Day 204: July 22nd – Connecticut coast

Low 80s, plenty of sunshine and calm skies

       An absolutely gorgeous summer day in Connecticut and one in which we figured we’d take advantage of our location and the great weather to do some fine coastal birding.  What we didn’t know was that we would have to rob a Brink’s truck to gain access to the coastal waters of the “Nutmeg State”.  We were in Fairfield visiting old friends and enjoying their beachfront property yesterday and should have stayed there for a while today.  But we headed home and figured we stop by one of the state parks on the way.  First park…..Sherwood Island.  The place looked very promising until we got to the admission gate.  Out-of-state plates?   That’ll be $22 to gain admission!  I just wanted to see the place and do a little birding.  I didn’t want to buy land there.

Snowy egret, Cove Island

       We had been to another park in Stamford called Cove Island last year.  They have a lovely area just for birding with trails, feeders, fields, beaches, etc.  We had been there in the off-season and simply drove in, parked and birded.  Today…well it’s summer.  The folks at the gate informed us that it would cost us $20 to bird the area today.  We turned around and drove down one of the side streets which paralleled the cove.  We actually found one area where there was a parking area for about 5 cars….free!  We pulled in and were treated to our first egrets and herons in some time.  Snapped off a few photos and then noticed a nice big parking area almost empty across the cove.  We hopped into the RAV and drove around to the entrance to parking area to find a big “Valet Parking Only” sign.  It was a restaurant, and even though the place was virtually devoid of vehicular occupancy, there was a big bruiser of a guy by the name of “Mad Mike” waiting to take our money.  Sharon aked him about the name on his nametag and he explained he got that when he was a bouncer.  We struck up a conversation telling Mad Mike our tale of woe and he said,  “Yeah, around here you’re not going to park anywhere near the water without paying good money.”  Then, Sharon struck up a conversation about her cousin Mike in Alaska and Mad Mike said, “Yeah, sounds like I’d get along real well with him.  Go ahead, go on in and take your pictures and see your birds.” 

Ring-billed gull,  Cove Island

       So, bottom line is if you really want to check out coastal Connecticut birds, either go to the Audubon center in Milford (fantastic place) or stay home on the weekends. (Or, look up “Mad Mike” in Stamford and tell him you came all the way from New York to bird the Connecticut coastline.  Anyway…..here are some images we captured from our limited venues.