Lighthouse Open House
Last Saturday we held an open house at Stratford Point and the adjacent Coast Guard lighthouse. Visitors were able to enter both sites, the lighthouse usually being private restricted property, and chat with members of the Coast Guard and our staff about everything going on currently and the history of both historic properties. Information booths helped in this effort including one staffed by Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds technician Ewa Holland who gave out brochures on our efforts to help birds and humans share the shore successfully as well as information on Roger Tory Peterson...
Read MoreYellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)
We had a very welcome late morning visitor at Stratford Point today in the form of this Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) as it searched out tent caterpillars on the bluff. The American Robins and Common Grackles were not as welcoming, thinking this bird was going to go after their nests and little ones. The light was not the best for photography, but it is hard to get better views of a cuckoo than this! Stratford Point keeps bringing in the migrants even as we near the end of May. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreAmerican Lady Butterfly
Spring is slowly coming to Stratford Point with birds like the American Kestrel and Palm Warbler showing up in the last couple of days. Here’s an American Lady butterfly seen earlier today. We cannot wait until our gardens are full of birds, butterflies and more! It will be an exciting year.
Read MoreUSCGC Willow (WLB-202)
Here’s the USCGC Willow (WLB-202), a United States Coast Guard seagoing buoy tender, cruising past Stratford Point tonight near sunset. You can see some gulls passing by, but we also saw Northern Gannets streaming through Long Island Sound most of today – one could no doubt get some great looks from the Willow!
Read MoreSnowy Away
This is about the best photo of a Snowy Owl that I could get in the last couple of weeks. They have been elusive, to say the least, even when nearby. Most of that time I have encountered the far more wary individual – one of two hanging out for the winter in the Stratford Point area – and it has been certainly as jumpy as ever lately. On Tuesday it was chased off by crows before anyone noticed it hunkered down in the grasslands. The shot here is the result of it flying off last week before I could even raise my camera between the door and body of my Jeep from hundreds of feet...
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