If you want to see how much fun birding is, go to the same locations on consecutive days in the middle of fall migration and see how different the experience is from one day to the next. That is what happened on the weekend of October 17th and 18th when we held club walks on consecutive days to these locations. Ostensibly, we were holding the walks to look for sparrows on the heels of the online review we did the night of October 16th. But, in reality, we were looking for whatever birds we could find. On Saturday, it was cloudy, windy, and cool. Our group hiked through the country club property and observed 36 species there. Raptors were taking advantage of the northerly winds and we saw several, including a somewhat late Osprey. We saw and heard several Eastern Towhees, and some of us got glimpses of a Nashville Warbler at the edge of a weedy field. We moved on from the country club property to the community gardens. There, we saw a great variety of birds including Black Vulture, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Bluebird, White-crowned Sparrow, Tennessee Warbler and Indigo Bunting. 33 species were seen at this location.
On Sunday, it was sunny and cold with little wind. Overnight, there had been a major migratory movement of birds, with millions of them observed on radar passing over New Haven. Some of the birds we saw on Saturday had moved south while other birds had arrived. The country club property was active on Sunday, with numerous birds seen in the fields, brush and trees. Highlights included: Wood Duck, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Marsh Wren, Purple Finch, and Nashville, Tennessee, Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers. We saw 41 species in total, of which 9 were not seen the previous day. It was a lot quieter at the community gardens on Sunday compared to Saturday, but we still saw several interesting birds including two Tennessee Warblers. We observed 18 species at this location. The walks were enjoyed by all participants. We all gained an appreciation for the amazing phenomenon of bird migration.
Chris Loscalzo