THE CONNECTICUT WARBLER A Journal of Connecticut Ornithology Volume 32 No. 1 January 2012 Pages 1-32 The Connecticut Warbler A Journal of Connecticut Ornithology Volume 32, Number 1 January 2012 CONTENTS 1 Mabel Osgood Wright Award 3 Sandhill Cranes Luke Tiller 9 Books On Birds Alan Brush 11 Common Teal and Common x Green-Winged Teal Frank Gallo 23 Connecticut Field Notes Greg Hanisek 31 Photo Challenge Julian Hough ON THE COVER Yellow-throated Warbler We’re at the time of year when birders pay special atten- tion to their feeders. The Dunn feeder in Madison played host to a real distinguished visitor, a Yellow-throated Warbler. Mark Szantyr was among many who enjoyed viewing this beauty, which he captured in one of his excellent drawings. 2011 MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT AWARD In presenting the award to Buzz Devine at the annual meet- ing at Middlesex Community College, COA President Steve Mayo said: It is an honor for me to, once again, present the Mabel Os- good Wright award. Mabel Osgood Wright was the author of “Citizen Bird,” “The Friendship of Nature” and of course, “Birdcraft.” She was a founder in the early 20th century con- servation movement and a founding member of the Audu- bon Society of the State of Connecticut. She was a longtime friend and colleague of Frank Chapman. Together they pro- duced Bird Lore magazine for more than 11 years. The Mabel Osgood Wright Award was established to honor a person who has devoted a lifetime to Connecticut ornithology. This year's recipient has done just that, and in many ways his ornithological contributions have been very similar to those of this award's namesake. He has made so many significant contributions in the areas of avian conservation, research and education. Beginning with his Master’s Degree thesis on Screech Owl ecology, Buzz Devine has devoted his life to the long-term study of Connecticut's nocturnal and diurnal raptors. His research has focused on their distribution, populations, habitat associations, nest and roost site requirements, diets and behavior. He has co-authored 54 published reports and articles. Some of these are found in Birding, The Journal of Field Ornithology, Raptor Research and Bird Observer. He is perhaps best-known to the Connecticut birding commu- nity for his collaborations with his friend and colleague, Dr. Dwight Smith. In addition to the comprehensive 1996 “Con- necticut Birding Guide,” this team has provided more articles for The Connecticut Warbler than any other author. Buzz Devine played a major role in the Connecticut Breeding Bird Atlas. He was on the Steering Committee and an active trainer and participant in Connecticut's Breeding Bird Sur- vey. He co-authored 27 species accounts in the 1994 “Atlas of The Connecticut Warbler, Vol. 32 No.1, January 2012 1 2 Breeding Birds of Connecticut.” For the past seven years, he has been the Western Connecticut coordinator for the Natu- ral Diversity Database. Buzz has participated in dozens of Summer and Christmas Bird Counts and was compiler of the Oxford CBC for a quarter century. Buzz is our premier expert on the distribution of Connecti- cut birds. He has served on Connecticut's Avian Taxonomic Review Committee for more than 15 years. He has conducted DEP Wetland Bird Surveys for over a decade. Buzz complet- ed 20 years of service in the DEP, devoted to ensuring com- pliance with environmental regulations. After his retirement he has added even more bird distribution and conservation projects to this impressive resume. He was Audubon Con- necticut's conservation plan consultant for the Naugatuck State Forest. He has made significant contributions to the Grassland Initiative, the Highlands Project, the Migratory Bird Habitat Stopover Project, the Conti Migratory Bird Habi- tat Stopover Survey and other important projects. Our recipient is a founding member of the Western Con- necticut Bird Club and has also supported Naugatuck Valley Audubon for decades. He has served in both organizations in many roles including president and director. He has led well over 100 field trips and owl prowls during his long birding career. Throughout these and other birding events, Buzz has always shared his experience and his extraordinary wit and sense of humor. Involvement in the COA is not by any means a prerequisite for this award. However, Buzz has provided almost continu- ous service to COA. He was on the founding steering com- mittee and has served on the Board and its committees for many years. He also served on the Avian Records Committee of Connecticut for 15 years. On behalf of the Connecticut Ornithological Association membership, it is with great pleasure that I present the 2011 Mabel Osgood Wright Award to Buzz Devine. SANDHILL CRANES By Luke Tiller The highlights of my first season hawk watching at Quaker Ridge in Greenwich (2009) were a pair of Mississippi Kites and a group of five Sandhill Cranes that soared over the watch one late October day. With the two species expand- ing their ranges in the Northeast, one from parts south and one from parts west of here, I suggested at my first season roundup presentation that maybe both of these species might become commonplace at Connecticut watches in not too dis- tant future. Of course after making that prediction, and with the vagaries of hawk watching being what they are, 2010 saw sightings of neither species at Quaker Ridge. In 2011 how- ever, both species were back and with regard to the cranes in a suspiciously coincidental pattern. In 2009 the sighting of the cranes had become something of a Northeastern birding listserve phenomenon. The flock not only consisted of a rather sizeable number (at least for the Northeast) but also contained a rather distinctive individual, which had a group of primaries seemingly damaged or miss- ing from its left wing. This combination of a distinctive in- dividual among a distinctively large group of birds allowed various birders to track the movement of this flock. The birds had been initially sighted on Cape Cod around the middle of October and had become celebrities on the Mass- bird listserve. The local tracking of the birds helped confirm that they were seen leaving the Tihonet Road area in Ware- ham, Mass., on Oct. 29 at about 9:30 a.m. They were observed later that morning by Paul Champlin, who was in his car in Fall River, Mass. Being the typical New England birder, Paul followed them a short hop down the road as far as Ports- mouth, R.I., to add to his Rhode Island state list. The next sighting of the group was made by the regulars at Quaker Ridge at about 2:15 p.m. As the crow flies it is about 160 miles from Wareham to Greenwich. With both departure time and The Connecticut Warbler, Vol. 32 No.1, January 2012 3 4 TILLER Ken Mirman photo Six Sandhill Cranes pass over the Quaker Ridge hawk watch site in Greenwich on Oct. 28, 2011. arrival time noted, we can surmise the birds clocked an aver- age of 32 mph for the journey. The story continued the next day when the same group was spotted at Scott’s Mountain Hawkwatch on the N.J./Pa. border as they picked up from Merrill Creek Reservoir below the hawk watch site. Coinci- dentally Scott’s Mountain Hawkwatch has a link to Connecti- cut in that it was started by hawk watcher and Connecticut Warbler editor Greg Hanisek. In 2011, late in the day on Oct. 28 (note the single day differ- ence to the 2009 sighting), we again picked up a large flock of Sandhill Cranes over Quaker Ridge, but this time consist- ing of six birds. It was a somewhat fortuitous sighting as it was toward the end of a rather unproductive day, however a little late burst of action had kept most of the regulars out there until after four. Of course the sighting piqued my interest straight away, and a quick check of the Massachu- setts listserve confirmed that there again had been a group of Sandhill Cranes in Wareham and that the final reports indicated that there were possibly six birds in their flock this time around. Some further delving on the Cape Cod birding listserve, a few personal contacts and some research on eBird allowed me to confirm that there were in fact six birds seen in SANDHILL CRANES 5 autumn 2011 on the Cape, with the final logged sighting on either listserve or eBird being on Oct. 26. It’s kind of amazing to think that we had the same group of birds that originated in Wareham, Mass., head over Quaker Ridge on almost the exact same date two years out of the three I have conducted the count. Of course as a birder with a vague understanding of the processes of migration, one understands that birds are believed to physiologically be spurred to migrate by the changing amount of light in the day and that diurnal migrants navigate much the same way that we might, in that they use visual clues to decide where to head next. This all sounds great in theory, but witness- ing the movements of these individual cranes really helped highlight both of these processes in action and makes one really wonder about the incredible migration that these birds undertake. To add a little history to the sightings, Sandhill Cranes reports have increased dramatically in Connecticut over the last 10 to 20 years. Published just 20 years ago Zeranski and Baptist in their book, Connecticut Birds, list the species as a casual visitor from the Midwest with only two photographi- cally documented records.