Bioblitz - Stratford, Connecticut

A few photos to share from the Peabody Museum - Beardsley Zoo - Connecticut Audubon Bioblitz last weekend. More photos can be found at the Peabody's Bioblitz facebook page.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 8th

Stratford Point, Bioblitz HQ


Karen and Sue, one team of several, recording birds for the Blitz


Black-bellied Plover, Pluvialis squatarola, feeding in the mudflats at low tide


several Northern Mockingbirds, Mimus polyglottos, were singing from any high perch


Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis - even fresh roadkill counts in the Bioblitz


Cottontail rabbit, Sylvilagus sp., seen at dusk on Stratford Point


in the interest of full disclosure, this is the cottontail photo before photoshopping


lights of Short Beach at after sunset

SATURDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 9th

Stratford Point Encampment at dawn


Raccoon tracks, Procyon lotor, in sandy flats near Short Beach


immature Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Nyctanassa violacea, near Short Beach


Great Egret, Ardea alba, near Short Beach


Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, near Short Beach

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Harley, Terry and Lynn of the Connecticut Valley Mycological Society identify and label fungi at Blitz headquarters


saltmarsh at Stewart B. McKinney National Seashore


high tide floods the path to the observation platform


Karen 'scoping the saltmarsh

So, our two-woman team had 60 species during the twenty-four hour period - and the total for the whole Blitz was 122 species. We had only one totally unique bird - the Black-throated Green Warbler, but several unique species were seen in "our territory" by others as well.
the White-tailed Kite, of course
the American Pipits, right on the sandy shore of Stratford Point
the American Bittern, in the saltmarsh pictured above
and the Common Nighthawk, which did a late-evening fly-over of the Point, witnessed by several astonished onlookers.
Hooray for lots of people being out birding - that's what I think.