Shorebirder

The Raven Lunatics were back at it this year on our quest for 200. Our team of Frank Gallo, Dave Provencher, Dave Tripp, Fran Zygmont and myself (no Patrick Dugan for the second year in a row) ran our statewide CT Big Day on May 16th this year, our earliest run yet. We finally surpassed our previous record of 192, which we set all the way back in 2011 . So, yeah, it took us seven years to get back to that level! History : This team has been doing Big Days in CT since 2009, with a couple years off sprinkled in there. Despite not having set a new team record in seven whole years, we have been inching our average forward throughout this process. Now we expect to at least approach 190 every time. As we continue to refine our route and strategy each year, we feel that 200 species is now within reasonable striking distance. It'll happen one of these years, but it's going to take some luck...always a necessary piece of the Big Day puzzle. Scheduling and Weather : Per usual we...

Good morning all, This year the Raven Lunatics (Frank Gallo, Dave Provencher, Dave Tripp, Fran Zygmont, and Nick Bonomo) will be doing a statewide CT Big Day. The Litchfield Hills Audubon Society has been kind enough to organize a fundraiser to support their educational programs in conjunction with our Big Day. I know there have already been a couple fundraisers for larger organizations posted here recently. The smaller organizations like LHAS could really use our help, as *100%* of pledges will be put towards educational programs such as their “Audubon Adventures” and Scholarship programs for young people. This is really important to us, as we want some good to come from our efforts, as well as helping offset our carbon footprint as we circle the state in search of birds. Please see the link below for more information and a pledge form. The due date of May 16th is very flexible, so please keep any pledges coming after then! http://lhasct.org/www.lhasct.org/HOME.html You ca...

I had Tuesday, April 10th, off from work and the weather was crap. Cold and wet. It's been the theme of the "spring" so far. Loads of gulls still around, so I spent a few hours in the afternoon specifically seeking out Bonaparte's Gulls in search of a Little Gull. I hadn't seen a Little Gull in CT in three years, so I was due and didn't want to miss again this year. Their window of passage has narrowed over the years and now they are almost exclusively seen during the first half of April. They used to be more spread out through March into April. Now they're rarely seen in March at all. I came across Bonaparte's Gulls at four locations along the coast, the last of which held a good 75 or so birds. No sign of any Little Gulls when I arrived, but I would walk onto the flats and hang out for a bit since this would be my last stop. Soon there happened to be a slight turnover of Bonaparte's...several took off, while some flew in from Long Island Sound ...

On Saturday, April 7th, some 45 birders attended COA 's annual Gull Workshop. At Stratford Point I gave a presentation on gull ID that was followed by a field session. During a break in the indoor segment, Stefan Martin relocated a thayeri -type ICELAND GULL that Patrick Comins had found the previous day. It was part of a small flock of gulls that were scraping recently-attached barnacle larvae off the rocks at the point. I had expected that we would be running up and down the coast in search of these wandering plankton-feeding flocks, but as it turned out, we never had to leave Stratford. The field session started at the Seawall, where a couple of flocks began plankton-feeding close enough to shore for study. Bonaparte's Gulls were scattered among the abundant Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, and we had upwards of 10+ of our standard kumlieni Iceland Gulls in the area at once. The first cycle "Kumlien's" Gulls are bleached pretty much white by this point...

Today between errands I stopped by the Oyster River mouth in Milford/West Haven, CT as I do often this time of year. The gulling at this location this season has been inconsistent, so I was pleased to find about 600 birds roosting on the flats at low tide today. It turned out to be a really fun flock to sort through. Nothing super rare, but a bit of variety and some really fascinating individuals. We'll start with the anomalous Ring-billed Gulls. First, the dark first cycle. Black legs, black-and-yellow bill, dark plumage aspect. Probably the coolest-looking Ringer I've seen in person. Vaguely reminiscent in some ways of "Picasso," a presumed screwed-up RBGU that was seen in the northeast a couple years ago. (Trying Facebook link...may or may not work.) Next, the leucistic one. This bird is just as confusing to me, mostly because I'm having trouble ageing it. I first saw what I assume to be the same bird exactly two years ago, in ...