Sunday Birding and the cycle of life

Today I had a couple of interesting finds but before getting into those, here is the path I chose to travel today and the birds I found along the way. (I know it rhymes). I decided to make what is becoming my regular birding sweep of Stratford. Although I lived in West Haven for 9 years a mere 15 minutes from the shore, I never went to go just enjoy the shore. Now having lived in Stratford for only 4+ months, I've spent more time at Long Beach than I ever did in West Haven.

Starting the day I made a quick stop at Wooster Park and Pond, a small local park behind a middle school that I heard of through the Connecticut birding listserv. The pond has a large group of Mallard Ducks and Black Ducks that seem to be happily situated until the waters begin to feeze. There was also a group of Canada Geese that came in. I don't know if it's the way the geese look in the water as opposed to being on dry land but many individuals in this group seem to have fairly short necks and smaller in stature as opposed to others. It's definitely something I'd like to get a more experienced birders opinion on. Also, There was just one pair of Gadwall feeding at the other end of the pond from where I was observing.

Then I made a stop at Short Beach. Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Black-backed Gulls, and one Laughing Gull were all hanging out at the beach. A few House Finch were mixed in with House Sparrow feeding in the tall grasses at low tide. One cormorant was feeding in close to shore (I still need to work on the ID's of Great and Double-crested). The other birds of note were 3 White-winged Scoters between Short Beach and Startford Point area.

Finally, I made it over to Long Beach where things got a little interesting. First, here are the birds I saw: Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Black-backed Gull, Great Blue Heron (2), Great Egret, Cormorant (I think Double-crested), House Finch, Savannah Sparrow, Sandpiper sp., Common Loon, Black Ducks (up in the marsh), and three Brant. Here come the interesting finds.


This is a Diamondback Terrapin I found on the marsh side of the beach. I don't know how she (based on size) met her demise but one of the hind feet appear to be missing. Terrapin are our only turtle that lives in brackish water.


And this appears to be a Northern Gannet. I was already carrying around a dead turtle and people were giving me weird looks so I didn't want to flip it over and take any more pictures. They aren't the greatest shots because they were with my cell phone. This wasn't exactly how I wanted to have my first sighting.


If I made a mistake, please leave a comment and let me know!