Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
I loved seeing this Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) surrounded by fall foliage of a more uncommon sort in the Great Meadows Marsh in Stratford, Connecticut earlier today, living up to its past (and still current) billing as one of the best coastal birding habitats in the United States according to our own Roger Tory Peterson. Are you elated for autumn yet?!
Read MoreSigns here, there and everywhere
It’s always a pleasure to see some natural history on display in very public areas where you may not expect it. This Connecticut sign discusses the ever-important Housatonic River Watershed today all the way to its history dating back 21,000 years. Good job by Sikorsky, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the Merritt Parkway Conservancy and the Housatonic Valley Association. You’re going to find many more and very visible signs by RTPI in the Chautauqua-Allegheny region soon that act as a unique, engaging gateway to education…stay tuned.
Read MoreHigh and far migrant raptors
Can you identify the migrants in the center of the cirrus? Take a look…a hard look…a really deep look…and you’ll find there are four black dots. This is not dust on your screen. In the very middle of this photo there is one bird to the upper right, two close together just under it to the left, and one further to the lower left. Those are Bald Eagles…yes, massive Bald Eagles. Perspective is everything. And hawk watching is not easy – imagine trying to find smaller birds like Sharp-shinned Hawks at that height!
Read MoreAAfCW thank you party
Here are some of our guests arriving as we set up earlier this evening at the beautiful Short Beach Park in Stratford, Connecticut to celebrate and thank all of the tremendous volunteers at the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds for their work in helping Audubon Connecticut, CT DEEP, USFWS and RTPI all spring and summer. We had at least 379 volunteers assist us in surveying, monitoring, outreach and education thus far in CT in 2014! It was a great evening with a lot of good friends and stories. Thank you again to all who have helped AAfCW in our first three years and thanks to the Town...
Read MoreBoothe Park Hawk Watch 9/12 – 182 migrant raptors
We had a decent day at the Boothe Park Hawk Watch in Stratford, Connecticut yesterday, considering the deep blue sky in control, as we tallied 182 migrant raptors filling in the 9:30-4:30 time frame. Having no clouds in the sky makes it very difficult to spot hawks, eagles, falcons, vultures and so forth flying at altitudes in the thousands of feet. Light clouds, especially cirrus, provide a helpful backdrop to view them on without obscuring any or dumping precipitation which would stop the birds from moving south. In essence many migrants likely flew by right over our heads that we could...
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