Thanksgiving Treats

November 22, 2017 – I was visiting Stratford Point a couple of weeks ago when I bumped into our friend Frank Mantlik in the parking lot. He was carrying his scope and tripod back to his car.

“There’s a Harlequin Duck here,” he told me, “male, close enough to the seawall for a good look with binoculars.”

I was on my way to a meeting but went back to my car to grab my binoculars. At the seawall a fellow I didn’t know came right over and pointed to where the bird had just dived. Within seconds it popped up, like a fantastically-patterned bath toy. The sky was overcast, the light even, the water relatively calm; the view was amazing.

Maybe once a year a Harlequin duck visits Long Island Sound. I’m not a big chaser but this accidental sighting was a life bird for me.

Our Bird Finder authors are taking the week off so I’ve compiled a selection of their work from last fall and winter, and the previous fall and winter, as a guide to birds you might want to look for over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The Harlequin didn’t stick around long but you never know, so the first post on the list below is Andy Griswold’s Harlequin post from last winter.

And as always, you can click through the Bird Finder pages on our website. Happy Thanksgiving!

Andy’s Harlequin Duck post.

Scaup are common on the Sound in winter. Greg Hanisek explained where to find them, and how to distinguish between the Greater and the Lesser, in December.

As long as the water remains ice-free, you’ll be able to find Great Blue Herons here, as Mike Aurelia explained.

If you have a bird feeder, look for Sharp-shinned Hawks feeding on the birds you’re feeding. Andy Rzeznikiewicz wrote about them.

And of course, Wild Turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tom Andersen
Director of Communications