Re: [CT Birds] CTBirds Digest, Vol 1824, Issue 1
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Today's Topics:
- Harris' sparrow, Trumpeter Swans - yes (Janis LaPointe)
- northern shrikes (Chris Elphick)
- Red-headed Woodpecker - East Hartford (louise tucker)
- Fwd: Wind Eagle Take Permit Not Justified - Bird-Smart Wind
Petition Alert (mcavallero1@comcast.net) - Misc. Highlights from this week Keith Mueller
(kmueller@ntplx.net) - Stratford point razorbill ( Joseph Cala )
- First sign of spring (John Ogren)
- Common Ravens - just an observation (Mntncougar@aol.com)
- Re: Common Ravens - just an observation (Steve Mayo)
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:03:28 -0500
From: "Janis LaPointe" sunbirdjan@cox.net
To: "ctbirds" ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] Harris' sparrow, Trumpeter Swans - yes
Message-ID: 918BE332C8AE44A3B07D18E73F2B6514@jan5228bb99964
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Went to Woodbridge and found the two Trumpeter Swans at Knolds Pond, Warren Road. I left a 3:30 p.m. and they were mostly resting with heads tucked. Also present, many Ring-necked ducks, two Mute Swam, Ring-billed Gulls and two male, 4 female, Hooded Mergansers. Another Hooded Merg. looked like a juv. male, though I don't know if this could occur at this time of year. I have photo if anyone would like to see it. This bird had a silvery patch at the back of its head, and the hint of darkening on front of head.
The Harris's Sparrow was observed from 4:40 to 5:10 p.m. at Norwich Rd, Lebanon. Beautiful bird. Song sparrows and White-throated Sparrows were also still feeding that late in the day.
Janis LaPointe
Efield, CT
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:36:18 -0800 (PST)
From: Chris Elphick elphick@sbcglobal.net
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] northern shrikes
Message-ID: 1329960978.35213.YahooMailRC@web81302.mail.mud.yahoo.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
I don't know about the Donnelly shrike, but the one at UConn was seen by several
students in the UConn bird group this morning. I did not see it at dusk, but I
only had a few minutes and got there after it had started to get dark. There is
relatively little shubbery in the spot where it has been seen, but I gather it
still took a little patience.
Chris Elphick
Storrs, CT
elphick@sbcglobal.net
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:48:31 -0800 (PST)
From: louise tucker louise40pt@yahoo.com
To: CTlist ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] Red-headed Woodpecker - East Hartford
Message-ID:
1329961711.81249.YahooMailClassic@web161303.mail.bf1.yahoo.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Louise P. Tucker:
2/22/12 - Hockanum Linear Trail off Elm Street, East Hartford, CT-? I paid another visit to the park. Red-headed Woodpecker still hanging out by 2 bridges of trail that goes to the right. His head is indeed red. He's maturing fast. Very quiet otherwise.
?
Louise Enfield
Message: 4
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:10:44 +0000 (UTC)
From: mcavallero1@comcast.net
To: CT BIRDS ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] Fwd: Wind Eagle Take Permit Not Justified -
Bird-Smart Wind Petition Alert
Message-ID:
88871084.1591532.1329963044718.JavaMail.root@sz0114a.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Hi everyone -
i thought this email below might be of interest to this birding community so i am just passing it along as an FYI for everyone.
Mona Cavallero
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Steve Holmer sholmer@abcbirds.org
Subject: Wind Eagle Take Permit Not Justified - Bird-Smart Wind Petition Alert
Wind Eagle Take Permit Not Justified
American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) voicing strong concerns about the first-ever application for a special permit that would allow Golden Eagles to be incidentally killed. The proposed ?programmatic incidental take permit,? submitted under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, would allow Oregon?s West Butte Wind Project to kill, harm, or disturb up to three Golden Eagles over five years, as long as certain conservation measures were implemented.
ABC?s letter states that the data upon which an FWS decision would be based are markedly deficient, and that the federal government is not meeting standards prescribed in its own regulations published less than three years ago. ABC also cites emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, between senior Department of Interior staff casting doubt on the whether the project could ever be safe for birds, including Golden Eagles.
ABC supports bird-smart wind energy that is properly sited, constructed, and operated to minimize bird impacts, with appropriate compensatory mitigation for unavoidable losses. This includes permitting, which would allow FWS to advance good projects while preventing bad ones. It is vital that we get the first permit right since it will likely be used as a model for future similar permits. But more information is needed to determine the actual risk to Golden and Bald Eagles, and the permit should not be issued without that information.
Specifically, the project has failed to provide adequate data on the Golden Eagle population and Golden Eagle prey abundance in the area, and has not performed sufficient avian-use surveys.
The take permit application was submitted by West Butte Wind Power LLC. FWS subsequently prepared a Draft Environmental Assessment. The project, if built, would be a 104 MW wind facility located on private land in Crook and Deschutes Counties, Oregon. Necessary infrastructure for the project, including power lines and an access road, would be located on public land administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
ABC?s comment letter is available here ( http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/collisions/pdf/ABC_eagle_take_permit_comments_2-17-12.pdf )
Action Alert: Support Bird-Smart Wind Petition
American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior to protect millions of birds from the negative impacts of wind energy by developing regulations that will safeguard wildlife and reward responsible wind energy development. The more than 100-page petition for rulemaking , prepared by ABC and the public interest law firm of Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal, calls for establishing a mandatory permitting system for the operation of wind energy projects and mitigation of their impacts on migratory birds.
Now we are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to open a public comment period so that the public can weigh in. Please go to http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5400/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9510 to send your comment.
Thus far 75 organizations http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/collisions/pdf/petition_endorsements022112.pdf have endorsed the petition. To sign on your organization please send sholmer@abcbirds.org your name, organization, city and state.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated in 2009 that approximately 440,000 birds were killed each year by collisions with wind turbines. The massive expansion of wind power in the United States will likely result in the deaths of more than one million birds each year by 2030. Wind energy projects are also expected to adversely impact almost 20,000 square miles of wildlife habitat.
ABC filed the petition because it is clear that the voluntary guidelines the government has drafted will neither protect birds adequately nor give the wind industry the regulatory certainty it has been asking for. Voluntary guidelines have been in place since 2003, and yet preventable bird deaths at wind farms keep occurring. This includes thousands of Golden Eagles thought to have died at Altamont Pass in California and recent mass mortality events that killed more than 500 songbirds in West Virginia.
The petition is available online at: http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/collisions/pdf/wind_rulemaking_petition.pdf
ABC?s petition proposes a model rule that would allow the government to consider impacts of wind farms on all bird species, as well as bats and other wildlife. This proposal contrasts sharply with the voluntary guidelines that allow the industry to police itself and continue to disregard harm to birds and other wildlife.
Steve Holmer
Senior Policy Advisor
American Bird Conservancy
202/234-7181 ext 216
202/744-6459 cell
sholmer@abcbirds.org
www.abcbirds.org
Director, Bird Conservation Alliance
www.birdconservationalliance.org
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:55:34 -0500
From: kmueller@ntplx.net
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] Misc. Highlights from this week Keith Mueller
Message-ID: 20120222225534.20647efcx82us0qe@webmail.netplex.net
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; DelSp="Yes";
format="flowed"
Saturday's Rhode Island birding group- (most birds observed in extreme
scope views)
Common Eider- 700+/-
Black/Surf Scoters- 1500 +/- (65% Surf)
White-winged Scoter- 23
Oldsquaw- 17
Harlequin Duck- 23
Red-breasted Merganser- 130
Bufflehead- 76
Common Goldeneye- 39
Black Ducks- 65
Canada Geese- 450 +/-
Brant- 350 +/-
Gannet- 3
Common Loon- 16
Red-throated Loon- 13
Iceland Gull- 1
Razorbill- 1
Great Cormorant- 17
Horned Grebe- 75+/-
Monday-
Iceland Gulls-2 Circle Beach, Madison
East Shore Park- New Haven-
Red-shouldered Hawk-1
Palm Warbler-5
Pine Warbler- 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 6
Northern Rough-winged Swallow-2
Field Sparrow- 1
Wednesday (today) Gloucester, Mass.-
Jodrey's Fish Pier-
Iceland Gull- 17
Glaucous Gull- 1 (posssibly 2)
Very possible Slaty-backed Gull-1 (good distant view before lost in a
huge cloud of flushed Gulls-thanks to the resident pair of
Peregrines). Unfortunately, no images taken.
Niles Pond-
Iceland Gulls (all adults)- 5
My last two weeks of birding will be posted on my blog in a few days,
keep an eye out.
Keith and Jen Mueller Killingworth
Message: 6
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:59:53 -0500
From: " Joseph Cala " joejr14@aol.com
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] Stratford point razorbill
Message-ID: 201202231259.q1NCxum5010822@imr-ma01.mx.aol.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
At least one razorbill off the point this am. Fishing boat spooked it and it flew off towards the milford side of the mouth.
Sent from my HTC Inspire? 4G on AT&T
Message: 7
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:24:58 -0800 (PST)
From: John Ogren northernrail@comcast.net
To: "ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org" ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] First sign of spring
Message-ID:
1330003498.56921.YahooMailNeo@web80401.mail.mud.yahoo.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
I saw what I consider my first sign of spring today-a male Red Wing Blackbird singing and displaying his "epaulets".
?
John Ogren
Message: 8
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:37:11 -0500 (EST)
From: Mntncougar@aol.com
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] Common Ravens - just an observation
Message-ID: 38e33.3d9ac320.3c779b06@aol.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
It seems to me that at the moment there is a very sharp uptick in the CT
population of Ravens. I am out and about in the woods pretty much all over
the state, and it is a very rare day when I don't see, or at least hear, one
or more. I've spent some time this last week in the Killingworth area, and
I can honestly say I've seen and heard as many Ravens as Crows there. And
anywhere in the state that there is a ridgeline or good sized hill the
sight and sound of a Raven is to be expected. On this list, sightings of Ravens
are an every-day occurence.
I just wonder if I'm alone or if others have noticed this.
Don Morgan
Message: 9
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:49:39 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Mayo rsdmayo@sbcglobal.net
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org, Mntncougar@aol.com
Subject: Re: [CT Birds] Common Ravens - just an observation
Message-ID:
1330004979.34715.YahooMailClassic@web181404.mail.ne1.yahoo.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Connecticut Ravens have really come a long way since the late 1980s, when HAS Field Trippers might stumble upon a low nest in Boston Hollow.? Or, NW CT Big-Dayers would wait patiently on John McNeely's picnic table, simultaneously?enjoying a visit?to?Veedor the?Andean Condor's enclosure, and hoping for a?Raven's croak on the Mountain above...?
?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17knSPsZnMs
?
Steve Mayo
Bethany
--- On Thu, 2/23/12, Mntncougar@aol.com Mntncougar@aol.com wrote:
From: Mntncougar@aol.com Mntncougar@aol.com
Subject: [CT Birds] Common Ravens - just an observation
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Date: Thursday, February 23, 2012, 8:37 AM
It seems to me that at the moment there is a very sharp uptick? in the CT
population of Ravens. I am out and about in the woods pretty much? all over
the state, and it is a very rare day when I don't see, or at least? hear, one
or more. I've spent some time this last week in the Killingworth area,? and
I can honestly say I've seen and heard as many Ravens as? Crows there. And
anywhere in the state that there is a ridgeline or good sized? hill the
sight and sound of a Raven is to be expected. On this list, sightings? of Ravens
are an every-day occurence.
I just wonder if I'm alone or if others have noticed this.
Don Morgan
This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut.
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This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut.
For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org
End of CTBirds Digest, Vol 1824, Issue 1