Birding Basics — The Where, What and How of Bird Watching
DMA member, Alec Wiggin, is going to talk to us about birds—what to see, where to see’em and what’s so darned special about them. He will acquaint us with some of the basics regarding the more common species and their behavior, and then alert us to where and how to acquire not only these “usuals” but also some of the “semi-exotics” –those that require a bit more effort to find but are an absolute gas to observe!
Thankfully, Connecticut is favorably situated on the migration route or flyway, as it is known, for many species traveling between their respective breeding grounds and their winter habitats, making for a constant remixing of our species. So, much like our New England weather, if you don’t like what you’re looking at, just wait a bit. It’s about to change.
Alec Wiggin grew up in Darien and returned when he purchased the house he grew up in from his dad where he and his wife, Gail, subsequently raised their two children, Teke and Amary. Alec attended Hindley and Mather Junior High Schools before attending boarding school in New Jersey. He was admitted to Harvard College and a few years later enrolled in Columbia Business School. Armed with his MBA, he went off to Wall Street like many other classmates.
Five years later Alec went into business with his wife. Together they ran a small company specializing in brand strategy and marketing communications, with a client base tilted toward investment managers. After a stretch of twenty-eight years—which included two near-bankruptcy episodes—and with their kids well out of the house and the gargantuan mortgage fairly well paid down, he and Gail folded the company in 2016. Now retired, they are both at liberty to engage more deeply in their interests. For Alec, this emphatically includes today’s topic: Birds.
Speaker Summary
Bird-watching enthusiast Alec Wiggin gave an entertaining, educational and highly engaging talk about “birding” in our area. He was then joined by bird-watching expert Gina Nichol for an extended Q&A session. Alec’s knowledge and passion for his topic were obvious as was that of the DMA members in attendance as evidenced by the number and breadth of questions/comments during his talk and the Q&A.
Alec started with some bird basics – mating, life span, migration (including the fact that, to some birds who summer much farther north, Darien might be where they spend the winter or, as Alec stated, be their Miami Beach). He talked about bird calls versus songs and shared audio of both for several varieties of birds in our area while including some fun facts about several of the birds including that groups of each variety have different names (roost, gaggle, college, radiance, etc.) and that it is a serious birding transgression to confuse them!
Alec talked about why Connecticut is a great birding area thanks to its many forests, ponds, and large coastline. He then discussed several great locations to bird watch in Connecticut including Fourteen Acre Pond in Norwalk, Great Island in Darien, Sherwood Island in Westport and Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison – noting what varieties of birds you might find at each.
Alec pointed out that “Warbler Season” is just around the corner, talking about the 44 different species of warblers in the area (and that each warbler weighs only 1/3 to 1/2 ounce). He noted that Sellecks Woods in Darien is an especially good place to see and hear them. Alec then touched briefly on conservation issues as well as birding equipment before taking questions, along with Gina, in a session that lasted for over 30 minutes thanks to the enthusiastic response by the audience.
Alec provided a handout of bird watching information (if anyone wants this electronically, contact Alec or Frank DeLeo) and encouraged anyone who is interested in learning more to befriend a birder since “birders like birders” and would be happy to help you get started, learn more, or share experiences.