[CT Birds] 2/24 Sachuest Pt. trip

[Profatilov, Grace]

Not sure if anyone else posted a report on the New Haven Birding Club's trip to Sachuest Point (and 10 other great birding spots) this past Sunday. There were about 9 of us on the trip. Chris Loscalzo was the trip leader and he was incredibly well prepared. He monitored the RI birding lists to get us out to all the spots where the rarer birds were being seen during the week. This really panned out when we got some good looks at a male King Eider, Lesser Back-backed gull and a Barrow's Goldeneye.

There was a bit of hiking around, but we had perfect, sunny weather and it was great to be outside in such stunning settings (well, maybe not when we were hanging out by the docks with the fishing boats in search of Iceland gulls). I think we saw something like 50+ species in the day. My favorites were the King Eider, Harlequin Ducks, the Sandhill Crane (Chris thought it might be the first time that a Sandhill Crane has been spotted on a NHBC trip), and the Short-eared Owls that appeared at Sachuest Point. We pulled over and were able to watch them hunt for quite some time.

Some of the other highlights included: horned grebe, common eider, red-throated loon, brant, black scoter, pintail, lesser scaup, long-tailed duck, rough-legged hawk, green winged teal, lesser black-backed gull, and killdeer.

Thanks again, Chris for a great trip!

Grace Profatilov
Hamden