Summary of Results from the 2011 Woodbury Route Breeding Bird Survey

Eastern Towhee photo by Bob Nicks

from www.carolinabirdclub.org

Savannah Sparrow photo by Paul Fusco

from www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com

Blue-winged Warbler photo by Brian Zweibel

from www.carolinabirdclub.org

Brown Thrasher photo by Paul Fusco

from www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com

As a follow-up to my last posting about the results of last summer's Breeding Bird Survey of the Warren-to-Northfield route, here are the results of the survey of the Woodbury-to-Goshen route that I conducted on July 4th. I thought that by doing this on this date I would avoid a lot of the annoyances caused by vehicular traffic on weekdays. Wrong! Actually, I was right that there would be very little traffic during the early morning, but it picked up considerably after 8:30 a.m. This was especially true on State Routes 109 and 202. Despite the traffic, this survey produced 3 more species and 582 more individual birds than last year. The 72 species found this year is a little above average and the 1,910 individual birds recorded is about 400 more than average. It certainly helped that weather conditions were absolutely gorgeous this day. Besides sunshine, there was only a light breeze and low humidity. It also helped that the destruction of land for housing and other developments ground to a halt along this route 3 years ago and hasn't resumed. We can be cautiously optimistic that Brown Thrashers (3), a Blue-winged Warbler, 17 Eastern Towhees, and a Savannah Sparrow were found along this route this year. All 4 of these grassland/shrubland species are hurting across much of their range. A fifth member of this habitat group, the Indigo Bunting, was found along this route this year in the form of 10 individuals, but this marks the second year of a decline in their numbers. Species noticeably less common this year than last year included Tree Swallow (probably due to June being so cold and wet) and Ovenbird (maybe because they sing a lot less in July than in June). Only 9 other species were less numerous this year than last year. By contrast, 56 species were found to be in higher numbers this year than last year. This tracks with the findings from the Summer Bird Counts that were held in June. However, as I said in the last blog posting, it is impossible to detect all of the birds at each of the 50 stops because the standardized protocol has us spending only 3 minutes at each stop. As it is, some people think that I'm hallucinating because I get so many birds at many of these spots in such a short time. It is simply a matter of having excellent hearing and knowing what I'm hearing. Very few of the birds on these surveys are actually seen. Getting back to the birds, themselves, the species showing the biggest increases over last year were Chipping Sparrow, Gray Catbird, American Goldfinch, Cedar Waxwing, American Robin, Veery, Red-eyed Vireo, Tufted Titmouse, and House Sparrow. Most of these species are highly adaptable. The 5 most abundant species this year, in decreasing order of abundance, were American Robin, Gray Catbird, Chipping Sparrow, American Goldfinch, and Tufted Titmouse.

The Bird Migration Continues at a Rapid Pace

Brown Thrasher photo by Paul Fusco

Purple Finch male photo by Bob Stanowski

Since my last postings about the northbound migration of wetland and other birds a slew of new migrants have arrived and passed through. Winds from the southwest this week have been very favorable for moving birds this way. Clear periods some nights have really helped, too. On those nights I heard multiple flight call notes coming from the sky when I was out. Migrant birds seen around White Memorial this week have spanned the taxonomic gamut from loons to finches. Bantam Lake has produced a Red-throated Loon and Long-tailed Duck. Single American Bitterns have been seen at Pt. Folly and Mallard Marsh. Hawks passing over the Property included a Merlin and 2 American Kestrels. Eastern Kingbirds have appeared at Mallard Marsh, Little Pond, and Butternut Brook. Great Crested Flycatchers have been seen at Pt. Folly and around the Museum Area. I saw a Cliff Swallow at Mallard Marsh on Monday, 4/25. A Brown Thrasher was a really nice find along the Little Pond Trail on Friday, 4/22. Warbler numbers and diversity have increased daily, with Yellow-rumped being by far and away the most abundant. We've also seen a lot of Pine, Palm, and Black-and-White Warblers. Yellow Warblers have been seen in low numbers so far at Icehouse and Bantam R. Marshes and Pt. Folly. They will be abundant by next week. I had single Blue-winged Warblers near Chickadee Bridge and at Pine Island Marsh on Tuesday, 4/26. Jim Kandefer had a Blackburnian Warbler along the Little Pond Trail that same day. Northern Waterthrushes were seen along the Interpretive and Lake Trails and in the Pine Island Ditches. A Louisiana Waterthrush was seen along the Bantam River. Our first Common Yellowthroat of the year appeared at Little Pond yesterday, 4/27. White-throated Sparrows have increased in number daily, while the numbers of Dark-eyed Juncos have decreased as they moved north. Purple Finches have been much more common than average for over a week as they stop to bulk-up at bird feeders before continuing northward. This is just a short summary of the migrant birds that have been around White Memorial in the past week. I hope it helps the birders reading this blog to come out and see them for themsleves.

The Migrants Continue to Pour in to Litchfield

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker photo by

Lloyd Spitalnik via Google Images Savannah Sparrow photo from friendsofsherwoodisland.org via Google Images Brown Thrasher photo from friendsofsherwoodisland.org

via Google Images

Migrant birds have continued to pour into and through Litchfield County for the past few days. My previous blog post covered the first waves, and this post will talk about the next waves that have arrived. The earlier migrants were mostly waterfowl and other birds associated with water. They began to appear even before much ice had melted on Bantam Lake and our ponds. Now that the ice is all gone from them, even more birds in this category are moving through. A lot of them are fish-eaters. Common Mergansers have been here for over a month, but now they number around 400 at Bantam Lake. They have been joined by 4 Red-breasted Mergansers, which are very uncommon at inland bodies of water. Common Loons normally migrate through Connecticut in April, with one or two being seen daily at Bantam Lake. Imagine Mike Doyle's surprise last Wednesday, 4/6, when he counted a whopping 44 at the Lake. This could be a record high number for any inland body of water in this state. The next day, 23 were still there. Their numbers have dropped slowly since then to 9 as of yesterday as more of them continue their migration northward. During this same time span Double-crested Cormorants have appeared and increased in number to 20 as of 4/8. The fish-eaters have also included 2 Horned Grebes and a Red-necked Grebe (which is rare here) in the central section of the Lake on the 7th. Hunting from above have been many Bald Eagles and Ospreys. On the shore, the number of Great Blue Herons continues to increase daily, and an American Bittern appeared at the Litchfield Town Beach on the 7th. A Bonaparte's Gull was a rare find at the Lake's N. Bay on the 8th. Gull numbers, in general, are suddenly way up at the Lake.

Terrestrial birds have also been on the move. Swallows, especially, have seen a big increase in number in the past couple of days. We counted approximately 200 Tree Swallows at Bantam Lake on the 7th and about 100 at Little Pond yesterday. This latter count also included a Northern Rough-winged Swallow and a Barn Swallow. In the trees, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have surged in numbers since 4/7. On the ground, sparrow numbers and diversity have increased substantially lately. Fox Sparrows have been numerous at the Museum's feeders for a month, with 7 being counted there on 4/8. Savannah Sparrows have been seen at the Sutton's Bridge section of the Little Pond Boardwalk for the past 3 days, and one was seen a couple of hours ago on the west lawn of the Museum. Chipping Sparrows have been around the Museum for about 5 days. Song Sparrows have become quite numerous. Dark-eyed Juncos are everywhere! Best of all, a Brown Thrasher appeared in the Activity Field this morning. It sang from the tops of the Hawthorns for quite a while. This species has become very rare in Litchfield County, so it was a real treat to see it.