Indigo Bunting
Passerina cyanea
What it looks like: The males are a brilliant deep blue in spring and summer. Females and young birds are a chocolate brown. In fall during migration the males molt into the brown color but the oldest males will still retain a few blue feathers. Indigo Buntings are a little over five inches long, or similar in size to a goldfinch.
White-faced Ibis
Plegadis chihi
Where to find it: White-faced Ibis, an uncommon visitor to Connecticut’s coast this month, is a colonial nesting species, building its nest in low shrubs and bushes.
American Bittern
Botaurus lentiginosus
Where to find it: American Bitterns breed in a variety of freshwater marshes with tall vegetation, but are fairly localized and secretive inland-nesting birds in Connecticut. In summer, it’s possible to find them in any well vegetated marsh in Connecticut.
Purple Martins are among the at-risk bird species whose plight can be improved with well-planned bird houses, as we noted last year in our Connecticut State of the Birds 2013 report. Milan Bull, our senior director of science and education, has been working with Friends of Sherwood Island, in Westport, to establish a colony this […]
Common Yellowthroat
Geothlypis trichas
What it looks/sounds like: The well-marked males have a bright yellow throat, and are dramatically masked like a thief, while the female and young are bright but non-descript yellowish warblers. That is to say, they have no distinct eye-rings, bars, stripes, or other significant marks.
Orchard Oriole
Icterus spurius
Where to find it: The Orchard Oriole is usually found in large trees or shrubs near water and in some cases in open areas with scattered trees and shrubs. Orchard Orioles return to Connecticut in early May and begin to migrate back to their wintering areas as early as mid-July. Connecticut Audubon Society’s Center at Pomfret has an increasing population of breeding Orchard Orioles.
Alder Flycatcher
Empidonax alnorum
What it looks like: A small hunter of insects, the Alder Flycatcher is one of the interesting members of the Tyrant flycatcher family. The Empidonax genus within this family is made up of nondescript dull olive individuals who are most reliably differentiated from one another by their unique songs and calls.
May 27, 2014 – The Raven Luna-ticks√ made the most of their Big Day Challenge last week, tallying 188 species but falling short of the team’s Connecticut record (192) and also of the long-shot goal of 200 species.
Red Knot
Calidris cornutus
The Red Knot is a shorebird typically found along the Connecticut coastline during northbound and southbound migration. This member of the sandpiper family (family Scolopacidae – sandpipers, dowitchers, phalaropes, woodcock, and snipes) is one of a number of shorebirds that passes through our state during migration, but does not breed here, preferring instead the tundra of the Arctic north.
Cape May Warbler
Setophaga tigrina
Where to find it: Mid-May is the peak migration period for Cape May and many other warbler species within Connecticut. Cape May Warblers are a bird of the predominately evergreen northern boreal forests, whose numbers are tied to the abundance of spruce budworm, their primary summer food source. As with most migrants, they may be found in variety of habitats during migration, although, they are often found in evergreen trees, especially spruce, and in flowering trees.
May 14, 2014 – This has been an amazing week for bird migration, especially for warblers, which for some are the prize of spring migration. Last Friday, we had 17 species of warblers at Birdcraft Sanctuary. On Saturday, we topped that, with 20 species: Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Black & White Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, […]
Piping Plover
Charadrius melodus
Where to Find It: Piping Plovers can now be found in many beach areas of our state, including our Milford Point Coastal Center, 1 Milford Point Road. Piping Plovers have also been seen at Long Beach in Stratford, Griswold Point in Old Lyme, and Sandy Point in West Haven.
Connecticut Audubon Society is joining with Fairfield residents and officials in calling for the construction of safety barriers along Interstate 95, near where the highway’s rest stops. Connecticut Audubon Society President Alexander R. Brash wrote the following letter to Commissioner James P. Redeker of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, among others. April 22, 2014 Dear […]
An Action Alert from the President of Connecticut Audubon Society Dear Friends, In 2011, the state of Connecticut reached a deal with a developer to swap valuable state-owned conservation land along the Connecticut River for a less valuable parcel inland. After much effort, conservationists managed to defeat that deal. But lands in Connecticut that were […]
Connecticut Audubon Society’s birding team is working to raise more than $5,000 in support of the Coastal Center at Milford Point by finding 200 bird species in a single day in Connecticut, as part of the Connecticut Big Day Challenge. We need your support!
White-eyed Vireo
Vireo griseus
Where to find it: A White-eyed Vireo has been seen for the past few days at Mondo Pond in Milford. To look for this bird, take the Plains Road exit off I-95 in Milford and turn left on Plains Road. Take your second left on Naugatuck Avenue and the Mondo parking area is on the left after Audubon Close.
Eastern Meadowlark
Sturnella magna
The Eastern Meadowlark is usually found in large fields in excess of 20 acres during the nesting season. Listed as threatened by the state of Connecticut, they have become harder to find throughout their range in recent decades because of earlier hay harvesting in the meadows they nest in, and conversion of habitat to croplands and development.
Yellow-throated Warbler
Setophaga dominica
Where to find it: A great warbler for Connecticut, Yellow-throated Warbler was recently found (April 17, 2014) by Connecticut Audubon Society staff member Frank Gallo at Mondo Ponds in Milford, feeding in a vine tangle with a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, “about 10 yards west of the north parking lot, on the right.”
The recent sighting of several Little Gulls at Southport Beach is an exciting glimpse of biodiversity and range expansion in action. Rarely do species appear to “naturally” cross the ocean and colonize the Western Hemisphere. The Cattle Egret did it in the 1940s, and a number of Siberian species do so annually in Alaska. But […]
Osprey
Pandion haliaetus
Where to find it: The Ospreys have returned to their nest in the Wheeler Marsh behind Connecticut Audubon’s Coastal Center at Milford Point.
