Connecticut Young Birders Club

October Trip (10/9) – Pine Creek and Richardson Tree Farm

Alex Burdo — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:49:06 +0000

Here is the email sent out to our yahoogroups domain. Hope you can join us!

James Purcell and I are leading our first October trip on Sunday, October 9th to the Pine Creek Open Space in Fairfield and Grace Richardson Christmas Tree Farm (which we visited in March) right over the border in Westport. The trip begins at 8 o’clock at the Tree Farm. We will spend an hour there before continuing to Pine Creek, where the birding will be a couple hours long. We then have the option of hitting another spot in the Fairfield area (such as the Birdcraft Sanctuary, Ash Creek/Jennings Beach Plot, Hoyden’s Hill or another) or just wrapping up the day.

Because we will not have the van available to us, we will be carpooling. If anyone has a parent who is willing to carpool and join us, that would work. I know Brendan’s dad will be on the trip. NOW, I just want to make it clear that if a rarity shows up in our area we can totally take a vote to go and chase it or do this.

If you have any doubts about going, hopefully this will clear it up:

James and i have birded Pine Creek quite a bit in the past two weeks, with our three biggest highlights being: DICKCISSEL, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT and YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. We’ve also seen four species of vireo (incl. YT and Philly) and around 15 species of warbler as well as some other awesome highlights including Scarlet Tanager, Little Blue Heron and Northern Harrier. The ninth is also around the time when we start seeing Lincoln’s and White-crowned Sparrows at Pine Creek and Clay-colored has been seen there in the past.

The Christmas Tree Farm has also been hopping in the past few days. Highlights of Tina Green and Frank Mantlik’s visits have included: 3 DICKCISSEL, 2 BLUE GROSBEAKS, a few LINCOLN’S SPARROWS as well as Brown Thrasher, numerous warblers and vireos, AmKestrel and others.

So, it is URGENT that you RSVP to me ASAP!! WE WILL GO NO MATTER WHAT!!!!! PLEASE DON’T MISS OUT ON WHAT SHOULD BE A FANTASTIC TRIP!

Best,

Alex Burdo

President

Next Field Trip – September 18th

connecticut young birders club — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:49:35 +0000

: Red-tailed Hawk – Luke Tiller

The next meeting of the Connecticut Young Birders Club will take place at Audubon Greenwich on September 18th. We will meet early morning at the Kimberlin Nature Center to look for migrant warblers and other song birds on poroperty and members are more than welcome to spend the day whole day taking part in the day’s hawkwatch.

We will also be having a pot luck BBQ at the hawkwatch as part of the potential Big Broad-wing Weekend. This is prime Broad-winged migration periosd so we’ll hope for one of those multiple thousand bird days. If you would like to stay around for that as well please do.

To register for the day contact Luke Tiller or Brian O’Toole at Audubon Greenwich luke.tiller@gmail.com or botoole@audubon’.org

Hartford Trip 6/26

connecticut young birders club — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:12:01 +0000

This Sunday, June 26th, the CYBC is taking trip to the Hartford Area, such as Station 43, Rentschler Field, and Great Pond. We hope to find Mississippi Kites, Least Bitterns, Upland Sandpipers and more. The van will leave Greenwich at 6:45 a.m. and will be back by 2 p.m. Come join us!

James Purcell

Sterling Forest and Rockefeller

connecticut young birders club — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 23:25:24 +0000

This is my blog post from a great day of birding today from http://floridascrubjay.wordpress.com/:

Today the Connecticut Young Birders Club (CTYBC) journeyed to New York State in search of a few birds that are difficult to see in Connecticut. Our first stop was the Sterling Forest in Tuxedo Park, NY which you might remember me visiting last year.

A Louisiana Waterthrush greeted us on our way in and we soon arrived at our first stop: the Ironwood Drive powerline cut. Once on the trail, we were able to nail one of our big targets fairly quickly in the form of a female Golden-winged Warbler. A male soon appeared nearby and gave great looks for all the members before disappearing into a nearby bush. A walk up that section of powerline cut yielded: numerous Prairie Warblers, Indigo Buntings, Black-and-white Warblers, American Redstarts, Eastern Towhees, Scarlet Tanagers and more.

We then retraced our steps and started up the other slope when we noted a Wood Duck in a reedy pool nearby. Upon entrance to the woods, we were surprised by a burst of Yellow-throated Vireo song coming from the canopy. “A Scarlet Tanager in slow motion,” James Purcell often remarks. A Chestnut-sided Warbler and more Indigo Buntings showed well here. On our way back to the van, we were able to nail a calling Barred Owl. Back at the parking area we were caught up to a singing Cerulean Warbler, although we never did see it.

Still missing a few targets and a look at Cerulean, we moved on to other sections of the park including the Blue Lake area where we missed Cerulean and Hooded but still picked up a nice singing Scarlet Tanager. The visitor’s center held a perched Black Vulture, giving great looks on a dead snag. Another Cerulean was again heard (urgh) but a few nice Indigo Buntings provided nice consolation for our missed look.

After the buntings, we began to make our way out towards our next spot: Rockefeller State Park.

This year, Rockefeller has been the home of two (and possibly three) male Kentucky Warblers on territory that have proven to be pretty reliable throughout the day. After enjoying a few resident birds including multiple Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting we were able to get terrific looks at a singing male, perched out in the open! The highlight of the trip for me.

Also present was a tame Eastern Chipmunk that caught the members’ attention:

Big thanks to Luke Tiller for making this all happen and for the members that came! Had a great time with all of you!

-Alex Burdo

For photos from the day click here.

Sterling Forest Trip

connecticut young birders club — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:10:27 +0000

The postponed CYBC trip has been moved to this Sunday, June 12th. The location has also moved to Sterling Forest in NY. This is a fantastic spot that has breeding Golden-winged, Cerulean, and Hooded Warblers plus cuckoos and many other neat breeders. The van will leave Greenwich at 7 am. I really hope the weather doesn’t cancel this trip!

James Purcell

River Road in Kent trip

connecticut young birders club — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:57:03 +0000

The next trip for the CYBC is this sunday, June 5th to River Road in Kent. The van will be leaving Greenwich around 6:30 and will return by 1. Join us for this wonderful trip if you can. I’ve been here before and I must say it is a gorgeous spot along the Housatonic River with a large array of birds such as breeding Cerulean Warblers and the occasional Acadian Flycatcher or cuckoo.

James Purcell

Next trip: East Rock Park May 15th

connecticut young birders club — Thu, 12 May 2011 19:18:54 +0000

The next trip for the CYBC is to East Rock Park this Sunday, May 15. The van is leaving Greenwich Audubon at 6:30 a.m. and will return at 11:30 a.m. We will meet in the parking area off of Whitney Avenue near the covered bridge at 7:30 a.m. This should be a great morning with many migrant warblers, vireos, flycatches, etc.

James Purcell

Trip to Milford, Saturday May 7th

connecticut young birders club — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:02:48 +0000

Sorry for the late notice, but the next upcoming trip for the CYBC is to Milford Point this Saturday, May 7th. This is a unique opportunity to see birds up close and personal with the bird-banding crew. We hope to see migrants and various waterbirds. The van will leave Greenwich Audubon at 5:30 a.m. and will arrive at Milford at 6:30 a.m. We plan to be back in Greenwich by 11:00 a.m.

James Purcell

Update on Trout Brook

connecticut young birders club — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:38:04 +0000

The trip has been changed to April 17th seeing as the 24th is Easter Sunday. It is the same time and same place as before.

James Purcell

Upcoming Trip Trout Brook April 24th

connecticut young birders club — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:22:35 +0000

A reminder that there is a trip with the Young Birders Club on Sunday, April 24th to Trout Brook Valley Preserve and Aspetuck Reservoir. The van will leave Greenwich Audubon at 7:00 a.m. and return by noon. We hope to find Bald Eagles, waterfowl and swallows at the Reservoir. Trout Brrok Valley is fantastic spot for migrants at this time of year, and we could potentially see some warblers, vireos, and even though it is a little early, there are some cuckoos here as well. The orchard has many grassland species such as Indigo Bunting and Chipping Sparrow and has had many rarities in the past such as Blue Grosbeak and even a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in 2009! Come join us for this wonderful trip.

James Purcell