Category Archives: For the Birds column

For the Birds: Christmas Bird Count thrilling as always

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Photo by Chris Bosak – A merlin spotted in southern Connecticut during the Christmas Bird Count, Dec. 2024.

The Christmas Bird Count is typically one of my birding highlights of the year. This year was no exception. 

The Christmas Bird Count is a bird census conducted by volunteers each winter to track bird populations and trends. Keene was one of the original 25 locations in 1900. Now there are well more than 2,000 counts held throughout the United States and beyond.

I did my usual area along a coastal region of southwestern Connecticut. It is a good area to cover as there is a nice variety of habitats, including Long Island Sound, marshes, freshwater ponds, wooded areas and even some patches of open field.

We started, as usual, at a park that has a river on one side and a marina on the other. Long Island Sound is a mile or so to the south, so the river and marina often get winter ducks normally associated with larger bodies of water. 

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Birds spark many Christmas memories

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Photo by Chris Bosak A cardinal and chickadeee share a platform feeder following a snowfall in Danbury, CT, March 2019.

When birdwatching has been an integral part of your life for so long, almost everything has an association with birds. Christmas is no exception.

For this holiday season, I’m going to examine some of my favorite Christmas birding associations and memories.

This one is a little morbid, but it clearly sticks out in my mind. When the boys were little, about 7 and 4, we sat on the floor by the tree Christmas morning passing out their gifts one by one. I glanced out the sliding glass door onto the deck only to see a Cooper’s hawk devouring a mourning dove about six feet away.

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For the Birds: Field guides still a good gift

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Photo by Chris Bosak Ablack-capped chickadee grabs a sunflower seed from a Christmas decoration during the winter of 2016-17 in Danbury, Conn.
Photo by Chris Bosak Ablack-capped chickadee grabs a sunflower seed from a Christmas decoration during the winter of 2016-17 in Danbury, Conn.

Gift-giving for birdwatchers has changed so much over the last few years.

It wasn’t long ago that a good field guide was the ideal gift for the birder on your list. The only question was which field guide to get. Sibley, Peterson, Audubon? The field guide debate was always fun to watch from the sidelines as birders extolled the virtues of their favorite. Can it fit in your back pocket? Are they photos or drawings? Does it show the various plumages?

Now, physical field guides have all but been replaced by digital ones on the phone. It happened in the blink of an eye. One year, birders are flipping through the pages of a book trying to confirm a species; the next, they are scrolling through their phones.

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For the Birds: Coyotes crosses the scene

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Photo by Chris Bosak A coyote trots across a field in New England, fall 2024.

My usual walk at a park near my home starts with a slight downhill trail abutting a huge field. The trail soon branches off in two directions: right leads into the woods, and left takes you along a wide trail with brushy habitat on either side.

Nine times out of ten, I take the trail to the left. The brushy habitat is home to a greater number and variety of birds than the narrow trail through the woods. While the left trail is rather wide, approximately 15 feet, the brush on either side is tall and thick and blocks the view of what lies immediately on either side.

There is one spot along the trail, however, where the brush is matted down, exposing a crumbled rock wall and an expansive view of the field. For the adventurous, this spot also offers a chance to gingerly walk on the matted-down brush, step on some of the fallen rocks from the wall and jump down into the field on the other side.

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For the Birds: What birds were really on the first Thanksgiving table?

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This is the time of year when I typically write my Thanksgiving column on wild turkeys. This year, however, instead of sharing facts about wild turkeys, I’m going to do something a little different.

I got to thinking about what other birds are associated with Thanksgiving. I couldn’t think of any off the top of my head because the turkey completely dominates the modern Thanksgiving holiday. Instead of giving up, I turned to the internet, and, as usual, it didn’t disappoint.

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For the Birds: The old reliable nuthatch

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Photo by Chris Bosak – A white-breasted nuthatch grabs a seed from an old wooden fence, New England, fall 2024.

There are certain birds I have unusually good luck finding, and there are those that I have unusually bad luck finding.

Waterfowl, especially hooded and common mergansers, seem to show up everywhere I go from late fall through early spring. Baltimore orioles may as well be my spirit bird for as often as I see them in the spring and summer. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are supposed to be “uncommon” where I live in New England, but that doesn’t stop me from finding them frequently.

Owls, on the other hand, have proven to be exceedingly elusive over the years. Sure, owls aren’t an everyday occurrence, but for the amount of time I spend outdoors, you’d think I would stumble upon one more often than I do, which is almost never.

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For the Birds: Purple finches (not house finches) pay a visit

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Photo by Chris Bosak A purple finch perches on a log in New England, November 2020.

Something looked a little off at the birdfeeders. I get more house finches at my feeders than I can count, but as I entered the living room and glanced out the window, the five brown birds eating seeds didn’t look like the birds I have become so accustomed to seeing. 

Nor did they look like house sparrows, another brown bird I have become all too accustomed to seeing at the feeders.

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For the Birds: A wasp nest no longer

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Photo by Chris Bosak – A female downy woodpecker tears apart a wasp nest.

As birdwatchers, we are trained to look for things out of the ordinary. That blot in a tree or movement in the brush just may be a bird. Often the thing that grabs your attention is nothing but a discarded balloon or wind-swept plastic bag, but very often it is, indeed, a bird.

Autumn can be tricky with falling leaves capturing our attention and tricking us into thinking birds are near. The other day, a different sort of falling object caught my attention. While it wasn’t a bird, it did lead me to an interesting bird sighting.

I was walking on a trail when something about the size of a leaf floated down in front of me. It somewhat resembled a leaf but was shaped and colored differently. It even floated down from the trees with a different kind of motion.

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For the Birds: Spooky bird tales for Halloween

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Photo by Chris Bosak Black vultures perch on a branch in New England, Dec. 2023.

In the spirit of Halloween and everything pumpkin spice season, here is a column about the scary side of birds.

I’m not going to sensationalize or fear monger, and I’ll try not to be too corny either, but there are times when birds can be a little unnerving. This being a column based in New England, I’ll also try to keep it to the birds of this region, so there will be no horror stories of shoebills or cassowaries. (Those two species invariably come up when you do an Internet search for “scary birds.”)

One of the more unnerving experiences a birder in New England can experience is being hissed at and chased by a Canada goose. From a distance Canada geese look peaceful enough and even quite beautiful and regal depending on the habitat. Get too close to one, however, and they are large, formidable birds that can be quite fearless and intimidating.

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For the Birds: Thrasher makes surprise feeder visit

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Phioto by Chris Bosak – A brown thrasher visits a suet feeder in New England, fall 2024.

There are trade-offs with everything in life.

When I lived in my house in the woods years ago, the action at the birdfeeder was nonstop with great birds. I never saw a single house sparrow, starling, or pigeon the entire time I lived there.

On the other hand, it took 20 minutes to drive to the nearest grocery store or restaurant. Nothing except a few trails through the woods, a small lake and a pond were within walking distance. That suited me just fine when I wanted to look for birds or simply take a nice peaceful walk, which was often. It didn’t do me much good when I needed food, however.

Now that I live close to a downtown area of a small town, I can walk to the grocery store, restaurants, and just about anything else I need. The flip side, of course, is that the action at the birdfeeder is not as robust. It is not void of birds by any stretch, but house sparrows and starlings are the most frequent visitors, sometimes converging on the feeders in great numbers.

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