A Pair of Barred Owls!

We left the boys at their late-afternoon soccer practice and headed into the woods adjacent to the playing fields. Late afternoon early fall - we thought we could find a migrant warbler or perhaps a sparrow.

This was not to be. The woods were lovely in the golden light of the low sun, with delicate lady ferns yellowing underfoot and newly-fallen orangey needles of the white pines scattered over the still-green sprouts of white oak and lycopodium.

Two Lycopods, front and center is Diphasiastrum digitatum, at right edge is Lycopodium obscurum. The fruiting plant at top is Partridge Berry, Mitchella repens.  With thanks to Bob Capers for the identification.

Eventually a mixed flock entertained us - with Tufted Titmouse, Black-capped Chickadee and White-breasted Nuthatch calling in the Witch Hazel and birches. Farther along the trail we had both Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and as the woods darkened at sundown we thought - owls!

Jorge tried a couple of hoots - the Hoo-hoo hoo-hoooo, Hoo-hoo hoo-hoooawww of the Barred Owl and the Hoo hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo hooo of the Great Horned. No response - we walked along, enjoying the quiet trickle of a tiny tributary of the Fenton River in our little forested valley.

Bufo americanus, the American Toad.

We paused again to listen to a calling Pileated Woodpecker in the distance and suddenly heard a Barred Owl, not too far away. Jorge called back and it responded, along with its mate! Before long, the two birds lighted in a tall White Oak about thirty meters from where we stood.

Foliage concealed them from view, so we shifted around to get a better look and flushed them off. The pair flew to another, more distant oak where we lost them again. How cool was that? Not one but two Barred Owls - calling to us and each other.

"Spotted Wintergreen", Chimaphila maculata, maybe should be called Striped Wintergreen!  Thanks again to Bob Capers for help with identification!

more photos to come
ciao
Sue

Laurel Marsh Walk - Manchester

On a warm Sunday afternoon we had some choices... go chase a few birds in the sewage ponds near Hartford or walk the loop trail around Manchester's Hockanum River. We set out to do both - doing the trail first - but finished up at nightfall, so that was that.

Karen and Jorge watching for Pine Warbler in a nearly dry swamp - nice habitat though.


David Sibley's Pine Warblers, immature above and female below, the birds we saw were halfway in between in markings.


On the west and south sides of the marsh, the trail passes so close to the highways that birding by ear was nearly impossible. Here the hardwood forest slopes down to Phragmites marsh.


I took a variety of photos in different light to experiment with the capabilities of my new Canon point-and-shoot. Not sure I got enough field marks to be able to identify this Solidago species.


Orange-blaze points the way... Many sections of the trail have great boardwalks and bridges crossing the marshy areas, but this summer has been so dry, they were all but unnecessary today.


A tiny spot of purple against the reeds is Purple Loosestrife. One invasive plant highlighted against another. Lythrum salicaria, family Lythraceae, order Myrtales.


Purple Loosestrife detail, not bad considering the wind was blowing strongly enough that I had to hold the flower stem to make the photo.


A mixed flock of blackbirds settling in for the night. Mostly Brown-headed Cowbirds and Starlings, with many Common Grackles and a few Red-winged Blackbirds.


Trying out the camera's low-light setting for this subtly dramatic evening sky.

The three of us worked pretty hard to get 28 species in the span of 2 1/2 hours.
Today's birders: Jorge, Sue and Karen
Today's birds:

Green Heron
Mallard
Wood Duck
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier - fantastic views of a beautifully colored immature
Cooper's Hawk - immature, posed quietly at the top of a nearly leafless sycamore
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Pine Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird

So to wrap up, that was Sunday, September 26th, from 4:30 to 7pm, in Manchester, Connecticut, on the Laurel Marsh Trail along the Hockanum River. An okay walk, but not great for birding due to the highway noise. This is a place to come back to in winter to check for gulls and raptors near the Manchester Landfill - accessible from the south east corner of the park.
okay
ciao, Sue

Hi again - what can I say - it's been awhile.

We've been having fun getting out to find migratory birds this month - the video clip below is a panorama of New Haven Harbor taken from the Long Wharf area. I was looking for shorebirds at low tide one windy afternoon.



The birds on the mudflats and in the harbor that afternoon were:

Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Laughing Gull
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Black-bellied Plover
American Oystercatcher
Mallard
Mute Swan
Double-crested Cormorant


Karen birding Sandy Point, West Haven

Other birds seen the last few weeks along the coast from West Haven to Stratford Point:

Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Clapper Rail
Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black Skimmer
Common Tern
Least Tern
Roseate Tern
plus the gulls and egrets

Non shorebirds seen along the coast from West Haven to Stratford Point:

Northern Harrier
Monk Parakeet
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Northern Mockingbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Savannah Sparrow
Palm Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
American Goldfinch
House Finch
House Sparrow

If I reach all the way back to the first week of August, I can add a few more birds...
A White-tailed Kite flew in from somewhere, and was first seen at Stratford Point on August 1st. We enjoyed excellent views of the bird early Saturday morning, August 7th. While watching for the Kite the previous day we found a female Orchard Oriole in tall grass - new for the Connecticut list this year.

The Kite deserves special mention because it was a FIRST EVER sighting in Connecticut. The last time it was observed in New England was in Massachusetts over 100 years ago. Needless to say this bird has attracted a lot of folks to Stratford Point - getting on the neighbor's nerves perhaps?

Okay, I'll keep going with the list, and add the bird species we've seen in our yard in and around Willington in the last three weeks of birding - adding only birds not mentioned in above locations.

Red-tailed Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Common Nighthawk
Northern Flicker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Wood Pewee - at Eagleville Preserve
Willow Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
Common Crow
Common Raven
American Robin
Veery - at Eagleville Preserve
Scarlet Tanager
Cedar Waxwing
Baltimore Oriole
Gray Catbird
Northern Cardinal
Tufted Titmouse
Black-capped Chickadee
American Redstart
Canada Warbler - new for yard list, new for CT 2010 list
Chestnut-sided Warbler - new for yard list
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Black-throated Green Warbler
House Wren
Carolina Wren
American Goldfinch
Chipping Sparrow

And in a field trip to the Meadows at Rocky Hill we found:
Baird's Sandpiper - probably - but not adding it to the year list
Upland Sandpiper
Killdeer

And I've seen a few additional species of warbler while at work this week:
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler

and while driving to work:
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
American Osprey
Bald Eagle

This migration period has been a lot of fun to track.
Birders who contributed to this list:

Karen Hochgraf
Susan Hochgraf
Jorge de Leon
Sebastian de Leon Aubrey