Clay-colored Sparrow at Hammonasset

The highlight of a relatively slow morning at Hammo today was this CLAY-COLORED SPARROW mixed in with a flock of Chippies. While sparrow migration peaks locally in October, Clay-colored is an early migrant that is usually first reported by mid-September. This eastward-pushing species is still scarce in Connecticut but I usually run into a couple each fall if I get out enough.

Clay-colored Sparrow
 - NB

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Warblers in Flight: A Photographic Collection

While active migration has always been my favorite bird behavior to observe, my interest in the phenomenon called “morning flight” of nocturnal migrants had been minimal due to the unfortunate reality that I lived well over an hour’s drive from the nearest known reliable observation site, Bluff Point State Park in Groton, CT. In autumn 2020, thanks to improved public access to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, CT, I began to explore the northern tip of Willard’s Island as a morning flight viewpoint and was pleased to find that under the right conditions a reliable flight could be observed there. The volume of birds passing through is not large (a small fraction of what passes through Bluff Point), but the flight line is consistent and can be observed under good lighting conditions. Between autumns 2020-22 I visited the site 20 times in total and recorded 27 warbler species in morning flight. All but a few of these have been photographed, often poorly! I immediately found mysel
Read more

Last winter's gull review

Today's cooler, blustery conditions combined with the appearance of an Ivory Gull in Cape May got me thinking more about the upcoming gull season and reflecting on last year's. The 2008-09 gulling in the northeast was pretty damn good and included a few really exciting birds. The season started out with a bang exactly one year ago today with CT's first Slaty-backed Gull . On 12/12 an adult Thayer's Gull put in a brief appearance at the Windsor-Bloomfield Landfill, CT's premier gull hotspot, followed by a first-winter bird on 12/23. A Black-headed Gull spent the winter in New Haven Harbor. Perhaps 'gull of the year' was a subadult Glaucous-winged Gull in Rochester, NH, found by Scott Young...a first record for New England. Meanwhile Gloucester, MA was once again the gull capital of New England. I happened to already be up in Boston when news of an adult Ivory Gull broke on 1/17. I still get chills thinking about that weekend. Of course there were plenty
Read more

Just Announced: Tour to the Pantanal and Jardim da Amazonia, Brazil - Sep 2024

Image
I am very excited to be returning to Brazil's Pantanal in 2024, this time as a guide for Sunrise Birding . This will be my third tour to this must-see region. For those not familiar, the Pantanal is the world's largest freshwater wetland and is THE place to see Jaguar in the wild. In addition to other fascinating mammals such as Tapir, Giant Otter, Maned Wolf and Giant Anteater, the area boasts several hundred species of birds in beautiful open savannah and riverine habitat. The birds there are not shy and tend to be quite photogenic in fact. Join us on what promises to be an unforgettable adventure. CLICK HERE for more information. Hope to see you there! In the meantime, here are a few images from my most recent visit, with Connecticut Audubon Society.  - Nick
Read more