#ctbirding

Sometimes I make life hard of my own volition.

That’s not really what this blog is about but the truth is there. It does feel really guilty to even think about participating in fun activities… which for one reason or another birding has become a major fun activity for me. At the same time it is also a major form of therapy… being out in nature, observing wildlife and the world around me from a distance, getting to explore beautiful areas… it all just makes it a little easier to breathe… or rather allows the opportunity to forget that you need to remember to breathe. If that make sense.

So anyway I’ve been slacking on birding again- because life is hard and busy. But I still get these daily Rare Bird Alert email blasts and a recent alert has really sent the “community” into a tizzy… a Roseate Spoonbill was observed along the Milford/Stratford shore late last week amongst a group of egrets, and has stuck around.

From the same family, and similar size, as my beloved Glossy Ibis, the Roseate Spoonbill is most commonly native to South America and the Caribbean, with the typical northern boundary of its range situated along the gulf coast of Florida, Louisiana and Texas. I read one description that describes the Roseate Spoonbill’s appearance as “stunning from a distance and bizarre up close.” As you might have guessed... I had to try and see this bird.

A number of the alerts reported great views from the observation tower at Milford Point Audubon Center, which I’ve been to before and knew even if I failed in spotting the spoonbill, I’d at least get some of that good therapy in. So I headed over today for my lunch break. Wasn’t more than ten minutes in before I spotted a new lifer for me… the Black-bellied Plover!

Side note. Any and all pictures today are going to be trash. As a sort of superstition thing, I didn’t bring with me, my gyroscope attachment that allows for halfway decent pictures with my phone through the scope. The black bellied plover is cool because it actually breeds in the northernmost arctic tundra of North America and migrate quite far south outside breeding season anywhere from the New England coast, down to the southern coasts of Chile and Brazil.

…And then out of nowhere a flash of pink caught my peripheral view.

Yes the pictures are trash. But this bird was a thing of beauty! After observing it wading for several minutes it took off, and did a majestic swooping flight out and back, up into a nearby tree. The shots don’t show how bizarre the spoon shaped bill is, nor do they show just how shocking the bright pink splash of color was amongst the gang of white egrets, and dark colored ducks nearby.

Surf scoter was life bird #31 of 2023 for me!

I reached out to the Audubon society about the castles and mini greenhouses in one of the pictures below and got some interesting answers! The castles are oyster castles- designed to promote oyster life, and to further help with erosion. The mini greenhouses are a joint experiment with a local university and the maritime aquarium, to replicate the changing climate and determine how a southern genotype of marsh grass might fare in future marsh restoration projects when we get to a point where the northern genotype can no longer survive in our climate. Sad but interesting.

I’m monitoring the same Osprey nests this year and finally got Bowen out with me to check them out last week. He was kind of bored while I spent a little extra time trying to see if there was any signs of baby Osprey heads yet. The tide was out so when I finished up we went on a fun sandbar adventure. Love this time with Bowen… I think he’s on the fence 😭😭

If all goes as planned I think I’ll be able to see baby Osprey at the next observation sessions.

But things were very slow on from end of March to end of May, with minimal birdwatching opportunities and no new ID’s. I knew I couldn’t keep up my pace from the start of the year, but still I could feel it that I was missing out. In the last two weeks I’ve suddenly got 5 new ID’s and have found a new great spot near work to go on lunch breaks, Ash Creek/Great Salt Marsh Island open space:

I’ve seen a variety of egrets and herons, Osprey, barn swallows, purple martins, red winged blackbirds, grackles, variety of gulls, pigeons, song sparrows galore, cedar waxwings, cardinals, cormorants, mallards and more. Less than a 15 minute walk from my office!

Today, February 16, 2023 reached 60 degrees out so I was determined to get out and do some birding for a lunch break. When the above rare bird alert came in this morning for a Eurasian Wigeon seen at Westport’s Compo beach, 10-15 minutes from my office, I decided that was the move.

You know when you were a kid and would learn a new word and suddenly see and hear it everywhere? That’s what it felt like at Compo beach for me with the absolute abundance of seabirds in every direction. Immediately I spied a dozen long tailed ducks, an enormous gang of brants, groups of male and female buffleheads all of which I’ve only just “id’d” for the first time this winter… not to mention mergansers, mallards, Canada geese, crows, variety of gulls… a month ago I don’t know if I would have even noticed all the different duck and geese like birds.

Most of these were seen just from right outside my car where I parked. I id’d a number of red-breasted mergansers which I am pretty sure was a first for me. Notable for there very silly spiked hairdo and then found my way to the area the wigeon was spotted earlier in the day, by the Marina part of the beach. On my way there I spotted what proved to be my first confirmed Greater Scaup and followed him over to a group of male and female greater scaup. Having just recently id’d a massive flotilla of Lesser Scaup far out in the ocean with my scope, and discovered a whole world of struggle veteran birders have differentiating between the two related birds… I was excited to immediately notice the distinguishing traits… the female having a white ring around it’s beak and the male having the “peak” of its head near the forehead (whereas the lesser Scaup has its peak on the farther back area of the head). The better news was that the wigeon was spotted hanging out with the greater Scaup gang earlier in the day. So I set up and watched. Tried and failed many times to get my digiscope to work so I could get some photos of the surprisingly cooperative and patient scaups. But no. And also no wigeon.

Regardless it was an awesome birding location that I will definitely try to get back to. There is easily over a mile of shoreline with long sandbars and shell beaches and coves etc etc to observe. Literally saw hundreds and hundreds of sea birds today… just no Eurasian wigeon and no pictures. Well there was this one I found later, from a failed digiscope attempt:

What an interesting looking bird the green-tailed towhee was! As soon as it came into my line of site in the binoculars I knew it was… different from all the other sparrows and chickadees and starlings and doves etc I’ve been observing in this spot… then within a split second I realized what that meant.

The first thing I noticed was the distinct “rufous” head (somewhere more on the rust side of the red spectrum). Then from there you work your way down the body and notice the almost neon green “tint” to its upper half extending down the tail.

I feel genuinely excited that I got to observe this bird. I was completely alone on this visit, unlike the previous 3 times, and was a little concerned that might impact my ability to spot the skittish bird… and then if I did see it would it be a bummer to not get to share it with anyone else?

Ultimately it was a wonderful feeling getting to have the experience on my own. Some sort of affirmation of my efforts and how far I’ve come in my hobby. As the news story said, this is only the third time a green-tailed towhee has ever been recorded in Connecticut, and the first time since 1991. Thirty-two years! Theoretically possible the opportunity will never come again. And for now I’ve turned the eBird Rare Bird Alert back from hourly emails, to the far more sane daily emails…

Since starting my new job in Fairfield Town Hall, I’ve been happily exploring the birding opportunities- multiple beaches, Audubon bird sanctuaries etc. But this week a rare bird alert practically around the corner from town hall caught my eye. The Green-Tailed Towhee, a sparrow like bird, native of the Western US mountains was spotted at Fairfield Veterans Park- a pretty standard playground and ball field type setting. So I decided to check it out before work on Thursday to see if I might get lucky. I stumbled into a group of 3 birders who had JUST seen the bird in a yard just south of the park, and happily showed me pictures on their cameras. I stuck around and chatted with the group for a bit- was interested to learn two were from New Haven and one was from upstate New York, but had to get to work without seeing the bird with my own eyes after about a half hour. Disappointed but eager to get back and try again.

Friday morning I decided to try again and met a birder who had made the trip from Rhode Island Thursday afternoon and left empty handed, so he drove back again Friday morning. He shared with me that the Green-tailed Towhee hadn’t been spotted this far East since 1991, and was determined to get a peek. Again I had to leave after only about 20minutes to get to work, but was determined to make it back on my lunch break when I knew I’d have more time to commit.

I was feeling positive when I saw an updated alert mid morning stating that a group of 12 birders had seen the bird so I headed back super confident at lunch time. Over the hour-plus I was there I was part of a group of about 6-8 birders. Some from NYC, upstate New York, Stamford… was really exciting to realize how meaningful this bird sighting was to so many from all over. There was a brief moment of excitement where a couple people in the group saw the bird pop up through the brush but I didn’t have a good angle and missed it 😫😫. When a Coopers Hawk flew by a few minutes later, clearing out the area of smaller birds, I decided it was time to hang my head and get back to work.

A deer and two of its young sauntered through and spent a fair amount of my time there helping themselves to the bird food. Beyond that it was still a nice birding experience, getting to know fellow birders, and also seeing plenty of other birds. The yard was hopping with bird activity, with several feeders, a marsh on one side, trees brush and bramble in the yard, and the open fields of the park on the other- pretty great location for birds.

Field Sparrow * new ID for me

House Sparrow

Dark eyed Junco

Carolina Wren (nearly orange!)

Downy woodpecker

Red bellied woodpecker

Coopers Hawk

Red winged blackbird (unexpected this time of year)

European Starling

Mourning dove

Black capped chickadee

White throated sparrow