I’ve looked for birds in New England from top to bottom this month. At the beginning of July, I drove to Pittsburg, NH, near the Canadian border, and last week, I visited a beach/nature preserve on Long Island Sound in southern Connecticut.
Yes, technically, northern Maine would be top of New England, but let’s not split hairs here.
It was quite a contrast in habitat and birdlife between the two points, from the boreal forest up north to the marsh and shoreline down south.
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Following up on yesterday’s post, here are a few more American oystercatcher photos. I find both of these photos rather humorous. The top photo looks like an unhappy customer storming away from the counter. The bottom photo looks like an oystercatcher giving someone the evil eye.
Here’s the original post with more photos, including an oystercatcher chick.
They aren’t particularly rare, especially if you know where to look, but American oystercatchers are always a thrill to see. I saw these beauties during a short birdwalk at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford Point the other day. One of the coolest looking birds in New England, if you ask me. Check out the youngster below.
More information about the American oystercatcher may be found here.
Let’s kick off the summer weekend with a portrait of an eastern kingbird. Why not?
Here’s information on this feisty New England bird.
Here’s a story about how my son Will and I saved a kingbird once.
I know, same as yesterday, geese are not ducks. They are close enough for this very unofficial birdsofnewengland.com Duck Week celebration. Snow geese gather in massive numbers in some parts of the Atlantic flyway. In many cases, they are uncountable because there are so many. In other parts, however, snow geese are a fairly rare sighting. I live in a part of New England where snow geese are not seen often. In fact, this one I saw at a beach was the first one I had seen in years. Usually, when they are seen where I live, it is a single snow goose within a flock of Canada geese. This one, however, was alone near the beach. I hope it finds more of its kind during migration.
Click here for more information about the snow goose.
Thanks for checking out Duck Week at http://www.birdsofnewengland.com
Scaup congregate in large numbers off the coast of Long Island Sound and its tributary rivers during the winter months. The flocks can be several hundred individuals strong, including drakes and hens. On occasion, a redhead may be found within the flock. Greater and lesser scaup are commonly seen in large numbers throughout New England in the winter.
Click here for more information about the greater scaup.
The ring-necked duck is next up for birdsofnewengland.com’s Duck Week. This duck may have been better suited to being called ring-billed duck because the ring on its bill is a much easier field mark to see than the one on its neck. But it isn’t, so we’re stuck with ring-necked duck. Just like the hooded merganser, which kicked off Duck Week on Monday, I’ve seen a ton of ring-necked ducks this winter. They were seemingly on every unfrozen fresh-water body a few weeks ago.
For more information on the ring-necked duck, click here.
The northern pintail is the next fowl up for birdsofnewengland’s Duck Week, a very unofficial declaration made by me because I have a lot of recent duck photos that need to be shared. Pintail drakes are one of the most handsome ducks we have in New England. If you missed the first Duck Week post, click here to meet the hooded merganser.
For more information about the northern pintail, click here.
Welcome to Duck Week, birdsofnewengland.com’s very unofficial declaration to celebrate the spring duck migration. Duck Week will be a collection of duck photos I have snapped over the last few weeks. Now seems like a good time, as I’m starting to see fewer ducks as they make their way north to their breeding grounds.
I’ll start with the hooded merganser, one of my favorite birds of all time. I saw a ton of hooded mergansers this late winter/early spring. Look for them in fresh or brackish water, including relatively small bodies of water.
Click here for more information on the hooded merganser.
One more bonus photo …
The American robin has secured a spot as the frontrunner for the Bird of the Winter.
I usually announce my Bird of the Winter much later than the second week of January, but I could tell already that the robin is likely to be the winner. The Bird of the Winter recognition, of course, is a very unofficial designation made by yours truly. It goes to the bird, as the name suggests, that is seen in surprisingly high numbers throughout the winter.
Past winters have included snowy owl, barred owl, dark-eyed junco, and eastern bluebird. This year the robin is running away with it.
It started on Christmas Day when I looked out of a window into the side yard and noticed a lot of activity in an eastern cedar tree. The activity, as you probably have guessed, was robins going in and out of the branches, gobbling up the berries in the tree. The robins came and went for hours upon end, and, all told, there had to be over 100 of them.
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Birds of New England.com 