Breeding Birds

June is definitely all about breeding birds.  As Lynn mentioned earlier, most species we see with their "feet on the ground" here are breeding birds.  The campus grounds has abundant habitat for those birds adapted to suburban survival - with shrubs, lawns, mature trees and some wild and weedy areas being our prevalent habitat types.

I'm always surprised when I find our Wood Thrush still singing away on its territory - a small patch of hardwoods with a fairly open forest floor and adjacent dense tangles of invasive vines and shrubs.  Recent research on the habitat needs of this species indicates that although it is a fairly common breeder in small forest fragments such as ours, its breeding success rate is higher when it occupies larger forested areas.

Above, one of the pups from our coyote family - a typical coyote sighting for most Connecticut residents.

And here's a different pup from the family, taking the sun about 3 meters from a parking area - a typical coyote sighting for us at West Campus

With Mama Coyote and four pups around, it's no wonder we see very little of our turkey flock these days, and the resident Red-tailed Hawks are actively hunting on campus, making the squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits not as visible as they sometimes are.

So, Lynn and I both had time to get out birding this week, and here's the result of our modest effort:
Bird list for the week of June 25-29, 2012:
Herring Gull
Killdeer
Red-tailed Hawk
Osprey
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
European Starling
10. American Robin
Wood Thrush
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Barn Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
20. Cedar Waxwing
House Wren
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
30. House Sparrow