Wildlife Camera Images -- February 2017

Birds

American Crow at Pine Island Ditches

Black-capped Chickadee at Pine Island Ditches

Black-capped Chickadee at Pine Island Ditches

Adult Cooper's Hawk at Museum Bird Blind

Dark-eyed Juncos at Museum Bird Blind

Fox Sparrows at Museum Bird Blind

Mourning Dove at Museum Bird Blind

Northern Cardinal at Museum Bird Blind

Brown-headed Cowbird at Museum Bird Blind

Mixed flock of blackbirds including male and female Red-winged Blackbird, Purple Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, & Rusty Blackbird.

Mammals

Eastern Chipmunk at Apple Hill

Eastern Chipmunk at Apple Hill

Eastern Coyote at Pine Island Ditches

Eastern Gray Squirrel at Museum Bird Blind

Raccoon at Pine Island Ditches

Red Squirrel at Museum Bird Blind

Striped Skunk at Museum Bird Blind

Virginia Opossum at Museum Bird Blind

White-footed Mouse (eye shine in center of image) at Apple Hill

Yearling Buck White-tailed Deer at Apple Hill

Adult Doe White-tailed Deer at Apple Hill

Adult Doe White-tailed Deer at Apple Hill

Adult Doe White-tailed Deer at Apple Hill

Lingering Birds

Rusty Blackbird photo from

www.columbusaudubon.org

Fox Sparrow photo by Leo Kulinski

from www.whalesandwolves.com

Belted Kingfisher photo by Darlene Knox

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker photo by Leo Kulinski

from www.whalesandwolves.com

The relatively mild weather that has blessed Connecticut for much of the past 6 weeks should have been conducive to let late migrant birds linger around here for longer than they usually would. This is especially likely when there is an abundance of wild food, as there is this year. However, unlike the waterbirds discussed in my last post, there don't seem to be all that many migrant landbirds lingering around here. They do take more effort to find than waterbirds, but we have tried to look for them on a few occasions this month. This is not to say that we haven't had some success. Yesterday, I was greeted by a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker when I went up onto the Museum's deck to fill the feeders. When they get hungry enough they will visit suet feeders. On the 7th, Mike Doyle had a Belted Kingfisher at Bantam Lake's Pt. Folly. They will occasionally stay through the winter if there is enough open water and an adequate supply of small fish to eat. On the 5th, Buzz Devine counted 86 Rusty Blackbirds in a flock along the north side of the Little Pond Boardwalk. Four days later, I saw 2 at Cemetery Pond. They are quite nomadic, and probably have gone farther south by now, but every year we find a few Rusties around here during the winter. Some Red-winged Blackbirds also spend the winter here. Our most recent report of them was from the Museum's feeders on the 10th. Though I haven't seen a Winter Wren or Fox Sparrow on White Memorial property since 11/25, that doesn't mean that 1 or 2 aren't around here somewhere. I have seen a Fox Sparrow elsewhere in Litchfield in the past week. It is a little odd that we haven't seen any big flocks of American Robins around here since 11/25, especially given the continued abundance of Winterberry Holly berries. They may be around; just not in places that we haven't visited lately. All that will change this coming Sunday, 12/18, when we plan to cover White Memorial's property and Bantam Lake as thoroughly as possible for the Litchfield Hills Christmas Bird Count. If you would like to help, please email me at dave@whitememorialcc.org. I still need people who can work independently censusing birds along some of our outlying trails, like the Cathedral Complex and Trail Rider's Jump.

Major Early Snowstorm and its Aftermath

Large White Pine tree broken behind White Memorial's

Museum after the 10/29/2011 snowstorm

photo by Dave Rosgen

Shrubs flattened by 10/29/2011 snowstorm

at White Memorial's Wheeler Hill

photo by Dave Rosgen

White Memorial's Pt. Folly Marsh

2 days after the snowstorm

photo by Dave Rosgen

Bald Eagle photo by Paul Fusco from

www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com

Winterberry Holly photo by Dave Rosgen

Pokeberry photo by Dave Rosgen

Eastern Bluebird photo from www.allaboutbirds.org

Fox Sparrow photo by Bob Stanowski

Connecticut was pounded by a record-breaking early Nor'easter snowstorm from around 1 p.m. on Saturday, 10/29/2011, through sunrise on Sunday, 10/30/2011. It dropped 20" of snow on White Memorial and was accompanied by high winds for about 8 hours. This spelled disaster for many trees, shrubs, and other plants which were either flattened by the heavy, wet snow, or broke under its weight. Power was knocked out to the Museum Area for 9 days. Much of the tree damage involved broken limbs or sections of trunk rather than entire trees being blown over as happened during the tropical storms in August and September. Still, damage is extensive, and it will take quite a while to get all of our trails cleared despite the Herculean efforts of our great maintenance crew. A major savior to our wildlife (especially the birds) through all of this mess has been the super abundance of berries, nuts, and seeds. Though it was rendered unavailable for a while after the snowstorm, rapid melting of the snow exposed much of these foods within 12 hours. Therefore, I doubt that much, if any, starvation occurred among our wildlife. One exception would be totally insectivorous birds, but virtually all of them had already migrated south before this storm. One species just beginning to migrate south through here now is the Fox Sparrow. Bird feeders can greatly help these birds through foul weather, and that proved to be the case for the feeders behind the museum. In addition to hosting a ton of White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and other common birds after the snowstorm, they also fed 3 Fox Sparrows for a week. Since then we've seen this species feeding on weed seeds along the Little Pond Trail and at the Butterfly Garden. Some people expressed concern for American Robins, Eastern Bluebirds, and Cedar Waxwings after the storm, but they are doing just fine chowing down on an abundance of Winterberry Holly and Pokeweed berries. Waterbirds seemed to be unphased by the storm since Bantam Lake and most of our ponds (except Cemetery) remained ice free. Bald Eagles and other raptors seemed to carry-on as usual. I even saw 2 different Bald Eagles fly low over the museum on Sunday, 10/30, while I was shoveling snow off the deck. So, while this unprecedented snowstorm completely disrupted the lives of us humans and did quite a bit of damage to vegetation, it probably didn't do much harm to our wildlife.

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.

A Flood of New Migrant Birds in Litchfield

Wilson's Snipe photo by Bob Stanowski

Pied-billed Grebe photo by Bob Stanowski

Fox Sparrow photo by Leo Kulinski

American Woodcock photo by Bob Stanowski

The photos above depict but a few of the many species of birds which have migrated back to, or are migrating through, White Memorial this week. Even though the weather conditions haven't been particularly favorable for migration, the birds have been moving anyway. Some, like the American Woodcock and Fox Sparrow, have been present here for 3 weeks, but their numbers have increased quite a bit in the past week. Others, like Blue-winged Teal, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Osprey, Wilson's Snipe, Palm and Pine Warblers, and Swamp Sparrow have just arrived this week. Most of these birds have settled in, at least for awhile, so readers of this blog have some time to go out and look for them. Bantam Lake continues to produce a really good number and variety of birds. These include the aforementioned Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, and Osprey plus Bald Eagle, Bufflehead, and hoards of Common Mergansers. The best places to view these birds are from the Pt. Folly and Lake Trail observation platforms. Little Pond has become increasingly productive in the past week. That's where the Blue-winged Teal and one of the Wilson's Snipes were observed, along with Northern Harriers, Ospreys, Bald Eagle, and Killdeer. The Little Pond Trail leading in from White's Woods Rd. produced the Palm and Pine Warblers. Palm Warblers were also seen at Pt. Folly along with Swamp Sparrows. Cemetery Pond is producing American Woodcock every evening after sunset. It was also the location of our second Wilson's Snipe sighting. Most of the Fox Sparrow sightings have been at the Museum Feeders and along the Ongley Pond Trail. Please remember to report sightings of these and other birds to us either directly at my e-mail dave (at) whitememorialcc.org or indirectly through the share mechansim at http://www.ebird.org/. By typing in my email address after clicking "share" on the ebird report, a copy of your report will be sent to the White Memorial Foundation Archives. This will really help the bird migration monitoring efforts.

Fox Sparrows have arrived!

Fox Sparrow photo by Bob Stanowski

Yesterday, 3/7/11, WMCC Education Director Jeff Greenwood came back from the Bird Observatory behind the Museum with the exciting news that there were 3 Fox Sparrows under the feeders. These are the first of this species seen on WMF Property in 2011, and the first seen here since mid-November of last year. A little while later, Ray Belding reported 2 at Pt. Folly. Today, I am seeing reports on the ctbirds listserve of Fox Sparrows elsewhere in Litchfield, plus ones in Mansfield, Portland, W. Hartford, and Westport. Obviously, their migration is underway. Being seed-eaters, they naturally have a tendency to gravitate to bird feeders along their migratory route. Those few individuals that winter this far north, including one this year in Winchester Center, stick very close to feeders. They are a ground-feeding species, so they are very unlikely to be found perching on a tube feeder, or even a platform feeder. They are also a bird of shrublands, so they are more likely to be found at bird feeders located close to bushes. When not visiting our feeders during their spring and fall migrations through here (most of them breed in Canada and winter in the southeast and mid-Atlantic states) they can be found in shrubby habitats along the Little Pond, Mill Field, and Apple Hill Trails, and at Pt. Folly. Most of them should be done migrating through southern New England by mid-April.