Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Important Bird Areas and more


The ever-so-fleeting greens of early spring along a property boundary at West Campus.

This time of year, we used to say "our breeding birds are coming back"... our birds. Now we call them neotropical migrants, an acknowledgement that warblers, tanagers, orioles, birds of prey, shorebirds and many others are of course, not our birds, but denizens of the greater planet.
Removing personal ownership from the picture, however intangible it was, opens up new and improved ways of thinking about wildlife conservation. In the Americas, habitat preservation efforts now exist from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.

From Alaska's Attu Island at the tip of the Aleutian chain to Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Highlands National Park to Brazil's protected coastal areas in its eastern state of Pernambuco and south to Argentina's Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, the entire American continent, east to west, north to south, is dotted with IBA's. Important Bird Areas.

To quote directly from BirdLife International's web page: "IBAs are priority areas for the conservation of globally threatened, range restricted and congregatory birds." In addition to this worldwide scope, there are numerous local programs which raise awareness of the shared nature of habitat protection along migratory routes.

Rio de Rapaces (River of Raptors) in Veracruz Mexico is now celebrating 25 years of raptor study. Shorebird Sister Schools, a program developed by educators throughout the Americas in conjunction with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, is another longstanding organization dedicated to migratory bird awareness. Also read Connecticut Audubon's recent blog post about one individual shorebird, Hope, a Whimbrel.

The Smithsonian Institution's Migratory Bird Center, among many others, has raised awareness of the importance of protecting tropical habitats through its championing of shade-grown coffee plantations.

And now back to Connecticut. Thanks to scientists and citizens throughout the state, we can boast twenty seven of our own Important Bird Areas - protected for very specific reasons, as per IBA protocol. Frequently cited are the following: Connecticut endangered and threatened species; rare, unique or representative habitat; exceptional concentrations of migratory landbirds.

The nearest one is right here in West Haven, at Sandy Point. It's a tiny piece of land that somebody cared about because it was important habitat for a few rare birds. I don't know about you, but I think that's what it's all about - thinking globally and acting locally.
Now, the fishermen who go for blues in New Haven harbor rub shoulders with the birders who go for Piping Plovers and Least Terns.
Yeah, that's what it's all about.

Monday, April 25, 2011

New bird on campus!!


This is our enterprising Song Sparrow, who, when finding the feeder empty, eats from the suet cake above.

West Campus bird list for the week of April 18 to 21:

Double-crested Cormorant (red is returning migrants) This one was a fly-over
Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Harrier - a fly-over
American Kestrel - a female alone Monday through Wednesday, then a male joined her on Thursday, and they've been hanging out in the vicinity of the nest box - How cool is THAT??!! - we'll keep our fingers crossed

Ring-billed Gull
Killdeer
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker - investigating last years' nest cavity

American Crow
Fish Crow
Blue Jay
American Robin - gathering nesting material
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Barn Swallow
Tree Swallow
Rough-winged Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco (blue is departing migrants)

Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
American Tree Sparrow
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird, Euphagus carolinus - a new species for West Campus!! Lynn found it in a mixed group of blackbirds and starlings - follow the link to read all about this not-so-common species of blackbird

Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow

So, as you can see, we came crashing through the 30-species goal this week, with a total of 38.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Returning Sparrows!


Assorted flowering trees - in the foreground is Pussy Willow, and the red haze in the background is Red Maple, with roots down-slope in the floodplain of our little Oyster River.

The bird list still hasn't broken 30 species, but this is the time of year when we get both winter and summer species, so the list should begin to grow soon.

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Killdeer
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull

Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker

Northern Flicker
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
American Crow
Blue Jay

Cedar Waxwing
American Robin
European Starling
Black-capped Chickadee
Northern Cardinal

White-throated Sparrow - link to song
Song Sparrow - link to song, highly variable in this species
Savannah Sparrow - new this week - not singing here at W.C., not sure if this sparrow breeds here
Chipping Sparrow - new this week - link to song (similar to below, but "mechanical")
Dark-eyed Junco - lingering winter visitor - link to song (very similar to above, but "musical")

American Goldfinch
House Finch
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A little of this, a little of that


Flowers of the Red Maple in front of our building - spring marches on!!

Extracurricular activity of the week:
Lynn and Nate completed construction of a nest box for American Kestrel, Falco sparverius, and installed the box in a Pin Oak near the place we've observed Kestrels in past years.


Brand new Kestrel box on campus - Nate had to climb the tree - no assistance from a bucket truck here, just a small ladder to reach the lower branches.


Lynn will blog in more detail about this later - I'll be sure to include the link to her blog when she does. In the meantime, to read more about providing nest boxes for Kestrels you can follow this link to the Northeast Connecticut Kestrel Project. Here's Lynn's page on Kestrels!

Bird list for the week of April 4 - 8, 2011:

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk

Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Blue Jay
Northern Mockingbird

American Robin
European Starling
Black-capped Chickadee
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco

Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Brown-headed Cowbird

House Sparrow

26 species for campus, plus...


Sue and Karen (my sister) birding at the West Haven shore

Lunchtime coastal birding
Wednesday we popped over to the coast to see what we could see:

Horned Grebe, Podiceps auritus - this bird spends the whole winter off our coasts, in a simple black and white color scheme, but now they've acquired fresh plumage for the breeding season, (the bird's name is a link to Cornell's Birds of North America online where you can see some images - I have to change the color scheme for links, they're barely visible)
Canada Goose, Branta canadensis
Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos
Black Duck, Anas rubripes
American Wigeon, Anas americana - in beautiful breeding plumage

Herring Gull, Larus argentatus
Great Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus
Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis
Bonaparte's Gull, Chroicocephalus philadelphia - their molt still in transition from winter's drab "basic plumage" to summer's black-headed "alternate plumage" - link to Cornell's images for this bird - though you can usually find better images in a google search
Rock Pigeon, Columba livia

Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata
American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
Fish Crow, Corvus ossifragus - the voice of this crow may help you distinguish it from the American Crow - listen to this recording from Xeno-canto
American Robin, Turdus migratorius
European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis
Common Grackle, Quiscalus quiscula
House Sparrow, Passer domesticus

Friday, April 1, 2011

April Fool's Day

So...
what...
we were fools to think that spring was coming??? is that it??? is that it???
This morning before driving to work I scraped an inch of snow and ice off my car windows. Oh my, this IS getting tiresome.


Pussy Willow, Salix discolor

Anyway, in addition to a great list of birds at West Campus this week, I'll include some photos I just took - of course they could only be - glimpses of springtime.


Red Maple, Acer rubrum


Star Magnolia, Magnolia stellata
(or maybe it's the regular kind, I'm no botanist - next week we'll know which)
This is an early-blooming ornamental, which likely benefits from its proximity to the building, gaining a wind break and a little warmth.

Birds seen this week, March 28th through April 1st:

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Osprey - FOY (First Of the Year)
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker

the list continues below...


Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo
Looks like they've paired up - notice how brilliant are the bronzy green and gold feathers in the male - a big change from his winter plumage! Also the bare skin on the head and neck are really bright now.


Chickadee house, recently constructed by a local cub scout troop at the West Campus Community Education Center - and installed in the woods along the Oyster River.

Eastern Phoebe - FOY
American Crow
Fish Crow
Blue Jay
Cedar Waxwing
American Robin
European Starling
Black-capped Chickadee
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Northern Cardinal
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle

That's twenty nine species for the week - I like it - the numbers are increasing steadily.


Some kind of volunteer ground cover, making its own patch of snow.