[CT Birds] FW: eBird Report - CT River Museum, Essex , 3/11/08

[Kenneth Elkins]

>From Ken Elkins & CT Audubon Eagle Viewing Cruise-
3/11/08 - Essex-Haddam, CT River - 7 BALD EAGLES (4 adults, 3 imm), 1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
 
Today's eagle viewing was a bit slow, with most of the nonresident birds taking off with the strong southerly winds this past weekend.  There were at least 3 immature birds, possibly 5, but I'm conservative with my counting.  The nest on Nell's Island, across from the River Museum, has hatched at least 1 chick, with the male bringing food to the nest on a regular basis now.
As for the cormorants, most are on the channel marker near Hamburg cove, and a few near Deep River town landing.  The Rough-legged hawk was a light-phased bird, seen hovering over North Cove in Essex just before noon.
Despite the nice weather, there were few signs of spring- I was expecting my first Tree Swallows, and if we were really lucky, an Osprey.  We did have at least 3 sightings of Harbor Seals, which was a nice treat.
 
Below is my eBird report for the entire trip.
Good birding,
Ken Elkins
Milford, CT
 
 
> Location: CT River Museum, Essex> Observation date: 3/11/08> Number of species: 46> > Canada Goose 35> Mute Swan 16> Gadwall 2> American Black Duck 55> Mallard 15> Ring-necked Duck 18> Greater Scaup 4> Common Goldeneye 10> Hooded Merganser 2> Common Merganser 38> Double-crested Cormorant 1> Great Cormorant 44> Turkey Vulture 6> Bald Eagle 7> Northern Harrier 1> Cooper's Hawk 1> Red-shouldered Hawk 3> Red-tailed Hawk 4> Rough-legged Hawk 1> Ring-billed Gull X> Herring Gull X> Great Black-backed Gull X> Rock Pigeon X> Mourning Dove 8> Belted Kingfisher 1> Red-bellied Woodpecker 1> Downy Woodpecker 1> Northern Flicker 2> Blue Jay 4> American Crow 22> Black-capped Chickadee 2> White-breasted Nuthatch 1> Carolina Wren 2> Eastern Bluebird 6> Northern Mockingbird 2> European Starling 12> Song Sparrow X> White-throated Sparrow X> Dark-eyed Junco X> Northern Cardinal X> Red-winged Blackbird X> Common Grackle X> Brown-headed Cowbird X> House Finch X> American Goldfinch X> House Sparrow X> > This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)