Following Friday's Franklin's Gull madness, my focus shifted a bit for the weekend. Saturday, with brisk NW winds, was primed for a migration watch. Julian Hough and I began at Ecology Park in Branford, a capped landfill with fantastic views just a half mile from the coast. We enjoyed a nice morning flight with decent diversity and a few surprises including being buzzed by a migrating SANDHILL CRANE plus several CAVE SWALLOWS.
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| Sandhill Crane |
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| Cave Swallow |
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| Bald Eagle |
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| White-tailed Deer |
From there we joined the gang at Lighthouse Point where the flight was less impressive than we thought it would be. Still, we had nice looks at a subadult GOLDEN EAGLE and a couple more flyby CAVE SWALLOWS. Northern Harriers were the story of the day, with over 60 tallied.
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| Golden Eagle |
Nov 17:
Sunday was beat-the-bushes day in search of vagrant passerines, but I came up empty on that front. I actually ran quickly into Lighthouse Point early to search for roosting Cave Swallows just after sunrise. I found one bird on the ledge of the carousel building.
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| Cave Swallow |
Otherwise it was pretty slow in the landbird department. It did not help that the winds really kicked up stronger than expected for the afternoon. No rarities for me, but I did have a lingering NASHVILLE WARBLER.
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| Nashville Warbler |
That strong low pressure system really delivered with Franklin's Gulls and Cave Swallows making for a very exciting weekend overall. Undoubtedly there are more goodies to be found this week.
- Nick
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