A Medley Of Topics

Taking Advantage Of Opportunities

I was traveling up route 66 Sunday when I noticed an Osprey perched in a tree overlooking Wrights Cove, a freshwater tidal pond off of the Connecticut River. Ospreys are quite abundant along the shoreline right now but seeing them here in Portland is much more exciting for me. This photo was taken at 7am in the morning with partly cloudy conditions. I had to point the camera in the direction of the sun to take a photo. In this case the cloud cover helped. This Osprey was cooperative but as you can see some branches got in the way-dratts!! -always something! I'm glad that I stopped to take this photo because it turned out to be the only bird I photographed on Sunday.

Click to play Carolina Wren singing

I was getting ready to leave when I heard a Carolina Wren singing. Ounce for ounce, those perky little birds have to be one of the loudest species! First I took a hand-held video of the bird but it looked pretty shaky during playback. I decided to set the camera up on a tripod, something I've been making a concerted effort to do lately. This wren continued to sing from the branch as I set the camera up. I guess he really wanted to be in a movie!

After I took the video, I continued on to Machimoudus Park in East Haddam. I met up with Adrian and Beth who were surveying the area for an upcoming field trip. Some of the more interesting species we saw included: 2 immature Bald Eagles, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Bluebirds, several Palm Warblers, a female Purple Finch, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Phoebes, Field Sparrows, and one mystery bird which we guessed might have been a Northern Waterthrush . We didn't get a good enough look at that one to be sure though so it didn't make the list. This should make for a nice field trip on Saturday May 3rd.

Conservation Piece

Over the last couple of years, I've been trying to look for little ways to reduce my impact on the environment. Carpooling, not using bags for to-go food , and drinking shade-grown coffee are three examples of changes I've made. It's all about changing habits which can be a slow process. Recently I discovered that you can use your own travel mug when you buy a cup of coffee- to -go from a restaurant or coffee shop. This way you don't have to add another styrofoam or paper cup to the trash bin. One coffee shop even made me a single serving of organic shade grown coffee using a french press at no extra charge!-($1.65 for a tall cup at Starbucks).

Other Blogs

• First of all, I want to say thank Ruthie J at Nature Knitter for giving me an "E" blogging award. It was a nice gesture and I appreciate it.-thanks Ruthie!
• The Birdfreak bloggers deserve credit for their constant devotion to conservation issues. Although I don't follow all of their suggestions, reading their blog does make me more environmentally aware.
• I've enjoyed reading Sandpiper's Place for the last couple of months. It features excellent nature photography right here in Connecticut.
• Conservacity is a blog that features interesting articles about places and events in Middletown, Connecticut.

If you haven't visited any of these blogs, be sure to visit them when you have a chance.

Pink Flamingos
These pink flamingos caught my attention on my way to work. Apparently, these people were "flocked" for giving a donation to The Portland High School athletics program. I found this to be amusing so I asked my wife to take a photo for me. Maybe I can start a new life list of artificial birds seen in Connecticut! I'll bet there's a lister out there who already thought of that idea.