A couple years ago a very cooperative
Fork-tailed Flycatcher showed up in southwest Connecticut. But that would have been 3+ hours from home
for me, which is longer than my normal distance for chasing after rarities, so
I didn’t go after it. However, as the
bird continued to be seen daily for quite a while, I wondered if I should have
gone after it despite the distance.
After all –would this mega-rarity ever be seen again in CT in my life
time?
The answer to that question turned out to
be a resounding “yes”, when a Fork-tailed Flycatcher was discovered along the
Connecticut River in Hadlyme just before Thanksgiving. And within my self-imposed 2-hour driving
distance for chasing! The bird continued
to be very reliable, so I headed to Hadlyme
to give it a try. As I neared the
ferry parking lot where it was most often seen, I could see at least a dozen
cars, and at least as many birders with scopes and cameras all pointing in one
direction. I pulled in and could see the
gorgeous bird perched atop a small tree right at the edge of the parking lot –
didn’t even need binocs. The bird was
silhouetted against a bright sky for much of the time, so I didn’t get the best
pictures, but was able to get these representative shots.
We are all very lucky that this bird selected such an accessible part of the river as its home during its stay in CT. There must be hundreds of miles of seemingly similar habitat along the Connecticut that are virtually inaccessible that the bird could have chosen instead.
This was my 3rd New England state (and 3rd
state overall) for Fork-tailed Flycatcher, and number 307 for me in Connecticut.
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