Category: CT Bird Atlas News

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”

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”

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 ….”

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”

November 1^st marks the start of the winter survey period for the Connecticut Bird Atlas. From now until the end of February, we are interested in all of your bird observations across the state. Continue reading “Winter atlas – season 2 is upon us”

In a post on the CTbirds listserv yesterday, Will Schenck described watching a yellow-billed cuckoo at Greenwich Point Park. Cuckoos are species that I long thought of as relatively hard to find in Connecticut. In the past 3-4 years, however, I have been seeing them much more often. In fact, right now, I usually see or hear multiple cuckoos, and often both species, any morning I go birding in deciduous forest or open shrubby habitat. Part of the apparent increase may just be that I’m spending more time birding in those habitats than I used to, especially with all the atlas field work I’ve been doing. But I have assumed that the gypsy moth outbreak of recent years has also played a role and increased the numbers of these caterpillar specialists. Continue reading “Cuckoos: declining, but increasing?”

One of the challenges with any atlas project is completing survey work in areas where few birders live.  In Connecticut, the far north and the eastern third of the state, are the challenges, as shown in the two maps below: Continue reading “NHBC block-busts Voluntown and Jewett City”

Most of my birding this spring has been focused on visiting unclaimed blocks with no data from 2018. This morning, though, I did not have a lot of time, so I set out on a more specific quest. Continue reading “Confirming common forest migrants”