Palm Warblers and more have arrived

As we hit a surge of warmth earlier this week migrant birds were finally able to make it into the area on strong southwest and westerly winds. I had several first-of-year sightings during survey time at Stratford Point on Tuesday. One of those was this Palm Warbler who hopped around our grasslands.

The temperature soared to an official 81 degrees Fahrenheit as KBDR (Bridgeport's airport observation station in Stratford) broke the daily record. Considering it was April 9 I think this was a good total of birds for a couple hours in the morning.

Brant  8

Canada Goose  3

Mute Swan  2

Wood Duck  1

Eurasian Wigeon  1    

American Wigeon  13

American Black Duck  9

Mallard  2

Greater Scaup  4

Long-tailed Duck  1

Common Goldeneye  1

Red-breasted Merganser  4

Red-throated Loon  1

Common Loon  3

Northern Gannet  2

Osprey  1

Northern Harrier  1

Killdeer  2

Ring-billed Gull  36

Herring Gull (American)  47

Great Black-backed Gull  3

Rock Pigeon  2

Mourning Dove  4

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  6

Eastern Phoebe  2

Blue Jay  1

American Crow  1

Fish Crow  5

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1

Tree Swallow  3

Tufted Titmouse  1

Brown Creeper  1

Carolina Wren  1

Golden-crowned Kinglet  4

Hermit Thrush  1

American Robin  21

Northern Mockingbird  2

European Starling  5

Palm Warbler (Yellow)  1

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  1

Eastern Towhee  1

Chipping Sparrow  1

Savannah Sparrow  7

Song Sparrow  9

Northern Cardinal  1

Red-winged Blackbird  7

Common Grackle  11

Brown-headed Cowbird  3

House Finch  1

American Goldfinch  1

House Sparrow  7

That was just a taste of what is to come as we are about to enter six or seven weeks of nonstop bird migration madness. While we definitely encourage you to visit some of Connecticut's hotspots and some of our wonderful properties get out there as much as you can in your local patches and find some close by areas within walking or biking distance to keep your birding as green as can be.

Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation Technician

Photo by Scott Kruitbosch © Connecticut Audubon Society and not to be reproduced without explicit CAS permission