Cohen Meadows; Birders’ Heaven!

 The Gazebo at Cohen Meadows 7-13-12

Cohen Meadows is a little known nature spot off McDonald Road in Colchester, CT. I like to go birding here when I come to town to visit my family. When I am here, I always count the birds and submit that data to eBird. Last week when I visited Dawn Fine I decided to take her to town to meet my mother and to go birding at this wonderful place! When you come around the corner of McDonald Road, which is just off Route 85 in Colchester, one of the first things you will notice as you pull into the parking lot is the cute little gazebo.

If it is anywhere near to summertime the next thing you will notice are all the wildflowers. Much of the property is maintained as a wildflower meadow. The meadows attract all kinds of butterflies and dragonflies, and of course, birds! We heard and saw sparrows as soon as we stepped from our car. From the midst of the meadows we heard the “wichety, wichety, wichety” call of Common Yellowthroats.

High overhead in the pale blue sky a Red-shouldered hawk circled and soared.

 

As we headed for the edge of the pond we found a small flock of turkeys at the edge of the woods!

 

On a pond-side picnic table an Eastern Bluebird greeted us.

 

Then, to our utter surprise, a cormorant flew up from the distant pond edge!

 

Most of the pond is covered with vegetation right now, but there were still a few areas of clear water.

 

Dawn walked ahead photographing birds and butterflies.

In the line of pines and spruce trees phoebes fluttered and chipping sparrows sang their sewing machine sounding call. We scanned the pond for any sort of ducks or herons or even flycatchers but saw none, until a Great Blue Heron was spooked by our presence and revealed itself. With long, deep wing beats it flew up from the water’s edge and disappeared into the steamy gray-blue sky. The humidity was building with the heat of the day, but we pressed on in search of more birds.

Dawn heard the call of a red-eyed vireo and we followed it into the woods where the turkeys has disappeared earlier. Down the path we went until we found it. High in the forest canopy it called and called, but we could see its cute striped face as it peered at us with curiosity. We wanted to go further but the mosquitoes and deerflies were menacing and so we retreated from this woodland path. We left with some regret, wondering what we would have seen if we kept on following it.

Back out by the large pond we saw even more song sparrows, chipping sparrows and catbirds. Of course we found a few robins, and then Dawn heard a Great Crested Flycatcher! I was not so sure but we kept watching and listening and soon it flew to the top of one of the nearby pine trees where we had a good view. It didn’t linger for long but headed back to the woodland edge. Later we saw and heard another.

But the ever bold phoebes stayed nearby and landed on twigs in the shade.

We crossed the street to the small pond next searching the fields and sky for more birds. We kept hoping we were seeing some Savannah Sparrows or even Vesper Sparrows but were never sure, so we did not count any.

Juvenile Song Sparrow at Cohen Meadows 7-12-12

Here are the bird species we did record for that day:

1. Wild Turkey, 5
2. Great Blue Heron, 1
3. Double-crested Cormorant, 1
4. Red-shouldered Hawk, 1
5. Turkey Vulture, 3
6. Mourning Dove, 4
7. Red-bellied Woodpecker, 1
8. Downy Woodpecker, 1
9. Eastern Phoebe, 2
10. Great Crested Flycatcher, 2
11. Red-eyed Vireo, 2
12. Blue Jay, 3
13. Tree Swallow, 3
14. Barn Swallow, 4
15. Black-capped chickadee, 2
16. Eastern bluebirds, 2
17. Wood thrush, 1
18. American Robin, 6
19. Gray Catbird, 6
20. Common Yellowthroat, 6
21. Chipping Sparrow, 6
22. Song Sparrow, 15
23. Red-winged Blackbirds 20
24. American goldfinch, 4

Cohen Meadows is truly a birder’s paradise. Come see it for yourself! Bring a picnic or your coffee, or, go birding first and then head back into town where you will find numerous restaurants and coffee shops to meet your needs! Dawn and I had a great day and it was very hard to leave! We spent an hour here but we were getting hot and hungry and so we headed into town to visit my mom and enjoy her air-conditioning!

You can read Dawn’s version of the day and see her photos here: Ruby and Elizabeth Cohen Woodlands. (P.S. She has more photos of butterflies, dragonflies and flowers than I do!)