How it started
Moving to Connecticut in August 2019 marked the beginning of my state bird list. By October, I'd tallied over 100 species. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed my Connecticut birding and I spent spring 2020 in Colorado.
I passed 200 species with a Black-billed Cuckoo in September 2020 on a good day of fall migration at Lighthouse Point Park. My first east coast spring in 2021 helped get past 250 with a couple of Black-bellied Whistling-Duck that showed up unexpectedly in June.
State birds by year
With 250 state birds by my 3rd year in Connecticut, it started to get harder and harder to pick up more state birds and I started relying more and more on chasing birds. My 300th species, American Avocet, came in the summer of 2022 and marked my entrance to an exclusive club.
With 300 birds under my belt, I set my sights on one bird in particular, a bird that adorns the logo of the Connecticut Ornithological Association and that shares its name with our state. In late September 2022, I finally managed to see a Connecticut Warbler. You'd think that it would be easier to find one, but I managed to find 310 birds in the state before seeing this drab little warbler.
As the plot shows, the last few years have been slim pickings for new birds. I got two state birds in a single day in January 2023 (Black Guillemot and Common Murre), but after that it was lots of chasing rarities.
A particular nemesis that I finally managed to see in 2026 was Summer Tanager. I'd chased this bird in multiple counties, spent hours at a feeder waiting for one that never showed up, had to work while this species was logged at my local patch, and had someone 20 feet away see one while I was looking a different direction. When a male showed up and appeared to be sticking, I went looking for it and had some awesome looks at this long overdue state bird.
My most recent state bird, Wilson's Storm-Petrel, I managed to find after hearing reports of this species in the Long Island Sound. I packed up my scope, and headed to Hammonasset where I eventually picked out a small brown bird with a white rump dancing over the waves. I'm sure something rare enough will show up in Connecticut to lure me back, but I predict some more small years ahead for my state list.
Birding year-round
Some months are better than others. In Connecticut, spring migration peaks in May while September is the best month in the fall. From my checklists, you can see that I'm usually pretty eager to get out in the spring, and that I make a little more effort in the fall. My best-ever medium big day was in May, where I logged a very medium 127 species at a leisurely pace that allowed time to get ice cream.
Some species are possible year-round in Connecticut while others only show up at certain times of the year. After some targeted effort, I've seen 54 species in all 12 months. Annoyingly, I've seen 3 species in 11 of 12 months: Sanderling (missing June), Eastern Towhee (missing March), and Field Sparrow (missing January). On the other end, 79 species I've only ever recorded in a single month — 60 of those I've only seen once ever, and the other 19 I've run into more than once but always in that same month.
Some birds I've seen in every month are the expected species like Black-capped Chickadee and Northern Cardinal, but others I had to actually work for. Ruddy Turnstone is pretty common in the winter but can be a little scarce in the summer, and it took a trip to Hammonasset State Park to find this species in April. Similarly, Chipping Sparrow can be hard to find during the winter, and I finally managed to see one in March 2026, completing every month. The most recent addition was Brown Creeper, which I picked out of a mixed flock of warblers in August 2026.
Mourning Warbler is a bird that's pretty tricky in Connecticut. Yet by birding East Rock Park extensively in May, I've managed to find them four times. In fact, I've never seen them outside of May and outside of East Rock Park.
By the numbers
As the data show, there's some correlation between effort and the number of species I saw. In 2021, I started keeping a checklist every day, which gave the checklist numbers a boost. In 2022, I spent a lot of time working on my state list and produced my biggest Connecticut year with 268 species — nothing close to an actual big year, but pretty good.
Some birds are easier to find than others. Blue Jay, House Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, American Robin, and Mourning Dove are all birds that show up regularly while walking the dog and on proper birding trips, so it's not too surprising that these are my most-recorded species.
Twitching the review list
The Avian Records Committee of Connecticut (ARCC) keeps a checklist of notable species that require review. To the avid lister, these are the drop-everything birds. Of the ~150 species on that list, I've seen 46 of them. Click on the links below to see those birds (some I don't have photos of).
Anhinga Ash-throated Flycatcher Barnacle Goose Bell's Vireo Bicknell's Thrush Black Guillemot Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Black-necked Stilt Black-throated Gray Warbler Brown Pelican Common Gull Common Murre Curlew Sandpiper Eared Grebe Franklin's Gull Great Shearwater Green-tailed Towhee Gull-billed Tern Harris's Sparrow Hermit Warbler Le Conte's Sparrow Little Egret Northern Lapwing Pacific Golden-Plover Pink-footed Goose Red-necked Phalarope Roseate Spoonbill Ross's Goose Ross's Gull Ruff Say's Phoebe Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Short-billed Gull Smith's Longspur Spotted Towhee Swainson's Hawk Swainson's Warbler Townsend's Solitaire Townsend's Warbler Trumpeter Swan Tufted Duck Western Flycatcher Western Meadowlark Western Tanager White Ibis Wood Stork
Only two of these birds were first state records (Pacific Golden-Plover and Swainson's Warbler). I ended up writing the report for the Swainson's Warbler after it seemed I was the only person who got a great look at this bird. The Swainson's Warbler showed up in May 2026, and I was so jealous of everyone going to see it as I was tied up in lab finishing some experiments. From the reports on day one, it seemed like this bird was tricky — most people got fleeting glimpses, if they got lucky enough to see it at all. I resolved to go first thing the next day. When I arrived, I couldn't find any other birders, but I heard the bird almost immediately, singing from the same spot it had been reported in. To my surprise, I looked up and saw the bird sitting out in the open. It actually sat long enough for me to attempt to take a shaky video. The bird then disappeared, only to reappear even closer, singing right in front of me. It seems like I was the chosen one.
Favorite sightings
Redpoll
In winter 2020-2021, Connecticut experienced a huge finch flight where Grosbeaks, Crossbills, Siskins, and Redpolls could be found across the state. I had never seen a Redpoll but there were enough sightings that I felt like I could probably find my own. While birding East Rock in January 2021, I heard a call note I thought I recognized, and a minute later, a small flock of Redpolls flew into the trees above me. It was a total surprise and also the first record for the park since 1978. I was thrilled! A lifer, a state bird, and in my patch!
Snowy Owl
After successfully twitching a Hoary Redpoll (no longer a full species, sadly), I got a text from a friend about a Snowy Owl at Sandy Point. Having never seen this species in the state, I headed over there to see if I could find it. The bird was sitting all the way out at the end of the beach, and to my surprise, I was the only person there. Keeping my distance, I pulled out my spotting scope and had some incredible views of this bird in front of the New Haven skyline. Although I've seen this species a number of times now, I'll never get tired of being in the presence of this arctic visitor.
Eastern Whip-poor-will
For my birthday 2021, some friends took me to look for Whip-poor-wills, which at the time, was a lifer. We slowly drove down the road with the windows open listening for their distinctive sound. At a bend in the road, we got out and distantly, we could hear a bird singing. I was pretty happy, but a little further down the road, we found a couple of individuals that sounded much closer. We got out and listened and even had a shadow of a bird fly by. The best birthday present is a cool bird.
Tundra Swan
With some birds, it's more about when you see them than the sighting itself. I passed my prospectus and became a PhD candidate on February 28th, and so as a treat, I decided to go out and get a state bird the next day. A pair of Tundra Swans had been seen all winter at a distant lake, so I headed out to find them. Sure enough, when I pulled up, I didn't have to walk far to find a spot to scope the birds. It was an easy chase, but a nice reward for the stress of my prospectus.
Smith's Longspur
I had barely sat down at my desk when I got a text about a weird looking longspur that had been found at Sandy Point. When the photos came through and it was identified as Smith's, I practically sprinted out the door. Instead of going directly there, I passed Sandy Point to go pick up my friends who didn't have a car. If I was going to see it, so were they! We were still some of the first ones to arrive and re-found the bird walking around in the grass. I got some awesome photos, one of which was used as the feature photo in the ABA rare bird report.
As a bonus, there was an incredibly overlooked and cooperative American Golden-Plover there too, which was massively upstaged by the longspur but still plenty exciting.
Chimney Swift
Chimney Swifts were one of the first lifers I got in New Haven, since I noticed some flying over my apartment while I was moving in. The best experience I've had with this species has been watching thousands of swifts funnel into a chimney in downtown New Haven to roost in the spring. Just after sunset, the swifts appear and form a massive vortex before eventually draining into the chimney like water being flushed down a toilet. As part of a mini project, we even got permission to climb up next to the chimney and film them as they funneled in. At its peak, I estimated around 2,500 swifts, but it was hard to count exactly. Nevertheless, this is one of my favorite avian spectacles in Connecticut.
Eastern Screech-Owl
In the winter into the spring of 2024, a pair of Eastern Screech-Owls set up a nest in a cavity in a tree in East Rock Park. Every time I passed the tree, I'd always look for the owls. As spring rolled around, I noticed that I was seeing the gray morph a lot more, and the red morph was almost always peeking out of a lower hole. One day, I noticed something fluffy behind the red morph and realized that she had been incubating eggs that had hatched into two fluffy chicks. The chicks successfully fledged, and I only saw the owls a handful more times later in the year. Although the hole hasn't been occupied for quite a while, I always check when passing the tree.
Lawrence's Warbler
Lawrence's Warbler is actually a hybrid between Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers. And although it's not a true species, I actually chased one of these birds with my adviser, managing to see it and hear it singing a Blue-winged Warbler song. This hybrid is pretty uncommon, especially in Connecticut, so it was quite surprising when I found two of these birds on my own: one in East Rock Park and one at Maltby Lakes. Both times, I was super confused about what I was looking at. A Blue-winged Warbler with a black chin and black mask? That doesn't seem quite right. Fortunately, I had enough experience with the first bird to figure out what I was looking at.
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler is the best-looking warbler in the northeast. For a couple of days in a row, I'd seen a Blackburnian in a spot in East Rock, but it was always perched high up, never getting low enough for a good photo. On a morning birding walk, I was checking for this bird, and it hopped down right in front of me. I think I audibly gasped when I saw it and immediately raised my camera to get my best-ever pictures of this species. The bird was singing right in front of me with a beautiful green background. Every time I walk by here, I still check this exact branch, but I've never been quite as lucky again with this species.
Prothonotary Warbler
One spring, I was birding with a couple of friends in East Rock Park, and we heard an unfamiliar song that sounded like a Prothonotary Warbler. We raced over to see if we could actually get eyes on the bird. And sure enough, it was a Prothonotary Warbler. We were pretty excited and sent out a report to the rare bird group chats. Luckily, this bird stuck around for the entire day, giving a bunch of people good looks at this pretty rare-for-Connecticut species.
Cave Swallow
I always thought Cave Swallow was something of a mythical bird in Connecticut. I'd heard rumors and stories of birds being seen on cold, windy November days long after most birds had migrated. I assumed it would be quite hard to actually see this species, given that they'd be migrating through. Finally, in 2024, a couple of reports started to trickle in of Cave Swallows migrating. I headed out to Lighthouse Point, and sure enough, after waiting a couple of hours, a single Cave Swallow flew by. I thought that would be it. But later that day, some folks who were still there reported at least twenty Cave Swallows flying around. I had to see it, so I headed back. And sure enough, there was a flock of Cave Swallows circling around feeding. For the next couple of days, it felt like everywhere I went, I would pick up a Cave Swallow passing by.
Bay-breasted Warbler
For a while, I really struggled to see a breeding plumage male Bay-breasted Warbler. After a pretty good morning of birding at Lighthouse Point, I started to hear reports that fog over the Long Island Sound had concentrated birds at Hammonasset State Park. Upon arriving, I immediately started seeing warblers. After talking to a couple of birders, I was directed to a couple of oaks where people had seen "a bunch of bay-breasted." I was a little bit in disbelief, but headed over to check it out. And sure enough, there were at least six breeding plumage male Bay-breasted Warblers. I finally got the looks I was after and some decent photos as well.
Notable misses
It's impossible to see this many birds without also having missed seeing a bunch of birds. I was gone when the first-ever Brewer's Sparrow showed up in Connecticut. I had to catch a flight to Spain the day over fifty Arctic Terns showed up on various lakes in Connecticut. The Yellow Rail was taken into rehab before I was able to drive over and see it. I was out of state when a Fork-tailed Flycatcher showed up, and my plane touched down too late in the day to chase a Loggerhead Shrike at Sandy Point. I should have gone for a Black-legged Kittiwake hanging out at a lake, but wasn't able to find the time. And a Yellow-headed Blackbird that was chaseable in my first couple weeks in Connecticut proved to be a bird that I would never manage to see in the state, despite chasing a couple of individuals. I chased a number of Thick-billed Murres over the years, but never managed to actually get this species for the state.
More than a list
While working on my state list has been super fun, the best part about birding in Connecticut is the birding community. I've made plenty of friends through birding, and the community has always been warm and welcoming. It's possible that the best part of birding is the friends you make along the way.
Birding has also been an excellent gateway to being a better naturalist. As my state list got longer, I started to spend time focusing on other animals. My butterfly list is at 61, and I've worked hard to find 29 species of herps (reptiles and amphibians) and 27 species of mammal. I've also, under the influence of a certain Alison Robey, learned a lot about plants and started noting what trees birds tend to prefer and the more subtle gradations of habitat. These naturalist tendencies often took me to the under-birded parts of the state as I started to explore more on my own.
As I'm moving to New Jersey, Connecticut will still be in striking distance, and I'm hoping that my state list won't stay forever at 343 (or 344, once Willet is split into two species). Rest assured, if something rare enough shows up, I'll be back and ready as ever to continue to bird Connecticut.
