Field Trip – June Birding at Morris Creek Marshes, East Haven – Steve Broker

We bird Ora Avenue, Proto Drive, and the Morris Creek marshes for a diversity of birdlife in the breeding season. This highly developed area in East Haven manages to retain a rich avifauna year-round in spite of being sandwiched between Tweed-New Haven Airport and the East Haven Industrial Site. For many years, the road once known as Ora Avenue and now identified on maps as Proto Drive has served as the heart of Area K for the New Haven Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Many species found on the CBC are likely breeders here half a year later, including ducks, rails, bitterns, hawks, owls, woodpeckers, flycatchers, vireos, wrens, thrushes, sparrows, blackbirds, and warblers. Many species with breeding evidence for Connecticut Bird Atlas block 95F have been identified in these grassland, woodland, and marsh habitats. Meet on Proto Drive opposite Town Fair Tire, south of Short Beach Road and a turn to the west off Coe Road.

Leader: Steve Broker, 203-747-6843 or stephenpaulbroker@gmail.com