Thursday, November 3, 2011

Early Snow at Lighthouse Point Park

What a week it's been! My surprise birthday snow, while awesome and beautiful, knocked out the power in much of Connecticut (and elsewhere), and our entire town lost electricity. Our apartment finally got up and running again only yesterday, after a light- and heat-less three days. (!)

On Sunday morning, though, after the storm had passed through and before our power went away, we left bright and early for Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven, unaware of the adventures to come in the next few days. Paul was running in a Halloween-themed 5K in the park, and I figured I would take the opportunity to look around and explore a little. :)

As it turns out, it's quite a nice place! Various signs informed me that this is an Important Bird Area (says the National Audubon Society), and a good place for watching migrating hawks -- there were a few scattered hawks flying low overhead while I was there, but the bulk of the migrants have already made their journey, I would think. Plus, the beach is always a fun place to visit, and this one is particularly picturesque, made even prettier on Sunday with a dusting of snow:


There were quite a few cool birds flying around -- or running, in the case of this Killdeer, which used its long legs to keep a good distance from me:


A few Savannah Sparrows were flitting among the smaller trees. This is a new bird for me, and I just love this one's fancy yellow eyeshadow:


And I got to hang out with a small flock of American Pipits, another new bird for me:


These little guys were really cool, climbing over rocks and bobbing their tails constantly. I don't think I'd ever heard of them before a few months ago, either. Plus, they were hanging around near the path, so I could watch the birds and also keep an eye on the race:


It was a fine trip in all -- Paul got a new best personal time on his race, and I got to see some fun new creatures. :)

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