Fargeorge Wildlife Refuge Trip Report: 11 people attending the New Haven Land Trust – New Haven Bird Club joint fieldtrip on Saturday Nov 4, 2017 to the New Haven Land Trust’s Fargeorge Wildlife refuge off of Quinnipiac Ave in New Haven. The weather was chilly and a little cloudy to start. Temperature = 40F to 50F Beginning to End. The Tide was ½ in to start. We had a light North West wind. We got 54 Species. A great thank you goes to the good folks at the New Haven Land Trust.
And now, “The Case of the Juggling Eagle”: We had just finished up a truly successful walk around the 2 major loops at the Fargeorge Refuge and decided to go out to the old steel yard to try for some turkeys, (this close to Thanksgiving they are in hiding). Looking up, we saw an adult bald eagle with a small silvery fish. As we watched, it flew up slightly and let go of the fish. It then dropped down and grabbed it again. A few seconds later, it let go of the fish again. This time it didn’t even bother to try to catch it again, it just let it go. Several attendees caught it with their cameras. They got great shots of the eagle and the fish in the same frame. We stood there awe-struck for a while and then started to speculate. Was it playing with the fish or just trying to get a better grip? We then ended the trip as we all agreed that we were not going to be able to top that.
The following is a list of bird species seen and /or heard by the attendees:
Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
American Black Duck
Mallard
Hooded Merganser
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle (4)
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Woodcock
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Downey Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Merlin
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fisk Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Palm Warbler
Pine warbler
Yellow-rumped warbler
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Total Species Seen = 54
Species order from: “A Checklist of the Birds of New Haven County Connecticut”. Rev of 2017 for the New Haven Bird Club by Chris Loscalzo
Report submitted by Mike Horn 11/4/2017