When I crossed into Connecticut on the 18th, I finally got started on birding the of the last two general areas of the county in which I’d never previously birded: New England. The other, the Pacific Northwest, will have to wait until the fall, but weeks Twenty-one through Twenty-three will be spent on my tour through the American Atlantic Northeast. There were several days throughout Week Twenty-one during which I didn’t spend that long birding, but the week as a whole would produce some incredible birding and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
On Monday morning I started the week’s birding at the White Memorial Foundation Little Pond, where Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Virginia Rail, Swamp Sparrow, and Canada Warbler were all great pickups for Connecticut, especially considering I didn’t travel very far from the coast for the duration of stay in The Constitution State. After Little Pond I headed to the Bent of the River Sanctuary, a spot the name of which I am still perplexed by – would not “Bend of the River” or “Bent River” be more logical? I digress. Regardless of the locations peculiar name, the birding was solid, yielding Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-winged Warbler, Hooded Warbler, and Pileated Woodpecker. As peculiar to me as the name of the hotspot was seeing Common Merganser in a small body of water, as I have typically always thought of them as a duck that favors large, open-water. I suppose that preconception is born out of only usually seeing them during their winter range and migration.
Once I’d finished up my birding along the river’s bent I made my way back into New Haven to meet up with Mark Aronson, a birder friend of Cody Limber (who I birded with on Sunday), for an evening trip to one of Connecticut’s few reliable spots for Eastern Whip-poor-will. As dusk set in we heard the first of several Whips that called during our time at Summer Hill Road, but unfortunately we weren’t able to track down any of the birds other regular nocturnal birds, such as American Woodcock, Barred Owl, and Great Horned Owl.
On Tuesday morning I made my way to Hammonasset Beach State Park, a fantastic spot that yielded several incredible birds in Seaside Sparrow, Saltmarsh Sparrow, Roseate Tern, and Clapper Rail. Cory’s intel on the exact pin of where I should head to try for the salty sparrows was incredibly helpful – as was all his intel. Almost all of my stops in Connecticut were at spots Cody had suggested, but Cody provided more opportunities than just suggesting a few places to bird.
After Hammonasset, despite having only birded for a couple hours on the day, I wrapped up my birding for the 20th and headed back into New Haven and made my way towards the Yale Peabody Museum, where I met back up with Cody for a private tour of the university’s incredible avian specimen collection. Containing more than 7,200 species. The Peabody Collection is the largest in America and among the most comprehensive collection of bird specimens in the world, but the vast majority of those collections are locked inside of the storage room where they aren’t publicly accessible. Cody had suggested I come in with an idea of the birds I would like to see, and included in my list were birds such as the Birds of Paradise, South American Hummingbirds, Black Rail, Harpy Eagle, Snowy Albatross, Puffins, and the highlight of my visit: the extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker. I can’t imagine most people ever get an opportunity to hold an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in their hands (albeit a long-deceased one), and it was definitely one of the highlights of the year so far.
The 21st would be the conclusion of my time in Connecticut, as I work relatively early to begin my eastward drive along the coast. My first stop of the day was at Rocky Neck State Park, where I made myself some breakfast before continue along until I reached the far southeast corner of the state. During my brief visit at Seaside State Park I picked up a year bird which I’d naively been concerned I may miss: Common Eider. There were more Common Eider at my last stop in the state at Harkness Memorial State Park, along with my first-of-year Alder Flycatcher. After Harkness I headed to a nearby Starbucks to get my blog post for last week posted, but unfortunately I encountered some technical difficulties which I spent the bulk of the day trying, and failing, to overcome. My time in Connecticut left me at 121 species, a solid number though one I feel I could easily have pushed closer to 150 with some more concerted effort.
Those technical difficulties persisted into Thursday, but they weren’t the foremost of my concerns as the 22nd was defined by nonstop torrential downpour. I did spend some time birding by car in the morning at the Big River Management Area and the Fisherville Brook Wildlife Refuge, snagging an assortment of birds such as Broad-winged Hawk, Hairy Woodpecker, Warbling Vireo, Brown Creeper, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Veery, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Parula, and Scarlet Tanager. I did manage to get the tech issue sorted out as I avoided the rain, though, and then prepared to return to my birding plans on Friday.
The morning of the 23rd I got my Rhode Island birding properly kicked off at Napatree Point, a little spit of land out into the Atlantic in southwestern Rhode Island which hosted a great variety of birds. Included in the highlights at the point were a flock of Brant, some ducks in Common Eider, Surf Scoter, and Black Scoter, an assortment of shorebirds in American Oystercatcher, Piping Plover, Red Knot, Purple Sandpiper, and White-rumped Sandpiper, and a mix of gulls and terns including Bonaparte’s Gull, a late Glaucous Gull, a few Laughing Gull, a bunch of Least Tern, and large flock of Common Tern with a couple Roseate Tern mixed in.
After Napatree I continued east to Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, where my walk produced a solid assortment of warblers in Ovenbird, Blue-winged Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Cape May Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Pine Warbler, and Prairie Warbler. From Napatree I made my way to Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, where along with a variety of great birds including Bank Swallow, Greater Scaup, and Northern Rough-winged Swallow I also spotted trio of late American Wigeon. After Trustom Pond I went for a walk at the Great Swamp Management Area before birding my way back the the Cracker Barrel that served as my overnight parking site for my time in Rhode Island, birding by car along a series of roads.
The 24th was much the same as the 22nd: a rainy day the bulk of which I spent inside trying to stay dry, as well as recovering from a minor bug and getting caught up on sleep. The birding I did manage was on the 24th at Snake Den State Park was still a good morning, though Eastern Bluebird, Northern Flicker, and Rock Pigeon were the only additions to my Rhode Island list.
On Sunday I departed early to head towards Massachusetts, however before I made my way to The Bay State I made a more stops in Rhode Island to fill in my eBird county map. First I headed to Colt State Park in Bristol County to kick off the day, then headed to Sachuest Point State National Wildlife Refuge. Sachuest in particular was excellent, and I was incredibly amazed at how many Purple Sandpiper there were scatted throughout the rocks. I counted a minimum of nine, but that was a very conservative number avoiding risking double counting and I am sure I missed several that were on the far side of rocks and out of view; if you told me there were upwards of 20 there, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest.
Leaving behind Rhode Island at 118 species, I continued on towards Massachusetts, where Gooseberry Neck propelled me to a great start due to birds like Common Eider, Red-breasted Merganser, Piping Plover, Purple Sandpiper, and Roseate Tern. After Gooseberry Neck I stopped to make myself some lunch at Demarest Lloyd State Park and went for a brief walk at Horseneck Beach, after which I concluded my week at Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary. there tracking down Seaside Sparrow, Saltmarsh Sparrow, Bobolink, and smattering of other great birds.
All-in-all Week Twenty-one was a great week of birding that brought some awesome experiences, even with a few of the days being defined by dreary drizzle and typhonic torrents. I apologize for this post being so late, I delayed the writing and then was occupied by other things that needed to be done on Wednesday and Thursday. Next week’s post shouldn’t be delayed at all. The bulk of Week Twenty-two will be spent in Massachusetts, until I the weekend when I spend some time in southern New Hampshire before moving on up the coast to Maine for Week Twenty-three. In the meantime, Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
All Patrons will receive my "Daily Notes" 12-36 hours after the end of each day, and Patrons subscribed to the "Sponsor" tier will receive monthly postcards, mailed out between the 25th and end of each month.
For anyone who wishes to support me without using Patreon, clicking the "$" Icon will link you to my Venmo as well. There is also an option on Patreon to purchase my Daily Notes Collection for a one-time $10 payment without becoming a paid member, which will give you access to the Daily Notes without having to subscribe to a monthly subscription. For those who it requests the last four of my number for, it's 1403.
Thank you again to those of you who have supported me so far, it's tremendously generous and greatly appreciated.
Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
