Stratford Point 6/27-7/3

This week continued much of last week's bird species at Stratford Point. Common Tern continue passing by, sometimes with fish in mouth. Least Tern have made a couple appearances as well. I have yet to see any young tern. However, juvenile swallow of a few species seem to be cycling around the general area, dispersing from nearby nesting locations. Laughing Gulls can be seen now and then flying by. Speaking of birds flying by, I saw a Piping Plover this evening going from west to east, towards Short Beach. It called as it flew and went towards a very busy beach that was full of people for the Stratford fireworks a couple hours later. I took the photo to the left from Stratford Point facing Short Beach at sunset today. The only birds in the water were Mallard and Double-crested Cormorant. One Great Egret and one Snowy Egret were grazing along the beach and shoreline. Gadwall are typically in the water in this area as well, though none were today. Soon there will be many southbound shorebirds feeding along these beaches. We will likely see the first ones during this upcoming week.

The Purple Martin gourds have been somewhat repaired...at least for the time being. Twan was able to hammer it back into place, but we will need to re-cement the entire structure in place. If you did not see the entry, it was pulled up by the hurricane force winds from the tornadic supercell thunderstorm that swept through on June 24. I will make another post about them soon. To the right you can see the view from in front of the main building at Stratford Point. The building is on the right, with the Stratford lighthouse in the distance. It really is Purple Martin paradise. I also wanted to give everyone a rescued Osprey update. On Thursday night, the female was brought from Wildlife in Crisis to the veterinarian for x-rays and heavy metal toxicology screenings. We should know more on her condition and exactly what happened to render her flightless after the holiday weekend. Once again, the mere fact she is alive and relatively functional bodes well for her future. I frequently see healthy Osprey flying around Stratford Point now, sometimes multiple birds. I am sure this is some of the population that lost their nests during the storm, as there are more birds flying about for longer periods than one would expect if they were tending to young.


Photos © Scott Kruitbosch