Weekend CT birds

Nov 16:
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.

Sandhill Crane

Cave Swallow



Bald Eagle

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.


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.

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.



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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