Martin Torresquintero Photos
Great Horned Owl stars at Sunday's Migration Festival at Lighthouse Park.
Humans (above) ponder falcon (below).
The parks department’s Martin Torresquintero sent in these photos and this write-up about New Haven’s annual Migration Festival, which took place at Lighthouse Point Park Sunday.
Despite the less-than-ideal wind and weather conditions for migrating birds and hawk watching, several species of raptor, dragonflies, and butterflies were observed going by, and bird-watchers were busy recording the sightings.
Hundreds and hundreds of participants came to the festival. Dr. Cristopher Loscalzo from the New Haven Bird Club helped me lead the 8 a.m. bird walk. It was undoubtedly the most diverse and largest group that had gone to one of our walks. There were about 65 to 70 participants, many of who have never been to a bird walk, were new to New Haven, and had not been to Lighthouse Point Park.
Spectacled owl.
The Eagle owl (pictured), one of the largest species of owls, reaches six-foot wing span.
Notifications sent to teachers resulted in many New Haven families and teachers coming to the festival. Several teachers used this opportunity to arrange for the rangers and the outdoor adventure coordinator to do their schools’ birding and nature education programs.
The CT Audubon Society supported me throughout the day. Arte Inc provided snacks.
This was perhaps the busiest day ever for tours of the lighthouse. More than 75 people went up to the top, where the rangers provided optics. At the end of the scheduled tours, so many people were interested in the tours that we collected information from 60 families that will be notified and prioritized for the following tours to be scheduled In the next several weeks.
The carousel ran non-stop during the event, which was an excellent alternative for those seeking shelter from the rain and something else for those waiting for their turn to go up the lighthouse or for the raptor show.
Teddy Swanson-Bradley with a barn owl.
The new boardwalk.
I was glad to see families come to the festival by bicycle throughout the day. A group of cyclists from Elm City Cycling came from Westville and had an excellent opportunity to climb the lighthouse. Despite a bit of rain, some stayed for the raptor show.
Skyhunters in Flight was the event’s highlight, attracting hundreds of participants, birdwatchers, and photographers. Brian Bradley and his wife Teddy Swanson-Bradley entertained the audience with a 1.5‑hour-long interactive show that covered many small and large owls, including the Eurasian Eagle Owl.
Spectators were delighted with the performing birds of prey, which included interacting with the audience.
Bird walkers and park users loved the new boardwalk parallel to Morris Creek. It was recently built by the park rangers and a group of Yale students from the FOCUS program. This trail provides fantastic birding and nature-watching opportunities.
We also collected $140 in donations, mainly during the bird walk, the rest at the Lighthouse and the gate. People wanted to help us replace some of the optics and birding scopes that were stolen a few months ago during the break-ins at the Trowbridge Environmental Center.
Thank you to everyone who worked on this event and got the word out to teachers so they could include their students and their families in the activities.
It’s wonderful that so many new people discovered the park, the birds, and had a great time, and that those who couldn’t fit in to this this event, and have reservations for the next bird education event.
The bike riders coming to the event and the mention of city residents who had never been to the park reminded me that if the dedicated and/or protected Farmington Canal bike trail was extended through to the East Shore to Lighthouse Park, past the Airport, along to meet up with the Shoreline Greenway trail, and also in the opposite direction to the West Haven beach and boardwalk, how many more New Haveners could get to those attractions without a car.
We need to extend the bike trails to attractions and parks and to meet up with the other communities bike trails.
We need to develop our waterfronts with trails, parks, educational events like these, and businesses and activities that appeal to bike riders, joggers, walkers, canoe/kayak and small boat users, and our Long Island Sound and rivers waterfronts should look more like the Chicago’s Lakeshore parkland and trails for everyone to enjoy than the closed off and dirty industrial area it is now.
The birding educational event turnout shows how hungry people are for this type of use along our shoreline.