CT Birders --

Happy Holidays to all!

Monday while driving on I91 as I passed through West Springfield  suddenly dead ahead was what I am sure (no glasses) was a peregrine that flew up and over the bridges in front of me just clearing a tractor trailer while I am yelping ohhh be careful!  A sudden strong gust of wind would not of been timely! Has anyone else seen a peregrine in this area?

As far as yard birds go these days, woodpeckers are abundant and plowing through the suet. A pair of Hairy's have been very vocal and a female flicker has moved into the great crested flycatcher box where she spends her nights. She is visiting the suet often. Pheasants that survived the gun club release are hunkered down in the side garden where they are close to a tray of food I put out for them and thawed water. I have been watching the numbers go down and have found the ever familiar feather piles in the woods where I am sure the coyotes and great horned owls are preying on them. If they would just sleep in trees at night! Early one morning this week I noted a beauuuutiful coyote out back and so I headed out to coax him away sure he was hunting pheasant. Once gone I could hear a pheasant alarm call and convinced I would locate the bird huddled under a bush, much to my surprise the male pheasant was high up in a red maple. I told him with that kind of evasive action he just might survive! Some years a male or two survives through the summer,  the calls and wing flap giving his presence away.

As is the norm there are well over a hundred house finches here again, with a  goldie mixed in here and there. There are appears to be about 12 or so bluebirds coming for mealworms and also eating hulled sunflower and suet. The mockingbird returned for it's fifth winter, landing at my feet late fall waiting for its handout.  He has been very grumpy lately and trying hard to chase away the resident robin who spends the winter and the bluebirds when I attempt to ground feed them when they are piling up at the mealworm feeder. The black capped chickadee who returned for four winters, alas did not return this year. Juncos and white throats in good numbers, and the song sparrows are feeling no stress as they have been singing the last few weeks ,crazy birds! Today I heard a tufted titmouse singing!

The clinic is rather quiet, with the current residents being  magnolia and yellow rumped and warblers, a ruby throated hummingbird, a baltimore oriole, barn and northern rough winged swallows, a tufted titmouse, and common grackle.

Jayne Amico/Southington

www.mvssanctuary.org

Having the distinction of being a birder who was arrested for criminal
trespass on my very first visit to the "old" Milford Point ( all charges
dropped and the complaintant warned to stop harassing birders), I want to
say that in subsequent encounters with police I have had nothing but
respectful questions and then warm interest in what this birding thing was
all about.
This may be an unpopular view, but while out at all hours of the night
owling in some rather remote and sometimes unsavory environments, I have
regarded their concern as a comfort.  I always thank them for checking on me
for if I was indeed in need of assistance, I was glad to know they were
around.

Mark
Mark S. Szantyr
80 Bicknell Road #9
Ashford, Connecticut 06278
860-487-9766
Birddog55@charter.net

Like most long time birders I too have had my interactions with police.  In the mid '90's I went through an owl phase and after the second middle-of-the-night questioning I just started a policy of calling the local police, giving my plate # and telling them what I was up to.  Never got bothered after that and I do the same for night time salamander surveys.
 
I had a scary encounter at Hammonassett Reservoir birding when a Water Co. cop and local police tracked me down in the woods and grilled me about what I was doing so near the water supply.  It took a lot of talking to convince them that I wasn't a terrorist about to poison the water supply.  As many have said about this I wasn't mad and I'm glad someone is watching our water supplies and now I generally avoid birding off trail on water supply land. Yes I was off trail. Mea culpa.
 
 My nightmare scenario happened at Ninigret Wildlife Sancuary. I was birding-by-car, that is driving slowly along the roads and airstrip listening for different birds.  I passed the swimming pond twice during my circuit and when I left the park State Police pulled me over, guns drawn and extracted me from my car.  It seemed a woman at the swimming pond thought I was looking to abduct a child from the park. Apparently someone had attempted that earlier in the summer and this woman was "Certain" it was me.  Everything was cleared up in short order but phew, that was scary and ruined a whole day of my vacation.
 
 I know a lot of people have had their say on this and many are ready for the subject to fade away but one thought that I have about these experiences is this:  Doesn't this cry out for some kind of educational outreach between Birder organizations and local police, Park personel, State police?  Just a thought.
 
Bill Yule
"For those who hunger after the earthly excrescences called mushrooms."

--- On Sat, 1/9/10, Mark Szantyr birddog55@charter.net wrote:

From: Mark Szantyr birddog55@charter.net
Subject: [CT Birds] Birding and Police, a different take
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Date: Saturday, January 9, 2010, 9:55 PM

Having the distinction of being a birder who was arrested for criminal trespass on my very first visit to the "old" Milford Point ( all charges dropped and the complaintant warned to stop harassing birders), I want to say that in subsequent encounters with police I have had nothing but respectful questions and then warm interest in what this birding thing was all about.
This may be an unpopular view, but while out at all hours of the night owling in some rather remote and sometimes unsavory environments, I have regarded their concern as a comfort.  I always thank them for checking on me for if I was indeed in need of assistance, I was glad to know they were around.

Mark
Mark S. Szantyr
80 Bicknell Road #9
Ashford, Connecticut 06278
860-487-9766
Birddog55@charter.net

This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut.
For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org

I can't help but agree... and I certainly hope the topic won't fade as it
does seriously impact what this list was set up to do - allow us to share
where birds are located.  Perhaps we can initiate some discussion to foster
the education desperately needed.  Heck, in the long run, we may end up
recruiting new birders (now wouldn't that be cool?).  And if we are not
allowed to have such discussions here, then I suggest setting up a sister
site on say Yahoo Groups (very easy to join and use) or something similar
(unless another discussion place already exists).  I think this is a great
topic overall, despite the fact that I am annoyed with the idea that someone
might be out there thinking that just because I'm carrying a camera, scope,
and what not that I'm some perv or terrorist with a hidden agenda.

As someone recently entering the educational system, I've been finding any
excuse to incorporate my photographs of anything relating to nature (and
getting plenty of ooo's and ahhh's from students amazed that their current
long term substitute teacher is so talented - big blush when many have
greater skills than I) - but really, what can we do to help folks understand
that we are communing with nature - maybe even a step up in doing
research/studies?

Should we consider registering ourselves with a database that we are birders
or other well-rounded naturalists?  Speaking of naturalists, perhaps someone
can tell me how you go about becoming a 'naturalist'?  Does someone take a
set of courses?  I've a degree in Biology and been a friend of nature for
all my life (sure, I don't do all I should, but I'm slowly changing my old
habits).

Donna

----- Original Message -----
From: "Boletebill" boletebill@yahoo.com
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org; "Mark Szantyr" birddog55@charter.net
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 11:44 AM
Subject: Re: [CT Birds] Birding and Police, a different take

Like most long time birders I too have had my interactions with police. In
the mid '90's I went through an owl phase and after the second
middle-of-the-night questioning I just started a policy of calling the local
police, giving my plate # and telling them what I was up to. Never got
bothered after that and I do the same for night time salamander surveys.

I had a scary encounter at Hammonassett Reservoir birding when a Water Co.
cop and local police tracked me down in the woods and grilled me about what
I was doing so near the water supply. It took a lot of talking to convince
them that I wasn't a terrorist about to poison the water supply. As many
have said about this I wasn't mad and I'm glad someone is watching our water
supplies and now I generally avoid birding off trail on water supply land.
Yes I was off trail. Mea culpa.

My nightmare scenario happened at Ninigret Wildlife Sancuary. I was
birding-by-car, that is driving slowly along the roads and airstrip
listening for different birds. I passed the swimming pond twice during my
circuit and when I left the park State Police pulled me over, guns drawn and
extracted me from my car. It seemed a woman at the swimming pond thought I
was looking to abduct a child from the park. Apparently someone had
attempted that earlier in the summer and this woman was "Certain" it was me.
Everything was cleared up in short order but phew, that was scary and ruined
a whole day of my vacation.

I know a lot of people have had their say on this and many are ready for the
subject to fade away but one thought that I have about these experiences is
this: Doesn't this cry out for some kind of educational outreach between
Birder organizations and local police, Park personel, State police? Just a
thought.

Bill Yule
"For those who hunger after the earthly excrescences called mushrooms."

--- On Sat, 1/9/10, Mark Szantyr birddog55@charter.net wrote:

From: Mark Szantyr birddog55@charter.net
Subject: [CT Birds] Birding and Police, a different take
To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Date: Saturday, January 9, 2010, 9:55 PM

Having the distinction of being a birder who was arrested for criminal
trespass on my very first visit to the "old" Milford Point ( all charges
dropped and the complaintant warned to stop harassing birders), I want to
say that in subsequent encounters with police I have had nothing but
respectful questions and then warm interest in what this birding thing was
all about.
This may be an unpopular view, but while out at all hours of the night
owling in some rather remote and sometimes unsavory environments, I have
regarded their concern as a comfort. I always thank them for checking on me
for if I was indeed in need of assistance, I was glad to know they were
around.

Mark
Mark S. Szantyr
80 Bicknell Road #9
Ashford, Connecticut 06278
860-487-9766
Birddog55@charter.net

This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA)
for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut.
For subscription information visit
http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org

This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA)
for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut.
For subscription information visit
http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org