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Showing posts from December, 2018

CT DOVEKIE

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Today's well-timed sou'easter delivered a substantial alcid flight to the western RI coast, with some trickling in to CT waters. The key for us in Connecticut is the wind direction - winds out of the southeast are best because our coast is south-facing. Northeast wind, which is great for places like Andrews Point and Race Point in Massachusetts, doesn't work so well for us. Today's winds were sustained around 30mph per buoy data in eastern Long Island Sound, which is enough to pin alcids against a shoreline. A mid-morning report from Rhode Island, where Chris Raithel was seeing hundreds of westward-bound Razorbills, kicked my lazy butt into gear and sent me to Stonington Point, the eastern-most point of land in CT. Here, Russ Smiley and Dave Provencher had already been watching. Apparently the early morning was quiet at this site, but Dave had his first Razorbill not long after arriving just before 11am. I pulled in at 11:30 and they had a few RAZO on the water. The

Narragansett, Rhode Island

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I have spent surprisingly little time birding Rhode Island over the years, especially considering how often I have driven through the state, particularly when I was attending Stonehill College in Easton, MA. Still, I know that the Ocean State has some fine habitat to offer birders. In fact, birding just over the CT/RI state line into Washington County, RI is a sad reminder that modest tracts of public ocean-facing land are so close to my home state...and yet it feels so far. Connecticut, of course, lacks a true sea coast, as we are essentially blocked by Long Island and Fishers Island. The Rhode Island coast doesn't really "stick out there" like eastern MA or Long Island, but it sure beats Connecticut, at least for those of us who feel drawn to the sea. On this seasonable windless December day I found myself in Narragansett and aimed to spend the afternoon poking around the coastline. I'm quite sure this was actually my first time birding here, unless you want to