Photo by Chris Bosak
Peregrine Falcon at Veterans Park in Norwalk, Dec. 2013.
Click below to read the latest For the Birds column, which appears every Thursday in The Hour (Norwalk, CT) and Monday in The Keene Sentinel (Keene, NH). I talk about my experiences during the Dec. 15 Christmas Bird Count. Those are some lucky larks!
Oh, and Merry Christmas, everybody.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Snowy Owl perches on a roof top at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport on Monday, Dec. 23, 2013.
So I finally got into all this Snowy Owl action.
Snowy Owls are being seen in larger-than-usual numbers along the East Coast this fall and winter. Snowy Owls breed in the Arctic and typically spend their winters well north of New England.
On Monday, a Snowy Owl was spotted at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport. The large birds of prey have been seen up and down the Connecticut coast since early November.
I found the owl quickly and took a few photos out the passenger’s side window, but a passerby flushed the large bird. (Remember to give them a wide berth if you see one.) I found the bird about half an hour later and snapped a few photos from a sidewalk that dog walkers were using. The owl just watched everybody walk by.
Oh, and the weather was foggy with a steady rain falling. (My excuse for the photos not being so great.)
Experts believe this year’s irruption is due to either a lack of lemmings, their main food source in the Arctic, or a particularly good breeding year for Snowy Owls, or a combination of those factors.
Snowy Owls hunt during the day, unlike many owl species. They are large owls, measuring 24 inches tall.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Snowy Owl perches on a fence post at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport on Monday, Dec. 23, 2013.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Snowy Owl perches on a fence post at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport on Monday, Dec. 23, 2013.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A White-throated Sparrow rests on a log this spring.
Here is the link to the Christmas Bird Count story I wrote for today’s The Hour newspaper. I participated Sunday in the count. A more detailed and personal account coming in a few days.
Click here for the story.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A female downy woodpecker perches on a birdfeeder stand before heading to the suet feeder during the Dec. 14, 2013, snow fall.
The snow always brings a lot of birds to the feeders. The Dec. 14, 2013, snowfall was no exception. Here are a few shots of Downy Woodpeckers in the snow. Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, Mourning Doves and Northern Cardinals ate seeds on the ground below. The Downy Woodpeckers owned the suet cake, other than when a much larger female Hairy Woodpecker swooped in to take over.
Send me your snow bird photos at bozclark@earthlink.net and I’ll post them on my “reader submitted” photo page.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A male downy woodpecker perches on a birdfeeder stand before heading to the suet feeder during the Dec. 14, 2013, snow fall.
Photo by Chris Bosak
Female Hooded Merganser at Holly Pond in Stamford, CT, Nov. 2013.
Here’s the latest For the Birds column, detailing my annual “duck hunt” with my boys.
Photo by Chris Bosak
An immature Peregrine Falcon sits on prey at Veterans Park in Norwalk, CT, Dec. 2013.
Here’s a young Peregrine Falcon eating something or other in the field at Veterans Park in Norwalk, Conn., on Wednesday, Dec. 18. A pair of adult Peregrines and a young one “hang out” near where I work up the river a mile or so. I wonder if this is the same young falcon. At any rate, I didn’t want to close the distance for this photo too much. Young birds — and big ones, too, for that matter — need all the nutrition they can get, especially in winter.
Photo by Chris Bosak
An immature Peregrine Falcon sits on prey at Veterans Park in Norwalk, CT, Dec. 2013.
Here’s a short video of a Eurasian Wigeon I saw at the Mill Pond in East Norwalk, Conn., on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013.
Eurasian Wigeon, as the name suggests, are not native to the U.S., but they occasionally show up in flocks of American Wigeon, as was the case here.
Thanks for visiting http://www.birdsofnewengland.com
There’s nothing like a Peregrine Falcon flying past your window at work and landing on a sailboat mast to brighten a drizzly, gray day. I love these little surprises nature throws at us every once in a while. (Photo taken along Norwalk River, Dec. 6, 2013)
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Peregrine Falcon rests on a sailboat mast in Norwalk, Conn., Dec. 2013.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Snowy Owl sits on a rock on an island off the coast of Norwalk in November 2008.
This one’s hot off the press (in fact not even off the press yet, but will be on Thursday morning.)
Here’s a link to my latest For the Birds column about the Snowy Owl irruption in New England. Click Here.
Photo by Chris Bosak
Purple Sandpiper on rocky island off the coast of Darien, CT. (Dec. 2013)
Snowy Owls and a Fork-tailed Flycatcher are grabbing all the headlines in Connecticut this week _ and deservedly so. Snowy Owls are being found up and down the coast and that flycatcher has been entertaining birders in Hadlyme.
I haven’t seen either species yet this fall/winter, but I thoroughly enjoyed a canoe trip on Long Island Sound this weekend. I launched from Pear Tree Point in Darien and canoed over to Green’s Ledge Lighthouse and back along the Darien coast. Common and Red-throated Loons were abundant. Long-tailed Ducks were constant companions and even uttered their unique song over and over.
But, for me, the highlight was Purple Sandpipers. I came across two flocks _ one a sizable flock of about two dozen; the other just two birds. Purple Sandpipers are hearty birds that live on rocky islands and breed in the Arctic. They winter on isolated rocks off the coast of New England, including Long Island Sound.
(Way more photos below. Click on “continue reading.”)
Birds of New England.com 