Birding Connecticut: Comstock Bridge

(Today's Photography Courtesy of Kathie with the Nikon D80; 70 to 300mm lens, as always, click on photos to enlarge for best viewing.)

Comstock Covered Bridge is located on Rt. 16 just west of Colchester center. Built in 1791, it spans the Salmon River.

In 1936 it was repaired by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It has been repaired once again recently but whomever did it made a bad job of it. Huge rusted metal beams run along both sides of the bridge to stabilize it. Long metal bolts were then drilled through the wooden beams of the bridge and into the steel girders. Because these girders run the length of the bridge and onto the banks it would be easy for people to climb out on them. The solution? Let's make this once picturesque bridge even uglier by putting wire cages at both ends of the girders! There, that solved that problem. While no one can hurt themselves now, neither will anyone want to photograph this bridge except to show everyone else how the job was botched!

This flock of barn swallows doesn't seem to mind one bit. They are having as much fun watching me as I am having watching them. The swallows are sitting on wires across the street from the bridge. It is in these same trees where I saw the American Redstarts.

The Salmon River flowing beneath Rt. 16. On the other side of this bridge and across from the Comstock Covered Bridge is Salmon River State Park. (Click on the links to see pictures of the bridge prior to the steel girders being added. This is the way I remember it.) As a child I knew it as a fun place to swim as well as a place where my Grandfather went fishing. Now I am exploring these old haunts as new places to bird. For today I will keep to this side of the river.

A song sparrow catches a moth in the grass near the bridge.

Then it hops up on a fence post to sing about its breakfast!

My son, Alex walks along the rivers edge.

We cross the wooden bridge and head around this bend of the river.

A great blue heron flies in and lands among the rocks...

...but I am distracted by the sounds of Cedar Waxwings in the trees overhead. I observe them hunting insects over the water in a flock. I have never witnessed this behavior before. It is new to me. I thought they only ate berries, but these birds are acting like flycatchers flying out from the trees, grabbing an insect and then returning to their perches.

This little chipping sparrow bids us good-bye as we head back home to Gramma's house.

View of the bridge with the steel girders running along side. Notice the chain link fence at the end near the bank.

Birds Seen today:

Location: Comstock Bridge
Observation date: 7/9/08
Notes: With Alex. Sunny, warm, light breeze. Cedar waxwings hunting insects
over river.
Number of species: 14

Common Merganser 1
Great Blue
Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Barn Swallow 6
Black-capped Chickadee 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Robin 6
Cedar Waxwing 8
American Redstart 2
Chipping Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1
American Goldfinch 2

Snakes, Doves, and a Black-crowned Night Heron

It’s definitely Spring here in Sycamore Canyon for the snakes are on the move. Gus and I saw a beautiful salmon-colored snake about 4-feet long as it crossed the road in front of our vehicle here in Corona de Tucson on Monday. We stopped our car to watch it pass as it was taking its own sweet time. Once again, I was without my camera! Soon we saw other vehicles approaching from the opposite direction and Gus flashed his lights to warn them to slow down, but that must not be a universally accepted signal here in Arizona for no one did. I was about to jump out of the car and stand in the road to protect the snake, but apparently it felt the vibrations and picked up the pace, for it slithered quickly off into the desert.

We’ve been busy for the past 10 days with grandchildren visiting from Maine. At ages 3 and 5 it was the first time my grandchildren have flown on a plane or left New England. How much fun it was to see the desert through their young eyes. At their ages they were more interested in playgrounds than anything else, but we did manage to get to the Sonoran Desert Museum and the Reid Park Zoo. Brooklyn, the 5-year old was captivated by all the animals and spent much of her time trying to pet birds and squirrels. She wasn’t successful but she gave it her best effort. Trey loved playgrounds the most and we visited one almost every day.

Last night was their last night here and for the first time we discovered a snake in our backyard. At about 2 feet long the slender body had a narrow head and no rattles on its tail. Still, the pattern was reminiscent of a rattlesnake, so we were cautious. My oldest son, G, was visiting from Coolidge and he captured the snake in a bucket with some barbeque tongs. We simply dumped it over the wall back into the desert but I had to know what kind of snake it was. So, though supper was ready, I turned on the computer and searched for Snakes in Arizona. I found this great web site with the snake patterns indicated next to the species names. You just look for the pattern and click on the link and it takes you to a complete description of the reptile you are searching for. In this way I discovered my backyard snake was a Gopher snake and non-venomous. I believe the long salmon colored snake was a Coachwhip snake. Finding the snake in the yard is one more encouragement to get a piece of screening to put over the drainage hole in the block wall. After that the yard will be pretty much sealed up and a snake will have to climb the walls to get in. I really don’t want to find any rattlers in my back yard!

On Tuesday, May 6, we visited Reid Park and Reid Park Zoo. It was our first time visiting the zoo, which, though small, is nicely laid out with many impressive animals. The kids also loved a small splash area near the otters called “Kenya Get Wet”. It didn’t matter that they were fully clothed, they splashed away anyway. With the dry Tucson air it wasn’t long before their clothes dried either. Along with all the zoo animals there are two walk through aviaries with exotic birds from around the world, but the artificial habitat created by the lush trees and artificial streams also draws many of our native birds to the zoo. As a result, we saw a Black-crowned Night Heron in a wooded area near some water, and an Inca dove feeding on the ground beneath a bird feeder suspended from a tree. The Inca dove was feeding with a flock of house sparrows and you can really get a good idea of their size in relation to that common bird. Inca doves are quite small. You can see their all over scaly pattern in this picture.

Well, in another area I found these two small doves with a somewhat scaly pattern roosting on the ground. I thought at first they might be more Inca doves but they had the spots of mourning doves. So, then I thought they might be Common Ground Doves, but after consulting my field guides I realized these were simply juvenile mourning doves. Ground doves would be ruddy colored underneath their wings, and these weren’t, plus, ground doves also have a pinkish or orange-ish base to their bills and these clearly don’t.

Gus took all the pictures at the zoo and I have to confess, this one is my favorite. I’m including it here, simply because I love the feathers. Can you guess what bird it is? Enjoy!