>From Dave Rosgen: 10/27 - Litchfield, White Hall Rd. (White Memorial's Museum Area) - 2 Common Ravens, 4 Purple Finches, 8 Pine Siskins; Also, 1 Cooper's Hawk harassing the ravens, 1 immature Bald Eagle overhead, 22 Eastern Bluebirds (Mott-Van Winkle Conifer Stand) - 1 Brown Creeper; Also, 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets (Bantam River) - 2 Wood Ducks White's Woods Rd. (White Memorial's Old Camp Townsend) - 2 Common Ravens >From Dave Rosgen & John Young: 10/27 - Litchfield, White's Woods Rd. (White Memorial's Little Pond Boardwalk) - 36 Eastern Bluebirds, 50 Cedar Waxwings >From Dave Rosgen, w/ Edith Canning & Seth Harvey: 10/27 - Litchfield, White's Woods Rd. (White Memorial's Cemetery Pond) - 8 Wood Ducks, 11 Green-winged Teal, 14 American Black Ducks, 6 American Wigeon, 1870 American Robins coming in to roost in the woods behind the pond >From Dave Rosgen, w/ John Eykelhoff: 10/27 - Litchfield, N. Shore Rd. (Bantam Lake's N. Bay) - 1 Common Loon, 7 Pied-billed Grebes, 2 Double-crested Cormorants, 4 Great Blue Herons, 2 Wood Ducks, 1 Lesser Scaup, 2 American Wigeon, 1 Common Merganser, 2 American Coots (Litchfield Town Beach) - 2 Brown Creepers, 2 Rusty Blackbirds; Also, 1 Fish Crow, 5 Golden-crowned Kinglets (Bantam Lake's Pt. Folly) - 1 Pied-billed Grebe, 1 Great Blue Heron, 2 Wood Ducks, 2 Ruddy Ducks, 13 American Coots David Rosgen Wildlife Biologist White Memorial Conservation Center P.O. Box 368 Litchfield, CT 06759 860-567-0857 dave@whitememorialcc.org www.whitememorialcc.org

Several people have contacted me wondering if the project I mentioned in my post yesterday was the same as the Soundview Property that many groups stepped forward to help out with earlier in the year. These are two separate projects. The Soundview project is still pending and I will let the list and partners know if and hopefully when that one comes to fruition. The Goss property is in the north end of the East River Watershed and consists of a big forest block, some agricultural fields and freshwater wetlands north of I-95. Its main ecological functions are protecting water quality in the East River and as habitat for forest interior nesting birds...it also helps to preserve the north-south forested corridor that heads to the north into the Bolton Range and Cockaponset Triangle and is a keystone parcel in any hopes to preserve this large-scale forested landscape. It also includes the 'head-of-tide' for the East River. Here are links on Google Earth showing the locations of the two properties: The Goss Property is the large forest block with the zig-zag powerline cut and the hayfields NE of the East River, relatively on center in this map: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=guilford,+ct&ie=UTF8&ll=41.306246,-72.664089&spn=0.05964,0.114326&t=h&z=14 The Soundview Property is south of the RR tracks, directly adjacent to the lower reaches of the tidal marsh here (the mostly forested island between the RR tracks and the marsh): http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=guilford,+ct&ie=UTF8&ll=41.275162,-72.656643&spn=0.014917,0.028582&t=h&z=16 We'll still have to keep our fingers crossed for this second critical conservation acquisition. Patrick PS One key partner that I didn't mention in my post was the Guilford Land Trust, which also played a key role in this. Patrick M. Comins Director of Bird Conservation Audubon Connecticut pcomins@audubon.org http://iba.audubon.org/iba/viewState.do?state=US-CT Bent of the River Sanctuary 185 East Flat Hill Road Southbury, CT 06488 Phone: (203)264-5098 x305 or (203)264-5180 x305 Fax: (203)264-6332