Every picture tells a story. Contributed photos of last Sunday's Sixth Annual Lighthouse Point Park Migration Festival | CT Environmental Headlines

Pictures (and descriptions) from Patrick Comins, director of bird conservation for Audubon Connecticut. I'm putting this event on my calendar for next year so I'll be sure not to miss it. Next year's festival is scheduled for September 27th, 2009.

Lighthouse Point Park, in New Haven, is one of 26 sites in Connecticut recognized as Important Bird Areas by the National Audubon Society. The park averages the largest numbers of migrating hawks northeast of Cape May, New Jersey. Some species such as Sharp-shinned Hawks and American Kestrels reach into the tens of thousands.

Lighthouse Point Park is one of Audubon’s Important Bird Areas because it is a major stopover destination for migrating raptors. In addition to huge numbers of Sharp-shinned Hawks and American Kestrels, you may see less common raptors like Merlins, Peregrine Falcons, Northern Goshawks, and Bald Eagles, as well as a wide variety of migrating songbirds and shorebirds.

Flocks of thousands of Blue Jays, Tree Swallows, and blackbirds are not uncommon. In addition, this is the only site in Connecticut where the rare Red-headed Woodpecker can be reliably seen. Not only is Lighthouse Point Park a premier birding hotspot, but it is also a popular destination for butterfly and dragonfly enthusiasts.

The New Haven Parks and Recreation Department has curtailed mowing in areas of the park, so wildflowers attractive to butterflies are now in abundance. This combined with the new bird and butterfly gardens should result in an excellent turnout of butterflies



Skyhunters in Flight falconer Brian Bradley holds a Spectacled Owl during his birds of prey show at the Sixth Annual Lighthouse Pt. Park Migration Festival last Sunday. Bradley discussed the biology of each bird as he was showing them/flying them.



Spectators at the Sixth Annual Lighthouse Pt. Park Migration Festival last Sunday admire a barn owl, an endangered species in Connecticut.



Spectators at the Sixth Annual Lighthouse Pt. Park Migration Festival last Sunday admire a white faced owl.



Spectators at the Sixth Annual Lighthouse Pt. Park Migration Festival last Sunday admire a European Eagle Owl, the largest/most powerful species of owl in the world.



The Eagle Owl spreads its wings.



Spectators at the Sixth Annual Lighthouse Pt. Park Migration Festival last Sunday admire a Steppe Eagle from Asia through North Africa.



Brian Bradley from Skyhunters in Flight flies his Harris' Hawk for the crowd.



Those who attended the Sixth Annual Lighthouse Pt. Park Migration Festival gather around the bird banding table watching Charlotte Weston band migrant songbirds.