[CT Birds] New Haven, Derby, Westport 12/2

[Edward James Raynor]

Hello all,
Today was astounding in terms of winter finches. The light snow and  
freezing temperatures finally put some Common Redpolls in coastal  
birches instead of just flying over. Luke Tiller and I met Nick Bonomo  
at East Shore Park in New Haven. Nick successfully recorded  
vocalizations of the pair of Red Crossbills residing in the park's  
western most red pines. Shortly, we will all know their "type" which  
will provide the general area of their origin in this continent. This  
location was very active with a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and at least  
two Red-breasted Nuthatches. Nick suggested our next stop, Ora ave/  
Proto drive in East Haven, due to its small birch tree population.  
Once again, Nick's wisdom came through with a great find.  
Approximately 55 Common Redpolls were foraging in the birches near the  
end of the dirt road where the Common Ground-dove once dwelled. After  
an unsuccessful chase to Middlefield for Mark's likely Taverner's  
Cackling Goose(a second for eastern North America?) we headed west for  
the "Western" Flycatcher. The left coast empidonax flycatcher put on  
quite a show after descending from the top of the deciduous trees it  
was attempting to glean insects off of. The insectivore was feeding on  
the ground and as close as ten feet at times. Our final stop was  
Sherwood Island State Park in Westport where Luke and I met up with  
Hannah Tetreault. We decided to end our eventful day here after we  
were informed about Jim Hunter's discovery of numerous Common  
Redpolls. Earlier in the day at Ora Ave we could not locate the Common  
Redpoll's close relative: Hoary Redpoll, Carduelis hornemanni  
hornemanni of Greenland or C. h. exilipes of northern North America.  
If you'd like to see what the darker exilipes subspecies looks like  
investigate this site: http://www.ttpbrs.ca/  We also struck out on  
this scarce winter finch in Westport but we did count about 175 Common  
Redpolls in the birches at the western end of the park. Upon arrival  
at Sherwood Island we flushed an "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow of remote  
Sable Island, Nova Scotia from the beach grass along the west beach.  
Our memorable day would not have been so grand if the keen and tightly  
knit birding community of Connecticut did not exist.

Good birding,
E.J. Raynor
Fairfield, CT/ Thibodaux, LA startng in early January
www.pbase.com/ether9

For Roy:
 From E.J. Raynor, Luke Tiller, and Nick Bonomo
New Haven-East Shore Park 7:30 am
Red Crossbill-2

East Haven-Ora Avenue 8:00-9:30am
Common Redpoll-55

Derby-Osorndale State Park 12:00-12:45pm
"Western" Flycatcher-1

 From E.J. Raynor, Hannah Tetreault, and Luke Tiller
Westport-Sherwood Island State Park 1:30-3:15pm
Common Redpoll-175, no Hoaries but poor light and constant movement  
inhibited full coverage
"Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow-1 along west beach in front of first bathhouse