Trail Camera Sessions: Interpretive Trail Wetland

As part of the White Memorial Conservation Center's wildlife survey and monitoring

efforts, trail cameras are placed across many fascinating parts of the property. 

We hope to capture videos of several interesting species of wildlife, including species not

often seen here at White Memorial. 

This week our biologists monitored a small wetland community along our museum

interpretive trail. 

Can you spot and identify all the wildlife in the video highlight reel below?

Check back for more interesting trail camera videos throughout the summer season!

Bantam Lake Finally Freezes Over!

Bantam Lake's Outlet as viewed from the

Pt. Folly observation platform in a photo

taken by Ashley Hayes 5 weeks before the rest

of the Lake iced-over on 1/16/2012

Bald Eagles, photo by Paul Fusco from

www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com

Canada Geese photo by Bob Stanowski

Mallard photo from www.wikimedia.org

Northern Pintail photo by Tom Munson

from www.fishandgameidaho.gov

As of yesterday, 1/16/2012, most of Bantam Lake had frozen over. This is amazingly late! As usual, the Outlet and the Bantam River downstream all the way to Rt. 209 has remained ice-free. This is typical except in the most severely cold winters. Though much of the waterfowl that had been seen daily at the Lake so far this winter left in the past 3 days, huge numbers of Canada Geese and Mallards, along with fair numbers of American Black Ducks and Ring-necked Ducks, 3 Lesser Scaup, a Northern Pintail, 3 Hooded Mergansers, and at least 101 American Coots have remained in the open water of the Outlet. The geese and Mallards have fallen into a winter activity mode of foraging in cornfields in Litchfield, Morris, Bethlehem, Warren, and Goshen by day, and roosting at the Outlet from sunset until sunrise. Thus, it is best to look for these birds either from the N. Shore Rd. bridge over the Bantam River or the Pt. Folly observation platform between 7 and 8 a.m. or 4 and 5:30 p.m. Any other time of day will produce a lot less. This has been highlighted by our counts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The morning observations, made by Mike Doyle, produced counts of 725, 500, 800, and 800 Canada Geese and 3, 52, 5, and 13 Mallards for these 4 days, respectively. John Eykelhoff didn't find more than 65 Canada Geese and 10 Mallards on his noon-time visits here these days. However, Jim Kandefer and I counted 1,075 Canada Geese and 500 Mallards coming in to roost here between 4:30 p.m. and dark on Monday, and Jim Dugan and I counted 675 Canada Geese and 175 Mallards doing the same thing during the same time frame on Wednesday. No evening counts were conducted on Tuesday or Thursday. During both evening counts, more geese and Mallards flew in from the north than from the south. We didn't see any fly in from the east or west. It doesn't appear as though many of the 65 American Black Ducks that we saw come in Wednesday evening stayed, as only 9 were counted at the Outlet the next morning. We haven't been able to relocate the hen Northern Pintail that we saw Monday evening. The numbers of American Coots and Lesser Scaup have been dropping steadily all week as these birds exit the area. Greg Hanisek saw a Greater Scaup there Wednesday mid-morning, but we haven't been able to find that bird again. Some birds do only drop in to rest here for a few hours before moving on. As many as 4 Bald Eagles hanging around the Outlet at various times has also been a disincentive for some birds to stay here. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the winter brings.

Bald Eagle Update

Both Bald Eagle photos by Paul Fusco

Bald Eagle activity has picked-up around Bantam Lake in the past 2 weeks. A minimum of 4 birds have been seen during this time period, including an adult male with a silver band on his right leg and a gold band on his left leg. He was seen at Pt. Folly and/or North Bay on the 17th, 19th, 26th, 28th, and today. In all cases his leg bands were seen, but the numbers on them couldn't be read, even with a 60X spotting scope. Since his behavior is territorial and he seems to be rather unconcerned about humans, he might be the same adult male that was on territory here all of last year and 2009. That bird also carried silver and gold leg bands and didn't seem to be afraid of people. Eagles with gold leg bands were banded as nestlings in Massachusetts, which now has a sizeable population of breeding pairs. Many of these are located in suburban areas, so the young eagles have grown up accustomed to people. That would be a necessity for any eagle attempting to nest on the shores of Bantam Lake, given the fact that it is such a popular recreation area. The adult male last year and the year before was paired with an adult female. They put small piles of sticks in at least 5 trees, and a bigger pile that came to look like a nest in a very large White Pine tree. This type of nesting behavior is common among Bald Eagles, and is referred to as house keeping. It typically occurs one or two years before the eagles really settle down to breed. A glitch in this process occured early last summer when a 5th-year subadult female eagle showed-up at Bantam Lake. During the first few days of her presence she made it known by being very vocal. Then we witnessed her perching next to the adult male and engaging in aerial duals with the adult female. These activities were observed periodically throughout the summer. All 3 of these birds departed by early November. Where they went is anybody's guess. With the adult male (assuming it is him) back as of the 17th, we were wondering when or if we would see either of the females. Yesterday, I observed an adult male which could have been him perched right next to a 5th-year subadult female in a tree at the Litchfield Town Beach. Neither of them seemed to be concerned about my presence, and they remained perched there for the entire 45 minutes that I was there. My observation on the 26th involved the adult male chasing 6 Mallards and 2 Wood Ducks from the Litchfield Town Beach Cove straight at me as I was standing on the boat ramp. The ducks veered to the right about 50' from me, but the eagle kept coming, and made his right turn when he was 20' over my head. I could see his leg bands clearly, but couldn't read the numbers on them because he was moving too fast. The ducks made a clean getaway, and the eagle circled a few times before heading east toward Old Camp Townsend. The 2 eagles that I observed at Pt. Folly on the 25th were immature females (2nd-year and 3rd-year). They haven't been seen there since that day. If anyone reading this post observes eagles at Bantam Lake or elsewhere on White Memorial property, please let me know by e-mailing me at dave@whitememorialcc.org.

Recent waterfowl surveys at Bantam Lake

Greater White-fronted Goose photo from

dfw.state.or.us via Google Images

Male Wood Duck photo by Bob Stanowski

Male Hooded Merganser photo by

Bob Stanowski

Waterfowl surveying at Bantam Lake's Outlet, which is on N. Shore Rd., has produced an increasing number and variety of birds this week. On Tuesday, 3/8, I focused on counting ducks and geese as they came in to roost between 5:15 p.m. and dark. Most of these birds had spent the day feeding in cornfields around Litchfield, Morris, Bethlehem, and Warren. Among the 1,650 Canada Geese that came in were a Greater White-fronted Goose, a Canada x Greater White-fronted Goose Hybrid, and a Cackling Goose. These are all quite rare in Connecticut. Also seen were 3 Wood Ducks, 45 American Black Ducks, 100 Mallards, 14 Ring-necked Ducks, 26 Hooded Mergansers, and 25 Common Mergansers. Things were a little different when I conducted the survey between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Friday, 3/11. Most of the Canada Geese were probably still out feeding in area cornfields, as only 325 were counted at the Outlet. These were mostly feeding in the flooded bottomland downstream from the Outlet bridge. With them were 16 Wood Ducks, 185 Mallards, and 1 American Black Duck. The open water closer to Pt. Folly held our first Bufflehead and 2 Common Goldeneyes of 2011. Also there, were 34 Ring-necked Ducks, 5 Hooded Mergansers, and 17 Common Mergansers. Since the bulk of the northbound spring waterfowl migration occurs in March it will be interesting to see what surveys every few days turn up. These will be expanded as the month progresses (and as ice diminishes) to include all of Bantam Lake, plus Little and Cemetery Ponds. Any help with this effort from our readership would be much-appreciated.

Early Spring Migrant Birds

Canada Geese photographed at

Bantam Lake by Bob Stanowski

Eastern Bluebird photographed at

White Memorial by Bob Stanowski

It may be February 25th, and it may only be 34 degrees outside with a cold rain, but some birds are migrating back to and through Connecticut, anyway. Most of these early birds are short distance migrants that spent the winter in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. The previous blog post of mine touched upon some of these birds, along with an unusually early American Woodcock. Since then, more of the "regular" early spring migrants have arrived or increased in number. Chief among these are blackbirds, bluebirds, and Canada Geese. Even though White Memorial's Museum feeders have hosted up to 12 Red-winged Blackbirds all winter, we now can safely say that the migrants are here. The numbers around the Museum have increased somewhat, there are now a few at the Bantam Lake Outlet, and a mixed flock of 60 Red-wings and 20 Common Grackles has joined the European Starlings at Arethusa Farm. Eastern Bluebirds had been scarce around White Memorial during January and the first half of February, but we counted a combined total of approximately 25 around the Museum Area, along Webster Rd., and at the Bantam Lake Outlet for the Great Backyard Bird Count this past long weekend. This count only produced about 300 Canada Geese and 75 Mallards at the Bantam Lake Outlet. These have been typical numbers all winter. Therefore, it is highly likely that many of the 1210 Canada Geese, 155 Mallards, 34 American Black Ducks, and 16 Common Mergansers that I counted there last evening were newly arrived migrants. It should be noted for anyone visiting the Outlet that the number of birds is a lot lower in the morning and throughout much of the day because many of them go elsewhere to feed, and many of the new arrivals that have migrated all day don't settle in until evening. It is quite a spectacular sight to see wave upon wave of geese coming in to land in this relatively small area. If you wish to witness this yourself in the next week or so, you should park off N. Shore Rd. near Pt. Folly, and either walk to the Pt. Folly observation platform or walk down N. Shore Rd. to the Outlet bridge. High snow banks are currently making it impossible to park at the Outlet bridge.