Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Connecticut Wildlife Magazine & a kestrel

I recently ordered a subscription for Connecticut Wildlife which is put out by the Connecticut DEP. They put out six issues a year and the subscription cost is only $6.00 for 1 year and you save a couple of bucks if you get a 2 or 3 year subscription. It's only about 20 pages long but there aren't any advertisements in the magazine as far as I can tell. My first issue has an interesting article about the status of the Cerulean Warbler and it's habitat in Connecticut. The front cover photo was taken by Paul Fusco (what a dandy!) and he wrote the article as well. The magazine has information about all sorts of wildlife in Connecticut. I like to keep track of the latest information about black bears, fishers, coyotes, fox, bobcats, moose, and birds in Connecticut. I also like to follow what the state is doing in terms of land management. This sometimes gives me ideas for new spots to try for birding. The order form can be found here if you are interested. (You can read the Cerulean Warbler article online at the same link in the May/June issue page 10-11 pdf). - I did not spend much time watching birds over the weekend. I made a quick check at a few local spots. The most interesting bird I found was an American Kestrel down at the Portland Fairgrounds. I was curious about how common kestrels are in Connecticut during the month of July and fortunately I have a way of finding out.
I checked a copy of Connecticut Birds by the Season by Greg Hanisek of Talking Nature With Greg Hanisek . It is in a publication called The Connecticut Warbler (volume 25 No. 1 January 2005) which is put out by the COA. Whenever I have a question about the abundance of a particular species during a certain month I refer to this. I have found it to be extremely helpful to me. It shows you by use of bar graphs just how abundant each species is during each month of the year. Looking at the listing of American Kestrel, you can see that they are rare in Connecticut during the start of July and uncommon towards the end of the month. Of course this is not an exact science. It was published in 2005 and the status of certain species has probably changed since then. I do know that this gives me a good idea of what species are around or not around at certain times of the year. It is much more detailed than what you get from a color coded map from a field guide. I'm not sure where you go to get a copy of this issue but you might be able to find out from Greg Hanisek or the COA.

8 comments:

Ruth said...

I love the colours on Am Kestrels. I mainly see them high on telephone wires in the country, too far up for a picture.

Anonymous said...

Hi Larry,
Since I know your blog is widely read I would also add that folks can find out about the relative abudance of particular birds in their state or county under the View and Explore Data tab of the e-bird web site.They can even find the particular locatin in the state the particular species is being found. For example I found that Brian Radziewicz reported a Kestel at Sleeping Giant State Park near New Haven CT on July 17th. A pretty neat tool....Hope life has been treating you well.
Vern

Crafty Green Poet said...

You seem to have some useful resources there!

I like the idea of the kestrel hovering to a jazz soundtrack...

Dawn Fine said...

Great post Larry. I should get that mag for my parents..and read it when I visit ..tee tee :)
Dan @docforestal should see this..bet he already has it or will get it as soon as he reads your post!

Larry said...

Ruth-You could always try climbing the telephone pole.

Pa-birder-thanks for adding that.-I keep forgetting to submit things to e-bird so I added a kestrel.

crafty-I think that I gave the wrong impression with the Jazz concert and Kestrel in the same paragraph so I deleted the bit about the Jazz concert.-I do like the idea of a Kestrel hovering over a Jazz concert.-Maybe they can hire a falconer for next year's Jazz concert!

dawn-Dan's on a birding roll right now.-He's probably already aware of this stuff.

Cindy said...

Dan, nice picture of the Kestral. Also some good information. I do get to CT several times a year to visit the mom. I want to try out some new places there for birding, so thanks for sharing these resources.

Larry said...

Cindy-Glad you find the information useful.

kensington luxury penthouse said...

I am trying to take pictures like that. I need more light. It is tough at this time of year, to get a much light.