Qunnipiac Meadows, CT

Next stop on my illustrious tour of Connecticut was Quinnipiac Meadows. It is only a few minutes drive from downtown New Haven. The meadows overlooks the Qunnipiac river which drains part of central Connecticut. The Quinnipiac has a length of 38 miles and ends up in New Haven harbor. This area was once all wetland but was filled in for construction purposes, although clearly some wetland is still visible. The sign says that, since then, many plant species have entered the area. The land is part of a preserve. This is not the most picturesque place because the surrounding area is very industrial and economically depressed. The Quinnipiac was once very polluted in this area due to sewage and factory waste, but the sign says that it is slowly improving.

It is a short walk from the road to the real park entrance. The park abuts the main railroad track as I saw an Amtrak train passing by. It was a cloudy but crisp winter day with a blanket of crunchy snow covering the ground.

Park entrance and description


The first part of the trail takes you through new forest. I saw lots of vines with red berries strangling the trees. Did not really get a good picture though.

Vines with red berries


The trail takes you past marsh habitat for several minutes before ending up on the Quinnipiac River.

View of the Quinnipiac River
(East Rock Park is in the distant background on the right)


Description of the Quinnipiac River


I am not a very experienced bird-watcher, so I could not really anticipate what I would find at this time of year and in this type of habitat. But I was greatly surprised to find some species of ducks that I have never seen before and consequently had trouble identifying. They were also quite far away which made it even more difficult. But here is a description of what I saw:

The first birds seem to have been a group of Bufflehead. Some birds (the males) had white bodies with black backs. The neck and head were also black except for a big white triangle running from the top of the head (the guide says a bonnet-like patch). The head was very puffy. Supposedly when males fly, they have a distinctive white wing patch. Up close (a view I unfortunately did not get), the front of the male's head should be an iridescent green above the eye. The other birds in the group (the females) were more drab. They were generally gray on the sides and the top of the back appeared black. The front of the breast was white and the head was black with a white cheek spot. I also saw a little white spot on the sides of the back near the tail. These birds are noticeably small. The males are quite beautiful because of the contrast between the black and white colors of their feathers. And when they fly they look like a circus of colors. Bufflehead are diving ducks in the sufamily Merginae. This is part of the family Anatidae which includes all ducks and duck-like waterfowl. The Anatidae, in turn, are part of the order Anseriformes, which are comprised mostly of Anatid birds. The closest related birds to Buffleheads seem to be Goldeneyes (also Bucephala)

The other birds I saw were much farther away. Some had clearly cresting heads like common or red-breasted mergansers. But others had white bodies with a distinctive black stripe running vertically down the body just before the neck. This seems more indicative of the hooded merganser. I will have to come back here with someone who can ID these birds from far away.

There were also a lot of sparrows hanging around. The ones I saw had alternate chestnut and gray stripes running front-to-back on the crown, but I can't ID them.

On my way back I hear the shrieking of a large group of red-winged blackbirds. Although I guess at this time of year they don't look like much at all.

Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus)


Random Nest


-SG