Rare Visitor to Cove Island

BirdNote^®

A Rare Visitor to Cove Island Wildlife Sanctuary:
A Safe Haven a Long Way from Home

Written by Chris Peterson

This is BirdNote!
[Call or song of Fork-tailed Flycatcher]
In November 2010, an elegant Fork-tailed Flycatcher, a bird normally found between southern Mexico and Argentina, turned up at a park on the shores of Connecticut. Picture an eleven-inch bird. It has a black head, a white belly, and a deeply forked tail about twice as long as its body. Why this flycatcher would stray thousands of miles from its home range is a mystery. 
[Call or song of Fork-tailed Flycatcher]
 It was spotted at Cove Island Park -- 84 acres, near Stamford where people enjoy baseball, stroll on well-groomed paths, and barbeque with friends.
[Radio blasting, guys laughing and shouting]
 A few years ago, after Audubon declared a section of the park an Important Bird Area, local citizens worked with the city to create a wildlife sanctuary there. 
Today, the Cove Island Wildlife Sanctuary, formerly a landfill, contains groves of oak and cedar, dogwood and birch. It has meadows and dunes, even an apple orchard. Migrating birds, exhausted and hungry, find food, shelter, and a place to rest. With conservation now in the mix, the park offers refuge and renewal to people and wildlife. 
As it did for our rare visitor, the Fork-tailed Flycatcher.
 [Call or song of Fork-tailed Flycatcher]
For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann. Today’s show was brought to you by The Lufkin Family Foundation.
 
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Sounds of the Fork-tailed Flycatcher provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York recorded by Davis Finch.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2011 Tune In to Nature.org            February 2011     Narrator: Mary McCann

ID# SotB-coveisland-01-2011-02-18