Cemetery Pond is Really Good, Too!

Black-crowned Night-Heron adult

from www.commons.wikimedia.org

Black-crowned Night Heron immature

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

Wood Duck photo by Paul Fusco

from http://www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com/

Lesser Yellowlegs photo from

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

Greater Yellowlegs photo by Paul Fusco

from http://www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com/

The last two postings raved about Little Pond and all of the birds that we've seen out there in the past 10 days. However, Cemetery Pond can be very productive, too, especially from mid-July through late October. Throughout most of this time Wood Ducks are very numerous. This is a very important place for hens to bring their broods of young in July and August to feed on an abundance of zooplankton, and for adults to molt to their feathers from late July through early September. It is also a very important place for migrants to stop and feed. The highlights there this week, along with the Wood Ducks (39 last evening), were an adult and immature Black-crowned Night-Heron found by Mike Doyle on Saturday, 7/31, and seen again by Fran Zygmont and myself last evening, and as many as 8 Green Herons there last evening. These can all be seen fairly well with binoculars. The shorebirds are most often seen feeding in the mud on the north side of the pond where the Phragmites has been exterminated. They really like this open expanse. Last evening we saw 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 7 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 4 Killdeer feeding in this patch. Some of the other birds seen last evening were a Great Blue Heron, a Hairy Woodpecker, a Willow Flycatcher with 2 fledglings, 6 adult and 5 fledgling Eastern Kingbirds, 90 Barn Swallows heading in to roost in the Cattails around the Pond, 5 Marsh Wrens singing from these Cattails, 120 American Robins heading in to roost in the Woods north of the Pond, and 16 Cedar Waxwings. These birds, along with all of the usual common species, made for a list of 37 species seen and/or heard at this "hot spot" from 7:20 until 8:40 p.m. yesterday. And for those readers who don't know where Cemetery Pond is, it is located at the intersection of White's Woods Rd. and Constitution Way in Litchfield. Both streets afford a fair amount of safe parking, but one does need to be on the lookout for speeding traffic at all times while walking or standing along the sides of these streets. This pond is also across the street (White's Woods Rd.) from St. Anthony's Cemetery, which is another good birding spot, and is one of our Cerceris Wasp monitoring locations.

An Evening at Little Pond

Gray Catbird photo from www.tringa.org

Pileated Woodpecker photo by

Leo Kulinski, Jr. from http://www.whalesandwolves.com/

Least Sandpiper photo from http://www.tringa.org/

Killdeer photo from www.gpnc.org

Great Blue Heron photo by Sean Casini

This past Saturday, 7/23/11, 6 intrepid souls braved hot, humid weather, a million mosquitoes, and thousands of Deer Flies to go on an adventure around the Little Pond Boardwalk with me from 6 p.m. until dark. We went in from the end of S. Lake St. on the boardwalk connector. Gray Catbirds were abundant along this stretch, as well as along much of the main boardwalk. Many of them were feeding fledglings. Large numbers of adult and juvenile American Robins and adult Cedar Waxwings were also found in these places dominated by berry-producing bushes. When we got to the main boardwalk we turned left and followed it clockwise around the pond. The east side produced the aforementioned species and other common birds. The south side, especially near Sutton's Bridge, produced lots of Swamp Sparrows with fledglings, an Alder Flycatcher, a couple of Willow Flycatchers, a pair of very feisty Eastern Kingbirds with fledglings, 16 flyover Killdeer, a fly-over Wood Duck and Pileated Woodpecker, a Fish Crow, a Muskrat, and a juvenile Northern Leopard Frog. Bird life along the west side mirrored that found along the east side. The north side produced the most action, as it always does. With my spotting scope we watched a hen Common Merganser with 4 young feeding out in the Pond, and 9 Killdeer, a Spotted Sandpiper, 4 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and 4 Least Sandpipers feeding in the mud between the Bantam River's inlet and outlet. Right along the boardwalk we saw more Willow and Alder Flycatchers, Eastern Kingbirds, Cedar Waxwings, and Swamp Sparrows, plus 5 Marsh Wrens and a Purple Finch. We heard a juvenile Virginia Rail calling from the big patch of sedge hummocks, but didn't see it. Two Great Blue Herons kept a respectable distance between each other along the Pond's shoreline. At dusk a total of 5 Beavers traversed various parts of the pond. At that point we exited to S. Lake St., hot, sweaty, and bit-up, but satisfied to have seen and/or heard 51 species of birds plus plenty of other wildlife and plants. All-in-all it was a successful and educational field trip.