Sunday's Stratford-Milford Christmas Bird Count went on despite the weather forecast. Between the lack of available days to reschedule the count and the fact many people would be unavailable it seemed prudent to go out and get what observers could find before the snow came in. After checking my yard briefly and getting a feel for the weather I met up with Frank Mantlik to join him on his Short Beach area count in Stratford around 7:45. He had been out for hours already having found some nice birds, including an American Kestrel and 11 Boat-tailed Grackles at the Sikorsky Airport, but only one owl - Eastern Screech. We started on Sniffen's Lane, watching the mouth of the Housatonic River. It was not even 8AM when I noticed flurries had begun. I checked the radar on my BlackBerry and figured we had a few hours before snow really started to fall.
Before we left Frank wanted to check a nearby stand of birch trees for winter finches. The sizable patch did not disappoint as he found about 35 (yes, thirty-five!) Common Redpolls feeding there. It was early and even darker than usual with the nor'easter approaching, so this was the best I could do for a photo.
We got wonderful looks at the redpolls until a plane taking off from the nearby airport flushed them. From here, we drove to the Stratford open space area behind DeLuca field since it was near low tide. I walked the perimeter and checked what is left of the brushy tangles while he looked for shorebirds on the open flats. Stratford removed much of what was a great habitat here while adding paths for people to walk and bike on. It may have been unattractive, but it was very useful to birds. Because of this, we did not turn up too much here beyond Northern Mockingbird, a few sparrows like Song, American Tree, and House, and plenty of the usual gulls.
Next, we split up to cover more ground in less time. Frank went to the foot of Cove Place to check out the massive group of sea ducks on Long Island Sound that has been there for most of the fall and this week of winter while I went to the Birdseye St. boat ramp. There I found a couple of Pied-billed Grebes and an impressive total of 18 American Coot. I also saw two Northern Harriers hunting the marshes in the Housatonic. Frank discovered the sea ducks were close to shore and in great quantity.
He estimated 3,000 White-winged Scoter, 3,000 Greater Scaup, and 500 Surf Scoter. He picked out 1 Black Scoter and 10 Lesser Scaup. When I got there we both enjoyed views of 2 female King Eiders, a nice rarity for the CBC. These were conservative estimates - there may have been even a couple thousand more birds.
See the two brown ducks in the bottom of the photo closest to us, facing towards the center of the picture and at one another? Female King Eiders
Frank and I moved on to CAS' own Stratford Point next. We hoped to find all of the ducks we needed plus passerines that frequent the point’s open coastal grasslands habitat. As the strengthening northeast wind bore down on us, we managed to locate Common Goldeneye, Gadwall, American Wigeon, American Black Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, and more. Frank even saw a Double-crested Cormorant on the breakwater, rare to see in winter instead of Great Cormorant. However, no Snow Buntings, Savannah Sparrow, or American Pipit were seen, a few of the species we hoped to find in upland areas. I saw another Northern Harrier hunting over the grasslands while being tossed about by the wind.
Northern Harrier hunting
Another reason I wanted to get home quickly was to fill up and watch my feeders. I knew the rapidly declining conditions would send hungry birds my way. I was glad to see this Fox Sparrow appear again to be included on the count day.
It may not have been your typical Christmas Bird Count, but it was still successful and a lot of fun.Photos © Scott Kruitbosch
The Blizzard of 2010 started about halfway through the Stratford-Milford Christmas Bird Count on December 26. Technically, it was actually even earlier, as flurries from the storm began around 8AM while I was in the field with Frank Mantlik in his section of Stratford. However, significant snow held off until about 11AM. I will post a summary of our abbreviated day along with photos tomorrow. For now, I want to concentrate on the storm as it continued through this morning. Every state in the northeast is still feeling the extreme winds and bitter cold air left in its wake. Western areas were hit the hardest with snowfall totals reaching nearly 20 inches in some spots (and perhaps higher once all the totals are in!). Central and eastern Connecticut had more of a routine snowstorm, with many spots recording less than double-digit totals. The most notable part of the storm for many was the wind. Some weather stations in Connecticut recorded 50 or even 60MPH gusts! The combination of heavy snow and ferocious wind was remarkable and truly rare.
I knew some fascinating sightings would be had at bird feeders today, and there will likely be even more tomorrow. I had two interesting birds, the first being very likely the same Fox Sparrow that visited me last Thursday (photos of it tomorrow). The second was another species I recorded that day, a Rusty Blackbird!
They are a classic feeder species after a snowfall of more than about three inches. I believe this is because that depth hinders what they can do in terms of their style of foraging. Apart from picking at what is on the earth they shove their bill into the mud, water, leaves, snow or whatever else, opening it and exposing food. When the snowfall gets above a few inches accessing that food probably proves much more difficult to accomplish for their species in particular.
Inserting her bill into the snow in the manner described above
Compare her with the Common Grackle and Red-winged Blackbirds
She fed primarily on cracked corn, a typical food for the species at feeders. I find that some birds, often males more than females, eat bits of suet that fall while woodpeckers or other birds peck at cakes. This bird did not, keeping to the corn and digging into the snow when she had to for some of it.
A snowy bill
Chewing that corn
I am sure many people saw Rusty Blackbirds in their yard today, especially in Fairfield and Litchfield counties, the areas hardest hit by the storm. It is of vital importance to log these sightings into eBird including all of the details you can. They are one of the fastest declining species in North America. Your observations of their wintering population, from sex of the birds to habitat selection and foraging behavior can help scientists discover why their numbers are plummeting.
Photos © Scott Kruitbosch
We do not have the snow to show for it as of Christmas eve, but winter has arrived. It was quite evident in my own yard on Thursday as I looked out at my bird feeders. I had the honor of picking up the bird below when it flew in with a group of Red-winged Blackbirds...
Yes, a male Rusty Blackbird! Hosting one in my yard is an annual tradition in December and January, though almost always after a snowfall of more than three inches. Obviously that is not the case - yet. If that were not enough, I also added...
...this Fox Sparrow! It was a great way to start the Stratford-Milford CBC count period. With a historic blizzard coming up on Sunday and Monday get ready to see some amazing birds in your yard. Fill your feeders up and be safe at home. Good luck and happy holidays!Photos © Scott Kruitbosch
On Sunday, I participated in the first of two Christmas Bird Counts, this one for the Westport-Fairfield count circle. Next weekend I will be going out for the Stratford-Milford circle. I was a part of the Fairfield shoreline sector. Charles Barnard Jr. is the captain of the area and graciously had myself and fellow birders Dave Zawisha, James Purcell, and Alex Burdo, who was named a L.L. Bean Outdoor Hero this past July, along for the day. Charlie is exceptionally knowledgeable about where to find what in all of Fairfield. The following is a nearly complete account of our day – I am sure I left out a stop or two and some birds. All of the photos were from the day, too.
We started out on the beach at the end of South Pine Creek Avenue in Fairfield at 7AM. As the group assembled, we ticked off a few of the more common species in the water and at the end of the road. Shortly after, we headed off to walk along Pine Creek Marsh. We saw American Black Duck, Hooded Merganser, Great Blue Heron, and heard a Belted Kingfisher.
Great Blue Heron
We all got nice looks at the scarce wintering species as it went back and forth from the feeder to a nearby spruce. I am sure it is very content there. A walk through the Old Dam Road open space was relatively quiet. Going the same way in the other direction back to the starting point we found a bunch of White-throated and American Tree Sparrows, while James and Alex heard Golden-crowned Kinglets. Soon after we went to the Fairfield Beach again near Penfield Reef to scope out scoter species and more while the tide was still high enough. James had seen Black Scoter previous days, and sure enough, all three species were noted with more ducks and gulls. I binned around the area while they scoped through the waterfowl and saw a Northern Gannet plunge diving not far offshore, as I commonly see from Stratford Point.
American Tree Sparrow
From there we went to see two Redheads that Alex had found the day before in Ash Creek viewable from the Post Road. They were still there, a male and female with Canvasbacks. Other ducks included Bufflehead, American Wigeon, Hooded Merganser, American Black, and Mallard. Redhead was a great species to add to the list. Not much later in our journey, we were at Saint Mary’s By-The-Sea just across the border in Bridgeport. As we walked out of our cars, the others spotted four Savannah Sparrows and one “Ipswich” race Savannah Sparrow, a very nice find.
"Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow
"Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow
While it is a subspecies it is definitely worth noting in its own right and rare on the Connecticut coast in fall and winter. Seven Killdeer ran, flew around, and called while we looked at some gulls and hundreds of scaup just offshore. Heading back to Fairfield we walked through the Ash Creek open space finding many of the usual and expected species. For the most part, we only added to the totals of species we already had. We missed Field Sparrow, but saw another group of American Tree Sparrow, one of the species tallies that ended up on the higher-than-usual side for the day.
More American Tree Sparrows, a common bird for the day
On the way out, we saw two more Snow Buntings. This time they were on the ground, feeding on the grasses in and along the roadway.
A Snow Bunting feeding
A trip back to Pine Creek Marsh and the landfill beyond it was in order to look for Winter Wren and other species James had noted days before. Unfortunately, the landfill, while once a prime open habitat of grasses and small shrubs, has turned into a wasteland dominated by phragmites. The invasive plant has all but rendered the habitat useless in most areas. Our walk over the icy and frozen earth was rather quiet, but we did tick off Swamp Sparrow. We missed any Fox Sparrows despite the fact we got two of them here last year. You can see one of them in my photo below that was also included on the Christmas Bird Count photo gallery page from last year’s count.
Fox Sparrow from last year's count at Pine Creek Marsh
After a very refreshing lunch break we split up - the rest of the group went out to walk Penfield Reef while I first made a stop at the thick brush and tangles behind the Scandinavian Club. It was, finally, a "birdy" area. I added White-breasted Nuthatch, another Carolina Wren, more Northern Cardinals and Mockingbirds, and additional American Tree, Song, White-throated Sparrows.
Song Sparrow
The same Song Sparrow posing some more
It was certainly a fun day for everyone, and is exactly why all birders (and others!) should try their hand at the CBC experience. As previously mentioned next Sunday it is time for my hometown circle, the Stratford-Milford count. I will be out quite a bit starting on Thursday, the beginning of count week, to hopefully find a real big rarity and plenty of our usual species.Photos © Scott Kruitbosch
I am thrilled to see eBird is continually rolling out new ways to explore and utilize data on a regular basis. In 2011, Twan and I will be conducting eBird classes - more information on that will be coming soon! For now, the following is directly from eBird in a post which can you find here.
Just in time for the New Year, we are releasing a new tool to allow you to keep track of your yard list and patch lists and compare them with your friends and other eBirders. For decades birders have kept cumulative lists and year lists for their yards, and favorite birding locales. Sharing these lists with your friends and seeing what they have recently seen is great fun and the focus of this new tool. Many of us have our favorite patches where we keep track of birds and almost daily and enter them into eBird. But it was hard for us to see what each other was seeing. With this new tool, it will be easy for all of us to see what we are seeing--indeed this new tool provides the first way to see a checklists submitted by other eBird users. Our new "Yard Totals" and "Patch Totals" will allow you to keep track of your lists and see what others are seeing either in your home county or around the world. In order to participate, you will need to sign up and define your yard or patches. To find out more, visit our page on Yard and Patch Listing Guidelines.
Personally, I am not much of a "lister", though I do enjoy counting what I have seen in my yard and love adding a new species. Now it will be easier for everyone to compare yard lists by month, year, or all-time. I don't know about you, but naming my "best" yard bird is easy since it's a Purple Gallinule!
This is just another reason you should be entering your sightings from anywhere and everywhere all the time. Help conservationists, researchers, and yourself - put those birds in eBird please! Even if it does not have all the features you crave now, it soon will.
The Dark-eyed Junco is one of the most abundant, variable, and controversial species in North America. The controversy lies in its subspecies, and whether or not they should be considered their own distinct species. It can be very confusing. Suffice it to say, the one we have to be concerned with in Connecticut is slate-colored. The vast majority (99.99%+) of juncos you see here will be of that form. Only rarely has an Oregon form of Dark-eyed Junco been recorded in our state.
The slate-colored form can appear exceptionally variable in itself. You will see very dark gray males to light gray males. Females can be gray with hints of dark brown or with little or no gray and nearly all light brown. Some birds might appear to be pink or nearly black in some spots. A small percentage of slate-colored birds even have a bit of white on the wings (though they are not a part of the white-winged form). Many people (myself included at times) can be fooled into thinking they have a Dark-eyed Junco of a form other than slate-colored only to examine it carefully and figure out it is simply at the extreme end of appearance.
While I was home on Wednesday, I noticed I had at least 75 or so Dark-eyed Juncos around the yard and at my feeders. The night before I stumbled across a couple of old photos (below) that show this interesting Dark-eyed Junco in my yard on December 7, 2008.
Hmm...let's go back to my yard on Wednesday before getting to that guy. I found two fascinating individuals from the large group. The first of these two birds resembles those old photos but has an even more complete, larger, and bolder eye-ring.
The second bird was quite engrossing and more difficult to spot. If one were looking out the window at their feeders, they would never notice it. Even if you were counting each individual of the species, you would very likely not see it. However, I was looking specifically for juncos with pale throats with my 10 power binoculars.
That pale throat is a trait often seen in Dark-eyed Junco and White-throated Sparrow hybrids. You can see a large section of the throat and upper breast are paler than the other gray unlike the typical Dark-eyed Junco. It also has a hint of the dark mustachial marks of a White-throated Sparrow. I talked to junco lover, artist, and expert (only one of his many areas of expertise) Mark Szantyr about these birds and showed him the pictures. He noted both of the features I mentioned in this last bird and added that the inner tertials appear to have white tips that would once again suggest feathers of a zonotrichia sparrow. With all of that in mind, I believe it is probable this individual had at least some White-throated Sparrow in it.
Mark was not quite sure what to make of the first bird with eye-rings. I do think it shows a bit of dark mustachial area for what it's worth. I had no idea what to say about the second eye-ring individual. While examining it I could not pick out anything that was out of the ordinary apart from those eyes. Mark thought it was possible the bird may have a fungal or bacterial growth noting that the rings appear somewhat interrupted and a bit clumpy in areas. This may well be the case, though it did not behave as if it were ill in any way. We would need the birds in hand to confirm all of these thoughts and hypotheses. After all that I hope it goes without saying that you should stare at your Dark-eyed Juncos!Photos © Scott Kruitbosch
Frank Gallo just sent me a few digiscoped pictures of the sea duck flock off Cove Place/Stratford Point, taken yesterday. They illustrate nicely what great views we are getting of these often difficult to observe ducks. Note the female King Eider at the bottom of the first image!
See the two brown ducks in the bottom of the photo closest to us, facing towards the center of the picture and at one another? Female King Eiders
Northern Harrier hunting
