Record December Heat
What a remarkable and historic stretch of weather! The probable strongest El Niño of all-time looks like it will keep us all very warm for a while still…we are getting into more uncharted territory here in Earth’s modern history. At least it is helping the extreme drought in the west, but what other potentially severe weather is yet to come? Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreDrought Monitor Improving
Here’s the U.S. Drought Monitor as of last week, still showing a frightening and sad situation for many people in the West. However, even since that time there has been more rain for California and slowly but surely (very slowly) the three-year drought seems to be improving. They will need a lot of consistent rain to make up for such an enormous deficit. For us in the East there is very little to mention apart from some patchy long-term moderate drought in Rhode Island, Connecticut and part of New York. That took a hit, thankfully, due to the Nor’easter that ripped through the...
Read MoreRufous Hummingbird and vagrancy
This past weekend I was able to briefly visit and photograph a vagrant hummingbird from the west at an undisclosed location in Connecticut. I was told of the sighting by two experts who had documented the bird a couple hours earlier, confirming via observations and photos that this was a Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), and not the very easy to confuse Allen’s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) which would have been even more rare. The bird pictured below is an immature female. She paused only briefly in the tree being otherwise occupied and somewhat anxious, zipping back and...
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 MoreLark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus)
This Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus) is the one rarity Twan and I enjoyed in the post-Irene week that was likely not brought in by the tropical cyclone. You can find them rarely in the east during the late summer and early fall while our friends to the west enjoy these beautiful sparrows all summer.
Read More
