Below are bird sightings and notes for recent Sunrise Birding Walks & Tours. The format follows the Connecticut Ornithological Association's reporting guidelines for rarities (bold, all caps) and includes additional sightings of interest. Current sightings are at the top of the list.
From Gina Nichol and Sunrise Birding group:
5/6/2008 -- New Haven, East Rock Park -- SOLITARY SANDPIPER, ORCHARD ORIOLE, BLACKPOLL WARBLER and others
Other species recorded: Canada Goose, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Kingbird, Warbling Vireo, Blue Jay, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Tufted Titmouse, Wood Thrush, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, American Redstart, Worm-eating Warbler, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch.
5/03/2008 - From Gina Nichol and Sunrise Birding group :
Killingworth, Chatfield Hollow State Park --
Species recorded:
Wood Duck, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Herring Gull, Mourning Dove, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch.
5/01/2008 - From Gina Nichol and Sunrise Birding group :
Madison, Hammonasset State Park -- LITTLE BLUE HERON, WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER, PURPLE MARTIN, BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE
Other species recorded: Canada Goose, Mute Swan, American Black Duck, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Surf Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Glossy Ibis, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, Sanderling, Short-billed Dowitcher, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Mourning Dove, Great Horned Owl, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Wren, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow.
Above: Purple Martins at Hammonasset. Photo by Gina Nichol.
3/04/2008 - From Gina Nichol and
Sunrise Birding group :
Madison, Hammonasset State Park -- AMERICAN BITTERN, PEREGRINE FALCON, BONAPARTE'S GULLS, NORTHERN PINTAIL
Other species recorded: Canada Goose, American Black Duck, Mallard, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Northern Harrier, Killdeer, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, American Crow, Horned Lark, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, American Robin, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch.
American Bittern at Hammonasset.
Photo taken by John Schwarz
www.birdspix.com
3/02/08 - From Luke Tiller and Sunrise Birding group:
Stratford, Long Beach -- TUNDRA SWAN
3/01/2008 - From Luke Tiller and Sunrise Birding walk: Westport Shoreline areas -- 9 SNOW BUNTINGS, ICELAND GULL, 3 BLACK VULTURES A great day to be out in the field and a seeming abundance of birds in a number of spots. Highlights species wise were 9 SNOW BUNTINGS at
Compo beach mixed in with a fair sized flock of Horned Larks. Also off of Compo were huge rafts of ducks including many hundreds if not thousands of Common Goldeneye,
Oldsquaw and Greater Scaup (I was reading of a Greater Scaup flock off of NY a week or so back that totaled an estimated 25,000 birds). It would seem that there is some
kind of big plankton bloom (if that is the right term or even phenomenon) that any number of waterfowl and gulls are making the most of off of Westport beaches at the
moment at Southport beach these included a beautiful 1CY ICELAND GULL amongst a whole slew of large gulls and one rather lonely looking Bonaparte's (hopefully more
small gulls are on there way). Raptors were also present in the shape of 3 BLACK VULTURES as well as a Great Horned Owl, and bird song accompanied us the whole
morning. From what started as a rather gloomy looking day we were blessed with some nice birds and some great weather.
1/16/2008 -- From Luke Tiller:
I spent a nice morning down in Bridgeport leading a great group of birders around various spots. Good to be back in the country, catching up with friends, meeting some new ones and doing some birding.There wasn't a host of uncommon species around, but Captains Cove Marina was exceedingly birdy. The LESSER SCAUP were in two rafts and numbered easily 100-150 birds - almost a surprise there was nothing in with them - when they are in in those numbers there is often a Redhead accompanying. We had a good discussion on the value of giss in identifying scaup as well as plumage details etc. Canvasbacks and Ruddy Duck were also nice to see.
Seaside Park was quiet with none of the hoped for white winged gulls (seem thin on the ground thus far on the coast?) but a female AMERICAN KESTREL was a bonus for most Big January listers. We then went to Beardlsey Park. Again the lake was quite quiet with only a hundred or two gulls present but with the bonus of an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL last weeks trash bird becomes this weeks rarity!
Finished off at Long Beach in Stratford where it was fairly quiet we did however get amazing looks? at Oldsquaw (and a few digiscoped shots), just meters off of the beach (I've rarely if ever seen them so close to shore). A huge distant raft of Goldeneye were somewhere just off of Pleasure Beach but the few that could be safely identified from that distance all seemed to be Commons. On the way out a male AMERICAN KESTREL was perched up near the airport.
Luke Tiller, Wilton
www.sunrisebirding.com
12/25/2007 - From Gina Nichol :
Madison, Hammonasset State Park -- 1 RED CROSSBILL, 6 SNOW BUNTING,
7 PURPLE SANDPIPER, 11 COMMON REDPOLL, 1 LAPLAND LONGSPUR
12/23/2007 - From Gina Nichol :
Madison, Hammonasset State Park, West Beach parking area (8 - 9:30 AM) --
11+ RED CROSSBILLS, 3 RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH The car access to West Beach was blocked this morning though the road was fairly free of ice. I walked in from the East Beach lot suspecting there would be something there and I was pleased with how easy they were to see. The birds are working the line of pines along the edge of parking lot. They are fairly noisy and tame allowing close looks in the shorter pines.
3/04/2008 - From Gina Nichol and 
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