Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis)
While our winter raptor surveys have been rather quiet lately, we have caught glimpses of some other visitors from the high arctic: the Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis). Our intern, Alex Shipherd, and I have seen these small sparrow-like birds for the past several weeks hanging out around the airport eating grit off the road’s edge and waddling through the deep snow in the fields. I have to say these have become one of my favorite seasonal birds as they just look like winter! Elyse Henshaw Conservation Technician
Read MoreGray Ghost
The past week yielded a very large push of migrant Northern Harriers throughout the Northeast, with a sizable percentage of these birds being gray ghosts – adult males – like this one. The strong north and northwest winds following this current cold front should help many more migrants come through our area in the next few days. Will there be more southern and western November rarities with them? Probably, so keep an eye out for everything from the Swainson’s Hawk to the Townsend’s Warbler. Don’t forget we are only a couple weeks away from December 1 and the...
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