Spring Migrant Wildlife Walk

Intro by Tom

 The Yale West Campus Wildlife Walks are more of an event than just a walk.  On April 25th (Friday) a gathering of 35 excited nature enthusiasts met at the WC Conference Center thanks to the organizers, Yale Peabody Museum and Yale West Campus Administration.  With a quick introduction from Tom Parlapiano (YPM) and lesson on how to use binoculars for the newbies, we set off across campus.  Myself (Lynn), Mark Aronson (YCBA), Jim Sirch (YPM-retired), and Cody Limber (EEB) headed out to find what migrant birds species might be using campus as a refresh stop.  Entering into the nature trails the group quickly thinned out into a long line of folks looking in all directions for any sightings.  

Bird Watchers

Some West Campus residents let us know they were around and are just as important as the migrants, Northern Cardinal, Brown-headed Cowbird, Carolina Wren, and American Crow making a showing.  Once we navigated under West Campus Drive along the stream, things began to pick up a little.  A pair of Mallards were in the river, a Song Sparrow sang from a flowering cherry tree, and distant Red-winged Blackbirds called us toward the farm.  

Another birdy stop along the way, Cody gently persuaded a Yellow Warbler out into the open to show the walk participants their namesake colorful feathers.  A Fish Crow called out it's telltale laugh "ha-ha" as it flew overhead checking out the humans below.  Rounding the corner out toward the barn, a pair of Yellow Warblers chased each other about putting on a show.  A cooperative American Robin sat out in an opening in a tree allowing birders a chance to easily perfect their binocular skills.  Brown-headed Cowbirds and Common Grackles, also gave nice views and showed off.

Yellow Warbler -Cody Limber

Although the walk finished at the Farm, spectators continued to enjoy birding, while snacking, with special sparrow visitors (Swamp Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow and Swamp Sparrow).  A Red-shouldered Hawk flew overheard and a distant Warbling Vireo sang to let us know they were back on campus.  An amazing group, who altogether found 35 species on the walk and another 7 while walking back to work.

Field Sparrow -Cody Limber

Shout out to Yale West Campus Administration for sponsoring.  Our bellies appreciate your support.  :-)

Full Bird List from West Campus on 4/25/2025: 

1. 

   Trout Lily

   Savannah Sparrow*
2. Chipping Sparrow
3. Field Sparrow
4. Swamp Sparrow
5. Song Sparrow
6. White-throated Sparrow
7. Eastern Towhee
8. Yellow Warbler
9. Black-throated Green Warbler*
10. Warbling Vireo*
11. Common Grackle
12. Red-winged Blackbird
13. Brown-headed Cowbird
14. Baltimore Oriole
15. Wild Turkey
16. Blue Jay
17. American Robin
18. Gray Catbird
19. Northern Mockingbird
20. Northern Cardinal
21. American Crow
22. Fish Crow
23. Common Raven
24. Mourning Dove
25. Rock Pigeon*
26. House Sparrow
27. European Starling
28. Osprey
29. Turkey Vulture
30. Red-shouldered Hawk
31. American Goldfinch
32. Mallard
33. Carolina Wren
34. Herring Gull
35. Canada Goose
36. Tufted Titmouse
37. Downy Woodpecker
38. Red-bellied Woodpecker
39. Northern Flicker*
40. Double-crested Cormorant
41. Northern Rough-winged Swallow*
42. Barn Swallow*

*species seen after event

Ninth MEGA BOWL of Birding

On a recent Saturday morning a team of 4 Peabody folks headed out for a day of birding to participate in the New Haven Bird Club's Mega Bowl of Birding Connecticut.  This one day friendly competition pits teams against each other to see who can find the most species.  Species are awarded points based on how rare they are and this equates to a donation to a conservation based organization of your choice.  

Lynn, Greg, Jake, and Kristof, 2nd stop!

This is the 2nd year the Peabody team: Mighty Marshers has participated, with our area incorporating a 5-mile radius around Yale's West Campus. We started our day with a quick walk around the West Campus Farm before heading out to cover more territory.  Cool, windy, and gray conditions made for a slow start to the morning with only 9 species tallied for West Campus.  

Sandy Point scoping

The best bird of the day, according to the point system, was American Pipit, two were seen at Long Wharf in New Haven at our most western portion of the count circle.  The birdiest stop of the day was Sandy Point in West Haven where our team had an additional competition going on with another Yale Team.  A total of 22 species were seen (3 more than seen by the other team) and although we didn't get the Barrow's Goldeneye and out of range bird, we did spot many coastal species.  Included among those coastal birds were, Greater Scaup, Brant, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Common Loon, and Horned Grebe.  Horned Lark was also a nice find at Sandy Point, these grassland specialists form wintering flocks where they search barren patches for seeds and other food. 

Hermit crab remains

In all, the Mighty Marshers accumulated 64 species for the day, with a small monetary donation going to a local organization with a history of funding New Haven community garden projects, including a pollinator program. We are looking forward to getting out there again next year!

New Friends, New Post, New Bird!

 On Friday, May 3rd, Yale affiliated folks joined an official West Campus Bird Walk led by Peabody Museum and colleagues in conjunction with Yale West Campus Administration's program, Belonging Plan. Around 20 individuals gathered at the conference center and after quick introductions by the birding team, we set out across campus, winding our way to the West Campus Barn.

Making our way through the common areas and parking lots, we tallied many year-round residents on campus before making it to the nature trails and our first migrants.   Black-throated Green Warbler and Northern Parula (warbler) were singing from the tree tops.  As we moved along the trail, one of the Black-throated Greens came down low and close enough to give many participants very nice looks. 

Black-throated Green Warbler (photo credit: Cody Limber)

Heading closer to the barn, we experienced a nice push of lower canopy dwellers.  These are birds that usually nest within 15 feet of the ground, including Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, House Wren, and Swamp Sparrow.  Tom Parlapiano of the Peabody had the entire group stop and just listen at one point, trying to count how many different birds they could hear singing all at once.  Almost everyone could hear about 10 different bird species and multiple individuals. 

Birding along the trail (photo credit: Lynn Jones)

Once we made it to the barn and had some lovely refreshments, Alex Lin-Moore (Yale Graduate Student, 2023), informed us of a very nice bird.  He had just spotted a White-eye Vireo, a new species for our West Campus list (number 137)!!!  White-eyed Vireos have recently been found in higher numbers throughout the state, with several individuals being spotted, but are a more southern species.  Again this bird was quite vocal and made a number of appearances so that many participants were able to see it. 

White-eyed Vireo (photo credit: Cody Limber)

Thank you to everyone who came out to participate and especially to those who spread their bird knowledge around.  We tallied 39 species for our walk (see species below)!

Trying to spot warblers (photo credit: Tom Parlapiano)

Canada Goose, Mallard, Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Herring Gull, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, White-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, House Wren, Carolina Wren, European Starling, Gray Catbird, American Robin, House Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Chipping Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, and Northern Cardinal

Birds Saving Birds

Fall migration is a great time of year and it's also a horrible time of year, at least when talking about the casualties from birds colliding with windows.  But this time, the same sad story we repeatedly tell has a happier ending.  

The simple fact is that birds do not see the same way that we do.  Glass and windows can either be invisible to birds when it's a hallway with windows on both sides or an illusion, when all they see is nature reflecting.  Besides, I'm pretty sure we've all seen a human walk into a glass door anyway.  Birds fly into glass and die.  Some times they bounce off and may fly away only to pass hours later.  Hopefully a few manage to go off and live their birdy lives.  Estimates about how many birds die from window collisions every year around the world range up to the billions.  

There have been lots of changes to West Campus over the past 10 years and some of the methods we used to prevent birds from flying into the glass at the Collection Studies Center are no longer appropriate.  So while we continue to search for a more permanent, continuous, economical, sustainable solution to the problem, this is what we have done and it's working. 

Thanks to support from CSC administration, IPCH, and the Yale Peabody Museum, WC birders have installed laminated photographs along the most deadly windows in the building.  The sheets have nature images (mostly birds) on one side and various bird silhouettes on the other to create a pattern to break up reflections.  The laminated sheets can be temporarily put up during peak migration and be reused!!! While there are some issues with an installation like this to deter collisions, it seems to be working quite well. 

The silhouettes sides are mostly facing out to break up the reflections, the tree in the window is still a reflection. 

In the seven days leading up to the photos going on the windows we had 15 dead birds along these windows.... 15!!  That's more than 2 per day.  

Birds from the 3 days before the installation...

Birds from days 7-4 before installation (2 other juncos are not included)

And since the photos have been up....  no photo because no dead birds! 

While this is fantastic news, there are still other places on West Campus that still have high collision rates.  But we are super excited in the CSC that we are able to find ways to be environmental ambassadors to our avian co-habitators and are excited to look for methods to remedy this problem around campus. 

View from inside.  The corridor is no longer see (or fly) through.

A special shout out to Beth Bolen  and Laurie Batza for all their support with this.  0 birds in 7 days.  Keep the good news coming and thanks for all the positive comments!!! 

Spring is the Best!

Trees are flowering, the temperature is slowly crawling warmer, and the birds are back in town!  Campus is just starting to see some of our spring migrants show up.  Some of the early birds (pun intended) for spring migration, Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Killdeer, have been on campus for over a month.  Some new sightings from this week include Northern Flicker and House Wren. 

Cherry blossoms

April showers not only bring May flowers but they also bring baby birds!  While I haven't had a chance to keep an eye on all the birds with nests around campus; here at the Collection Studies Center we have an interesting group using the building for nest protection. 

Fledgling Mourning Doves

In our courtyard we have a couple of baby Mourning Doves hanging around waiting for their parents to feed them. 

Female Mallard, very skittish of her nest

We also found a little corner where a Mallard duck decided to raise her brood.  In the past, we had heard from former Bayer employees that Mallards frequently nested in the courtyard as well. Hopefully if we can keep people from disturbing her, she won't abandon the nest.  Please help by not looking for her!

Clutch of Mallard eggs

Mark, a member from our awesome custodial staff, mentioned seeing a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a tree with both a bird and a rabbit.  No doubt the hawk was finding enough food to fill the mouths of hungry babies nesting somewhere on campus. 

Keep your eyes open.  There's still a lot more migration to go and all sorts of birds are on their way. 

A Christmas Goose

As we all preparing for the excitement of the winter break, residents of West Campus were treated with a special holiday present, a new bird!  Our last new bird for the campus list was last spring over, just about a year and a half ago.  As our list climbs, it's been tougher to find species we haven't yet seen but we have a little bit of end of the year luck.

Snow Goose- young bird, adults are white with pink bill and legs

Monday evening I first spotted a different goose among the Canada Geese but wasn't able to ID it in the dark or take photos.  I came prepared the next day but to no avail, no goose.  Then yesterday, a member from the YU Art Gallery, stopped to ask me about the 'other goose'.  So I grabbed my camera and went on a goose chase.  Not so wild, I relocated the bird in a couple of minutes and took some photos.

Grabbing a snack along the way.

After some help from friends on Facebook, the bird was verified to be a juvenile Snow Goose!  Snow Geese breed in the Arctic and migrate south along flyways to the southern US.  The major flyway is through the middle of the country but a smaller population flies along the east coast to overwinter in Virginia/North Carolina.  Sometimes these birds will take quick stops along the way, including in Connecticut and this year we seem to be popular.

Size comparison with a Canada. Probably a 'Lesser' Snow Goose based on size.

All the birder on campus are excited about this new find and the gaggle seems to be fairly acclimated to people.  Next time you see the geese take a look to spot the smaller white one before it decides to head on south.

COA Hat for the Holidays

Gaggle of Geese

As you drive, bike or ride the shuttle in to West Campus these mornings, you can't help but notice The Flock.

Canada Goose, Branta canadensis

Some of you may honk at the geese to get out of your way and some of you may roll down your car window to hear the geese honking at you. Me? I love these encounters with nature, and to have a scene like this at my work place - a real plus.
So hey! keep your ears open as you walk, run or drive through West Campus for other sounds of nature. This time of year, birds are communicating in soft chips and call notes and on sunny days you may even hear crickets.

A Break from Birds: Insect Addition

 A special post today about the recent Nature Walk hosted by the Peabody Museum West Campus Education Center.  On June 19th Tom Parlapiano organized a nature walk at West Campus focusing on insects that was lead by Peabody entomology collection manager Dr. Raymond Pupedis.

Ants quickly moving their pupae after their nest was disturbed.

Dr. Pupedis answering questions while examining the beating sheet.

Heading from the nursing school over to the trails by the West Campus Farm, Dr. Pupedis illustrated a number of ways that insects can by collected for study.  He demonstrated the techniques of 'sweeping' using an insect net through foliage, 'beating' a branch to make insects fall onto a white cloth, and the 'pooter' or aspirator that uses an apparatus to suck up the insects into a collecting jar.

Tom took a swing with the net.

An insect temporarily placed in a vial made it easy for participants to see.

Participants at the walk were able to see insects up close and learn about their natural history and techniques to help identify species.  They learned that it's possible to identify different wood-boring beetles based to the patterns left behind by larvae from feeding.

A small bee species seen during the walk.

Questions about the damsel fly being lightly held in hand.

Dr. Pupedis had also set up two light traps the evening before and described how the different traps worked.  The insects from the traps were then put out on the sheet for everyone to examine.  Even though it was relatively 'slow' for insects that day, at least 100 different species of insects were seen.  A species "Thank You" to Dr. Pupedis for leading the walk and to all the participants who came!  Now back to the birds.

Dr. Ray Pupedis and Mark Plummer examine insects collected in a trap.

How many can you see?

It is fantastic!  The weather is great.  The birds are great!  Even flowers have started blooming.  This is the best time of year to be at West Campus in my opinion; every morning brings a new sight or sound to welcome me to work.

House Wren

House Wren house!

The last of the winter birds are finally heading north and our summer breeders are showing up and moving through.  Over the last few weeks we've gone from seeing twenty odd species of birds in a week to now approaching forty.  

Yellow Warbler- breeds on campus!

The other morning I came in a bit early, camera in hand, and tried to capture some of the wonderful sights that are awakening with the spring.  The photographs can't even do justice to how alive it felt and sounded the other morning.  The very first bird I heard was one that I just learned the song of the other day while in West Virginia.  A Worm-eating Warbler ( a new bird for West Campus) popped out into view before quickly flying north.  (I was super excited because this was only the 2nd time I had ever seen one at all).  

Trout Lilly

The rest of the bird chorus, I quickly started to go through in my mind.  Numerous American Robin's singing, Yellow Warblers chipping and singing as they fought over females, House Wrens setting up territories and claiming nest boxes, Red-winged Blackbirds in the distance, a Common Yellowthroat singing in the Phragmites reeds, a Warbling Vireo singing from inside a flower laden tree, and Gray Catbirds 'meowing' in the underbrush.  But one of the best surprises came when I was walking around later that day at lunch. 

How many birds do you see?

Here's another shot zoomed in a bit....

Baby Killdeer!!!  I've heard Killdeer on campus for over a month now and I know that in the past they have nested on rooftops of several buildings on campus.  This is the first time I have ever seen the babies.  This family is using a service road on campus as their 'pebbly beach' to nest on.  It's a tough life as the parents have to watch out for cars, other birds who want to eat the little ones, and even ground hogs (woodchucks). I made sure that I kept my distance from the family as I didn't want to stress out the family too much.  As I walked farther away I turned to take a shot photo of the overall area they were in when I noticed the parents making a lot of noise. Two groundhogs were walking on the road near the babies and the parents were trying to keep them away.  One adult was flying at one of the ground hogs and the other Killdeer was doing the broken wing dance to lure the other away from the young.  It seemed to have worked.  

6 is the correct answer!

Here's hoping the babies continue to grow!

Distant looks at a Scarlet Tanager