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

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!!! 

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.

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

Here They Come

Bird Board

Spring and migration have finally begun.  Our usual list of species over the weeks in winter ranges from 10 to 15.  Both this week and last have averaged about 25!!  It's great to see some of the warm weather birds coming back into our area.  Migration started off with the black birds, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, and Brown-headed Cowbird, moving back onto campus.  And now this week we are starting to see the very first warblers trickling in, both Yellow-rumped Warbler and Common Yellowthroat have made an appearance.  I took a quick walk on one of these wonderful warm days.



Here are few shots:

Crocus flowering in front of the Collection Studies Center

Red Maple Flowers

Eastern Cottontail

Little white flowers on the remnants of the old cinder trail.

Savannah Sparrow (First of the year for WC)

"What are you doing?" American Robin

Song Sparrow taking a drink and looking for insects

Male American Goldfinch trying to hide in a pine tree
he may use as a nesting spot in a couple months.

February and Snow

I'm actually going to cheat on the month of February a bit by adding a bit on March as well.  Truth be told, not only was most wildlife hibernating for the month of February but so was I.  The majority of bird watching on campus was done from my office window.  With bird feeders up, I get to see at least ten species a week from the my window including the random fly overs.  The best bird of the month however, came while walking over to the conference center for lunch.  A first for West Campus, putting our total up to 134, were two Snow Buntings!  

Snow Bunting (http://www.garygulashnaturephotography.com)

Snow Buntings are a northern tundra species that comes south during the winter looking for some open grass to find seeds.  They are more than happy to hang out where there is mostly snow and looking at their plumage you can see why. 

New Bird Feeder (photo by Lynn Jones)

The first week of March has brought another northern species down to Connecticut.  Pine Siskins have been reported on feeders throughout the state for a few weeks but without any showing up on campus.  Finally, yesterday in the steady fall of snow two Pine Siskins stopped by the new thistle feeder for a snack. 

Pine Siskin (photo by Lynn Jones)

These little finches have very pointy little beaks that are perfect for fitting into the small opening of conifer cones for seeds.  Earlier this morning I counted four.  With any luck, our next blog will be about another small finch that comes to visit from the north on occasion.

Downy Woodpecker (photo by Lynn Jones)

Feeder Birds:

Mourning Dove

Downy Woodpecker

Black-capped Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse

Song Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

House Finch

American Goldfinch

Occasionals:

Blue Jay

Pine Siskin

House Sparrow

January Variations

Birding equipment

Weather this month has been varied with early month temperature being fairly mild, a reallly cold cold snap and now some snow and cold to bring the month to a close.  Still the birds have been on campus finding whatever food they can to survive through the winter.

January weather- wunderground.com

This morning I donned my new Christmas present and took a walk around the trails by the farm to see what birds would be around.  The first birds I saw was a group of White-throated Sparrows that were feeding on seeds of various plants.  Then, I heard a Song Sparrow attempting to sing it's song.  I guess they are already beginning to practice for spring.  A Carolina Wren quickly scolded me from a viny hiding place before another sang from across the way.

White-throated Sparrow  (image by Jerry Jourdan)

There were lots of small rodent tracks and deer tracks in the snow, visually following a set of the latter I looked to find a deer peering at me.  A Northern Cardinal started to call as I walked further down the trail to some remaining bittersweet berries.  As expected, a Northern Mockingbird has been able to survive by fiercely protecting these from other birds and me.  The back edge of the open area was fairly quiet, a few Black-capped Chickadees and Downy Woodpeckers could be heard in the distance. 

Me- wishing it were warmer

 Walking back toward the car gave me good light to search through the sparrows in hopes of something good but with no luck.  A calling Common Raven did fly over, the first of the year for campus!  Below is the full list of birds for the year so far.  What I want to know is...  where are the juncos??

1. Canada Goose
2. Turkey Vulture
3. Sharp-shinned Hawk
4. Cooper's Hawk
5. Red-tailed Hawk
6. Ring-billed Gull
7. Herring Gull
8. Rock Pigeon
9. Mourning Dove
10. Peregrine Falcon
11. Downy Woodpecker
12. American Crow
13. Fish Crow
14. Common Raven
15. Black-capped Chickadee
16. Tufted Titmouse
17. Carolina Wren
18. American Robin
19. European Starling
20. Song Sparrow
21. White-throated Sparrow
22. Northern Cardinal
23. House Finch
24. American Goldfinch
25. House Sparrow

2014 Wrap-up

Sue and Lynn on the Christmas Count

With only a few days left in the month of January, I figure it's time to put a wrap on 2014 with a quick synopsis of birding throughout the year.  This year was a bit of an anolamy from past as Sue, one of our best birders, was working in New Haven.  Not only does Sue see lots of birds but she helps to get me motivated to go out and we seem to have lost some of our oomph.  Even with all that we didn't do too bad and we managed to see a few good birds.

Spring Migration Week List

The preliminary tally for birds this year was 90 species seen on campus, still waiting for a few other people to get back to me.  I kept a running list going and added mentions in the blog and also emails from birders on campus.  As a refresher our total list of species is about 133, so this year we saw about two thirds of the full list.  In contrast, in 2012 we saw about 103 although campus this year was much busier with people. 

Yellow Warbler- Common nester on campus

Probably the best bird of the year for me and the only new bird for campus, was spotted near the end of the year.  After hearing rumors that the shuttle bus drivers had seen owls perched on the roof of the conference center, I walked out to my car in the dark on November 25th and quickly heard the hooting of a Great Horned Owl.  I was able to spot the bird sitting on top of the Collections Study Center thanks to the light from the moon. 

Great Horned Owl- record shot

Great Horned Owl- photo heavily edited

New Years resolutions for 2015: submit a bird list to Ebird at least once a week (maybe when it's warmer), post at least one blog post a month, and try to get more impromptu bird walks going throughout the year.  Don't forget to check out the nature walks with Tom Parlapiano on campus; they are list in the West Campus weekly.  Check back here for more birds and send me your bird sightings!