Every week when I visit Silver Sands State Park, I get a little more attached to the place. I love getting to check in with familiar creatures, and there's always something new to see! Here are a few sights (mostly birds) from this morning's visit.
The Piping Plover chicks east of the park are getting even closer to adulthood (including the chick with the injured leg, who's still running around and foraging with its siblings as of this morning). It looks like they just need some longer wing and tail feathers, and then they should be good to go!
While the four chicks foraged in the sand, Dad kept careful watch; he even chased a House Sparrow away at one point. A folded mat makes a convenient lookout perch:
The plovers aren't the only bird family with growing babies around here, of course. I was very happy to see a gangly Clapper Rail chick wander out of the marsh grass; such a cute little dinosaur-like creature:
The Barn Swallows are nesting under the boardwalk, and this adult perched on the railing for a rest between hunting flights:
There were actually dozens of swallows hunting in the air over the marsh, more than I think I've ever seen here at once. The swirling (and chittering) cloud of birds was mostly made of Barn Swallows, but there were also several Tree Swallows in the mix, as well as a few Chimney Swifts, which I've definitely never seen hunting in this spot before. This picture may not look like much, but its quite a busy scene for this airspace:
On the beach, a pair of Great Black-backed Gulls made an imposing sight:
I'm surprised to notice that I've actually never posted about Great Black-backed Gulls before. They show up around here pretty frequently, and they have the distinction of being the largest gull in the world. These two were quite noisy, and they kept striking these odd tilted postures and tossing their heads; I can only think this is some sort of courtship display, but it seems kind of late in the season to be thinking about making a nest:
A Common Loon was floating close to shore. This bird was looking a little less than pristine (it was presumably molting out of its breeding plumage), but it was still such a handsome creature:
A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was hunting at the water's edge (not quite as elegant as the Black-crowned Night-Heron I saw last week, and I always think that dark mask looks strange):
Although I often see many species of egrets and herons in this park, I don't usually see Great Blue Herons here. It was quite a treat, then, when this huge creature soared by:
I love those wings, and those big legs! This bird circled overhead a few times, so here's another view:
As I was leaving the park, I checked out some Common Milkweed plants to see what sorts of bugs might have been hanging out there. A few of the flower clusters were looking pretty well decimated.... Someone was hungry!
A closer inspection revealed that the orange pollen-like dusting on the plants' stems and leaves was actually tons of tiny bright aphids (probably the species Aphis nerii). These guys were everywhere and they were having a feast:
Fortunately, there were many more milkweed plants without aphids, so there's still plenty of this apparently delicious (for bugs) plant to go around.
Yesterday morning's trip to Silver Sands State Park was full of surprises. There were no nesting shorebirds (which is what I was actually supposed to be looking for), but the many other awesome creatures roaming the beaches and marshes more than made up for it.
A group of about 40 Brant (our small dark geese) was hanging out on the shore. That in itself wasn't too surprising, since these birds are in Connecticut in the summer (although I don't see them very often), but wait, what's up with those two weird-looking white and gray geese in there?
I'm still not exactly sure what to do with these two geese, but they are unquestionably something unusual. Parts of them look so similar to the Brant (which are on the right hand side and in the back of the above picture), but they've also got those splotchy white patches and orangey-pink legs (but dark beaks), which is, well, weird. And from other views, they don't really look much like Brant at all:
I circulated my pictures among some Connecticut bird people, and the consensus seems to point to a hybrid between Brant and Snow Goose. I can definitely see some Snow Goose in these birds. And I think this is really pretty cool. However unlikely it might actually be (and according to my internet searches, Brant x Snow Goose hybrids have happened before, but they are extremely unlikely), and even though it'd be pretty difficult to know for sure that this is what's going on here, I just really like the idea that somewhere, at some point, there was a Snow Goose who looked at a Brant and thought, "Hey, that is one attractive goose," and the Brant thought so, too, and so what if you're only supposed to mate with geese that look like you. It seems to have worked out, if these two unusual birds are any indication. So that was pretty awesome. I'll probably never see another Brant x Snow Goose, and these guys are absolutely one of a kind.
In other parts of the beach, tiny Semipalmated Sandpipers pattered over the low-tide sand:
And then flew off on little wings when they thought I was too close (I was crouched in one spot, so really they were the ones who got too close to me):
In the marshes near the beach, a Yellow-crowned Night Heron was feasting on the little Fiddler Crabs that live in the mud, and I had a great time watching this graceful hunter close up:
There were tons of crabs all over, and the heron was busy snatching them up. There was a lot of crunching (note the crab's shadow in this next picture):
I had way too much fun taking pictures of this gorgeous bird as it danced and posed. I love the pattern of feathers on its back and the fancy marks on its face:
The heron was really very good at what it was doing. Oh little crab, I don't think you're going to be around much longer:
Nope, there you go:
Down the hatch!
Mmm, a satisfied heron:
Speaking of crabs, this little spiky creature caught my eye as it scuttled through a quickly-moving stream to the ocean:
I scooped it up to check it out, and it turned out to be a Hermit Crab! It immediately rushed back to the water, quickly enough that I couldn't quite keep it in focus:
And although not technically a crab (actually in a group of its own, separate from crustaceans), this Horseshoe Crab had buried itself in a swirled depression in the wet sand. I assume it's still alive, although I didn't disturb it to find out for sure:
The hot weather is really coming in now, and what better way to start off another season of summer weather than with an awesome and eventful trip to the beach!
A few weeks ago, I saw a Clapper Rail for the first time, and I was really excited. Well, this morning, while visiting Silver Sands State Park, I was lucky enough to see four of these usually-hidden birds!
One Clapper Rail popped out of the tall marsh grass near the boardwalk to snatch up a small crab for a snack (I'm pretty sure that's what this bird's holding in its beak):
After which it hurried back into the marsh on very dirty (oily?) feet:
A second Clapper Rail was further back in the marsh, preening itself in the morning sun:
And what's that small black fuzzball moving off to the side? Oh my goodness, it's a baby rail!
Wait, make that two babies!
I'm not surprised that these birds were breeding here -- this marsh seems like a great place for a rail to raise a family -- I'm just surprised that I actually got to see the babies! They're such a wonderful combination of adorable and ridiculously awkward, as babies often are -- just look at those gangly legs and huge feet! :D
So that was today's main excitement, but there were plenty of other things to see, too. Down on the beach, dozens of Ring-billed Gulls were beating the heat by panting, and I got to see into quite a few bright orange and red gull-mouths:
A Snowy Egret was standing in the ocean, quickly opening and closing its beak to churn the water, presumably in some sort of feeding technique -- I'm much more used to egrets using the hunting-and-stabbing method for getting food, so this was pretty interesting to watch!
Back in the marsh, a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was hunting in what I think of as the more typical heron/egret manner. But it stood so tall and straight as it waded through the water that it reminded me more of a stork or a crane than a heron:
Once it spotted some prey, it hunkered down into a much more heron-y pose....
Ready? Go!
Mmm, breakfast!
Finally, there was this Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) feeding from some Spotted Knapweed blooms (Centaurea biebersteinii) -- both of these species are non-native and invasive (assuming I've identified them correctly), but I think they're quite pretty nonetheless:
Tomorrow, I'm leaving on a trip with my family to a strange and foreign land: Utah! I'll be there for a week, and I hope to return with stories and pictures aplenty. Stay tuned!
I don't think I knew a Snipe was a real bird the first time I watched the Pixar movie Up!, but I've since learned differently! They're not big and flashy birds like Kevin in the movie... instead, they're small, dumpy shorebirds. But they're still pretty cool!
I was down at Silver Sands State Park today, doing my Piping Plover survey thing (still no plovers yet), and about 19 Wilson's Snipes were foraging in the mud in one of the marshes there. These birds are kind of ridiculous looking, with their long, long beaks:
And they stick that beak all the way down into the mud, probing around for food with its movable tip:
Once I got used to their strange proportions, though, I started to think that these birds are really quite pretty -- I love the complex stripey pattern of those feathers.
Here's a video I took of the Wilson's Snipe nearest to me, putting that beak to good use!
I'm thoroughly enjoying my weekly visits to the beach so far, since I get to see new animals and visit with familiar ones. A Yellow-crowned Night Heron was in the same marsh where I saw one last week -- could it be the same bird?
And did you know that Great Egrets vocalize with low croaking sounds? Thanks to a hawk, now I do! These big birds got quite agitated when that hawk was swooping down on their pond, but I also got to watch them earlier as they sailed by me on calmer pursuits:
I like the beach, but I'm itching to get back into the woods.... I think there's a woods walk in store for me in the very near future!
So this year, I decided to do something crazy and new: I volunteered to be a Piping Plover monitor for the US Fish and Wildlife Service!
Piping Plovers are a federally threatened species (not quite endangered, but still, they're in trouble) that nests on sandy beaches scattered along the Connecticut coast, and every year, the USFWS, the Connecticut DEEP, and the Audubon Society get together to ask for volunteers to go out onto the beaches and look for these birds so we can try to protect them (with fences, signs, etc.). About a month ago, I went to a training session and filled out an official government form, they gave me a fancy USFWS hat and ID card, and now on Wednesday afternoons for the rest of the spring and summer, I am in charge of surveying Silver Sands State Park for these little birds. (And I'm supposed to tell the Powers That Be about other species-of-interest that I see as well.) So basically, I get an excuse to go walk on the beach every week and do something that I like to do anyway, and it actually might help our coastal birds. It's kind of a great deal!
Anyway, yesterday was my first afternoon "on the job," and I had a great time and saw lots of cool creatures. No Piping Plovers -- no one's seen them at this park yet this year, actually, and they might not even show up at all -- but now that migration is in full swing, a bunch of interesting birds are streaming back into the area, herons chief among them.
This Yellow-crowned Night Heron -- a new bird for me -- was hunting at the edge of one of the marshes between the parking lot and the beach:
I'm liking that mask! Although I can't help thinking this bird's rat-tail hairdo looks a little silly from the back:
I happened to arrive at the beach as the tide was going out, so I took the chance to walk across the magically-appearing sandbar to Charles Island. In a month, the island will be closed off to the public to protect the herons and egrets that will be nesting there, and some birds were already starting to set up shop! The trees in the center of the island were dotted with big white shapes, like this pair of Great Egrets:
It's difficult to see in this picture (just think how much harder it'll be when the trees leaf out!), but these egrets were decked out in their breeding finery: long flowing feathers and bright green markings on their faces.
I think you can just make out the red eyes of this pair of Black-crowned Night Herons, similarly shrouded in the branches of another tree -- the two were touching beaks and acting all lovey-dovey while I was there:
The herons and egrets weren't the only birds thinking about nesting on Charles Island, either. Several pairs of Canada Geese were honking and flapping (and hissing!) at me, making sure I didn't come too close. (I wasn't about to try!) And one pair of geese had something interesting to show:
I reported my sightings of these two birds at reportband.gov, and I'm waiting to see if I get a response -- people band wild birds for all sorts of studies and things (yay science!), and sometimes, you get to learn the history of the banded bird when you report it. (Or so I've been told.) I'll update this post if I hear anything!
Update (4/7/12): I got two emails yesterday with some information about these birds. C255 is a boy, and C274 is a girl, and they were both banded on the same day right around this same area (near Milford) last summer. I've read that Canada Geese are monogamous, and it's kind of cool to see some evidence for that myself. And I actually think it's sweet that these two are still together (through a banding process and everything). I hope you have a nice family this summer, geese!
Before I move on, I just have to share one more picture of these geese. I just think this picture looks cool, but Paul thinks it looks like a goose with two heads:
I wish all the birds nesting on Charles Island the best of luck this year!
Back on the mainland, there were more birds to see, including two Ospreys (also recently-returned migrants) swooping overhead and calling to each other. One even came low enough for a picture (gosh, what a bird!):
The Herring Gulls were fighting over crabs -- these two youngsters stole a meal from the adult screaming in the back:
And even a regular old American Robin caught my eye yesterday, with its rusty orange breast glowing in the afternoon sun as it foraged with its fellows:
So I'll be back at the beach next week, and every week for the foreseeable future. It'll be an interesting change for me, since I'm still so much more used to woods than ocean. Who knows what will turn up next time!
