Yellow-rumped Warbler would be my guess. Brian Kleinman Riverside Reptiles www.riversidereptiles.com 860-653-2535

I thought this might be of interest to birders in the north central CT region, since this could mean the closure of some popular birding areas: Patrick Comins From: CTEnvLeader@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CTEnvLeader@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Eric Hammerling Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 4:15 PM To: CTEnvLeader@yahoogroups.com Subject: [CTEnvL] Potential Closure of MDC Lands to Recreation, Hearing on July 20th Importance: High Dear Friends, You may have read in the Hartford Courant (notably reporter Rick Green's blog) about a recent $2.9 million jury award to a mountain biker who was seriously injured by driving into a pipe gate at the Metropolitan District Commission's (MDC) West Hartford Reservoir. In response, the MDC Commissioners are considering the closure of all of their lands to recreational uses in order to 1) limit potential exposure to personal injury lawsuits in the future; and 2) avoid expected increases in their insurance premiums. At CFPA, we are concerned about this for several reasons: 1) A beautiful, 3.5 mile section of the Metacomet/New England National Scenic Trail (a blue-blazed hiking trail maintained by CFPA volunteers) runs through the MDC's West Hartford Reservoir property. Portions of the Tunxis Trail and Falls Brook Trail also cross MDC properties up north near the Barkhamsted Reservoir; 2) As a nonprofit municipal corporation, The MDC has the status of a municipality and we are concerned that other municipalities, municipal water companies, et cetera will consider closing recreation lands and/or will hesitate to open new lands because of liability fears; 3) The state's Recreational Liability Statute (as was highlighted in a terrific conference put on by Rivers Alliance of Connecticut in April) is strong for private landowners, private corporations, and private utilities who host recreational activities without charging a fee, but the statute is clearly not providing sufficient liability protection for municipalities. 4) Although the statute needs to be fixed by the Legislature (and should have been fixed in the late 1990's on the heels of Conway v. Wilton), we understand that it will likely face strong resistance from the well-heeled Trial Lawyers Association. We will need your help and personal involvement if you care about this issue. There will be a Public Hearing before MDC's Water Bureau on Tuesday, July 20th, starting at 5:30 p.m. at the West Hartford Town Hall (50 South Main Street, West Hartford). I hope you will be able to join us to let the MDC know how you feel about this matter. This may be the only public hearing the MDC holds to receive public input before the MDC Commissioners make their recommendation. If you would like more information on this, we have worked with a CT NEMBA (New England Mountain Biking Association) volunteer to set-up an informational website, www.savethemdctrails.org <http://www.savethemdctrails.org> , to post information on this matter as it develops. We have also set-up an online petition on that website as well as developed a list of "Friends" (individuals and businesses) to rally additional support. Please consider visiting the www.savethemdctrails.org <http://www.savethemdctrails.org> website to learn more, sign the online petition (we have received over 1,000 signatures already in only 1 week), or find other ways to help us spread the word about this important matter. Thanks, in advance, for your interest! All the best, Eric Eric Hammerling, Executive Director Connecticut Forest & Park Association 16 Meriden Road Rockfall, CT 06481 ehammerling@ctwoodlands.org <mailto:ehammerling@ctwoodlands.org> phone: 860.346.2372 fax: 860.347.7463 http://www.ctwoodlands.org/ <http://www.ctwoodlands.org/> Are you a fan of CFPA? Join us on Facebook--- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Connecticut-Forest-Park-Association/561284 54249 <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Connecticut-Forest-Park-Association/56128 454249> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] __._,_.___