Witnessing Connecticut's first Roseate Spoonbill

Sep 22 2018:

As a birder I wanted to see Connecticut's first Roseate Spoonbill. Many birders were at Milford Point waiting for the spoonbill to flyover the marsh. Soon it was spooked by a boat on the marsh and it quickly flew over the marsh giving poor looks of it, but good views of the pink wings. It was a juvenile bird so it didn't have much pink on it. This bird was first reported in Maine then it came to Connecticut. Connecticut also had 2 other new species of birds in 2018 including the Little Egret (same one that I saw in Rhode Island) and a Black-bellied Whistling Duck in Essex.


Sep 30 2018:
I got an alert that it was roosting at Stratford Marina and I quickly went to see it to get some photos. Soon enough we saw multiple other birders looking at it in a tree roosting with the other Snowy Egrets and night-herons. Here are some photos:

Stretching out

Preening. Poor Snowy Egret probably wants his space!

By Tony Belejack

Birding Highlights 1/29/19

Birding Highlights 1/29/19:
Hi All!

Yesterday I decided to do my last hike for the Big January, meaning you have to find as many birds as you can during January!! I ended up with 83 species (Including a couple of rarities!). I went to multiple places including Long Beach, Stratford Point, Frash Pond, Silver Sands State Park. Silver Sands had some good birds including a Barred Owl (Strix Varia) and some Fish Crows (Corvus ossifragus) and Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus). Long Beach had some HUGE gull flocks! I was able to pick out the continuing Iceland Gull (Larus glaucoides) and a Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus)! Other birds included Sanderling (Calidris alba), Dunlin (Calidris alpina), and a Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius). Frash Pond had 9 Canvasbacks, 2 Hooded Mergansers, and 5-7 Canada Geese. Stratford Point had 6 American Wigeons, 10-11 Common Eiders, 4 Herring Gull, 1 Ring-billed Gull, 1 Greater black -backed Gull and a Northern Harrier. Silver Sands had some Domestic Dog prints and Short Beach had a dead Virginia Opossum. 

Hope you enjoyed this blog post!

Tony

Sanderlings Long Beach Stratford, CT

Herring Gull. Long Beach, Stratford CT

Barred Owl. Silver Sands State Park. Milford,CT

Canvasbacks, Frash Pond. Stratford,CT

                                           

Female Long-tailed Duck. Long Beach Stratford CT

Male Long-tailed Duck. Long Beach,Stratford CT

By Tony Belejack