Hammo 8/27/19

Today I went to Hammo in search of the Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 

Weather: Sunny with a slight overcast. 

Overview:
We arrived at 9:00, and quickly drove to the West End. Where the Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpiper were yesterday. We quickly found the Baird's Sandpiper. Lifer #231! I grabbed some shots of the bird. Then we went to the West End Fields to look for the Buff-breasted Sandpiper. We searched for a while but no luck. We then went to Meigs Point. Where there was a bunch of Canadian Geese and Tree Swallows. A few Ring-billed, Herring, and Great black-backed Gull were in the flock, but no Buffy Sandpiper! I looked at the pond on the right of the Meigs Point parking lot and found a Little Blue Heron, a new county bird. We left Meig's Point to go back to see the Baird's Sandpiper and look again for the Buffy. No luck with the Buffy. So we left. UPDATE: AS I AM WRITING THIS POST SOMEBODY FOUND THE BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER!!!. 

Baird's Sandpiper

Baird's Sandpiper

Baird's Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Herring Gull

Killdeer

Osprey

Mute Swan family

Double-crested Cormorant 

Great-black Backed Gull

Canada Goose honking

Milford Point and Sandy Point 8/18

Hey y'all,
Today I went to Sandy Point with Eli Holton and then to Milford Point. 

Weather: cloudy then sunny. Temperature: 90 F

Overview of Sandy Point:
We picked Eli up from the Eli Whitney Museum than drove to Sandy Point. When we arrived we quickly got out of the car. Once we entered on to the trail we were getting bit by mosquitoes. Right away we saw a Marsh Wren and a Bank Swallow! Both lifers for me! We moved on to the pond area where we saw a few Clapper Rails, Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Greater Yellowlegs, and a Lesser Yellowlegs, a lifer for me!   We ran into Sean Milnes. We then looked out into the LIS where we saw a few Common Terns, Black bellied plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, and the other usual suspects, including Fiddler Crabs! We left without seeing the previously reported Whimbrel. While we were walking back we ran into Greg Hanisek.
                                                            Sandy Point Photos:

Great Blue Heron

Fiddler Crab

Tagged American Oystercatcher

 Black-bellied Plover

Herring Gull

Molting male Black-bellied Plover

Black-bellied Plover

                                                                       Milford Point:

After Sandy Point we went to Milford Point. First we went to the Wheeler Marsh platform by the parking lot, and Eli found a Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Then we were joined at the platform by Jo Fasciolo, who found a Short-billed Dowitcher, a lifer for me, and then found a Spotted Sandpiper. We made our way to the sandbars. There were tons of Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Plovers, and Semipalmated Sandpipers. We moved onto to another spot that had least  1,000 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 15 Sanderlings, 20 Semipalmated Plovers, and 1 Piping Plover. Further down the sand bar Jo found a Red Knot! A few passersby flushed the bird so I didn't see it, but Eli did. We moved on to the tern colony. There was the continuing Brant, Great black-backed Gulls, Laughing Gulls, American Oystercatchers, Common and Least Tern. Eli found himself a Roseate Tern! A lifer for him. I found another Roseate Tern, then shortly after Jo found a Solitary Sandpiper, lifer for Eli and year bird for me! We moved onto to another spot where there were a lot of Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers and Short-billed Dowitchers. Eli re-found the Red Knot! The flock flew off and finally I saw the Red Knot in flight! Lifer!!!
                                                                             Milford Point Photos:
                                                                                                

Me (left), Eli (right)

                                                                                   

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Barn Swallow

Dead Horseshoe Crab tag

Semipalmated Plover

American Oystercatchers

Continuing Brant

Baby Least Tern

Mute Swan

Mute Swan

Black-bellied Plover

Well today was very successful! 2 lifers for Eli, 5 for me
- Tony

                                                               

Milford Point 7/28/19

Hi,
Today I went to Milford Point for my birthday with 3 of Connecticut's top birders, Frank Gallo, Greg Hanisek, and Nick Bonomo. It was a very successful day.

Weather:
Sunny and windy. At least 91 degrees (Fahrenheit). 

Overview:

 We met in the parking lot. While we were waiting for Frank to come Greg and I headed up to the Wheeler Marsh viewing platform. Greg spotted two Spotted Sandpipers (a new year bird for me) and I spotted a Least Sandpiper. Then Nick spotted a juvenile Northern Harrier. We took a look at the young Ospreys that had just left the nest. They were flapping their wings. As we walked onto the sandbars we saw a bunch of peeps and few Semipalmated Plovers. We moved onto the next spot where we studied some Calidris. We saw a lot of Semipalmated Sandpipers, a Sanderling or two, Piping Plovers, and a few Semipalmated Plovers. We watched them for about 10 minutes coming into the sandbars. After that we moved onto to see the tern colony. While we were walking I found a little fledgling Piping Plover. Then Frank quickly found the continuing juvenile Black Tern. He let me take a quick look at it with his scope. As usual the terns flew away, but I was very lucky to get a shot of the Black Tern in flight. We headed to the sandbar that the terns flew to and Frank re-found the Black Tern. Nick and Frank found a few Roseate Terns. They taught me a few things about tern ID, like that Common Terns lose the black tip of their bill. They also taught me a few things about Roseate Tern ID. We stayed at least an hour looking at the terns. Then Stefan Martin joined us while we walked back to the parking lot. When we got to the parking lot we all said goodbye.

Juvenile Common Tern

American Oystercatcher

Black Tern

Black-bellied Plover

Great Egret

Purple Martin

Sanderling (back left), Semipalmated Plover (front left), Semipalmated Sandpiper (right)

Semipalmated Sandpiper (back left) and Piping Plover (front right)

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Common Tern flyover

Least Sandpiper

Least Tern

Molting female Northern Harrier

Recently fledged Osprey

Piping Plover

Piping Plover chick

Juvenile Piping Plover

Female Purple Martin

Ruddy Turnstone

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Snowy Egret

Me (left) and Nick (right). Taking a birdwatching selfie.

                                                       

Hammo 6/3/19

Hi ya'll!
I went to Hammonasset State Beach Park today in search of the White-faced Ibis. It was awfully quiet. I went to the bird blind and saw nothing (except Red-winged Blackbirds). I then searched the puddles at the Meig's Point Nature Center Parking Lot, I found a Boat-tailed Grackle 
Overall it was a very quiet day for birds.





                                                             -Tony