Our trip this past Sat [11/9] was to bird a few locations along the eastern Ct coastal in late fall which was ambitious as we traveled from Drumlin Farm to Stonington and ended at Hamonassett Beach SP - basically give the participants an introduction to these locations along with finding a nice mix of birds. As the weather turned out that morning, a very sunny day with a strong cool [maybe called cold] breeze making conditions good to see raptor but challenging in the beginning to see the passerines - fortunately the winds died down later in the afternoon making for more passerine movement. First stop was in Stonington at the Saltwater Farm Vineyard [permission is needed] where we quickly saw a male Hooded Merganser in a channel and a Cooper's Hawk zip by. As we walked this trail along the marsh edges, we found a few species like Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Red-b Woodpecker, Juncos, Red-tailed Hawks but not the mixture we found scouting a few days earlier with Sapsuckers, Saltmarsh Sparrows, E Meadowlark, etc.=C2=A0 A few days earlier, a Sedge Wren, Sora & Virginia Rails were seen in the marsh Only 7 minutes away, we visited Barn Island WMA [still strong cool winds] as we birded down to the 1st impoundment to scan the marshes and bird along the edges. We did hear 1 Virginia Rail call, enjoyed various hawks flying about like a Red-shouldered, Red-tails & Cooper's Hawk - missed seeing the Goshawk & Merlin seen the previous day. As we walked back to the car, we enjoyed 3 Hermit Thrushes close up, Goldfinches, Wht-thr Sparrows, Red-bellied & Downy Woodpeckers, etc. Barn Island WMA is a huge property with extensive marshes and duck impoundments and excellent trail system such that one could spend the whole day birding this one location - a few days early in the marsh, a Yellow Rail was flushed along with Sora & Virginia Rails, Marsh Wrens, Saltmarsh Sparrow & more Next stop was Harkness Memorial SP that has excellent mudflats, marshes, thickets and ocean viewing - again a location that more hours could have been spent. Right off we spotted a f Baltimore Oriole, Mockingbirds, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Killdeers, Blk-bellied Plovers, Bufflehead, Hooded Mergansers, Black Ducks, Ruby-cr Kinglet as we walked around. At the Point as we scanned the ocean, we spotted an Osprey feeding, a Peregrine Falcon shooting by, flock of Brant, C Eiders, Surf & Black Scoters, many Red-thr and a few C Loons, Dunlin, Laughing Gulls, etc. Nearby Harkness is a spot only known as the Secret Spot which we visited - a small area with a loop trail going through field, scrub full of berries, stream, wooded edges - right off we enjoyed a Palm Warbler feeding on the ground, Purple Finches in the berries, Red-bellied & Downy Woodpeckers, Sharp-shinned Hawk flying low overhead, a f Northern Harrier hunting the field, Golden-cr Kinglets, then a Bald Eagle overhead - then out pops a stunning Fox Sparrow - 2 days earlier when scouting, an Orange-cr Warbler was in the same spot along with Towhees, E Meadowlark & much more After lunch, we headed to Hammonassett Beach SP with limited time to get a few target birds which was successful as we quickly found the Long-billed Dowitcher feeding along with several Gt Yellowlegs and Dunlin - great looks as we could compare the various ID features of these species - near the car in the dirt parking lot, 7 N Horned Larks put on a show for the folks while a Gt Egret flew into the marsh - a great ending to this cool windy day as we ended up with 62 species - the raptor show was great all day with our only real miss was a Merlin - all day we had many Turkey Vultures with several Black Vultures mixed in. Thanks like always to Leslie Bostrom, Dan Fournier, Lindsay Neubeck for all their driving and bird ID skills - great team plus a great group of participants - wonderful combination! Our last trip for 2024 from Drumlin Farm is Sat. 11/23 as we cover some of the top birding locations in Bristol County [see trip description below for info] - Dec. I get tied up with Christmas Bird Counts and then the holidays. I do believe early Jan. we have some trips to start the New Year off with a bang https://www.massaudubon.org/programs/drumlin-farm/93367-birding-bristol-cou= nty Strickland Wheelock Uxbridge MA
