Under Clear Skies

Least Flycatcher - Luke Tiller

After a great trip to Colorado it was nice to touch down in Connecticut and to touch base with a number of the Connecticut regulars on the first weekend walk I had been around for for a couple of weekends. It was the first time that I had been out with some Eastern Migrants for a little while as well and it was good to see so many coming through. Trout Brook Valley is a really fine birding spot in Fairfield County and thank heavens that the plan to turn it into a mall and a golf course (or whatever the initial plan was) never quite transpired (thanks to the hard work of many local conservation groups and individuals). With a mixture of wetlands, trout streams, coniferous and deciduous habitats as well as grasslands and orchard, it is a spot that hosts a wealth of breeding bird species. It is also a fine spot to look for migrants and over the years it has provided me with some cracking birds including all of the regularly occurring migrant warblers including Connecticut and Mourning, Yellow Bellied Flycatcher, Dickcissel and Mississippi Kite.

I won’t bother with a grand explanation to the birding there as this will be covered in Frank Gallo’s forthcoming book but suffice to say an early morning hike of the Green/White main trail from the Bradley Rd parking lot through to the Purple Trail and back to the parking lot at any time in May should provide you with a wealth of good breeding and migrant birds. Paying attention to the clearings makes the birding easier but there is much to find all along the trails. Highlight breeding birds include both Cuckoos, Acadian Fly, Winter Wren, BT Green, Worm-eating, Louisiana Waterthrush etc.

The day itself was somewhat overcast, but apart from a spot of drizzle it was nice and dry. We were rewarded with a nice mix of warblers including cracking looks at a Worm-eating Warbler, whose subtle yet beautiful markings won over the group, even those who had initially as one of the less interesting warblers. Personally I have a real soft spot for this species, especially when it nested for a couple of years in the slope next to my house, it didn’t reappear last year but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for this one. We then tracked down a few more warblers in a nice clearing including eventual good looks at a Nashville Warbler, a somewhat bogey bird for at least one of the participants. I had a brief view of a Tennessee but I’m not sure anyone else got on it apart from maybe Katie. The numbers of Black and Whites were quite astounding as were high numbers of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and as many Blue-gray Gnatcatchers as I have seen in one wave of migrants.

We finished off the day with a hike down the purple trail where we managed to get outstanding views of three Louisiana Waterthrushes as they squabbled over territory seemingly oblivious to the watching group. This was a nice opportunity to discuss identifying characteristics for one of the harder to identify spring warblers. The close views however allowed the group to study the large bill, salmon pink washed flanks, bubblegum pink legs and to study the supercilium shape in close detail, the ony thing that might have perfected the experience would have been to have a Northern Waterthrush come and land nearby. The other highlight was the number of singing Winter Wrens. Last year was an off year for them at Trout Brook but they seem to have come back in force in 2009 with 3 separate birds singing from the wet, scree covered hillsides.  I know I have linked the Winter Wrens song before on the blog but I think it worth doing so again. It is after all such a treat to hear these amazingly diminutive songsters in action (here).

Although we didn’t get one on the walk, I thought I’d stick up my shot of a Least Flycatcher (which was kind enough to confirm my ID by calling) which I snapped midweek whilst out with AJ Hand. He kindly has loaned me his old camera and a decent lens. Anyway the picture came out fairly nice and sharp but it is proof positive that there is more to the amazing work of photographers like AJ than a big lens and a good camera. I think I need to work on my composition!!!

Trip Species List

Double-crested Cormorant, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Great-crested Flycatcher, American Robin, Wood Thrush, Gray Catbird, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, Winter Wren, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue Headed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Warblers: Yellow, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Blue-winged, Nashville, Black-and-white, Black-throated Green, Prairie, Ovenbird, Louisisana Waterthrush, Worm-eating, Common Yellowthroat and American Redstart. Scarlet Tanager, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Baltimore Oriole, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Northern Cardinal, Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I am just rounding up an absolutely amazing trip to Colorado but internet service is somewhat difficult to find in small town Colorado. Lots of amazing birds, beautiful scenery, fun and memorable moments. Normal service to come soon. Look for some great photos and a trip report soon here and on http://www.sunrisebirding.com.  Lots of other new bits and pieces to add when I get back.

ps. Congrats to Tina Green on the Western Meadowlark – almost sick of seeing them here as they are everywhere – but in Connecticut!!!!!! – what a find and with no small amount of skill involved in the ID!!!!

This weekend was an action packed birding extravaganza. I awoke at 5:30am Saturday morning downed a couple of cups of coffee and flew out the door on my way to Middletown for the Connecticut Ornithological Association Annual General Meeting. The meeting is always a fun day out and manning the Sunrise Birding stand means that you get to meet lots of old friends from previous trips and get to put faces to names that you have read a number of times on the listserve. Anyway I got to meet lots of nice new people and catch up with some others that I hadn’t seen in a little while so it really was a fun day out. Particularly popular on the day were the Sunrise Birding “I’d rather be birding stickers”, although the quality of the presentations certainly kept everyone distracted from the possibility of the Common Gull being re-located (it wasn’t unfortunately, although somehow a rumor spread around at lunchtime that it had been, which had a few people getting a little twitchy!)

Everything ran nice and smoothly and being on the COA board I know just how much hard work everyone put into the day, including all the volunteers that got roped in to help deal with registrations, sort out the much needed coffees and all of that kind of thing. The presentations had a very Connecticut centric feel to them with local presenters and local topics and the consensus seemed to be that the day worked all the better for that. All of the talks were very interesting and well delivered. I even had to chime in to help ID a  Eurasian bird that was part of Chris Fields fascinating lecture. Thankfully I managed to dredge up the correct ID from the depths of my brain (Spotted Flycatcher) although I must admit that US bird identification is now more of a strength than the ones from my home country. All in all a long but hugely entertaining day where I got to meet friends old and new.

Sunday, I ran a free walk to celebrate my birthday. We joined up with my friend Frank Mantlik and his annual NHBC early spring walk in Stratford and all in all we had about 40 participants on the day. An auspicious start to the day was spotting a female Merlin bombing down the Sikorsky Airport Access Rd as we arrived, which then teed up for the rest of the group as we waited for everyone to appear. First surprise of the day was the absolutely huge birthday cake that a few of my friends had brought down for everyone to enjoy. It was amazing, with a picture of yours truly birding on it. Somehow I had managed to wear the exact same outfit on the day, which was all a little embarrassing!

After everyone had a slice of cake we headed off to check for a couple of Northern Shovelers that had been spotted pre-walk on the pond just at the junction of Access Rd. Luckily the birds had hung in there and the whole group managed to get great views of a bird that is surprisingly uncommon in Connecticut. To me he Shoveler is one of the great birding mysteries, in New York you can usually find multitudes of Shovelers hanging out on the ponds of Central Park and yet in Connecticut, just 40 miles away, they are almost as uncommon as hens teeth – one of those birding phenomenons that just makes you wonder why?

After that we swung by Lordship Boulevard and managed to track down a few Boat-tailed Grackles, a real outlier breeding population of these birds, although I hear that there was some suggestion that they may have bred at Hammo this past summer. Does anyone have confirmation on that? Apart from the grackles things were a little quiet though we did manage to encounter a large number of Green-winged Teal. There were no sign of any Eurasian subspecies, although a lot of the birds we saw were in flight.

Other highlights of the mornings birding were a Gannet or two at Long Beach and the huge rafts of distant scoter and scaup at Stratford Point, as well as an amazing spot by Gina of a white-winged gull out on the sea walls off of Short Beach. I saw the bird in flight a couple of times and down on the rocks and although pretty distant it seemed to almost certainly be a 1cy Icleand Gull. It wasn’t quite as warm as we had been lead to believe on the weather forecast, so apart from the one Tree Swallow I spotted from the car there wasn’t too much indication of burgeoning spring migration. That said it was a fun day to be in the field with such a nice group of birders and friends.

Post walk, many of us retired to Marnicks (another spot to add to my map of birding eateries in Fairfield County) for Chowder, Lobster Rolls and Burgers. Some more friends drifted in from other mornings activities and I enjoyed a great lunch with the group. I also was surprised to receive lots of great presents, including a few birding books that I will probably have to write a review or two for in the coming weeks. Anyway I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who came for making it a fun day out. It really means a lot to me to know that I have made so many great birding friends from my walks over the years.

Post walk I got dragged out to have a quick look for interesting gulls down at Oyster River and Bradley Point. The only real bird of note was a Black-headed Gull that thankfully had (as they often do) developed it’s hood earlier than the surrounding Bonaparte’s. The caveat was that one Bonaparte’s also had a complete hood, so for a little while everyone was getting confused as to which dark-hooded gull we should have been looking at. A fun end to a long weekend was stopping over at Joe Bears house to have some Birthday dinner and discuss plans for the forthcoming trip to Colorado. I can hardly wait, maybe next year some of you will come join me back there with the Sunrise Birding.

Trip Highlights:

58 species. Including 2 NORTHERN GANNETS (Long Beach), 15 species waterfowl including 2 NORTHERN SHOVELERS, 2 OSPREY (migrants), MERLIN, 2 PIPING PLOVERS, 2 AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS, 1 ICELAND GULL (1st CY), 1 TREE SWALLOW, 5 BOAT-TAILED GRACKLES.