West Haven Gulls

After Nick Bonomo's (www.shorebirder.com) great find of a CALIFORNIA GULL* on 4/18, I decided to look for it myself on 4/19 with no luck. But I did end up seeing a good amount of gulls. All were Herring and Ring-bills, but I got some good photos. 97% of the gulls I saw were all in adult breeding plumage. I was surprised to see 3 juvenile Ring-bills. All of these gulls were found at Bradley Point and surrounding areas.

Snowy Egret in breeding plumage

Injured Herring Gull 

Killdeer 

Ring-billed Gull in full adult breeding plumage

*This is a second state record of CAGU in CT (if accepted by the ARCC), the last one was seen in 2016.

- Tony

COA Gull Workshop

Today was the COA's Gull Workshop with Nick Bonomo! We had a great day looking for gulls, with 2 Kumlien's Gulls (Iceland Gull subspecies). No Bonaparte's Gulls, but they will become more common in the next 1-2 weeks in CT. First, after a 90 minute presentation on gulls, we went birding at Stratford Point.

Here are the Stratford Point birds*:
3 Great cormorants, 3 White-winged Scoters, 2 Gadwalls, MANY Atlantic Brant (including a possible Black Brant), 1 Eastern Meadowlark, 1 Osprey, 2 American Oystercatchers (on sandbars near Milford Point), 1 Tree Swallow, not too many gulls, and probably are highlight  was an Ipswich Sparrow (the very local subspecies of Savannah Sparrow, winters in CT). Besides birds we had a Red Fox that was hunting in the fields, allowed us to get good looks and photos.

*NOT ALL BIRDS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS BLOG POST

Then after, we went to Long Beach.
Birds at Long Beach:
2 Kumlien's Gulls (Iceland Gull subspecies), many Herring Gulls (of all ages), Ring-billed Gulls, many Atlantic Brant, 3 Northern Gannets, Long-tailed Ducks, 1 Common Raven, and 8 flyover Great Blue Herons.

Ipswich Sparrow: See how pale this birds, a key mark for identifying Ipswich Sparrows

Red Fox

Eastern Meadowlark

Red Fox

Tree Swallow

                                                                     No Thayer's Gull this year!
                                                                                        
                                                                             - Tony

Mew Gulls in Connecticut

Mew Gulls are rare visitors from Siberia, Europe, and the West Coast of the U.S. 3 of 4 subspecies have been recorded in Connecticut, Larus canus canus (Common Gull, Europe), L.c.kamtschatschensis (Kamchataka Gull, Siberia) and L.c.brachyrhynchus (Short billed Gull, West Coast of U.S.).
Status of Mew Gulls in Connecticut:
Rare but increasing.

It's similar relative the abundant Ring-billed gull, is sometimes misidentified as a Mew Gull. But note that most Mew Gulls don't have a ring around their bill. A ornithological journal on birds in Connecticut (called the Connecticut Warbler) had a article on Mew Gulls in Connecticut, which provided some great info. There have been two Mew Gulls in Connecticut this year (1 in Stamford and 1 in New Haven). Interestingly, both were of the Kamchataka subspecies (It is unknown if the New Haven bird was the same one as the Stamford one).
Looking for Mew Gulls in Connecticut:
------------------------------------------------
Mew Gull is more regular than thought in Connecticut, and any subspecies is a fair game. I recommend searching through Westport to Madison, where plankton feeding seems to occur most often. I suggest looking for Mew Gulls at ANY time of the year, especially through Ring-billed Gull flocks. Out of the many Mew Gull records, one was found inland*.

Top: Ring-billed Gull
Bottom: Kamchataka Gull

Good luck if you go looking for Mew Gulls in Connecticut

By Tony Belejack

*Info by Nick Bonomo (view the Connecticut Warbler April 2017 edition on full article written by Nick Bonomo)

Dark-eyed Juncos in CT

Male Slate-colored Junco

Likely a young male Slate-colored Junco

Dark-eyed Juncos are common throughout Canada and the United States. Also called DEJU by birders who use alpha codes. The only common DEJU is the typical Slate-colored Junco (SCJU). Juncos are highly variable in plumage, which makes identifying different rare subspecies in Connecticut hard. So virtually all the juncos you see will be Slate-colored Juncos (Junco hyemalis ssp. hyemalis), any rare subspecies would need a good photo and good details.
Juncos are commonly found in suburban habitats. The highest count of Dark-eyed Juncos at my feeders is 16.
                                                                       Rare subspecies:
There have been multiple reports of Oregon Junco in Connecticut (according to the maps on eBird). And one report of the Cassiar Junco (J.h. cissmontanus). Cassiar junco shows both characteristics of Oregon and Slate-colored Juncos. If you think you saw a Oregon or Cassiar Junco I would like to know!  Also check out this article on junco ID!: www.oceanwanderers.com/JuncoID.html

Typical Slate-colored Junco male adult

By Tony Belejack

Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are widespread across the Americas. They belong in the taxonomic order called Caprimulgiformes (Nightjars and allies; and swifts) and constitute the biological family Trochilidae. The Rufous Hummingbird has the longest migration of any hummingbird. The only hummingbird that occurs in Connecticut is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), while it's western counterpart the Black Chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) is rare in Connecticut. The genus Calypte belongs to the Costa's and Anna's Hummingbird. The genus Selasphorus it contains 7 (seven) species. Including Allen's, Rufous, Broad-tailed, Scintillant, Glow-throated,Volcano,and Calliope Hummingbirds. Hummingbird beat their heart 1,000 times a minute, which equals 60,000 heartbeats a hour! 

Female Rufous Hummingbird; a rare but regular fall migrant.

Female Rufous Hummingbird. (Both photos are of the same birds. Westport, Connecticut)
By Tony Belejack

Bird Taxonomy and some Bird Subspecies ID

Birds are in the class Aves,  Phylum Chordate, Kingdom Animal. Each species has a Genus like the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata), Steller's Jay the western counterpart of the Blue Jay is also in the Genus Cyanocitta. In this Blog Post I will include some facts about Bird Taxonomy and Subspecies Identification help:

Some birds have had taxon swaps last year, like Downy and Hairy woodpeckers. Which were in the genus Picoides and now in the genus Dryobates. And the Wigeons and Allies are now in the genus Mareca. Pretty interesting! This obviously has to do with taxonomy, for people who don't know. I hope to be a taxonomist. Taxon swaps happen when; the science and process of naming living organisms, is a field that is constantly changing. When our scientific understanding of animal species and their relationships changes, it may mean that scientific names change as well. ... Some species have come to be known by multiple scientific names. Most books like the Sibley Field Guide to Birds are not updated with taxon changes. Subspecies are the different "Types" of the birds that occur in different ranges, though  Fox Sparrow has many different subspecies I personally have seen P.i. iliaca which is the wintering subspecies of Fox Sparrow that occurs in Connecticut. Dark-eyed Juncos often intergrade with other Dark-eyed Junco subspecies. Connecticut has had the Oregon Junco, though not sure if it was J.h. montanus etc. Connecticut also had a Cassiar Junco J.h. cismontanus. I wrote the top stuff in Here is some subspecies ID stuff for Mew Gull: Mew Gulls are common and widespread in Eurasia and Western North America. My friend Jory told me "Subspecies are spread out, and we do not regularly have more than one subspecies of most bird species, the best way to learn about subspecies other than the ones in CT is to read papers, books, and other such resources. All good field guides should show all expected, and some unexpected subspecies found across the US." 

Now, about the Fox Sparrow:
Red Fox Sparrow (P.i. iliaca): This taxon breeds in the taiga of Canada and Alaska and winters in central and eastern North America. This is the brightest colored group.
Sooty Fox Sparrow (P.i. unalaschcensis): This taxon breeds along the Pacific Coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands to northwestern Washington, and winters from southeastern Alaska south to northern Baja California. It is browner and darker than the red fox sparrow.
Slate-colored Fox Sparrow (P.i. schistacea): his taxon breeds in interior western North America and winters to the south and west. It has a gray head and mantle, brown wings, brown breast streaks, and a russet tail.
Thick-billed Fox Sparrow (P.i. megarhyncha) this taxon is mostly restricted to California and Oregon. This group is similar in coloration to the slate-colored fox sparrow, but features a particularly thick bill, as its name would suggest.

Kamchatka Gull (Larus canus kamtschatschensis)

Northern Slate-colored Junco (Junco hyemalis hyemalis)
By Tony Belejack
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Irruption Year

This year happens to be an irruption year meaning the birds from the arctic come down beyond their range looking for food.

What causes Irruption Year?
Every 3-5 years pine trees and crops fail to grow making the redpolls, crossbills, siskins, Bohemian Waxwings, Pine Grosbeaks, and Red-breasted Nuthatch search for food. This irruption year Blue Jays are also leaving from the north in search of nuts because acorn, beechnut,and hazelnut crops were generally poor to low. Most redpolls, Bohemian Waxwings, and Pine Grosbeaks are usually recorded in Litchfield County (Connecticut), while crossbills can be seen in any part of the state.

This year has been good for Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Siskins in Connecticut, I had a flock of 4 Pine Siskins at my feeder and a flyover Evening Grosbeak that was also at my house! 

Crossbills:
Not many crossbills have been reported recently. A White-winged Crossbill was reported 11/11/18  at Sherwood Island SP. Another report was of 2 birds at Bent of the River Sanctuary, Southbury.  Red Crossbills were also reported. The first report of the Red Crossbills was on 11/18/18 at Hoydens Hill Open Space. The couple of other reports were at Barn Island WMA and Harkness Memorial SP in 2018. And one was at Plainfield -- Quinebaug Valley Fish Hatchery on 1/23/19.

Redpolls:
Redpolls have been reported a couple here and there, with a recent one in East Granby (Not to far where a flock of 40 Common Redpolls were seen in Hadley MA). One was in Seymour, then Durham (seen by me), then New London, then the East Granby one. No Hoary Redpolls have been seen yet, but everybody hopes for one! They are usually attracted to thistle (Nyger) seed from the sock feeders. 
 Bohemain Waxwings: None yet!
Pine Grosbeaks: None yet!!

Common Redpolls are another irruptive bird searching farther south to look for weed crops
Photo Courtesy of Monica Nichols 

                                                               

Birds like Red Crossbills search farther south than usual to look for pine trees with pine cones.
Photo Courtesy of Jonathan Layman



For further reference check out the Winter Finch Forecast:
http://jeaniron.ca/2018/wff18.htm

By Tony Belejack
Photos by Jonathan Layman and Monica Nichols