Who doesn't love owls? Now that I think about it, probably rodents and other small animals!  This is a male Great-horned Owl  probably doing security detail for a nearby nest.  I could imagine Clint Eastwood's voice coming out of his mouth-"Go ahead-make my day ..read more

How about "Belted Kingfisher landed on a branch?" Notice the female is the one with extra color in this species with a chestnut-colored belly band and flanks which he male does not have. It's usually the males that are more colorful when it comes to bird species.  "White-throated Sparrow visits Wadsworth Mansion grounds!" "Great Egret Arrives from migration trip and is caught standing in the rain!"  Oh well, sorry my headline didn't live up to expectations but Happy Easter to those who celebrated and since I'm actually posting this on the first of the month: Happy April 1st!   ..read more

Life is full off potential addictions. There are obvious ones like food, drugs, and alcohol but when you break one addiction another less obvious one can easily take its place  Birding seems like a healthy and wholesome activity. I think that in most ways it is, but birding can become an addiction too! Usually this applies to listing or having an appetite to constantly see new species. It's happened to me before but at I'm usually able to recognize it when it starts to creep back in. I spent the month of January and February anxious to see new species and adding numbers to my list. That ..read more

Sometimes, I can't get withing a 1000 feet of a bird but this turkey was right in the middle of the road! I know you might be thinking that the road is full of turkeys but I'm looking for the feathered kind that let's me take pictures. This tom was busy strutting his stuff for a couple of hens. I was just busy deleting pictures from my camera when this female Bufflehead popped up in front of me. Usually, they fly off or swim off by the time I raise my  camera. It's nice to get a better look at the more subtly marked female for a change as opposed to the male who are all white on the bac ..read more

Birders learn about birding at their own pace. Some learn quickly and are experts in no time. Others take years to graduate from identifying birds at the feeders to identifying a few warblers and never reach the level of expert. I fell somewhere in between. I learned a lot quickly but never ascended to that expert level. I still make mistakes and second-guess identifications. There are still certain categories of birds I have difficulty with.  The top photo is a female and male Gadwall. That was one of those duck species I wasn't confident with early on. The markings are subtle com ..read more

I took several trips down to the shore in January and not once did I see a Brant. Other people were reporting them and I even went to a location 10 minutes after they were reported there. No dice. Finally, I came across some in Clinton. There were about 3 dozen in total. I was relieved to put that behind me ..read more

One of the ways I've tried to make the winter pass by more quickly is by keeping track of how many bird species in can find in the month of January. There are more species in Connecticut during the winter than you might think. I've found 100 species in the Connecticut during the month of January and there are others who have found many more than that. Driving around Connecticut gets to be tiring so now I only pay attention to what I find in my own county. A lot less time consuming and a lot more fuel efficient.  It was 20 degrees and windy on the morning I saw this great Blue Heron. It w ..read more

The rarest breeding bird in Connecticut is the Red-headed Woodpecker. The birder who saw the most species in Middlesex County last year (Danny) started this year by finding this rare species near his home turf. That allowed many other birders like myself to go see one for myself. I've seen a few over the years. The adult Red-headed Woodpecker is the only species of woodpecker with all red head and neck. I saw it on a cloudy afternoon high in the tree so not such a great photo but better than nothing. As  it turns out, there are now 2 of them at the same location ..read more

I looked out the back door this morning and admired the view of ice glistening from the tallest treetops ..read more

I would have to admit that being flexible does not come naturally to me. I like to analyze, strategize, and follow a plan. For example, when I'm in the gym I like to do exercises in a particular order and want the weights and equipment to match each other.  I've come to realize over the years that life is much easier to deal with if you can be flexible. It gives you a lot more options and it is a lot less stressful and efficient if you can quickly analyze and pivot when things don't go according to plan. It can lead to new opportunities and experiences that you may have been missing out ..read more