Author: Mona Cavallero (Page 3 of 17)

Hilltop Farm Trip Report

September 3, 2025

Once upon a time, there was an elementary school librarian who retired and found she missed the chattering of little children and the camaraderie of the teaching staff. She reached out to a local nonprofit to connect with people, nature, and to stay physically active. The location is just 1.5 miles from home and an easy commute. Thus began my volunteer tenure at Hilltop Farm in Suffield, CT. I help create and maintain several of our bird-friendly and pollinator gardens (HAS helped with grants) and oversee the Community Garden. I lead this bird walk every year to connect with others in the birding world and to share this property, which has been a vital part of Suffield’s history and now a significant part of my retirement.

Today I led a group of 12, including my husband Tom. All were Hartford Audubon members. Some had visited the property before, others had not. (The Creamery may have had something to do with that.) We were fortunate to have beautiful weather with blue skies, puffy clouds, and a temperature in the low seventies, accompanied by no humidity. I started our walk by admitting I needed everyone’s help to identify birds, as my visual acuity is a bit impaired by cataracts that will soon be removed. I also mentioned that bird calls are not my specialty, even before being diagnosed with hearing loss. But what an understanding group they were! The Hartford Audubon insists you do not have to be the best birder to lead a walk. Share your enthusiasm and knowledge, and the camaraderie of the group will fill in the blanks. This group did just that! We identified 27 species and maybe two yellow warblers in the goldenrod.

We began our walk heading east from the red barn. Gray Catbirds started us off, and goldfinches, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and eastern wood-pewees soon appeared along with cedar waxwings. To the north, on a dead tree, sat a Cooper’s Hawk and some northern flickers. At the bottom of the hill, we followed the wooded trail and slowly approached the inland pond, where one great blue heron and two green herons were across the water. Blue jays, crows, mourning doves, and Carolina wrens provided background chatter when things got quiet. We backtracked through the woods. Some ventured down to the riverbank and saw an osprey flying across the river. We returned to the open field where tobacco was harvested just last week, and the fields are brown and barren now.  We walked parallel to the river, spotting robins and a cardinal along the way. We ventured up the hill with a ruby-throated hummingbird and turned right toward the boardwalk, where warbling vireos were high atop the canopy singing. Above the pussy willow arch on the boardwalk, more waxwings were spotted. The fields, now covered with goldenrod and joe pye weed, were summer breeding grounds for bobolinks, meadowlarks, and red-winged blackbirds. We only saw one blackbird today and two tree swallows in this area. We headed west and walked the road by the community garden, seeing goldfinches and song sparrows. One of our gardeners said it was a banner day for hummingbirds this morning, but I think they took an early lunch, as we did not see any while there. Up the hill again, a northern mockingbird was spotted on a post. We visited the Bird and Pollinator Garden (also HAS funded). A grackle, a starling, and a turkey vulture can be included in our observations.

You are familiar the saying, “The early bird catches the worm.” I may have to change it to, “The late bird catches the worm.” After everyone had left and we were packing the car, I spotted a flock of eastern bluebirds in the black cherry tree behind us. Sure enough, one of them was on the ground catching a worm!

Joan Heffernan

19 optimistic Hartford Audubon members met at Reservoir #3 in Bloomfield about 8am.  I say optimistic because the weather forecast was threatening rain, but then early Saturday, the forecast moved the rain back to about 10am – so we hoped it would hold off.  Reservoir #3 has about a ¾ mile long road out through a field which has had nesting Bobolinks the past several years.  We were not disappointed.  Everyone got really good looks at Bobolinks, both male and female, perched and flying.  We also saw 33 other species of birds including a couple of nesting Great Blue Herons and surprisingly, and Orchard Oriole was heard.  Some of us also had a good look near the end of the walk at a Willow Flycatcher which we’d been hearing.  As promised, the first drops of rain started to fall at 10am!  Here’s a list of the birds we saw.

6 Mallard

3 Mourning Dove

1 Green Heron

3 Blue Heron

3 Red-tailed Hawk

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker

1 Eastern Wood-Pewee

2 Willow Flycatcher

1 Great Crested Flycatcher

1 Eastern Kingbird

3 Warbling Vireo

1 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Blue Jay

8 Tree Swallow

1 White-breasted Nuthatch

8 European Starling

6 Gray Catbird

3 Eastern Bluebird

3 Veery

2 Wood Thrush

6 American Robin

5 Cedar Waxwing

6 American Goldfinch

6 Song Sparrow

1 Field Sparrow

1 Eastern Towhee

1 Baltimore Oriole

12 Red-winged Blackbird

1 Brown-headed Cowbird

2 Common Yellowthroat

4 Yellow Warbler

1 Northern Cardinal

1 Indigo Bunting

10 Bobolink

1 Orchard Oriole

35 Species total

On Sunday, June 1^st, five bird watchers gathered at Station 43 in South Windsor for a three-hour walk featuring wetland bird species. The temperatures were unusually cool for this time of year (48 degrees), which certainly helped hold off the onslaught of mosquitos that were predicted to show up after two days of prior rain.

We began our trip near the parking area where a Red-tailed Hawk was discovered sitting in a well exposed nest. Above us, were the sights and sounds of over twenty Cedar Waxwing actively consuming the nectar from flowers on an old Tulip Tree.

After a brief greeting and introduction, the group headed off slowly down Newberry Road, birding and botanizing along the way. The loud vocalizations of Carolina Wrens, Common Yellowthroats and Yellow Warblers drowned out most of the surrounding birdsong, but we did luck out by hearing not one, but two Least Flycatchers along the trail. While observing the flycatchers, our attention was diverted to a Red-bellied Woodpecker, who was delivering a bill-full of insects to a nest hole!

The search for wetland bird species began with our arrival to the Station 43 Sanctuary itself. Here we spotted a few Wood Duck and a fly over Great Blue Heron. Marsh Wrens and Swamp Sparrows were heard singing in the distant reeds. Also heard were the distinctive calls of both Willow and Alder Flycatchers. The ubiquitous Red-winged Blackbird was seen throughout, with a striking all-black body and orange-red and yellow shoulder patch.

In the past, our search for the elusive Least Bittern could sometimes take a bit of patience and perseverance. But today our group was fortunate enough to quickly locate a bittern in flight, traveling from one side of the marsh to the other. It flew a second time a few moments later to the delight of all!

With our target bird secured, birdwatchers collectively decided to head over to nearby Vibert Road for some additional birding. Here we discovered that some of the farmland had recently flooded, which led to the appearance of a few late migrant shorebird species. We tallied five Greater and one Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as eight Semipalmated Sandpiper voraciously feeding on invertebrates as they refueled for their journey north. The standing water also produced a bumper crop of mosquitos, which also attracted numerous hungry Bank Swallows and Chimney Swifts.

 Our trip tallied a total of 47 bird species.

 Respectfully submitted, Paul Cianfaglione, trip leader

Eight people joined us for this spring walk around Fisher Meadows park in Avon Connecticut on May 17.

It was a cloudy foggy morning and the weather leading up to the day had generally not been great so our expectations for true migrants was low.

Therefore, we focused on the songs of many resident birds. We were not disappointed in finding many of the residence species, including Baltimore Orioles, Rose breasted Grosbeaks, Great Crested Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Orchard Orioles, and a good supply of Yellow Warblers.  A double crested cormorant was seen fishing in the pond. We were lucky enough to find at least two Wilsons Warblers through their song and got decent looks at both of them. We also found a Magnolia Warbler via its song and then got some tantalizing views through the pine tree. There was at least one Canada Warbler heard briefly, but not everybody got on the bird or got looks.

We had a total of 40 species for the day.

Thanks to Barry Marsh keeping a list of what we saw and heard.

Brian Toal, Trip Leader

Penwood State Park, Bloomfield. May 10th, 2025

On Saturday, May 10th nine bird watchers gathered at Penwood State Park in Bloomfield for a three-hour walk, in search of warblers, thrushes and vireos. Prior to the trip, Hartford County was experiencing a string of cool, rainy days. The weather conditions for our walk saw no rain, but it was still cloudy, dreary and a tad bit cool with temperatures around 50 degrees.

 As birders greeted each other at the start of the walk, a number of species were noted around the entrance pond including Warbling and Yellow-throated Vireos, Baltimore Oriole, Pine Warbler and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Our only Eastern Wood-Pewee was also heard in the same general area. The Wood-Pewee was a first-of-the-year species for many of us.

 The newly paved entrance road into the park made walking more enjoyable, but it was also a good place to spot hungry thrushes looking for an easy meal. It wasn’t long before we discovered several Wood Thrush and Veery feeding in clear view. Unfortunately, the rainy conditions during the past couple days may have delayed the arrival of the much-anticipated Swainson’s Thrush into the forest.

 Our journey into the heart of Penwood’s beautiful woodlands was quite spectacular, but it also presented us with the daunting task of finding tiny warblers high among its sprawling canopy. Birders patience, and sore necks were finally rewarded with views of Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue and Black-throated Green Warblers, Black-and-white Warbler and American Redstart. A singing Tennessee Warbler was also an exciting find.

 Even more exciting were the sights and sounds of a territorial Worm-eating Warbler, a target bird for the trip. Nearby, a Least Flycatcher sang its emphatic, dry “CHEbek”!

 Other familiar birds that were recorded during our walk down to the park’s picnic area included Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

 The park-like setting, and its fringes at the far end of the path offered different species not found in any other parts of Penwood. Here we added Tree Swallow, Eastern Towhee, White-throated Sparrow, Indigo Bunting and Northern Flicker. A few lucky birders in our group had brief looks at a singing Cape May Warbler feeding high within a large oak tree. A Barred Owl calling in the near distance was a nice way to end our visit to this beautiful Connecticut State Park!

 Our trip produced a total of 62 bird species.

 Respectfully submitted, Paul Cianfaglione, trip leader

Auerfarm State Park – Trip Report