday we put out some additional numbers and information in the AAfCW blog: http://ctwaterbirds.blogspot.com/2014/09/preliminary-aafcw-2014-stats.html
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