Live hawk watching
Live from the Boothe Park Hawk Watch on lovely and perfect day for raptor migration…except for the total lack of clouds! That means we can’t see much but we have seen 14 Bald Eagle migrants and 10 more local birds with a lot of visitors stopping by, learning about hawks and avian migration.
Read MoreFall hawk watching is on!
Labor Day and the beginning of September are often seen as the beginning of the fall season despite the fact the autumnal equinox is not until weeks later (September 23 this year). However, many of our birds agree with this assessment as well. You can find migrant passerines beginning to disperse and even some moving south in July. Shorebirds can be found on the way to wintering quarters in terrific numbers in “fall” migration in the middle of what we think of as a hot summer day. Raptors including many species of hawks, accipiters, falcons, eagles, vultures and more start to...
Read MoreNorthern Wheatear season
The Northern Wheatear is undoubtedly one of my favorite North American nesting species despite the fact it is one of the toughest to find in the contiguous United States. I have no real reason for why I love the bird except for the fact that it is so difficult to call it simply a “North American” species and I admire its biology. Two populations nest on the continent with a western group breeding in Alaska and far northwest Canada with an eastern group in north central and northeastern Canada, the former group migrating southeastward across Asia to move to Europe and finally...
Read MoreHurricane/Tropical Storm Irene Sooty Terns
Three years ago tonight we in Connecticut and the tri-state area were recovering from the shock of being hammered by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. She made landfall early on the 28th and I filmed these very rare Sooty Terns (Onychoprion fuscatus) she carried up from the topics as they made their way back down the Housatonic River, which separates Stratford and Milford, as the storm waned. As you can see the wind and water were still very turbulent! Most of us had damaged homes, yards and/or no power for several days and spent the next week seeing other unbelievably rare birds in our local...
Read MoreCoyote advisement in Connecticut
I thought this coyote “warning” (really a press release that should be called a notification or information) released by the police department in my hometown of Stratford, Connecticut and the State of Connecticut DEEP Wildlife Division was interesting, both in content and approach. It contains a lot of helpful facts and tips so that everyone can enjoy the outdoors and know what to do if they see a coyote. The more we develop our world and make it favorable to certain species, taking away their habitat in the process, the more we will encounter them and have to adapt ourselves....
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