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.
