Working as an ornithologist, one of the most common questions I get from the public is about the birds that build nests on people’s homes. When someone describes the nest they’ve found, they frequently say that they are placed on top of a light fixture, on a beam under a deck, or on some other similar structure. These nests usually turn out to belong to eastern phoebes. Continue reading “Confirming phoebes”
Where did all the house sparrows go?
Yesterday, I posted on the need for more European starling breeding records. Today, it is the turn of house sparrows – perhaps the only Connecticut bird species disliked more (though there is another contender, which I’ll get to soon enough!). Continue reading “Where did all the house sparrows go?”
Confirming starlings
Despite their splendid adult plumage and human-like ability to adapt to almost any surroundings, European starlings are rarely a favourite among birders. Introduced from Eurasia on the grounds that Shakespeare mentioned them in Henry IV, Part 1, they are often seen as a pest. Continue reading “Confirming starlings”
Priorities
On Friday, I wrote a post about how we determine whether blocks are “complete” for the breeding portion of the atlas project – using a combination of the time spent in the block, the number of species found, and the number of those species for which breeding is confirmed. Continue reading “Priorities”
When is a block complete?
Although our decision to add a fourth year of breeding surveys to the atlas project was mostly based on the developing pandemic, another key variable we considered was how close we are to having enough data for the project to be a success. Of course, “enough” is a relative term, so we had to choose criteria to determine when a block should be considered complete. Continue reading “When is a block complete?”
IMPORTANT ATLAS UPDATE
As a few people know, over the past few months the Atlas team has been discussing the option of extending the atlas for an additional year to ensure we achieve good coverage of the entire state. About a month ago, we concluded that a big push this year would suffice. We have now changed our minds.
Continue reading “IMPORTANT ATLAS UPDATE”
Winter is almost over
We have one more week in which to collect data for the winter atlas this season. Should you need inspiration to head outside, and see what you can find, read this short piece that Dave Provencher – regional coordinator for the southeast Connecticut region – recently posted on the Connecticut Audubon Facebook page. Continue reading “Winter is almost over”
So many crows ….
The winter portion of the atlas project is largely focused on compiling lists of species for each block and on using timed one-hour surveys to provide a standardized measure of the number of individuals of each species. We do, however, also have some more specialized protocols to ensure that we capture key aspects of the state’s birdlife that might otherwise be missed. Sites where large numbers of birds gather to roost are of particular interest, and one of our goals is document such locations (see the protocol here). In the article, below, Greg Hanisek describes how he recently found a huge crow roost in Waterbury: Continue reading “So many crows ….”
Birding for the atlas in winter
Frank Gallo – author of the book Birding in Connecticut – has been one of our biggest contributors of data, especially from southwestern Connecticut where he has spent a lot of time visiting blocks that have no data. Here he writes about the pleasure of birding at sites he’d never even considered visiting until the atlas came along: Continue reading “Birding for the atlas in winter”
Winter atlas update
It’s hard to believe but there are only six weeks of winter atlas field work left, so it’s a good time to get out survey blocks. This week, we updated the block map data on the atlas web site, so species lists should be relatively complete (with the caveat that not all data submitted by mail has been entered yet). Continue reading “Winter atlas update”