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.

Bald Eagle & Other Spring Migrants

Adult Bald Eagle photo by Paul Fusco

This past Saturday, March 5th, was the first really spring-like day that northwest CT. has experienced since the New Year's weekend. The temperature rose to 52 degrees during a brief period of sunshine in the early afternoon. It was during this time that we filled the bird feeders and did some other outside work. The highlight was looking up and seeing an immature Bald Eagle flying over the Museum Area. It had come in rather low from the southeast, and then turned and headed due north; all the while circling and gaining altitude. In all likelihood, it had descended earlier to the mostly frozen Bantam River or Lake to look for a meal. Unlike the one in the photo above, the bird that I saw was a second-year immature. It was discernable as such by a mainly black beak and dark eye. It also had a heavily mottled brown and white underbody and underwings, brown and white tail, and completely brown upperbody and upperwings. Its presence overhead didn't seem to phase the large, mixed flock of blackbirds at the Bird Observatory's feeders. Their numbers have increased noticably in the past few days. This day's count consisted of 75 Red-winged Blackbirds and 27 Common Grackles. Oddly, there were no Brown-headed Cowbirds with them. Since Song Sparrows hadn't been seen at these feeders since late December, it is likely that the bird present here this day was an early spring migrant. The mixed flock of 21 American Robins and 15 Cedar Waxwings eating fruit in the Red Cedar tree behind the Activity Shed could have been early spring migrants or over-wintering birds. Virtually all of the birds seen around the Museum Area this day were also singing. Especially vocal were American Tree Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Red-winged Blackbirds. They all made it sound like spring!

What killed this White-tailed Deer?

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We received a report from several people about a fresh white-tailed deer carcass in Pine Island on Wednesday March 2, 2011.  The body was slightly warm and the limbs were starting to get stiff with rigor-mortis.  There were a couple differences about this animal that made me wonder how the animal had died.  The first thing that intrigued me was that it was located about 50 feet north of Bissell Rd., so I wondered if this animal was struck by a car and walked a short distance into the woods and died.  The other odd thing is that the animal died right in the center of the Mattatuck Trail with no obvious signs of struggle.  Deer and other wildlife frequently use the human trails to travel when the snow is deep because the snow is compacted on the trail and it is easier to walk on.  However, I did not observe any tracks or sign in close proximity of the carcass that indicated a predator could have killed the animal.  The animal's hind quarters were injured, which may suggest a coyote had attacked it before and it died some time after.  But these injuries could have been caused by scavengers because there was not a large amount of blood lost on the snow near the injury.  American crows were observed scavenging the animal on other body parts.  There were no other external injuries that suggested it was hurt by a vehicle.  So, why and how did animal die? Was it hit on the road by a vehicle? Did a predator injure it, which lead to its death?  Did this animal die because it was an extreme winter and it died from exposure?  The scavengers were already working on the carcass and I had to make a fast decision.  I decided to do a quick necropsy to see what clues I could find.  Check back for future blog entries this week to learn what I discovered.

White-tailed deer carcass after I performed a quick necropsy
to examine what may have caused it death.
Photo By James Fischer

Next Blog Entry:

What killed this White-tailed Deer? Part 2: Sex Determination and Tooth Wear Pattern

Advisory:  Please do not touch, feed, or disturb wild animals of unknown origin.  If you see an animal in distress please contact a licensed animal control officer, licensed wildlife rehabilitator, or other trained and certified wildlife professional.  You may expose yourself or the animal to unnecessary injury, distress, or disease.  This procedure was performed by a professional wildlife biologist who took proper precautions to avoid exposure to pathogens and other potential human-wildlife diseases.