Southern New England is green as of December 20th and the forecast calls for rain and above-freezing temperatures for the foreseeable future. That’s good news for travelers, but not-so-good news for those dreaming of a white Christmas. To make things a bit easier for those folks, I’ll post a few photos left over from our mid-November snow storm. I’ll post one photo a day until December 25. Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for your support of BirdsofNewEngland.com in 2018!
Southern New England is green as of December 20th and the forecast calls for rain and above-freezing temperatures for the foreseeable future. That’s good news for travelers, but not-so-good news for those dreaming of a white Christmas. To make things a bit easier for those folks, I’ll post a few photos left over from our mid-November snow storm. I’ll post one photo a day until December 25. Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for your support of BirdsofNewEngland.com in 2018!
Southern New England is green as of December 20th and the forecast calls for rain and above-freezing temperatures for the foreseeable future. That’s good news for travelers, but not-so-good news for those dreaming of a white Christmas. To make things a bit easier for those folks, I’ll post a few photos left over from our mid-November snow storm. I’ll post one photo a day until December 25. Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for your support of BirdsofNewEngland.com in 2018!
Here is the latest For the Birds column …
I turned the corner on one of the many trails that cut through the expansive fields of Happy Landings in southern New England and headed straight into the mid-morning sun.
To the right was a long but narrow stretch of bushy habitat; to the left a large plot of a hay field, short-cropped after a mid-fall mowing. It was a perfect New England winter morning — sunny and cold — even if the calendar read fall.
The bird walk had been very slow up to that point, with a hairy woodpecker being the highlight of only three species spotted. Half daydreaming because of the lack of action, I noticed a large bird on the ground on the trail. It was inches from the brushy strip of land.
The sun was bright and in my eyes, too, so I was too late to identify the bird. It had stepped into the thick brush before I could raise and focus my binoculars. I assumed Continue reading
A wise man once said: “The nature of a winter finch irruption, however, could mean a sizable flock of pine siskins can show up and empty out my Nyjer seed feeder at any moment.”
Just kidding. That was me writing two weeks ago about the hot start to the winter finch season. The wise man part is up for debate.
At the time of that writing, a female purple finch had been my only out-of-the-ordinary sighting at my feeding station. A week later a few fox sparrows showed up. I know fox sparrows are not finches, but they can fit loosely into the category of winter finches because of their sporadic visits to New England backyards.
Then last week, true to the sentence at the top of this column, the pine siskins showed up. It started out with two siskins sharing the tube feeder with a group of goldfinches. The next day, I counted three siskins. The third day, about 20 siskins showed up and occupied every perch on the tube feeder and a nearby hopper feeder. The spillover Continue reading
This morning’s bird walk brought me to the Still River Greenway Trail in Brookfield, Connecticut. An eastern phoebe (late for this species) was the highlight species, but I failed to get a photo as it disappeared into thin air when I reached for the camera. At any rate, I found more than 20 species, including eastern bluebirds, pileated woodpeckers, and a red-tailed hawk. The dominant species were white-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos and Carolina wrens.
Here are some more photos from the walk. Continue reading
Here are some more photos of the northern bobwhite I spotted yesterday at Happy Landings in Brookfield, Connecticut. Click here for the original post.
I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen a northern bobwhite in the wild. There are several reasons for that; the biggest being that the bird’s population has declined sharply over the years. Another reason is that 99 percent of my birdwatching is done in New England and the bobwhite is more of a southern bird.
Despite all that I did come across a male northern bobwhite during a walk at Happy Landings in Brookfield, Connecticut, this morning (Dec. 12, 2018). It was walking along the path near a shrubby area and sauntered off into the brush as I continued along the trail. I walked several yards past the point where the bird had ducked into cover and I took a seat on the trail to see if the bird would come back out. Patience is a birdwatcher’s best tool, I reminded myself as I sat there motionless on this cold and sunny morning.
My patience was never tested as the bird did come back through the brush and onto the trail in a matter of minutes. It stopped and called a few notes (not its trademark “Bob-white” song, but its less distinctive call) as I watched from a short distance away. It sat there still and called a few more times. I didn’t hear any response calls, but there could have been another bobwhite around.
It’s hard to tell if this was truly a wild bird or a captive-bred bird that escaped or was released. Bobwhite is a popular game and farm bird. I didn’t notice any leg bands, so I’m hoping it was a bona fide wild bird. Either way, it was a treat to see it in New England.
The sighting became that much more meaningful after reading this northern bobwhite conservation update from The Audubon Society (audubon.org): “Has disappeared from much of the northern part of its range, and has declined seriously even in more southern areas. The causes for these declines are not well understood. At northern edge of range, many may be killed by unusually harsh winters, but this does not explain its widespread vanishing act.”
My son Will and I came across this red-shouldered hawk while we were driving through a neighborhood in Brookfield, Connecticut, the other day. It’s times like this that I usually don’t have my camera with me, but this time I happened to be prepared.
The red-shouldered hawk is one of New England’s most common hawks, along with red-tailed hawk, broad-winged hawk, Cooper’s hawk, and sharp-shinned hawk. There are other hawks in the region, of course, but these are the ones seen most often. I typically see red-tailed hawks most often, but I’ve been seeing more and more red-shouldered hawks of late.
Here is a video I put together on the current pine siskin (fall 2018) irruption. Also a description on how to tell siskins and goldfinches apart. Subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking here.
Birds of New England.com 