Focusing on Wildlife | Common Goldeneye

A Cold Connecticut Birding Day

January 9, 2019December 23, 2019 Bob Pelkey Leave a comment

On a cold day, make that a very cold day with winds causing discomfort for a former Floridian, I made efforts to observe a reported Barrow’s Goldeneye near Tuxis Island in Connecticut to close my 2016 wildlife observations. I heard from wildlife blogger Hemant Kishan who told me that he has seen Barrow’s Goldeneye on […]

Common Goldeneye in Sanford

January 4, 2019December 23, 2019 Scott Simmons Leave a comment

This past Saturday a friend of mine found a Common Goldeneye in the pond in front of the Joann Fabrics store in Sanford. This is the third year in a row that the duck has made an appearance there. We were in the area for a CBC when he texted me to let me know […]

Birding By The Sea

March 6, 2018December 23, 2019 Bob Pelkey Leave a comment

Well, this is not actually a post about birding by the sea, but birding by the Long Island Sound at Hammonasset Beach State Park. Images in this post are from a trip to Hammonasset in mid-January when I met world eBirders Julie Hart and Daniel Schlaepfer with four additional visits in February. Julie was kind […]

Two Winter Specialties At Stratford Point

February 26, 2018December 23, 2019 Bob Pelkey 2 Comments

Stratford Point just off I-95 above the Long Island Sound became host to a Short-eared Owl on 2 January according to eBird data. I closely followed reports of the Short-eared Owl on eBird as I had not observed the species in the wild before. As the owl was seen with regularity I began to study […]

Snowy Owl At Long Beach Connecticut

January 8, 2018December 23, 2019 Bob Pelkey Leave a comment

Slightly east of Bridgeport and south of Stratford lies a magnificent wildlife venue called Long Beach. The Snowy Owl above (image 1) was photographed at Long Beach in December 2017. With adjacent Pleasure Beach it is noted that they comprise more than 25% of Connecticut’s remaining undeveloped beachfront property. The Dunlin with Sanderling above (image […]

A Productive Frozen Boat Launch

April 11, 2017December 23, 2019 Bob Pelkey Leave a comment

Rare eBird lists for Connecticut remain a little shorter than those for Florida in my experience. Nonetheless I was intrigued by reports of rare species of goose being reported at Donald W. Barnes Boat Launch in Hartford County Connecticut in mid-winter. A species commonly seen here in New England in the winter months was remarkably […]