Date: 11/9/26 9:06 am From: Jack Swatt via CTBirds <ctbirds...> Subject: [CT Birds] Connecticut County Challenge Week 1
November started out a bit slow for finding rarities, but things are starting to pick up. In the November County Challenge, the first full week of birding build up the numbers on the commonly found birds for this time of year, but lingering birds not commonly staying into November can boost some county's tallies, like the Blackburnian Warbler found at Pine Creek (Fairfield) by James Purcell, the Yellow Warbler found at Silver Sands (New Haven) by Barry Fasciano, or the Chestnut-sided Warbler found at Fisher Meadows (Hartford) by Nathan Gallo. The standings as of the end of Week 1 are in the table below:
Total # Species Week 1 % of total Rank 2002 TO PRESENT SHORELINE CONFERENCE 188 MIDDLESEX 113 60.11% 1 271 NEW HAVEN 154 56.83% 2 263 FAIRFIELD 149 56.65% 3 234 NEW LONDON 117 50.00% 4 INLAND CONFERENCE 178 LITCHFIELD 104 58.43% 1 182 TOLLAND 99 54.40% 2 194 HARTFORD 104 53.61% 3 153 WINDHAM 65 42.48% 4 OVERALL 188 MIDDLESEX 113 60.11% 1 178 LITCHFIELD 104 58.43% 2 271 NEW HAVEN 154 56.83% 3 263 FAIRFIELD 149 56.65% 4 182 TOLLAND 99 54.40% 5 194 HARTFORD 104 53.61% 6 234 NEW LONDON 117 50.00% 7 153 WINDHAM 65 42.48% 8
The typically strong birding counties of New Haven and Fairfield are racking up good numbers of species, but are neck and neck in the 3rd and 4th positions overall. Middlesex County is having a strong November leading the Shoreline counties and the Overall standings. Litchfield birders are leading their county into the lead of the Inland counties and pulling them into second overall, ahead of the heavyweights. But there's still plenty of time in November, and plenty of new bird species to find, for the bottom counties to start climbing up in the standings. So keep checking all your local patches and see what you can find.
Jack Swatt
Lempster, NH
Colchester, CT
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