Under Clear Skies

Allen's in Winter

My friends in the world of non-profits always used to repeat the mantra ‘act local, think global’ and I have modified that in my approach to birding to ‘bird local, think global’ (and to be fair, plenty of birding globally when possible). Back in the UK everyone has a ‘patch’, simply a place in your town or local vicinity that becomes your own little birding fiefdom. After experimenting with a few places I quickly honed in on Allen’s Meadows right here in Wilton. The place looks less than auspicious at first glance but behind the facade of ballfields lay a little birding gem. Since first coming here a few years ago it has rapidly developed into something of a state hotspot, and is about to enter the annals of history (when Frank Gallo finishes his guide to birding Connecticut and Rhode Island ). Over the years I have found some amazing birds here right in the heart of Fairfield County. Highlights have included Harris’s Sparrow (tenth record for the state), White-crowned Sparrow – Gambels subspecies (1st documented record in the state), Summer Tanager and Sandhill Crane. Add to that a wealth of uncommon visitors especially in fall and you can see why I am drawn back again and again.

It was with obvious distress that I discovered that the town were envisaging placing a dog park on the site back in 2006. Of all the places in town they had picked it was the one that would be most detrimental to important breeding and migrant bird species. Initially I was told that it was a done deal and at first we ‘birders’ were almost laughed out of the first town hall meeting. However I persevered, along with a group of local birders and other like-minded individuals in town, and we worked our butts off for about a year to persuade the town that this really wasn’t the best site to stick the park. Thanks to some support from both  State and National Audubon Societies we managed to persuade the board of Selectmen to see our case more favorably and the dog park proposals were removed. Since then I have been working with the towns conservation commission to really let people in town know what a jewel they have right under their noses.

The conservation commission in town now has a checklist of bird species for the park available to download (here) and carried an article by yours truly in their Spring 2008 Conservation Commission Newsleter (here). Since they were published I have added a handful of species to the checklist (namely Semipalmated Plover, Sandhill Crane, Grasshopper Sparrow and on September the 23rd 2010 both Lark Sparrow and Northern Wheatear were found here – only the wheatear is new ), it’s simply hard to keep up with the ever growing list.

Below are a couple of articles about Allen’s from the local papers as well as a snap taken by Frank Mantlik of the Great Horned Owl that AJ Hand, Joe Bear, Frank and I rescued from the clutches of one of the soccer nets.