[CT Birds] 4/22 Nehantic State Forest birding (Lyme); Waterford yard

[Sailcarm at aol.com]

4/22 morning in Nehantic State Forest netted the following birds of interest:

on entry road and on road to Uncas Pond:
3 NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH (heard)
1 LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH (heard and seen) (life bird :) !
1 eastern towhee (heard)
1 pine warbler -heard
2 black and white warblers
2 pileated woodpeckers (m. and f. )

on road towards Norwich Pond and adjacent picnic area:
2 pine warblers
4 blue-gray gnatcatchers

Norwich Pond area:
2 wood ducks
2 eastern phoebes
1 osprey diving for a  fish -- success on the first try!
3 turkey vultures

lots of downies, red-bellied, cardinals, titmice, red-winged blackbirds, 
cowbirds, goldfinch, robins  singing and calling everywhere

For me, even though I did not see many species of warblers, this morning was 
a good study in identification of waterthrushes by sound alone.  I felt so 
fortunate not only to hear the Louisiana but also to see it as it flew up to a 
nearby tree and let me look at it for several minutes as it flitted from tree to 
tree.  I was quite surprised as I had assumed this was a species  that would 
stick close to the ground and here it was still singing for me about 40 feet 
up, pumping its tail madly and letting me get great looks at its broad 
supercilium, its streaked sides and its undertail coverts.  I don't think I have the 
expertise yet to identify it by markings alone but the song is a dead giveaway. 
 Sounds just like it's supposed to on the CD's :)  -- 3 long whistled notes 
and then a fainter, brief chatter.  

afternoon:  Waterford yard:
1 osprey -- hovered and then landed at the edge of my back yard and snatched 
one big stick from a pile of brush and then flew up and away!  I was 
dumbfounded!!!  This was a yard first!

14 double-crested cormorants flying over late afternoon

Carolyn Cimino
Waterford


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