Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Productive Birding At Power Line Cuts

I spent time birding along some local Power line cuts this weekend. I find them to be a covenient place to search for birds. They have built in trails, shrubs & evergreens of various heights in the middle, and taller trees along the borders. That makes it easier to move around and see birds from various angles. 
I met up with some fellow birders on Saturday for a Hartford Audubon field trip.  Joe (leader) led us through some areas in the Maromas section of Middletown. None of us had a butterfly book handy but one member of the group was able to identity this butterfly. I'm used to seeing these butterflies very early in the year. - can you identify it? (Click here for the answer).
We saw a nice variety of birds on Saturday including a Scarlet Tanager and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak (photo). At first we thought it was a female but we noticed there was a splash of red on the chest indicating it was a young male.
   On Sunday, I checked some of the power lines and an undeveloped rail trail in Portland. Some notable birds included: Prarie Warbler (above photo), American Redstart, House WrensEastern Towhee,  Blue-winged Warbler, Broad-winged HawkRuby-throated Hummingbird, and Yellow-throated Vireo. My favorite sighting of the day was a close-up view of a Hooded Warbler. It was a brilliant male just a few feet away.  I was afraid to take the binoculars away from my eyes. When I did, the bird was gone along with the chance for a photo.
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  I had an early taste of the fall weather this weekend and it felt good to break out the binoculars again. The power line cuts made for productive birding areas this weekend. I'm looking forward to more fall weather and plenty of good birding opportunities.
 What's the most interesting bird species you've seen in your area recently?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

In my three months back east last fall, I found the powerline cuts very useful for birding too. Out west, we don't often have thick enough vegetation for those, but occasionally up in the mountains.

Ruth said...

Just catching up on your recent posts. Summer was hot and and mosquito-y but the cooler fall weather has me motivated to hit the trails once again. You have some really nice pictures.

chris said...

Nice birding time you got Larry. You know that some of these nice birdies of yours might be blown up straight to us now, with the typical fall storms we have... We already got a Northern Parula ;-)

John Going Gently said...

LOVE the antique desk... beautiful

Larry said...

Birding is Fun-Not all power lines around here have good vegetation either.Some are better than others.

Ruth-thanks-summer is a good time to take a break from birding. I took a birding break too.

Chris-Yes-we give you permission to see them as soon as we're finished over here.

John Gray-thanks-I liked it too.

Kathie Brown said...

I have seen few warblers this year, which I find really disappointing. Glad you got such a good view of so many!