A Snowy Day We Can All Appreciate

Snowy Owl in East Haven

    When Frank Gallo's report was posted yesterday on CTBirds of someone seeing a Snowy Owl on a porch railing in East Haven, I think many of us expected this bird to be a cat or possibly a Gull. Frank asked for anyone in the area to go check it out and see if they could find it. Why not a Snowy Owl in CT? This past week, there have been reports of one bird at Logan Airport, one bird at Hampton Harbor, N.H., two birds at Duxbury Beach, and another bird at Plum Island.

     Sure enough in a short time, Janet Mehmel reported a Snowy Owl was indeed loafing on someones porch! I wasn't able to leave my studio yesterday, but hoped the bird would still be there today. On my way to a business meeting this morning, Janet reported that the Snowy Owl was present at 7:40 am. After my meeting was over, I drove back to Killingworth, grabbed my cameras and scope and headed southwest to East Haven. Of course, when I left Killingworth it had started to rain, foiling my plans of hopefully getting to the Owl before the predicted rain.

   Arriving in the secluded beach area of East Haven, the rain hadn't made it there yet, but would the Owl still be there? Turning the corner, it was obvious that the bird was still there. Janet was there keeping an eye on the bird along with a handful of other birders including Sally Brown and Tina Green. The spectacular Owl was contented and resting on the small jetty on the beach. The air was still and a distant fog drew a curtain on the horizon. Here are a few digi-scoped images of the Owl which gave us a peaceful mid-day thrill- 

                                               Catching a few winks.........

                                   Shifting its footing on the jetty boulder.........

                                                     Time for a little scratch............

                                                             A good yawn..............

                                           Watching that pesky Gull..........

                                       The Black Ducks could care less!



   Here comes that pesky Gull again.....the Owl wasn't impressed with the Gull's mobbing techiques!

                                                     Predator and Prey........

                Janet keeping watch of the Owl. Thank You Janet for reporting it to us!

  
      If you have a chance you should go to East Haven and enjoy this bird......not sure how long it will stay. Its easy to find and close to observe!

Keith Mueller         Killingworth


ADDENDUM.........


    This Snowy Owl has inspired me!! I have a commission for a miniature bird, but I am seriously considering carving a full sized decorative piece! Here is an image of a miniature decorative Snowy Owl sculpture I carved a few years ago, which was the subject for a book I wrote about carving this bird. Thanks for the picture Jim!

Here are a few more images of the Owl from yesterday.....

 

    Thursday, November 17- The Owl was not present this morning, so I decided to investigate the area; especially the airport. Since Snowy Owls are often found around, near or on airports (ex-Logan) and since this beach is very close to Tweed, this would be the logical choice. As I was looking over the Tweed runways, I saw a familiar Hawk hunting the grassy areas at the end of the runway. Although the bird was at a distance in my binoculars, I am 90% positive it was a Rough-legged Hawk. I didn't take any images for obvious reasons.

     I drove over to East Shore Park and just as I was getting out of my truck, this Red-tailed Hawk flew over my truck. Looking over the Harbor, I spotted a huge bird flying just off the surface of the water coming from the Bradley Point area. Its huge wings carried the bird in a "flap and glide" flight, and I thought for sure the Pelican had returned to New Haven and it was flying directly for me! As the bird approached the main channel it lifted up and it and revealed its identity: Bald Eagle. The Eagle flew up over the Park and headed east.

                                                          The Eagle..........

  

Keith Mueller    Killingworth

http://kmuellerart.blogspot.com

In and Out of the Fog

A few Highlights from Wednesday, November 9- The morning started out with a moderate fog hanging over Killingworth. On my drive to Milford Point, the fog had broken and lifted by New Haven; it looked like the morning would be OK. By the time I reached the parking lot of the Coastal Center, it slowly crept back! When I walked to the beach, the soup was back!

 Small flock of Sanderlings and part of a flock of Brant. The Sanderlings were only a few yards away!

                                 A few Dunlin appear out of the fog

                                   A Sanderling turns over a small shell


     The heavy fog continued for over an hour, and with only an occasional quick glimpse of a few shorebirds passing through the fog, and the continual calling of Black-bellied Plovers, Sanderlings, Dunlins and Brant echoing through the fog, I decided to leave. By the time I reached the beginning of the sanbar, the fog began to break a bit, or at least thinning so the visibilty increased to fifty yards. A small group of Brant, Sanderlings and Dunlin were resting on the quiet beach.

                 Sanderlings- Mother Nature's gift of camoflauge; "sand and broken shells"

Sanannah Sparrow

As I was nearing my truck in the parking lot, this Brown Thrasher flew into this tree and stayed for only a few seconds.

In Stratford, at Short Beach, part of the sizeable roost of Mourning Doves.

    Near Bonds Dock, behind the old Shakspeare Theater, a flock of Monk Parakeets were feeding on Bittersweet. Jen and I enjoy these birds very much, I wish we had them in KIllingworth!

     With permission from the office at the Stratford Marina, I walked back to the "x" dock and found a large gathering of Greater Yellowlegs roosting on the docks. Boats in the yard were being prepped for winter storage, and many of the boats were being shrink-wrapped. The sound of the heat gun would occasionally cause the birds to flush.....but they would return in a minute and settle back in.

    There were no Lesser Yellowlegs in any of the flocks, but there were a pair of
Long-billed Dowitchers in this flock on the end dock........(front center and left-sleeping). Three Short-billed Dowitchers were present, scattered amongst the other Greater Yellowlegs.

The heat gun again.....but they came right back. (L-billed Dowitcher middle right)

               When the yard activities moved closer.....all the birds flew off up river....

                 .........I waited for fifteen minutes, the birds didn't return.

East Shore Park. By late morning, the fog had lifted and the sun was out in all of its glory! There was good Warbler activity at the end of the fence/tree line by the small marshy area near the shore. Most were Yellow-rumped Warblers......

......and this first winter Blackpoll Warbler

At Hammonasset, the sign of fall was in the air.........

Sanderlings, Dunlins and Ruddy Turnstones gathered off Meigs Point.......

A Greater Yellowlegs takes a leisurely swim with these Black Ducks in Meigs Pond.......

   A lone Carolina Wren searches for food on Willards Island.

    The Brookline Birding Club from Massachusetts scheduled a pelagic trip for this past Saturday, November 12. The trip leaves from the home port of Hyannis and would be exploring the waters off Nantucket Shoals. Unfortunately, the trip was cancelled due to high winds, a common occurance in November. Since Jen and I had planned for a long weekend of Cape Cod birding around the pelagic trip and we were already on the Cape when the trip was cancelled, it was not really that much of a disappointment! Even with the high wind warnings being predicted on the Cape, there would still be a positive aspect to this; it meant ideal conditions for watching seabirds from shore. 

   A little great news: The trip was rescheduled for this Sunday, November 20th! If the weather and wind hold, this should be a fantastic weekend! On Saturday, November 19, I am also signed up on the Rhode Island pelagic trip out of Galilee, Point Judith. That means back to back November pelagics. Judging by the amount of sea birds Jen and I saw this past weekend on Cape Cod, this weekend should be one "seabird-filled" weekend!

   My report from this past weekends Cape Cod sea bird bounty will be posted in a few days.....please check back, it will be worth you time, I can promise you that!!

Keith Mueller    Killingworth, CT