Coastal Adventure
The other week I had the opportunity to adventure out to Connecticut and Rhode Island for a week of learning. As you all know, we have a number of projects running in coastal Connecticut monitoring shorebirds and educating the public about the many federally and state listed species that reside there, and we have some wonderful RTPI staff stationed there as well. On my trip I was able to spend some time with Scott Kruitbosch, our Conservation and Outreach Coordinator, looking at several of the sites where projects for shorebirds, migrating raptors and coastal remediation are taking place. It...
Read MoreMeadow Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus)
We had a squee moment a couple weeks ago when our Project Wild America students came across a pair of baby meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) in our path along the Chadakoin River. According to an old wives tale, handling baby wildlife will deter the mother from returning, due to the human scent, ultimately leaving the little ones for dead. Thankfully, these tales are far from true. While it is best practice to leave little ones where you find them, picking them up isn’t a death sentence. Our students were alerted to the voles as they were squeaking from within the grass clump they...
Read MoreBaby Bunny
Yep, this is a baby bunny – Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) – and a very blatant attempt by me to post something cute. I came up on the young one entirely unexpectedly. It stayed in the shadows before deciding that stationary human looked a little too suspicious, making a mad and adorable dash back into the grasslands. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreMore Balloons
Another day, another pile of trash removed from the beaches by one of us. This time CT DEEP’s Rebecca Foster snapped this shot of all the garbage, especially balloons, that she took off Stratford’s Long Beach during one walk! As she noted you could probably do this multiple times a day at this point of the year and come up with the same sort of pile. Summer brings all sorts of parties and events and very little thought applied to where those balloons, or the rest of the trash that can blow away or is tossed aside, end up. Those of you reading this are already very environmentally...
Read MoreDragonfly Swarm!
On the evening of July 21, 2015 a cold front was rapidly advancing through Stratford, Connecticut from the northwest, bringing showers and thunderstorms to the tri-state area. This video was taken at Stratford Point, a peninsula that stretches far into Long Island Sound and harbors migratory insects and birds throughout the year. These Swamp Darners (Epiaeschna heros) and Common Green Darners (Anax junius) suddenly swarmed the site, seeking refuge from the rain and storms in this corner of the building and covered porch. Some literally flew into me while I filmed. This behavior has been...
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