Day 232 - August 20, 2012

To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Birding is like a box of chocolate - you never know what ya going to see".  And so it has been with me and Nonnewaug High School.  I have been going down there almost every day since I saw that Chat - weather permitting - at different times. 

Having not seen the chat and to list each day individually would be a bit 'over kill'.  So I will list what I have seen and then mention what I saw today!

So from August 3rd to August 17th, I saw the following species:

Robin, Goldfinch (m/f), Phoebe, Crow, Catbird, Kingbird (3), Song Sparrow, Kingfisher, House Wren, Yellow Warbler (m/f), Chickadee, Veery (heard), possible White-Throated Sparrow, Canada Goose, Cowbird (f), Turkey Vulture, Titmouse, Great Blue Heron, Mallard, Red-Tailed Hawk, Blue Jay, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (f) and cardinal (m).

So today, I just figured I would see the normal species like I had in the last 2 weeks or so.  But I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a Great Egret following the river from the track area heading towards Middle Road Turnpike where it landed a bank of the river.

So I continued to walk along the river area towards the track.  A maintenace man was still mowing areas of the lower field so I wasn't sure if he scared anythign away.  But I was surprised again to see that he had mowed from the track over the wooden bridge then left towards the field and along the river in the field!  This made it easier for me to see what might be around since during those 14 days, I had to walk in tall grass - good thing I had bug spray on those days!  But because I did not put any spray on today, I was not planning to go any further than the track field.  So glad he mowed!  I did see some birds but they weere in the trees being blocked by leaves that I could not tell what they were.  So I decided to head back towards the track and then retrace my walk along the rive back towards the soccer field.

And there I saw it - going from the track fence to the ground back to the fence to the ground then to a bush - an Empidonax Flycatcher!  But which one?! Since it was not calling and their coloration is very similar to one another at this time of year, I will just put it down as an Empidonax sp. until I can get a good picture of it and some help IDing the bird.

Besides the Great Egret and 'Empi', I alo saw:  Catbird (5), Kingfisher, Goldfinch (4), Crow (2), Common Mergansers (9) and Hummingbird.

DATA:  2:25 - 4:38pm; 75F; partly cloudy (cumulus clouds); calm

84)  Great Egret
85)  Empidonax Flycatcher

Day 213 - August 1, 2012

goldfinch

kingfisher

Went back to Nonnewaug High School to search for that yellow-breasted chat.  But, no luck.  However, I did see a good number of birds as well as a new one - a Blue Grey Gnatcatcher!

 So here's what I saw:

female kingfisher                  10 catbirds                          7 goldfinches              6 song sparrows            
4 titmouse                            white breasted nuthatch       m/f yellow warbler        
 2 Carolina wrens
red-shouldered hawk           blue grey gnatcatcher         
female hummingbird             5 crows

titmouse

catbird

barn swallow                       phoebe
chipping sparrow
turkey vulture
red-tailed hawk
 cardinal (heard)
    3 chickadees



DATA:  8:40 - 10:35 am; 80F (??); partly cloudy but sunny; calm

yellow warbler

83) Blue Grey Gnatcatcher

Day 210 - July 29, 2012 - PART 2

After birding at Whittemore and stopping home for lunch, I decided to bird the lower field at Nonnewaug High School. 

The high-lite was finding a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT in the dense shrubs by the river.  The bird had a yellow breast and a very obvious, distinct white eye-ring! 


 The other birds I saw/heard were: White-Breasted Nuthatch, Catbird (3), Crow (8), Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Barn Swallow (20), Phoebe (2), Goldfinch, male/female Bluebirds, Chipping Sparrow (3), male House Sparrow, Turkey Vulture, and Red-Tailed Hawk.

DATA:  2:35 - 4:38 PM; 75F; overcast/sprinkles; most cloudy; slight

82)  Yellow-Breasted Chat

Day 210 - July 29, 2012 - PART 1

Wow!  I can't believe that 22 days has gone by since I last birded towards My Big Year.

Red Eft

Mushroom

I decided to see what was up at the Whittemore Sanctuary and arrived there at 9:30 A.M.  I decided to start with the WHITE TRAIL but then turned right at the OLD EAST WEST ROAD turned left onto the BLUE TRAIL and headed for the BOG then right onto the YELLOW TRAIL than back to the BLUE TRAIL pass the POND which took me back to the entrance.  In all, about 2.5 miles.

The day started off with hearing more than seeing the birds.  I quickly heard a Goldfinch and a Red-Eyed Vireo.  Then I heard a bird going 'chik brrr'.  So I waited a few minutes and then saw a male Scarlet Tanager.  A few minutes later, a deep sounding 'braach' was heard - definitely not a crow but a RAVEN!

Spice Bush

White Dolls-Eye

Other birds I heard were:  Titmouse, Chickadee, Crow, Pewee.  Birds that I saw were:  White-Breasted Nuthatch, 2 Phoebes, Blue Jay, 2 Catbirds, Tree Swallow , and a Kingbird (the last 4 were seen at the BLUE TRAIL pond).

Finally, on my way back to the parking lot, I heard a  Wood Thrush.

DATA:  9:30 AM - 12:42 PM; 73F; overcast/breaks in sky; calm

81)   Raven

 
Note:  I did hear a bird that I could not recognize but will ask other birders if they know what I heard.

Day 188 - July 7, 2012

First, let me add a little more from yesterday.  Thanks to a few Connecticut Birders, I was able to identify two more birds from yesterday's outing at Flanders. 

Since I am not great at IDing birds by sound alone, I do not count them unless I am sure of them.  So yesterday I heard a bird calling "Here" or "Queer" in a consistant single note every 7 seconds.  I then took the suggestions of other birds and went to the Cornell University Ornithology website to listen to recorded calls adn then compare the recordings to what I heard.  It turns out, the bird was a Veery.

The second bird I heard near the Marsh went "Weep" or "Sheep" either once, twice, or three at a time and also in a single same note, that is, "weep-weep-weep" pause "weep-weep" pause "weep-weep-weep", etc.  Also after comparing suggestions with Cornell, it was a Great-Crested Flycatcher.

Then this morning, while driving home from gettign some pool chemicals, a bird flew pass my car.  It was small and dark blue in color.  At first I thought maybe a male Bluebird but the dark blue did not match a bluebird's blue.  Then I realized I had just seen a male Indigo Bunting!  No idea of weather conditions though when I saw the bunting so I won't list any.

So....

78)  Veery
79)  Great-Crested Flycatcher
80)  Indigo Bunting

Day 187 - July 6, 2012

Wow!  I can't believe it's been 23 days since I last wrote anything on this blog but I have not seen anything new in Woodbury.  That is until today.

 I know the hot summer months aren't the greatest for birding since males have already staked out territires,  attracted a female and nested.  Not much for them to do now but to feed the little ones.

But, as always, Nature fooled me again when I went to Flanders Nature Center now for the 3rd time since starting My Big Year.

I started at the Marsh and walked the blue trail down to the Blind that along the Marsh.  So for the Marsh, I saw/heard:  House Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Wood Pewee (H), Cedar Waxwings (5); Catbird (H), Grackle (3), Rose-Breasted Grosbeak (female), Hermit Thrush, Ovenbird, Titmouse (H), Chipping Sparrow, Common Yellow-throat (H), Kingfisher, Goldfinch (H), Red-Winged Blackbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Tree Swallow (2), Chickadee (2), Field Sparrow (H), Redstart (male).

I next went over to the Sap House area with the thought of checking the evergreens for any owls like I did earlier this year.  But when I go to the area, I soon realized that at this time of year, there are plants growing and I did not want to take a chance with any ticks that may be in the tall grass.  So I nixed the owls.  But I did see a Chickadee with young in a nest, Chipping Sparrow, and a male Bluebird.

Red Admiral Butterfly

Next it was off to check out the pond in the woods that is accessible via the Botany Trail.  Right near the little tree farm I heard/saw 3 Crows.  After reaching the Pond, nothing was there, I continued into the woods by taking the trail to the left of the Pond and heard a Red-Eyed Vireo.  I circled around the back side of the Pond and then headed back down the Botany Trail (Orange Trail) to the road.  And that is when I saw it!

Redstart (not too good)

I heard a bird singing in the trees and after a little looking, saw a male Scarlet Tanager.  The bird was in a tree and the way the tree branches were arranged, the bird was in the sun like being in a spotlight displaying the scarlet red of the body against the dark black of the wings.  So I reached for my camera, clicked the shutter button, and NOTHING!  It turned out that I had hit the timer button so the shutter would not open for 10 seconds.  By the time I realized this, the bird, to quote the Beatles, "had flown'  :-(

So I headed down to towards the Marsh and this time went to the left side of it towards the open field.  There I saw a male Blue-Winged Warbler.

Finally, when I got back to the lower parking area, I saw a Phoebe.

So all and all, not a bad 2.5 hours of birding.  I will enter all my sightings onto eBird tomorrow.

Now for the data...
 
DATA:  9:30-11:45 am; 75F-80F; sunny; clear; slight breeze

76)  Ovenbird
77)  Field Sparrow

Day 164 - June 13, 2012

I know I haven't been birding lately but it's crunch time - the end of the school year is near and finals will soon be here.  So I have not had much time to bird.  But as any birder will tell you, sometime you just have to look out your window.

But the first thing I saw when I looked out the window was not a bird but instead a Bobcat!  Of course, by the time I got my camera it was gone but I did get some good looks through my binocs.

So with my camera now at my ready, I looked out the window every now and then.  Did not see much of anything until I saw a small bird flying to and from a bluebird box in yard.  So I grab the binocs that were handy and saw that the little brown bird was a House Wren.  And since I had my camera with me in case the bobcat came back, I was able to get a few, not the greatest though, pictures of the house wren.

DATA:  6:58pm; 66F; mostly sunny; calm


75)  House Wren