Long-tailed Duck, Common Eider Stratford 16 Dec 10

A few pictures of a drake Common Eider and a drake Long-tailed Duck at Stratford Point on 16 December 2010. Off the point was a raft of aound 1500 Scoters (mainly White-winged, a good number of Surf) and Scaup (mainly Greater but Frank Gallo picked out about 47 Lesser), and a pair of female King Eiders.

A brief video of the Common Eider; a very brief video of the Long-tailed Duck.

Barnacle, Snow Geese Westport 10 Dec 10

A few pictures of the Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis) in Westport on 10 Dec 10. This individual, found in Stratford by Frank Mantlik, retains the bands it received in its native Scotland. Unfortunately one leg is bad, perhaps from one of the bands. Also included here is a short video of five Snow Geese that were foraging with the Canada Goose group the BarnacleGoose was hanging out with.Publish Post

Silver Sands boardwalk construction

Here are a few pictures taken on 4 Dec 10 of the boardwalk construction in progress at Silver Sands State Park in Milford CT. (Photo 3 shows Nettleton Creek; photo 4 shows Fletcher's Creek.) The project is massive and has disturbed much valuable habitat. The environmental impact of the the increased traffic is hard to predict, but there will be many places for walkers to leave the boardwalk to be on the beach. Of course, the boardwalk goes right through traditional Piping Plover nesting territory. Already destroyed are a grove of trees that hosted Willow Flycatchers for many years. The area around the Nettleton Creek outlet where the Little Yellows stayed last summer has also been totally wiped out. One other potential problem is that the boardwalk puts the walker high above the wetlands, exposing previously sheltered birds and other animals. Finally, the boardwalk will be a barrier for the deer (photo 1).