Author Archive

June 3, 2020 — Black Skimmers are amazing-looking birds that seem to quickly unzip the surface of the water as they feed. They are uncommon enough to be worth watching for. You have to pick the right spot. In Connecticut that’s often the Milford Point Coastal Center or Sandy Point in West Haven.

June 1, 2020 — By June, birds are on their breeding grounds, eggs are in the nest — some have hatched — and sumer is icumen in/Lhude sing cuccu, if you’re lucky enough to have a cuckoo nearby. 

May 29, 2020 — Piping Plovers live out in the open but can be hard to find. They attract a lot of attention but can be found only on certain beaches. They nest from Greenwich to Stonington but are rare enough — only 57 pairs in Connecticut last year — to warrant listing as a federal and state-threatened species.

June 18, 2020 — The cinnamon-colored Brown Thrasher may more often be heard than seen as it spends much of its time hidden in its preferred shrub habitat. A little bigger than a robin, the Brown Thrasher is on the list of Connecticut’s “Birds of Special Concern,” mainly because of loss of the messy shrubby areas it favors.

May 26, 2020 — With its orange-flame plumage and loud, operatic song, the Baltimore Oriole attracts attention like almost no other songbird in Connecticut and is often a trophy-bird at backyard bird feeders.

May 26, 2020 — Piping Plover eggs are starting to hatch on Connecticut’s beaches — there are already three hatchlings from the 10 nests at the Milford Point Coastal Center, for example. And the two American Oystercatcher nests there already have one chick each.

May 21, 2020 — Prothonotary Warblers are relatively rare in Connecticut but one or two visit almost every year in May.

May 18, 2020 — The Monday Bird Report is Birdathon-centric this week. Connecticut Audubon’s third annual Migration Madness Birdathon is coming up this weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 22-24. The weather forecast is looking OK, and 51 people have already signed up to participate.