Wildlife Camera Images -- March 2017

Images recorded at White Memorial Conservation Center Bird Blind, unless stated otherwise on the White Memorial Foundation Property.  Time stamped is Eastern Standard Time, daylight savings time is not used.

 Mammals

Virginia Opossum

Eastern Coyote at Harris Rd. Field

Eastern Coyote at Heron Pond Outlet

Red Fox

Red Fox

Red Fox

Red Fox in StormWise Project along S.R. 63

Raccoon

Piebald White-tailed Deer in StormWise Project along S.R. 63

White-tailed Deer in Harris Rd. Field

Red Squirrel

White-footed Mouse at Heron Pond Outlet

Eastern Gray Squirrel

Birds

American Crow

American Robin

Blue Jay

Mourning Dove

Purple Grackle

Purple Grackle

Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbirds

Male Wild Turkey at Harris Rd. Field

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.

Two More Visits to Little Pond

Green Heron photo from

www.barhorst.org

Great Egret photo from

http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/

Pied-billed Grebe photo by Bob Stanowski

Immature male Red-winged Blackbird

photo by Bob Stanowski

Juvenile Cedar Waxwing

photo by Bob Stanowski

What a difference a week makes! Actually, my visit to Little Pond on the evening of Thursday, 7/28, was only 5 days after our field trip out there on the evening of the 23rd. In that short time span the water levels in the pond and adjacent marsh have dropped a few inches, the Deer Fly population has decreased to a tolerable amount, and the mosquito population has decreased to a million or so. Much of the bird life is the same, with Red-winged Blackbirds, Swamp Sparrows, Cedar Waxwings, and American Goldfinches remaining abundant, but a few more species have arrived on the scene or become more numerous. My main reason for going out to this pond was to look for the Great Egrets that John Marshall and Jeff Greenwood had reported earlier in the day. They were the first ones seen this year on White Memorial property. They also become my first ones for this year when I spotted them right where John and Jeff said they saw them. Whether these birds are early fall southbound migrants from the small nesting population on Lake Champlain or post-breeding wanderers from some Atlantic coastal location we have no way of knowing. They (assuming they were the same ones) were seen again on Friday and Saturday. I couldn't find them on my next visit on Sunday afternoon, 7/31. On my visit on 7/28 I found an early fall migrant Pied-billed Grebe, 2 Green Herons, and a Solitary Sandpiper, none which were found on the 7/23 visit. My visit on the hot afternoon of Sunday, 7/31, turned up a newly-fledged Red-tailed Hawk, but nothing else that we hadn't had on the previous visits. Actually, each of these subsequent visits produced fewer species than the 7/23 visit, which yielded 51 species. On 7/28 I had 43 species and on 7/31 I had 32 species. This is mostly due to my covering much less ground than we did on the 23rd. On that day we went all the way around the entire boardwalk and trail, while my other 2 visits only took me along the north side of the boardwalk. On all 3 days we went in from the S. Lake St. entrance. It is also obvious from the number and variety of birds found that evening is a far better time to go out than afternoon. We've always known that, but these observations reinforce that belief.